Chapter Text
Lance could feel the shift in emotions coming from the bridge that usually signaled a new case.
He was sitting on the chair that he usually occupied for therapy sessions waiting for two of his patients that should have been there thirty minutes ago. But with what he was sensing from the bridge he didn't think that they would be showing up to their appointment any time soon.
As Lance got up to get a cup of coffee from the replicator his combadge gave a light chirp, and Booth’s voice filtered through.
“Hey Sweets, just got a case and I want you to come up to the bridge for a debrief”.
“Yeah, I’m on my way”.
As Lance made his way up to the bridge he pondered the intrigue and apprehension that he could sense coming from Dr. Brennan and Booth respectively.
As the doors to the bridge whooshed open, Lance made his way over to Booth, who was standing behind the security console.
“Hey Sweets. We just got a request to investigate some remains found on Ranvier IV. It’s a federation colony. I need you to come down with me, Bones, and Hodgins. See if you feel any murderous intent, if you know what I mean”.
Lance just raised his eyebrows at “murderous intent” and said, “of course, but afterwards we need to have our session. You can’t just keep missing them because of cases. My job is Profiler and ship’s counselor".
Booth just waved his hand in a dismissive motion as he said, “Yeah, yeah. We’ll go to the session after we solve the murder”.
They made their way to the transporter room, where both Hodgins and Dr. Brennan were waiting for them on the transporter pad. “Hello Booth, Sweets, are you ready to go? I would like to get down there before any of the local authorities attempt to move the remains”.
“Yeah, sure thing Bones”. Booth looked over to the ensign at the transporter control panel once they were all standing in position.
“Energize”.
Then, for a moment they became nothing more than scattered particles in space before re-materializing down on the planet’s surface.
As soon as they had solid form once again they began walking towards the small crowd of people, and the scent of decaying remains.
As they approached, Lance took in the swarm of emotions clouding around the people at the scene. The strongest sensation of shock and fear was coming from a couple who was off to the side, talking to a local law enforcement officer. Lance figured that they must've been the ones to discover the body. Or in this case, literally stumble upon it, as there were small patches of blood and dirt on one of the women who had tripped on the remains during her morning run.
“According to the angle of the mandible and the less pronounced mastoid process, our victim was a humanoid female”.
Lance focused back onto the victim as he heard Dr. Brennan list out different features of the skull that pointed to the victim’s sex.
The remains were covered in dry dirt, much like the rest of the planet’s surrounding environment.
“Based on the size of these blowfly larvae, I’d say that the victim has been dead for about two days. I’ll take some samples to bring back to the lab”.
“So what are we thinking here, Bones? Murder or accident?” Booth said as he approached the body. “This does seem like a place where someone would dump a body”.
“Judging by the amount of perimortem fractures on the right and left temporal bones, and ribs eight to ten, I am comfortable saying that this was murder”.
Booth pressed his comm badge to signal the transporter room on the Jeffersonian. “I want all of the remains transported to the lab for the squints”.
“Don’t forget about samples of the dirt and surrounding flora!” Hodgins piped up from where he was crouched on the ground, getting some samples for himself.
Booth rolled his eyes as he taped his comm badge again. “Can we also get the dirt and plants surrounding the body transported up too? Thanks, Booth out.”
As the remains disappeared in a shimmer of light, Booth made his way over to Sweets. “So, are you seeing or sensing anything off?” Lance shook his head as he responded. “No, I don’t sense any feelings of overwhelming guilt from anyone in the area. But then again, I wouldn't really expect to. I mean, with the way that the body has been mutilated I suspect that our killer was experiencing feelings of intense rage towards the victim.”
“Okay well then, I guess it’s time to beam back up before we do anything else.”
Dr. Brennan and Hodgins came to stand with them, as Dr. Brennan pushed her comm badge and said. “Four to beam up.”