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

Chastened, Kylah thanks Velir and puts aside any thoughts of the Klingons. I am overstepping myself as usual, she acknowledges, and just waits for both the decryption program to run as well as search results on the Interstellar Leisure Group--although if Velir is doubtful about Palver's involvement it probably will come to nothing anyway, as he is usually correct about such things.

Confirmation bias, Kylah thinks, remembering the term from her Academy training regarding research. A few mentions of the Klingons, together with Kylah's own background that makes this a sore subject for her, has sent her on a pointless and paranoid tangent.

There is no point to bothering Collins either with a conspiracy theory run amok. The other woman, if she is truly recovered and back to normal, would only wonder what ridiculous thing Kylah is up to now. And of course Collins would be correct in doing so; even Velir said as much, only in his polite Velir-esque way. As far as updating Collins on the rest of the mission, that is Graham's responsibility, if he so chooses.

She does wonder why Velir has backed away from the idea of a third party. There may be no proof, as yet, but Mrs. Hsu's shabby alibi was all the proof they had on her as well, before she suddenly decided to escape. They have precisely the same issue with Palver, although unlike Mrs. Hsu he has lied to them twice: first with his false recounting of the night of the murder, and second with this spurious amnesia tale.

The only difference is that he has a better poker face than Mrs. Hsu. And he has no need to do anything similarly foolish as Mrs. Hsu's escape attempt when no one is putting any pressure on him.

With a sigh, Kylah leans her elbow on the table and rests her chin against her hand, watching the two terminals chug away in silence.

Graham arrives at Reception; Young and T'Var have not yet arrived. People pass by in the lobby, chatting amiably, and several guests go outside now that the storm is passing. Graham reminds himself that there are still many people here whom the murder investigation has not really affected. Delaney calls and says, "The Vice Admiral's communicator is a standard-issue Starfleet device. Nothing unusual about it. Its usage log is blank before today, when three calls were made with it."

Kylah breaks the encryption on Mrs. Hsu's datapad in just a few minutes. There are four files on it.

Garcia says "Eureka!" soon after; he has found ten files on Hardin's device.

Kylah sends a quick congratulatory smile up at Garcia. "May I see, whenever you are done with them?" she asks, before checking the files on Mrs. Hsu's datapad.

With nothing of interest on Mrs Hsu computer turning up, Rangin sighs and wonders if the others having any better luck this time. He opens his communcator.

"Rangin to Kylah. I've found nothing of real interest on Mrs Hsu's terminal unless its the day to day running of as resort. Nothing related to Vice Ad. Hardin, Lt. Cmdr. Ebling or Fellim Palver and nothing that might have shown any knowledge of any corruption. Hopefully, the deleted files will be on that datapad and show something we can work with. Have you had any luck decrypting it yet?"

Graham does his best to appear calm, professional, and amiable. No sense ruining these folks' day, he thinks. Although he's not keen on the idea of getting drugged, the transition to noticing all that's bucolic about the resort reminds him that it's a lovely and luxurious place. In other circumstances, a nice place to visit. A place suited to Bennett...

He clenches his jaw. Now all these people are going to be wondering why I'm standing around red-faced. Sure, Bennett would love to walk the grounds with me. Maybe the Sandoval buildings would remind her of cottages in the English country. 'Here, come see the one I burned down...!'"

Someone like her is more likely to associate somebody like me with a trip to the zoo rather than a visit to a resort.


Delaney's hail draws him back to the job at hand. Ah ha--he called his lifelines and came up empty...but who?

He replies in a low voice. "All right--any way to get more information on those contacts--time, duration, target?"

Kylah sees that Mrs. Hsu's datapad has files labeled H ACCT, WR&R ACCT, LIONEL and TONY.

Garcia shows her Hardin's datapad. It has the files WILSON 1, WILSON 2, HSU 2, OCG CORRESP, OCG MISC, OC3 RENEW, OC3 SPORES, OSI ACCESS, TAX and FNCL MGMT.

