Star Trek RPG - Mission #3: "Some Other Side of Paradise"

Kylah gets the sense from Adelman that he is calm, straightforward, and believes what he is saying. He seems to be telling the truth - but she cannot detect "lying," as such, with any degree of certainty sufficient to convince, for example, a Federation court of law. She is an empath but, as with polygraphs on 21st century Earth, some people may seem to be lying when they're not, and some people are very skilled and convincing liars.

Dr. Halsey nods. "I could do the autopsy here in the Infirmary, but I suspect your ship has better facilities for it."

"I agree," T'Var replies.

The doctor stands, then addresses Collins. "Permission to contact Dr. Villa regarding the autopsy of Mr. Wilson."

Kylah overhears this conversation and, after excusing herself from Graham's side for a moment, moves to T'Var. "You are to take the body so soon?" she asks as she absently removes her gloves, providing cover for what she really wishes to impart to the Vulcan. She lightly brushes T'Var's wrist and concentrates hard. Doctor. Regarding Dr. Halsey, I have sensed that he has been hiding his excitement and almost happiness ever since he joined us on the way to his dead colleague--which is possibly telling. However, it may be nothing more than professional interest; as you see, he does not seem unduly concerned that he is not performing the autopsy. I thought you should know before you left with him.

She pretends to nod respectfully at Wilson's body, as if it is some Elasian rite of death, and moves smoothly away from the doctor to return to Graham.

"Varying your timing, but maintaining consistent coverage--I'd expect no less." Graham says to Adelman, nodding approvingly. "Thanks --we'll contact you f we have any other questions."

When Kylah returns her attention to him smiles, albeit grimly. "All these houses--exactly right, we need to speak with everybody, and nobody slips through the net. Mr. Hsu will play ball, if we handle it right. "He can't help but glance at Collins: OK, so we just need to not get his hackles up hassling his wife, at least until absolutely necessary... " Fastolfe.." He pauses. "Mr. Rangin probably expects me to drag him from his bead and beat a confession out of him, but that's not how we should play it..." He shakes his head.

"Belay what I just said, Rangin can speak for himself." He rubs his chin. "But we should be strategic about how we first engage him, to rule him in--or out."

"We cordon the area," he says with more focus and confidence, "talk to the people in each house, and put a plan in place for first contact with Fastolfe. Your instincts are good, Mr. Kylah, if you want to become a security grunt."

"On that note--no need to call me 'sir.' Delaney, Collins and T'Var are sirs, I'm just Graham, Booker if you're feeling friendly. Um..." he pauses again. "If you need some time to... talk to.... T'Var," he gestures toward Collins. "I'll run interference, do...what you need to do, OK?"

Chronologically this occurs before Kylah goes to T'Var

Kylah's exhaustion is beginning to catch up with her but the moment Graham mentions Rangin in a somewhat disparaging way, her eyes blink and she feels her cheeks begin to burn. But the security officer seems to understand the inappropriate nature of his remarks and she, rather fortunately, does not have to rise to Rangin's defense. She doubts her defense would be any more appropriate than Graham's sarcasm--who is she to defend anyone, least of all Velir?

When he corrects her gently about the "sir," Kylah lifts a tired hand. "I know, thank you, it just... slipped out. I was reporting and... it has been an extraordinarily long day and I have had almost no sleep..." She is practically mumbling the last words when she hears T'Var talking to Halsey about the autopsy. That wakes her up a second time. And just as she realizes she needs to impart the information she sensed from Halsey, Graham rouses her completely by giving her leave to talk to T'Var, if she 'needs to.'

How on earth could he have known that was her intention? He could not know. But then what did he mean by needing to speak to T'Var? She casts a surprised and curious glance at him. "Why would I--?" But she is really too weary to even finish the question. "Actually I do need to speak to her, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Adelman. Please excuse me," she says finally to Graham, but she is already on the way to speak with T'Var. Since the doctor is so close to Halsey, Kylah knows she must do so through touch telepathy. She starts to remove her gloves.

There, now we're all chronological again! :)

Hearing his name mentioned, Rangin decides not to respond, now is not the time, but he can't help thinking: No, Mr. Graham, I expect you to be an upstanding Starfleet security officer, and yet you keep proving me wrong and acting like a knuckle-dragging Orion Syndicate goon.

Rangin taps away on his tricorder again and looks slightly confused by some of the readings he was getting. Looking at the results, he's not sure if he managed to calibrate it all correctly.

Earlier he had been looking for scents in the area, specifically, the complex chemicals that would have been emitted by Mr Wilson as he moved through the area. It should not have been too hard and the absence of any results had surprised him leading to asking about the teleport signal.

