The Second Autopsy
Posted on Mon Aug 31st, 2026 @ 7:17am by Lieutenant Yvette Beauvoir & Lieutenant Kostis Riehl & Lieutenant Maya Canak & Senior Chief Petty Officer Margaret Houlihan
Edited on on Wed Sep 2nd, 2026 @ 8:48am
1,855 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Episode 3 - The One Who Got Away
Location: Autopsy Suite - Deck 9 - USS Artemis
Timeline: MD005 1300 hrs
It was the second time Maya had to do an autopsy on an abused child. She hated that children were abused in general, but this went so far beyond what she'd seen before that she'd been binging on books to keep from dwelling on the details. Now, however, she had to focus on the second victim and the second autopsy. They needed answers and she could provide some of them.
"Margaret, is the room ready for the autopsy?" she asked her nurse.
"Yes, ma'am. Lights are positioned and the camera is working. All we need is the body."
Maya sighed. "The child. I don't know his name, but he has a family. Parents. After all he's been through, he needs dignity in death." She knew Margaret had detached herself from the victim to maintain a professional distance, but a part of Maya couldn't. Not when it was another child. But she would do her best to find answers.
Margaret paused for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, doctor. I'll be right back." Then she slipped out to go to the morgue.
Lieutenant Yvette Beauvoir arrived at the observation room adjoining the Med Lab. She'd received a message to meet the new Security Chief there in order to observe an autopsy.
Her uniform, as always, was immaculate and her face unreadable. The epitome of professionalism. It was a mask she wore well.
'You must be Lieutenant Beauvoir,' Kostis said gently from where she stood by the transparisteel window. 'New Chief of Security, Kostis Riehl. It's a pleasure to meet you, despite the uh,' she turned her head back and motioned towards the autopsy bay in front of them, 'despite these circumstances. This isn't ... It never gets easy. Not with kids.'
"Yes, and it's a pleasure to meet you too, ma'am." Yvette said mentally evaluating the new arrival. She had learnt, as an Intelligence operative, to make quick assessments of those she met using body language and vocal cues.
"It is indeed a tragic time." Yvette agreed.
'Who'd have thought it in the Federation of all places?' Kostis asked rhetorically in a small voice. She shook herself together, stuck out her hand towards the other officer. 'You assist in running the ESU right?'
"Well, that's what we do here, investigate the seedy underbelly beneath our beloved utopia." Yvette replied. She took her offered hand and shook it. Letting it go, she added. "Yes, with Zandrell, it’s a reunion of sorts, we previous worked together in Starfleet Intel."
'Former intelligence, huh? Interesting. Former detective here,' Kostis replied with a nod. 'Has it helped knowing Zandrell in all this? Good working relationship, or just something that happened by chance?' She pumped the breaks on her questioning lest she come across as interrogating one of her new officers.
"My twin brother, Jean-Pierre, is a Police Inspector in my home town on Earth." Yvette said.
As for Zandrell and I, we have a good working relationship, we saved each other's lives a few times." Yvette said. "Thinking of him as my boss, took a little getting used to, in the field we had more leeway when it came to completing our missions."
Nodding her understanding, Kostis smiled in Yvette's direction. 'Understood,' she replied gently.
Margaret brought the covered body on the biobed, positioned it, then activated the scanners. "Ready, doctor."
Maya looked up at the observers and nodded, then turned her attention to the covered corpse and the readings that began to scroll across the monitor. They would be included along with the video and her verbal report. "Computer, begin autopsy recording." She paused until she got the visual confirmation from the monitor. After stating the stardate and location, she continued "Lieutenant Commander Maya Canak, chief medical officer and medical examiner aboard the USS Artemis and Senior Chief Petty Officer Margaret Houlahan, head nurse in attendance. This is the autopsy of an unknown child found floating in space. Betazoid. Male. Twelve years of age. Cause of death is asphyxiation and hypoxia."
She nodded to Margaret who pulled back the top half of the sheet. "Severe ebullism indicates the child was alive when ejected into space. The skin also shows signs of dehydration and partial mummification." She glanced at the monitor. "Damage to lung tissue also indicates the child was alive and tried to hold his breath." She had to pause and control herself before continuing. "Skin also shows signs of prolonged solar exposure, indicating it was floating in space for approximately two weeks."
She continued to do a visual appraisal, confirming with the biobed readings. "Arms, legs, and ribs show signs of past breaks that were not properly healed. Bones are slightly misaligned and the floating ribs have indentations that would indicate being punched or thrown against an object at some point." She moved on to the lower legs, mentioned the bruising and badly healed breaks there, too. Two of the toes were misshapen.