Delaney reports to Graham, "Of course. One call was to Palver; it wasn't completed. Looks like Palver didn't answer. Two were to Mrs. Hsu; they spoke for less than a minute each time. It looks like all three were after he, uh, stunned you and Mr. Kylah and before he was captured."

Dr. T'Var and Mr. Young arrive at Reception within moments of each other.

Kylah's mouth goes dry at the sight of the 'H Account' reference on Mrs. Hsu's datapad and the Hsus' name on Hardin's; it feels as desert-like as the Elasian Southern Continent when she spots OSI there as well.

She grabs her communicator when she hears the hail. "Yes," she says with a significant glance across the table to Garcia before returning to stare at the file names. "Yes we have had a great amount of luck. Lt. Garcia and I have access to both datapads and just from the file names I can see that the Hsus and Hardin are connected. I was just about to open them. There are some references here I do not recognize but..." Her distracted voice fades away in her hurry to open the documents.

Kylah's first instinct takes her to the H Account file, but she will run down each on Mrs. Hsu's device. With Hardin, she aims directly for the Wilson files first, then Hsu, and then the curiously named OCG files. Next will be the OC3 Spores and--the one that intrigues her the most--the OSI Access files.

Well hot damn, Graham thinks. This is starting to make sense. If Hardin needed money, there had to be a money man. And...did Palver throw Hardin and Hsu under the bus? Billionaire assholes didn't usually get and stay that way by playing softball... And who's on the hook right now? Hardin and Hsu...


He's eager to discuss with the team but sighs and addresses Young. "Am I correct that you're, ah, basically next in line in management at this place after Mrs. Hsu?"

Young looks up at the ceiling and then down. He says, "No, Mr. Brett, the office manager, would be next in line, I guess. But, you know, it's not as strict a chain of command as Starfleet has."

It will take Kylah some time to review each of the files. She tabs through each of them on Mrs. Hsu's datapad. H ACCT is an array of financial spreadsheets, what seems to be a tally of payments made to Vice Adm. Hardin, who is mentioned by name. In broad strokes, it confirms what Hardin has already told her and the others about his and Wilson's secret dealings. WR&R ACCT appears to show money taken from corporate accounts; it does not say by whom, but in context, she thinks probably by Wilson. LIONEL, she knows, is the first name of Mrs. Hsu's husband. This file is a collection of correspondence between them, some personal and some "all business," dating back more than two years. The TONY file is also correspondence, also a mix of personal and business; the oldest of these items is eight months old. In her cursory review, she does not see anything incriminating among the contents of either of the last two files.

Kylah reads all this when she gets Velir's hail. She picks up the communicator. "I am sorry you have found little success. Are you going to the Hsus' suite next? Meanwhile, I have definitely been fortunate, as has Lt. Garcia. I am looking at both of the datapads now." With barely a break in her words, Kylah quickly recites the filenames to Velir. "From what I have read of Mrs. Hsu's documents, none of this is new or incriminating--to the point where I cannot see why Mrs. Hsu was so desperate to take this along on her journey."

She switches her attention to Hardin's datapad. Instead of the Wilson files, which may be more financial data outlining the corruption they already know about, she starts with the HSU 2 file (And where is HSU 1? she wonders privately). She wants to see if there's another connection between Hardin and the Hsus, one or both.

"It will take a while to read these in full," she explains to Velir, "still, for now I probably only need to scan them for relevant names. I know you are not convinced there is a third party, but my instinct is still strong about Mr. Palver. I will search the data for either his first or last name, his initials, and even 'ILG'--the name of his company."

Her eyes flick to the files that most intrigue her. "There is a file called OSI Access. I think... that refers to Intelligence, does it not? Was someone investigating Hardin? Was he investigating something? I will open that next.

"But you might want to take a look at the file labeled OC3 Spores. Why does he have a file on the spores? I guess I will find out..." She clucks her tongue, a thought striking her. "Honestly, does it not seem... extraordinarily foolish, to put it mildly... for Hardin to have kept such details on his datapad, and brought them to this planet with him? Was the man that full of hubris? Unless someone convinced him to bring it."