True the signal had occurred, but looking at his tricorder again, Rangin is not so sure that he did it right. Fortunately he has a technical tricorder genius next to him and given what he managed to do on the Sakathian Space station, turning the tricorder into an automatic timer, getting it to scan for a specific set and concentration of chemicals should not be a problem for him.

Rangin decides to ask for some help from Delaney. "Sir, could I ask for some assistance in recalibrating this tricorder. I'm trying to track down a set of complex airborne chemical chains that would have come from Mr Wilson. We should be able to track their concentration and so be able to follow Mr Wilson's footsteps as he arrived at this point. However, I can't find any other than at the point Mr Wilson was found. It's why I asked earlier about the teleport signal. But looking at it again I'm just not sure I have calibrated it correctly to find the right chemical signature. Either way, I would just like to prove whether he did walk up the path or not. Would you be able to help?"

Looking at Delaney comprehending it, Rangin also goes for the short version.
"Long story short Sir, I'm trying to track Mr Wilson's steps by his body odour and want to convert my tricorder into an electronic dog to do it. I mean, how hard can it be with both of us working on it?"

T'Var has sensed the same emotions from Halsey. What those emotions mean are not clear at this point. The doctor sighs as she awaits Collins permission to contact Dr. Villa, report on this situation and find out what would be the best course of action regarding the autopsy.

Graham's seriously curious about what Rangin and Delaney are doing hunkered over a tricorder, but decides to speak to Collins first.

"L-T, I think," he says, and the gestures toward Kylah, "--well Ensign Kylah correctly suggested this too--we should ask Hsu's people to help us cordon off these houses in order to ensure we interview all guests that were there overnight,one at a time. At least of them, according to Officer Adelman, had a light on when he discovered the body. Then, before word gets out--once we put the team's heads together on what we've found so far and have an interview strategy, clearly we ought to talk to Fastolfe."

He pauses and lower's his voice. "Ah, you know, we are going to need to talk to Mrs. Hsu, but, ah, perhaps I could extend a bit of an olive branch and let her go get some coffee or whatever and we can catch up with her later?" He shrugs and tries to look supportive. "Maybe I'll be 'good cop' on this one..." he rubs his chin. "Guess I should've shaved..."

Delaney looks puzzled at first, but then nods and takes Rangin's tricorder from him. He opens the tricorder's back and works briefly on the sensor calibration panel with a small tool he selects from his Engineering kit. "That should do it, Ensign," he says after two minutes or so, closing the instrument and handing it back to the xenobiologist. "As it was set before, you couldn't do that. You have to decide what 'complex airborne chemical chains' you want to scan for, and then recalibrate for that. The tricorder is a useful gadget, but it can't do everything."

"Thank you sir," replies Rangin conversationally, "I guess this is another one of those times that an animal would be better than technology, but I guess I'll have to make do."

Rangin takes the tricorder back and turns it on again, checking it over to see the changes Delaney has made. "Wish me luck sir." There is a nod of Rangin's head in appreciation and he heads across to the area where Mr Wilson is still lying to get another sample before running the same sweep again to see what he can find.

He's hoping this time he can find something.

While Graham talks to Collins, Kylah looks down at Wilson's belongings, then searches automatically for Velir. When she finds him, she sees he has a specific aim in mind and does not wish to disturb him--well, not disturb him any more than she already has tonight. Swallowing back her feelings, she turns away and, when she spots Delaney, walks over to him.

"Excuse me, sir," she says tentatively. "When you have a chance... I found these objects in Mr. Wilson's pockets." Kylah carefully unfolds the handkerchief to reveal the communicator and pocket knife. "I know it is unlikely, but I thought it might be possible that whoever killed Wilson may have been searching for something. At least, I would not want to assume otherwise and not check. When you have a moment, could you please scan them to see if there are more than one set of fingerprints on them? I suppose it would be more telling if there were no fingerprints at all," she adds, musing, before finishing: "I will try to access the communicator once it has been scanned. I may need help there, too, if it is protected by a password."

Kylah finds herself saddened by the few small objects cradled in her hand. Wilson would never know that others are examining such items, which he probably used every day without giving a thought to them. And now they are mere evidence that, once scanned and checked, will be tossed away or given to his family. It is a waste.

"See to it" Collins tells Graham regarding the cordoning off. "As for Mrs Hsu, accompany her to coffee, and 'good cop' the heck out of her"

Rangin can find no indication from his scan that there is any trace of Wilson for at least twenty meters in any direction from the body. He realizes that a gust of wind may have blown away any scent, and as the slain man is wearing shoes, he would not necessarily have left any traces in the park if he simply walked there and touched nothing nearby.