She looked over the readings for a moment. "Long term sexual abuse, kidney damage, all indicate the child was abused for four to six years preceding death. Ligature marks on wrist, ankle, and neck indicate the child had been restrained for extended periods of time. In addition, the body shows signs of stunted growth, mostly likely due to starvation and malnutrition."
Maya indicated that she wanted Margaret to help her roll the body over for the final part of the physical examination. It was a little misshapen, due to the swelling, but there was a mark on his lower back. "He has the same tattoo as the last child in the same location." She turned to the monitor. "Computer, get a closeup of the tattoo."
Maya kept her voice calm and professional, but this was harder than the last autopsy and she really needed to spend some time in the arboretum or holodeck to balance herself with nature. Maybe even go horseback riding again. She finished the autopsy and took fluid and tissue samples for analysis, then checked the scans to make sure everything had been properly recorded.
Finally, she nodded to Margaret to help her turn the boy onto his back again. "Computer, end recording."
The doctor gently placed her hand on the boy's head and closed her eyes, whispering a silent prayer in her native tongue. Part of her ached for what he'd been through, but another part of her believed--hoped--he was now at peace. Still, he deserved better than this and she hoped security would find who was behind both the murders. "Vaya con Dios," she whispered as she covered his face and head.
She didn't even look at the observers because she didn't want them to see that she was crying. Instead, she nodded to Margaret to take the body back to the morgue and slipped into the back room to change.
The colour had drained from Kostis as the autopsy had gone on. The catalogue of horrors visited on an innocent could barely be imagined. I thought the Federation was better than this. Better than Golantis. That bright candle she had held for the Federation her entire life dimmed in that moment. She blew out a breath. Well we can make it better, she determined.
She waited for Canak to return, then buzzed the com. 'You listed the physical attacks on the body, but did you come across any environmental materials that had adhered to the body at all?'
Now that she'd removed her protective clothing and the body was back in the morgue, Maya gave her full attention to the two in the gallery. "Environmental, no. But the scans found traces of semen. However, at the extremely low pressure of space, fluids near the surface can begin to vaporize, especially in moist tissue, so I'm not sure how viable it will be. A sample has gone to the lab to see if we can get an identification from it." There was a chance, but it would depend on the condition of the sample. "For your information, the tattoo on the lower back is the same as the first victim, indicating the child may have belonged to the same person or group."
Nodding, Kostis blew out a breath, she was afraid exposure to space had in essence cleaned the body of any environmental evidence. The semen was a potential lead, though along with the tattoo. 'What about the child's DNA? Have we run that through any systems, try and get a parental match?'
"I believe Margaret took a sample. I'll check and see if we have any matches and let you know." Margaret hadn't said anything to Maya about the results, but she could check the computer when she got back to her office. "If the child's DNA was recorded anywhere, we should be able to find the family. However, some of the outlying worlds don't see the value of submitting DNA to a Federation database."
'Thank you, we'll appreciate that,' Kostis replied with a faint smile of gratitude. She crossed her fingers that a DNA sample would return something, but knew that it wasn't outside the possibilities that nothing would be returned - if that indicated an origin from outside the Federation, that would complicate matters.
"The Orion Syndicate Houses brand their slaves, I have some contacts in Orion space, perhaps they can help us find out it if it belongs to one of the Houses, and if so, which one." Yvette added.
Maya nodded. That could prove extremely helpful. Then she looked to Kostis for her response.
'Yes, that's a sensible course of action to follow,' Kostis replied looking to Yvette. 'The Orions are the most likely to have this kind of reach and callous attitude. The tattoo could definitely be some sort of branding that we're unaware of. Please get on to it as quickly as you can.'
"I'll contact them as soon as we're finished here." Yvette said.
"If there's anything medical can do to help, please let me know," Maya added.
'Thank you, Doctor. Rest assured, we'll contact you as soon as any additional needs become apparent,' Kostis replied with a nod. 'If that's all then? We should get going.'
Maya nodded. "Thank you. And good luck." Then she turned and went out the back to see how Margaret was doing.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Kostis Riehl
Chief Security & Tactical Officer, USS Artemis
Second Officer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Lieutenant Maya Canak
Chief Medical Officer/Medical Examiner, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Senior Chief Petty Officer Margaret Houlihan
Head Nurse, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Lieutenant Yvette Beauvoir
Tactical Officer, USS Artemis
Executive Officer, Emergency Services Unit
Starfleet criminal Investigations Unit
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