She continues opening and searching the files as she speaks.

Graham sighs inwardly. Although he's still inclined to regard dealing with nicey-nicey bullshit in order to let others on the team continue with the investigation as the burden of command, he'd been hoping this courtesy call on whoever from W&R should take charge would take all of five seconds. "All right, well, the point is, as you may know I'm leading the investigation of Wilson's murder. In the interest of the happiness and well-being of your guests, I wanted to let you know Mrs. Hsu is likely to be unavailable to resume her duties for awhile, so somebody should step up to run the place for the time being," he replies. "If you want to contact Mr. Brett, I'm happy for him to hear it straight from the horse's mouth and answer any questions the two of you have--if I can."

Kylah looks through the files on Hardin's datapad. WILSON 1 has innocuous correspondence between Hardin and the late manager of the resort. WILSON 2 has a couple of transcriptions of subspace messages, with all identifiers deleted, about the selection of WR&R and later payments between... well, it doesn't exactly say. HSU 2 is a single cryptic message from someone to, it appears, Hardin, about Wilson and his bribing of Hardin. OCG CORRESP is correspondence to and from Hardin and the Office of the Comptroller General, while OCG MISC is files about the OCG's day-to-day operations; nothing in them appears to relate to the resort. OC3 RENEW is about the preliminaries (in-house OCG memos and evaluations) of Starfleet deciding whether to renew WR&R's franchise or award the contract to another company; ILG is prominently mentioned there several times. OC3 SPORES is a classified memo offering a layperson's overview of the spores and their effects, written by Dr. Lucy Anderson of the Starfleet research station here, dated seven months ago. OSI ACCESS is a series of brief notes about the Office of Starfleet Intelligence's armory and equipment inventories at both Starfleet Command and its secret research facility at Starbase 17. TAX is about Hardin's taxes, and FNCL MGMT is about his personal finances generally. When Kylah runs a search, Palver's name or initials appear nowhere in any of the files.

Young says to Graham, "Mr. Brett already knows about what's happened." He coughs delicately. "I think he's been in touch with Corporate and is, uh, waiting for further instructions."

"Possible blackmail," Kylah murmurs when she looks a the HSU 2 file. She looks up at Garcia and taps a finger on the datapad in her hand. "Is it possible to trace a seemingly anonymous subspace message? Or to retrieve deleted information?" She re-reads the references to ILG to see just how favorably, if at all, Hardin was disposed toward the organization. And this OSI information regarding weaponry. Is that where he got his charming little toy? Her hand massages her temple again at the memory of the agonizing aftereffects of the stun.

She also takes a closer look at Hardin's personal finances, curious about just how much trouble he was in. What was this bad investment he made?

After a while she glances back at the other terminal she was using to search the net for information about ILG. Surely something must be available on this company.

From the information presented on the datapad, Kylah can see no way to trace the source of the anonymous message, or to retrieve any deleted information. Perhaps a computer expert or data-retrieval specialist could do better. No memo in the OC3 RENEW file mentions Hardin by name. Several memos and notes by OCG staff and non-Starfleet analysts mention the Interstellar Leisure Group Ltd. favorably as a possible challenger to WR&R for the resort and spa franchise.

Hardin's bad investments appear to have been in dilithium futures, real estate in the Helena system, and cabroline refining.

Fednet financial and investment sources describe ILG as a large vacation and resort operator, about two-thirds the size of Wrigley Resorts & Recreation in holdings and revenue, but generally considered more nimble, better-run and more in touch with younger travelers than WR&R. Financial disclosure filings with Federation and United Earth authorities indicate that Palver is the biggest individual investor in the company but does not hold a controlling interest. He sits on the board but, Kylah sees from several news reports, does not always get his way.

Kylah frowns at the evidence, or lack thereof, culled from the datapads and from the net. She is curious about Hardin's poor luck with dilithium futures; since when could investing based on such a vital resource be a bad bet? Well, that is not entirely true, she thinks as she looks at the terminal. What little she knows about such things indicates that perhaps Hardin invested in some other entity--a planet, a mining operation--with a value entirely derived from whether dilithium could be found there. If there was less dilithium than expected, or the operation had some disastrous technical failure, the futures' value would decrease. At least I believe that is how it works...