Delaney adjusts his tricorder to scan Wilson's fingertips, and compares those readings to the fingerprints on the items from Wilson's pockets. He shows Kylah that there are no fingerprints other than Wilson's on them.

"I assume you'll want to lead questioning the folks in the houses then? Kylah's not bad at all as a partner, for someone without Security training," Graham says to Collins, nodding to acknowledge her and then moving away to talk to the Hsus.

Graham approaches Mr. Hsu. "I suspect you won't be thrilled about this, but we'd like to cordon off these houses here in order to interview any guests one by one." He gestures toward the red Victorian identified by Adelman. "Starting with that one--your officer indicated it may have had a light on at the time he discovered the body. If one of your people could be on point to make sure nobody foes anywhere, they can coordinate the interviews with Lieutenant Collins." He rubs his jaw. "For what it's worth, I don't think we want to roust people out of their beds or upset anybody...let's let 'em wake up, but we don't want anyone wandering off before we ask if they heard or saw anything last night."

"And, ah..." he turns toward Mrs. Hsu. "Look, now that you're in charge, I'm sure you're going to have a hell of a day. Above and beyond how it's gone already. But I guess you know one of us is going to need to talk you about Wilson and...well, stuff." He shrugs. "Can I, uh, buy you a coffee and we can take care of that?" he asks her. He holds up his hands. "And, ah, for the record, I'm not planning on 'thumbscrews and third-degree'," he says, first looking at Mrs. Hsu and then turning to her husband.

"Thank you, sir," Kylah says, and turns away slightly to pick up the communicator. She tries to determine if there's a way of identifying either whom Wilson last contacted, or whose call he most recently received. The time of the calls would also be useful, if possible.

Seriously i have no idea if this is possible, but geeze, it's possible with cellphones now, so it's hard to believe we'd lose the technology in 200 years...

"For all her," Collins pauses briefly, "quirks" she tells Graham, "Ensign Kylah does know how to talk to people, a skill I still need to hone." She waits until he's gone to talk to the Hsus, then turns to Kylah "You have the lead. I'll be beside you looking official and taking notes."

Mr. Hsu says, "I'll have my security officers cordon off the park. I can bring in additional off-duty, non-security staff, if necessary. I agree about rousting people. We'll have the folks in the guest houses stopped and made available for interviews as they emerge to start the day."

Mrs. Hsu still looks upset. She says, "Given the hour, none of the restaurants are open, but there's a staff lounge we could go to, if you wish, Ens. Graham."

Kylah finds that the communicator is password-protected. She thinks she can probably crack it with the Yorktown main computer's cryptographic program.

T'Var addresses Collins again, this time in a slightly irritated manner. "I would like to contact Dr.Villa so that the Medical Department can prepare for Mr. Wilson's autopsy." The doctor frowns, then sighs. "With your permission."

"Yes, of course" Collins says apologetically "Make it so"

Rangin wanders back to Delaney with his tricorder. "Thank you for the adjustments to the tricorder sir and it came up blank. No sign of any scent trail I can find within twenty metres of the body."

He pauses and thinks further, "There may be some reasons as to why I can't find any, mainly as I'm not an expert, but I'm still surprised not to find any." before turning to Delaney again, "What do you think sir?"

Kylah is busy mentally cursing the invention of passwords when she hears Collins address her. Turning her head warily, she takes in the other woman's order. Unable to meet her gaze, Kylah gives a quick nod and a murmured "aye, sir" before looking back at the communicator in her hand.

She's surprised to be given the lead, but obviously not disappointed. She can only imagine how Collins would address Fastolfe. The security officer has almost certainly leapt to the obvious conclusion that the man is guilty, and she would not be able to hide her dislike for him. Meanwhile, Kylah is almost equally certain of the man's innocence, for a variety of reasons. Even if she weren't, she knows how to flatter and lie to such an egotistical monstrocity--he is no worse than most of the royal family on Elas.

Out of the corner of her eye she sees Rangin moving closer to Delaney, and thus nearer to Kylah as well. He does not seem to see her. Or perhaps he has now properly relegated her to being beneath his notice. He is doing his duty, she tells herself as her heart sinks. And I am the one who rejected him, besides. I should expect no less.

If he can do his duty, so must she. She waits for Rangin to finish his conversation with Delaney, and then asks quietly: "Mr. Rangin, may I ask, did you find any fingerprints on the knife?" With a brief glance at Collins, she adds, "I was thinking, sir, that perhaps it would be prudent to have one of us, or someone on the security staff from the Yorktown, double-check to see if Lord Fastolfe's knife is still in the safe. I know this appears to be the knife we saw earlier, but we should make certain."

Caught up in his conversation with Delaney and thinking about the scans he had taken, Rangin is caught off guards by Kylah's presence and question. He had known she was around, but was trying to concentrate on the task at hand.

Rangin looks up, as parts of last night start to enter his consciousness, his concentration broken. His eyes widen slightly even as his face doesn't move, before taking a breath before answering. "The knife, no I didn't scan the knife, Mr Kylah. I've been scanning around the area. If no-one else has, perhaps I should. Excellent suggestion."

He nods at her politely with an open smile and heads across to the knife to scan it. As he turns and moves away, he wonders if he should hold out an olive branch, ask if she wants to compare findings, perhaps just ask how she is doing, the toll of what occurred showing in her sleep deprived demeanour. But, she wanted it this way. Just colleagues, Rangin reminds himself, just colleagues.

Delaney says, "If you didn't find any scent trail in the immediate area, I doubt there was any left by Wilson to begin with." He frowns. "It's possible I didn't do the reset as well as I should have, but I don't think so. If anything was there, you ought to have picked it up."

Rangin takes Dr. Halsey's last pair of sterile gloves, thanks him, then lifts and scans the knife. There are at least seven whole or partial fingerprints on it, all on the handle. None are Wilson's. Rangin will need to access the Federation's central fingerprint database, or those of any particular world if necessary, to determine whose they are. He will need to either return to the ship, or upload the data via subspace link from one of the resort's computer terminals, to do so.

Having taken the fingerprints from the knife, Rangin carefully heads across to Mr Hsu. "Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to have any sterile bags that this knife could be put in do you. There are several fingerprints on it I have taken scans of, but it would be best to keep this as is."

Rangin considers the clauses that WR&R have about the guests, but given its a murder case and could help find someone quicker, "Also, I know there is a confidentiality clause between WR&R and the guests,but given that all the guests are using fingerprints for most things, I sure any help would be appreciated in solving this crime. Perhaps you could let Lt. Collins know what would be required if we did need to gain access to that data."

Before there is a response, Rangin continues, "I will be sending the data to the Yorktown to see what they can match, but any advice on who we would be best to look for would also be appreciated."

Kylah overhears Rangin's remarks about the fingerprints, and, after girding herself, moves to him. "Excuse me," she murmurs awkwardly, looking down at the knife rather than Rangin's face. "I believe there should be a minimum of two sets of prints on the weapon, assuming this is the same knife confiscated from Lord Fastolfe: Fastolfe's and Mr. Graham's. Indeed, Graham's should be more prominent than Fastolfe's, since Graham was the last one--aside from the murderer--to hold it. You... perhaps you might want to compare Graham's fingerprints first, to eliminate them. And if his fingerprints are not there, that too is significant." She glances up at Rangin very quickly. "Do you not think so?"

Mr. Hsu says, "There's a law-enforcement exception to our guests' confidentiality agreements, so you're welcome to access our fingerprint database. I don't know who else we ought to be looking at, although Fastolfe is an obvious suspect, given his earlier confrontation with Mr. Wilson." He uses his own communicator, similar to Wilson's, to ask another security officer to bring sterile evidence bags to the crime scene.

Rangin wonders who to respond to first, before inwardly smiling to himself, duty before pleasure

First to Mr Hsu, "Thank you, I'll let the Lieutenant know, I'm sure she will be grateful for the assistance. Just let me know when someone will be available to take the scans."

He then turns and smilies at Kylah, "It does look similar to the knife Mr Graham confiscated, but I thought that one had been safely, and securely, stored in a locker somewhere. But if you are correct, and to be honest I hope you are, because it means someone had to liberate from that secure locker, then you are right, Ens. Graham's fingerprints should be on it, along with Falstofe's."

He looks back at Kylah meeting her gaze is she wishes, "You are quite right, it would be worth comparing Graham's fingerprints to this now. Their appearance being important or not, well that depends on whether the knife is still in its secure locker."

Rangin looks at the knife he is holding, across at Ens. Graham about to leave and then back to Kylah. "Kylah, could you do me a favour please. Could you obtain Ens. Graham's fingerprints before he leaves? I would head across, but I'm still holding this knife carefully and the evidence bags have not yet arrived."

Rangin wonders if she will notice he dropped the Mr, or if she will decline and head off to whatever other task Collins has assigned her and waits to see what her reaction is.