She mulls over the information about ILG. Palver may not have controlling interest in the company, but he himself acknowledged that he 'nearly' had one. He may be in the process of purchasing more shares--or planned to wait until the deal was more certain.

Yes, the datapads show no precise link to Palver; perhaps she is being stubborn trying to manufacture a link. But she refuses to believe Palver's presence on this planet, at this precise time, is a coincidence. The thought is preposterous. I might be able to leverage the knowledge that Mrs. Hsu lied to me about not knowing of Wilson's corruption. Maybe that will make her admit to knowledge of Palver...

She shakes her head and relays all that she has found to both Garcia and Velir, and simultaneously copies the basic data to her tricorder and disseminates it to the team. Then, asking Velir to hold for a moment, Kylah opens up another communication channel to Lt. Thalen.

"Sir, I have a pair of datapads with information that may have been deleted, and other messages that need some expert tracing to see if we can identify the senders. If they are beamed back to the ship, would you or perhaps Lt. Cmdr. Roble be able to direct them to any experts in the field of data retrieval? I have copied the data, so we have access to it, but have of course not altered anything on the datapads themselves. I do not know if one of our transporter engineers can get a lock on them or if I should get them to the transporter room here and beam them up accordingly."

The communicator in her own hand, and the thought of the transporter room itself, makes her scowl further. When caught at the transporter, Mrs. Hsu seems not to have been in possession of her own communications device. She checks in the safe automatically even though she suspects her memory is accurate.

Depending on when she is done talking to Thalen, she switches channels again. "Lt. Garcia... Velir... The datapad and the stylus were the only items we found on Mrs. Hsu, is that not correct? Should she not have a communicator of some kind? Velir, her office seems to have been the last place she was before she went to the transporter room--there was not that much time for her to travel. Does she have a communicator there, or is it just a comm panel? If so I would be curious to know if she contacted anyone, or if anyone contacted her. Possibly after I interviewed her but before she fled. Did she contact her husband to say goodbye? Did she contact Hardin? I do not know but both seem possible. What do you think?"

Rangin listens to Kylah as she mentions all the information she has found. "I wonder if Hardin was looking for someone else to pay him instead of Mr Wilson. It's the only reason I can think of for bringing a lot of that data. It really does look as though Palver had a lot of reasons other than health to be here. He's lied to us already and if we can just find a link to Hardin or Hsu, it would be a start to getting access to him and his ship. If there is going to be any third party, some extra influence around, it would be him."

He waits while she talks to someone else and the starts looking arund the office as she asks about Mrs Hsu's communicator.

"I can't see her communicator it straight off. I'll look for it here and if not I'll check out the Hsu's apartment and see if I can find anything there that may assist enquiries. When I find it I'll let you know. Oh and Kylah, I knew you could do it. Rangin out."

Rangin starts scanning the office for the communicator, if not he will head for the suite and see what he can find there.

Thalen replies to Kylah, "Put the datapads a few meters away from you, and I'll have them beamed up. We'll see if we can recover any additional data." She does so, and in moments they disappear into the transporter beam.

Garcia says, "Yes, she just had the datapad and stylus with her when you caught her. And a phaser, of course." He thinks. "There must be a comm in her office, at least a couple along the route from her office to the transporter room, and one on the transporter console itself."

Rangin quickly finds Mrs. Hsu's small, WR&R-issued civilian communicator in the top desk drawer. There is also a desktop comm panel.

Well, thank you for the courtesy, officer, Graham pantomimes in his head. And fuck you too. Damn waste of time.

He mumbles something vague about getting back to work and as soon as he and T'Var can speak without being overheard says "I'd like to talk to Ebling again, given what we know now."

Rangin bags up the communicator in an evidence bag and then contacts Kylah. "I've found Mrs Hsu's personal WR&R communicator, although I wouldn't be surprised if she had her own personal one hidden somewhere. Once I have checked the comms panel in the office, to see if it has anything I'll bring it it to the you to add to the collection of items we have for evidence."

Rangin checks the comms pad to see if any messages were sent from it within the last few hours.

Warmth floods Kylah's cheeks at Velir's compliment. She did need some sort of reinforcement, and as usual Velir has come through. She thanks him and, after getting the datapads sent off, is surprised by his quick follow-up. "Excellent, Velir. Lt. Garcia has reminded me that of course there would have been comm panels along Mrs. Hsu's route to the transporter--once she extricated herself from the crawlspace," she adds with a touch of acerbity. "And naturally there is the transporter room comm panel itself. But you will be going to their suite--and there is Mr. Hsu's office to search as well. I wonder..."

She looks back up at Garcia. "Sir, since you are done with the decrypting, perhaps you might head to the transporter room and check the logs there, if there are any that identify incoming or outgoing messages? And you might retrace Mrs. Hsu's apparent steps along the way--you could coordinate with Lt. Kjaerstad back in the Security office to see if she shows up on any of the video footage. Might that be a good idea?"

When she wishes Velir good luck and thanks him again, she waits until he disconnects before gathering her thoughts, then contacts Graham. After assuring that he is safe to talk, she outlines what she has found--which is not really very much--on the datapads. "They do appear to corroborate Hardin's story of having been contacted about the bribery by someone--who he certainly seems to think was Mrs. Hsu since that is how he named the file. But it is anonymous. I have sent the datapads to the Yorktown for further analysis, but the information is copied to the team's database here, and you should have access to it all.

"But either way, Mrs. Hsu's datapad confirms that she knew about--or otherwise had very easy access to--Wilson's illegal ties to Hardin. Which makes her a liar, not surprisingly. The only missing piece now is Palver. Whom I believe to be guilty, even though I cannot find much to back it up. It is instinct. The company in which he holds a significant amount of stock was a close competitor for the WR&R contract. His presence here is unlikely to be a coincidence. I feel... I feel as if Hardin could be made to reveal something. I would like the opportunity to talk to him again, if I may."

She hesitates. "Oh, and did Mr. Rawlings contact you yet, sir? Palver has moved from the library to his house. I suggested that Rawlings continue to follow him, discreetly. Of course I also told him to ask you, first. I just wish we had more of a connection to better justify this theory." After a sigh, she asks hopefully: "I do not suppose you found anything on Hardin's communicator, did you?"

Dr. T'Var agrees to accompany Graham to see Lt. Cmdr. Ebling. Her guards show them in. The young Tellarite woman rises from her seat, greets them and says, "I've finally received a reply from Starfleet Command, and am now authorized to speak more freely. I am a Starfleet Assistant Inspector General. I was assigned to Vice Adm. Hardin's staff to investigate him when he fell under suspicion for corruption and influence peddling. I apologize for not being more forthcoming earlier, but at the time, I was under orders to avoid exposing the investigation prematurely." She shows the two her message from Starfleet; it appears legit and confirms what she said. It authorizes Graham to fully inform her about the murder investigation and any other information about which she inquires.

Rangin, on a hunch, finds that Mrs. Hsu's communicator is not codelocked. Its internal record shows she was in touch with Hardin twice, on the same timeline as Delaney described to Graham. Rangin suspects she might have left the gadget behind in her office so that she couldn't be tracked with it when she tried to make her escape. Her desktop comm panel was used several dozen times earlier that day; looking down the list of calls made and received, the xenobiologist sees nothing out of the ordinary - all were to or from subordinate resort staff, other than two subspace messages from Corporate.

Rawlings reports that Palver went directly to his guest house and is still there.

Garcia does as Kylah suggests; he finds no indication that Mrs. Hsu used any comm panel between her office and the transporter room. Kjaerstad reports that resort surveillance footage shows her walking quickly - not quite running - from near her office (not actually emerging from the service crawlway) to the transporter room, before Kylah's arrival and phaser-aided entry. The comm panel there has not been used in five days, Garcia further reports.