Kylah is weary and her heart bears a tangled knot of emotions that cannot--and must not--be unraveled right now. But simply being near Rangin's calm, soothing presence is like being wrapped by a comforting blanket. If she did not feel, in the very pit of her being, as if her touch would taint him, she would wish herself in his arms.

Her wits are slow and it takes her a moment to digest his words. "Yes," she says softly, "I had the same thought... that we must ascertain whether Fastolfe's knife is indeed in the safe. Fingerprints should be taken there, too. I will ask Graham for a sample. But I am not as skilled with a tricorder as you." Kylah hesitates and looks away. She must not compliment him, she must not do anything to make this interaction personal or friendly. He called her Kylah, and he may do as he wishes, but she herself has forfeited the right to his friendship. "Or--or as skilled as other more experienced officers. Will my tricorder be able to scan his hands to identify the prints, or must I get a physical sample?"

Though he will not show it on his face, Kylah's response hurts Rangin. He was hoping, perhaps, to some semblance of friendship again, but it seems that she is not of the same mind. Just colleagues it is and if that was the case, she probably didn't want to stay around him at the moment.

"A tricorder scan would be fine, but perhaps I should do it with mine. I have all the other data stored in it, and it would make matching easier with it all in one place. Perhaps if he comes across for a few seconds instead. Thank you for your input Mr Kylah."

At that point, Kylah could leave or stay, Rangin had given her the option and he would respect her decision, just as she had asked him to do last night.

Turning to face, in his direction, Rangin calls across. "Mr Graham, could I borrow you for a moment, please?"

Remaining in place, Kylah keeps her gaze on the ground. She will ask Graham about the idea of making certain the apparent murder weapon is indeed the same as Fastolfe's. But the ground seems to dip and sway as her mental and physical exhaustion threaten to topple her off-balance. She inhales deeply of the cool early-morning air, hoping to rouse herself.

Rangin's own coolness is palpable without her having to reach out to his mind--his return to using "Mr" is proof enough of it. Kylah does not blame him. But she feels diminished again. Perhaps I should tell T'Var what happened after all. She will relieve me of duty and I may return to the ship, and perhaps resign, and return to Elas, and live out my days as if Starfleet and Collins and Jan and Velir and above all my foolish, stupid transgression never existed.

The whim lasts only seconds. She takes another deep breath to clear her mind and looks up to find Graham, to see if he is coming over.

Graham nods to Hsu. "Lead the way, ma'am..." Then he hears his name. "Uh, sorry, excuse me for one moment, though."

He turns back and moves toward Kylah. "You needed me for something, Mr. Kylah?"

Kylah lifts her head, feeling as if all the blood has left it, and takes another strengthening breath. "It was Mr. Rangin, actually, but... I did have a couple of suggestions. First, that one of us might go to the safe area and determine whether Lord Fastolfe's knife is, indeed, missing. And if it is, to look for fingerprints or any other signs of who last accessed the area. Second..."

She doesn't dare look at Rangin but indicates him with her hand. "Mr. Rangin has found fingerprints on the handle of the murder-- the apparent murder weapon. But if this is Fastolfe's knife, your fingerprints should also be on it as well, since you both handled it. I suggested, and Mr. Rangin agrees, that samples of your prints should be obtained to differentiate between yours and whatever others may be on the knife."

She drops her hand down to her side, where it hangs limply. "If your fingerprints are not there, then... I think that may be important."

Graham smiles. "Heh, you could've told me Mr. Rangin thinks I should be treated as a suspect, I just might have believed that." He holds out his hands. "Right on all counts--all up, before we talk to Fastolfe we need to interview all the folks in these houses, confirm the other knife is still secure, and check the prints on this weapon." He gestures with a tilt of his head. "Collins asked me to chat with Mrs. Hsu right now. If no one else is able to take care of it, I can swing by the storage boxes after than and check on that knife."

Graham furrows his brow. "Are you doing, OK? Look, personally if I could do yesterday over again, differently, I'd pay good money to make it happen. I suspect you're in the same boat." He shakes his head. "But unless you killed somebody, a couple mistakes aren't going to blow your career." He pauses and adds, quietly. "You can trust me on that. I've made a lot of day-to-day mistakes...and...killed somebody."

His own feelings are conflicted: looking back, on this mission, he's keenly rueing the loss of his previous rank more than he has in a long time. But at the same time--what matters most, looking ahead, is keeping at finding the right people to kill, he thinks.

He clears his throat. "Look, anyway, you're asking good questions, keep at it."

Listening as attentively as she can to Graham while he discusses their mission, Kylah nods and is about to go to Collins when Graham suddenly asks her if she's all right. Although her left hand still holds the folded handkerchief with Wilson's belongings, her right automatically squeezes into a fist. It is not a defiant gesture; it is one of control. She will not react in tears or flushes. She will not give herself that indulgence.

Unless you killed somebody, a couple mistakes aren't going to blow your career.

He pays her a compliment after that, but Kylah hardly hears it. She looks up at Graham. "My career?" she says--almost whispers, in wonder. She shakes her head slightly. How wrong his guess is. But that is not his fault. He cannot know why she is sickened by herself. "Yes. Yes, you are right. I have not ruined my career and I did not kill anyone. All will be well." With another shake of her head she stops her murmured words and pulls herself together. "Thank you, Mr. Graham. I shall do my best."

Graham nods to Kylah and hurries back to Mrs. Hsu. While they walk toward the staff lounge, he starts to ask her questions. "For what it's worth, we will find whoever did this. It's a good--" he almost says "team" but that wouldn't be totally accurate--"crew...and I've done it before." Too many times, he thinks.

He softens his voice. "It seemed to me you were pretty upset by Mr. Wilson's--Tony, you called him--his death. To be honest, it doesn't mean I won't try suss out whether you're a suspect too. But I think you're smart enough to know that."

He clears his throat. "How long did you work for Mr. Wilson?
Did you know him well?
Was there anyone, any reason someone from his past would want to harm him?
Current guests? WR&R, its competitors, other staff, anybody?
Where would he have been, this past night, if he'd kept to his normal habits?
Is there any reason he'd be out in the park?"

One of Mr. Hsu's security officers brings the sterile evidence bags, and the knife goes in one. He adds, "Our database includes all-hand scans of staff, that is, for all of their fingers, but only both thumbs - or the non-Human equivalent - of visitors. Guests don't need more than a thumbprint for identification, billing, opening doors and so on."

Mrs. Hsu leads Ens. Graham away from the park, down a different hallway and into a spartan staff lounge. She gets coffee from a wall dispenser and offers Graham a cup. She is pale and drawn. She answers his questions in a quiet, somewhat unsteady voice: "I worked with Tony for two years. I knew him pretty well, although he was a private person. I'd say we had a very good working relationship. Although he wasn't beloved by all of the staff, I don't know of anyone who disliked him enough to kill him. I don't know of any of the guests or anyone else, no one at all, who would wish him harm, really. If he'd kept to his normal habits, he would probably have been at his desk until late in the evening. He would often walk around a little before going to bed; he liked to make sure that all was well before turning in, and he said a little walk before bed would help clear his head and focus him." She begins to puddle up but then gets a grip on herself. She blows her nose, takes a deep breath and says more calmly, "I don't know any particular reason he might have come to the park, but there's no reason he wouldn't have, either. He was in charge of the entire resort, and he took that responsibility very seriously. He got around to everywhere, sooner or later, and he paid attention to every last detail."

Kylah asks Hsu's security crew member for another evidence bag, and will place the communicator, handkerchief and penknife within it when he gives it to her.

With a nod to Collins, she begins toward the dark-red cottage. She pats her belt for her phaser, just for security's sake. Although Collins is certainly a better shot than she is--almost everyone at the Academy was a better shot than Kylah was, so an actual security officer must be light years ahead of her--the weapon at her side is a comfort.

When she turns the corner to the front of the house, she looks around to see if the WR&R security team members have already been placed in front of each cottage. If they are in place, she will walk up to the red cottage and ring the bell to be admitted.

Rangin stands in calm silence as he takes Graham's fingerprints with is tricorder. He says nothing about the fact he called him over, but the only response from Graham was to Kylah. Rangin realises he is being blanked but decides its not worth raising at this time in the morning. If Graham wants to act so childishly, that's his perogative.

While Rangin listens, Graham's comments about Kylah's state are accurate, she does look in bad shape, but his comment about killing and a career just highlights the difference between Graham and Kylah. Rangin wonders if he should fill Graham in on what happened at the Sakathian Station. Maybe he attitude to the rest of the group may change slightly, given what happened. Then again, knowing Graham, he would probably have a bigger and better story of how he single handedly fought off an entire battalion of Klingons armed only with a spoon and then expect to us to bow down in awe and amazement.

As for Kylah, Rangin can guess at what she is going through from her confirmation of what happened the previous day. Her career would be the last part of it, her feelings towards herself, well that was a different matter. I have ruined everything, she had said. Rangin wishes that she would at least talk to someone instead of continually self-flagellating, but he held out little hope she would be that sensible. He would give it a little while and see if she did. Otherwise even if she was only a colleague, he didn't want to see her waste what opportunities she did have and she was well on the way to doing that.