Listening to Kylah, Graham can't help but laugh. "You asked Rawlings to be inconspicuous?" he says, chuckling. He clears his throat. "Anyway, yeah, after our little head-ache inducing episode Hardin tried to contact Palver--no response--and then contact Mrs. Hsu twice."

He nods, even though he realizes Kylah can't see it. "Your instincts are good...like I've been thinking, if Hardin was desperate for money there had to be another potential source... So, here's the question--who was playing who? Was the missus blackmailing Hardin, or working with Wilson? My instinct is that Palver's playing them all for suckers."

He pauses. "I'm sure you're right Hardin's got more--or, ah, different--to say if we can get it out of him." He pauses, then adds. "If anyone can, it'd likely be you...but the Doc and I are about to talk to Ebling. Hang tight till we see if she can add anything that would help...help you...shake out the truth."

As they reach Ebling's door he hurries up. "Ah, OK, I'll let you know what we learn."

He hastily stows his communicator as the guards show him in. When she apologizes, he shrugs in a gesture of acceptance. "Regs," he says, spreading his hands for a moment.

After Ebling finishes, he rubs his chin. He glances at T'Var and then gives Ebling a high-level, bullet point briefing focused on the key events, such as: Delaney's discovery of the incriminating evidence, Hardin stunning them, fleeing, and apparently attempting suicide. He does not dive into deep details.

Then he pauses for a moment. "So here's the thing we could use your help with: Hardin seems to be copping to hands-on murder, but for the moment assume that it isn't true based on other evidence--we know Mrs. Hsu knew about the whole scheme and didn't go to the authorities, and also attempted to reach Palver's ship. We know this Palver character has money and an interest in getting OC3 away from WR&R--and that Hardin at least tried to contact him."

He shakes his head. "Posit one scenario is we tie up Hardin in a bow and declare case closed on fraud and murder--but that would be letting at least one and maybe more bad guys off the hook. Scenario two...we puzzle out who really plotted and did what." He shrugs. "Anything you've learned about Hardin and this back story on this scheme that would help?"

Rangin contacts Kylah about the communicator. "Well, it looks like a couple of calls to Hardin as expected. Nothing on the desk communicator. I'll bring it to the OP for safe keeping."

Following that he walks quickly to the CP, to drop it off and find out what everyone else has discovered.

Ebling says, "Hardin had some money of his own before he began rising through the ranks, but was, in recent years, leading a lifestyle that seemed considerably beyond his means, even for an admiral. Starfleet pays well but not extravagantly, as you know. All the information I have is consistent with what you say he admitted to you. I'd like to review the interrogation record, though, and have a word with him myself." She thinks. "You certainly have enough to arrest and hold Hardin and Mrs. Hsu for now; I'm not so sure about Palver and Mr. Hsu. Starfleet Command says an investigative team is already on its way here. You're to hand off the case, or cases, to them when they arrive."

Garcia fully briefs Rangin when he arrives in the Command Post, including the fact that Graham and T'Var are meeting with Ebling in her guarded suite.

It is now 1725 hours.

Kylah has just lowered her communicator, staring at the table while still mentally processing what Graham has just told her, when Velir enters the CP. She listens to Garcia's recitation through what seems like static roaring in her ears. Hardin called Palver. He was escaping and desperate and the first thing he did was call Palver.

Once Garcia is done, Kylah turns to them and darts her intense gaze to Velir. "So Palver is connected to this. There must be a way to get this information from one of them. We cannot speak to Mrs. Hsu without an attorney, and Hardin seems implacable and determined to take the blame. Perhaps he can be convinced otherwise, but with Palver free it seems dubious that Hardin will change his mind--assuming Palver truly is holding some horrible threat over his head." After a few seconds of thought she glances back at Garcia and thanks him for all he's done, adding: "I need to walk and think for a moment. Excuse me, sir?"

She passes Velir on her way out of the door, brushing her fingers lightly against his sleeve in what she hopes is a hint to him that she wants him to follow her.