Once they had left, and the knife has bagged, Rangin asks Mr Hsu, "Do you mind if I use your security office, to start running checks on the fingerprints and upload data to the Yorktown for further analysis. And more importantly, get another coffee. If so, I'll let Lt. Delaney know where I am going, we can check for the knife in storage on the way and probably add that to the small amount of evidence we already have."

T'Var contacts the ship and discusses the situation with Dr. Villa.

"Dr. Halsey will be assisting me with the autopsy," she tells the CMO. "With your permission, of course."

Kylah separately bags each of the items removed from Wilson's pockets.

Mr. Hsu doesn't have a big enough staff to post someone outside of every single one of the guest houses, but one on each corner of the park can see all of the houses on that row, and they have now taken up their positions. There is no answer to Kylah's ringing of the red house's door chime.

Mr. Hsu says to Rangin, "Yes, Officer Peters will take you there." Peters, a heavyset man with short-cropped hair, leads Rangin to the Security Office, a few minutes' walk away. Once there, Rangin is able to establish a secure subspace link to the ship without any problem. "Ready for inquiry," the Yorktown's Library Computer responds.

Dr. Villa tells Dr. T'Var, "Yes, of course. I'll have an examination room ready for you momentarily."

Kylah frowns at the lack of response but does not hesitate long. There has been a murder. We are entitled to interrupt their sleep.

About to try again, she murmurs to Collins without facing her, "If this does not work, could we ask Mr. Hsu or one of his security crew to open the door for us? There is a killer on the loose. I believe we can safely say this is an emergency situation and must at least ensure that all guests are safe."

Her tired eyes widen at her own words, and she suddenly turns to her commanding officer. "Why have none of us have thought of this? We must check on the Admiral--and all the other guests! It is perhaps probable Mr. Wilson was specifically targeted and no one else is in danger, but that is an assumption we make at great risk to the lives of every single person at this resort. With respect, I believe we will be remiss if we do not ask the Yorktown to send down a larger security presence to knock on every guest door and ensure that everyone is all right. Do you not agree? "

During her final question she rings the chime again and bangs her fist on the door.

Rangin uploads the fingerprint data he has gathered from his tricorder and the thumbprint data he has been provided.

"Computer, identify any matches between the knife exhibit one fingerprints and WR&R thumbprint data. Also Compare knife exhibit one fingerprints against Ensign Graham and Lord Falstofe."

Rangin sits back and waits to see what comes back.

He turns to Officer Peters and asks hopefully, "Any coffee in the office?"

Kylah and Collins hear someone moving around inside. "Just a minute," they can barely hear a male voice say.

"Working," says the Library Computer to Rangin. It whirrs briefly. "Authorization for search of classified and/or privacy-protected records already provided by Vargas, Cmdr. Pablo, Chief of Security, USS Yorktown. Fingerprint scan results: The knife has four whole and three partial fingerprints. All are on the handle." More whirring. "Comparison and matching. Accessing WR&R staff and guest database. No matches. Accessing Starfleet personnel database." Still more whirring. "No matches to Graham, Ens. Booker, Security Department, USS Yorktown. Accessing Federation Security criminal fingerprint database." There is a longer delay, and then a beep. "The four whole fingerprints, right hand, little finger through index finger, match those of Fastolfe, Lord Ugren, of Proxima Centauri, with 78% probability. The three partial fingerprints show no matches in that database." A pause. "Specify if any planetary or other databases should be queried."

Officer Peters, who has been listening with interest, hands Rangin a cup of coffee. It's strong and has a somewhat metallic taste.

Graham nods patient acknowledgment of Hsu's responses. "Attention to detail," he thinks. Sometimes that means you discover something somebody doesn't want you to know...

"Well, I'd say 'if you don't mind,' before I ask this, but I know that the answer is that you are going to mind, because I suspect it will be a very painful moment for you--but it is the right thing to do for the investigation. So I won't try to soften the blow here: if you would take me to Mr. Wilson's office, we might find some clues as to what happened and why there."

Mrs. Hsu seems to brace herself and says, "Of course."

She puts down her coffee and leads Graham along several hallways and back to the main lobby, then through the door behind the main reception desk to the warren of narrow corridors and offices behind it. Graham sees the door to the resort's vault, where Lord Fastolfe's knife was locked away the day before. The Security officer notes that Mrs. Hsu's office is next door to Wilson's. The late resort director's office is almost the size of the Yorktown's Bridge, and is both modern and immaculate. The walls are bare but for a single somewhat amateurish watercolor of a mountain lake; several datapads are arrayed on the large, highly-polished desk. Mrs. Hsu turns on all the lights and gestures wordlessly towards the desk before her face clouds over. She slumps into one of the four dark leather chairs arrayed before the desk and her shoulders tremble.

Graham notices several photographs on the credenza behind the desk, showing Wilson and a good-looking, middle-aged woman and four children, a boy and three girls. Two of the girls appear to be twins.

After a single sip of the coffee, Rangin resists the urge to grimace and he carefully places the cup on the desk. Peters may be a good security officer, but his culinary skills are lousy. What on earth had he put in his coffee to make it taste so bad, or maybe it is just a terrible blend. But with Officer Peters there, there is no way Rangin can dispose of it without offending him.

He turns his attention back to the computer results and Rangin switches between talking to Peters and the computer.

"Interesting. four fingerprints for Lord Falstofe, but then that would be expected as it appears to be his knife and that would match with him wrapping his hand around the hilt. Thumb over fingers. Then again, who knew he had a criminal record. Ok, lets start with the obvious."

"Computer, please cross-reference partial fingerprints against Proxima Centauri fingerprints records."

"Let's see if it's someone in Falstofe's entourage, actually 78% is actually a pretty lousy match."

"Computer, can you identify order that fingerprints were placed on knife exhibit."

"We may have to ask Lord Falstofe who else has been playing with his knives."

"Computer, based off size and shape of partial fingerprints, identify likely species and digits that will fit a single hand to match the placement of the three partial fingerprints."

"Could you do me a favour. Could you check that Lord Falstofe's knife is still in custody. I believe it was placed in one of your secure areas near the main offices, just for confirmation. Actually, that's a good point."

"Computer, please find any reference to the exhibit knife being one of pair or multiple set."

"You never know. Well, I'll just wait here for the answers."

Rangin is hoping that Peters will give him a couple of minutes alone, checking on the knife. Rangin can't exactly leave the terminal but with Peters out the way, he can do something about the coffee. Actually, Rangin knew someone he might like to try this coffee on, maybe he should ask Graham around and see if he wanted one.

"Acknowledged," T'Var says to Villa. "Thank you."

T'Var gives Dr. Halsey a reassuring nod. "Hopefully, the autopsy will provide us with some much-needed answers to Mr. Wilson's murder."

Peters says, "If the knife's in the vault, I don't have authorization to open it. I'll check with Mr. Hsu." He steps out of the room.

The Library Computer whirrs again. The disembodied female voice says, "Partial fingerprints have no matches in Proxima Centauri records. Unable to determine order in which fingerprints were placed on knife. Partial fingerprints appear to be of Human origin, or closely-related species. Accessing weapons database. Knife is an Argelian dagger, 31 cms long, of a design associated with the craftsmen of the Belukan tribe. Such daggers have been made for approximately 450 years, and are traditionally produced in sets of three."

A few minutes later, Dr. Villa calls T'Var from the Yorktown. "We're ready here. Stand by to beam up."

"Thanks kindly," cheers Rangin after him. The instant he is gone, Rangin starts looking round for somewhere to dump the coffee, and try to find where Peters got the last coffee from. It should be somewhere nearby, although Rangin is not going to leave the console unguarded or unwatched.

Another thought does strike Rangin. Although full hand scans of the staff and Federation personnel had been, wait no they hadn't. The computer had only reported on Graham, not the research station and the guests didn't have hand scans. "Computer, For each guest thumbprint supplied by WR&R resort, find the associated fingerprints for each person if available and match against the partial fingerprints on the knife. Also, compare partial fingerprints against Starfleet records for personnel on Omicron Ceti III. Also send copies of all current findings to Cmdr. Vargas and Lt (JG) Collins of USS Yorktown"

"There", Rangin mutters to himself, "an easy way to eliminate a lot of people in one go and I don't want the Chief of Security to think I'm abusing the privilege given. Now where is that coffee?"

Rangin finds the Security Office's kitchenette just down the hall and dumps his coffee in the sink, running the water a little to erase all sign of it. A pot of coffee is steaming away on the stained counter. He can see that Hsu's staff is not the tidiest in the galaxy.

The Coridanite takes his empty mug back to the squad room and hears the computer say, "No match of partial fingerprints on knife with any individual in either WR&R or Starfleet records." It beeps. "Results to date sent via secure subspace link to comm accounts of Cmdr. Vargas and Collins, Lt. JG Jeremi, Security Department, USS Yorktown."