"Right, not extravagant," Graham says, recalling how much the perfume he bought at the resort shop cost. He nods acknowledgment when Ebling is finished. "We'll pinch Mrs. Hsu then, make sure there's a nice bow tied up on her for the investigators."

He's not sure how we feels about handing off the investigation: the natural desire to get to the bottom of things and close the book bumps up against the fact that he's handed off dozens of investigations over the years. Just part of the job, he thinks.

"I'll go for murder and resisting with Mrs. Hsu unless you have an objection, ma'am--with what have in hand at this moment, I'm not certain we could make murder stick on her, but she's involved and the charge is motivation for her to please down to conspiracy. Of course we'll make all the records available to you--I'd like Ens. Kylah to be a part of interrogating Hardin, she's been our...uh..." he pauses for a moment, not sure what to say. "Ah, lead interviewer."

Garcia says to Kylah, "Of course. I'll hold the fort here."

Ebling frowns but says, "Whatever you think best, Mr. Graham. Ens. Kylah can take the lead and I will probably have questions of my own."

"Looks like there is a definite connection there. Why would Hardin contact Palver unless he had a very good reason at that point in time," Rangin agrees with Kylah.

As Kylah thinks, Rangin adds the communicator to the list of evidential items they have gathered and notarises it. When she brushes past, he feels the little touch on his sleeve. Turning to Garcia, "Thank you for the update, I think my next stop is the Hsu's suite to see what I can find there."

Rangin heads quickly out of the CP to catch up with Kylah.

Graham takes his leave of Ebling and hails Kylah and Rangin in order to give them an update.

"There's a Starfleet investigation team enroute, so let's try to hand things over in as good a state as possible. Mr. Kylah, Ebling wishes to question Hardin: you'll be in the lead however, so coordinate with her on when. Palver's the loose end here...if we could get him or Hsu to incriminate him, it might give us another shot at getting a warrant. I'm on my way to arrest Mrs. Hsu..." He shrugs, not that anyone on the line can see it, bit glances at T'Var. "Maybe she'll decide she wants to talk when the rubber hits the road."

Rangin and Kylah meet up in the hallway. No one else is around.

Graham and T'Var go to the room where Mrs. Hsu is being held, and the Starfleet guards let them in.

Kylah hesitates and says a slow "Yes, sir," to Graham. "I am not sure of what the best move should be. Are you... I need to ask this privately; I will send via text if that is all right." She switches to a text message: Are you absolutely certain of Ebling's creds? Anyone picking him up could be in league with him--or even put him in danger, if there is a bigger conspiracy involved. Am concerned about lack of any proof whatsoever for murder. We were not here to investigate fiscal malfeasance.

After typing, she looks at Velir. "I do not like this," she says flatly. "Ebling is suddenly given carte blanche to take Hardin away for the corruption. Mrs. Hsu... we can arrest her for... for what, exactly? She tried to leave the planet, yes, and we can assume she knew about the bribery. But we are here to investigate a murder. We have not a single iota of evidence linking either of them to that crime. Hardin's confession is utterly farcical--if Starfleet uses that to convict him for the crime, they are as corrupt as--" She cuts herself off before she says the word Coridan and flushes before continuing. "--As any non-Federation planet they disdain. And Mrs. Hsu has nothing but a poor alibi to recommend her as the killer. What motive does she have?

"As for Palver... unless Hardin has proof--and if he did, why would he have confessed?--his mere word is useless. Palver's attorneys would be able to excuse his accusations as the ravings of a desperate man. We need more. We need evidence." She steps closer to Velir. "What do you think? Perhaps contact Kjaerstad to check Mr. Hsu's office, and we can go to her suite, but... I am afraid of losing Palver altogether. I want another chance at him. Do you have any ideas on what we can do if we seek him out first?"

Just before entering the room where Hsu is being held, Graham scans Kylah's text and blinks.

Is this commendable diligence, or crazy paranoia? He's about reply--jokingly--that 'we didn't come here to investigate a murder either' but he's pretty damn sure that wouldn't go over well.

It's not like I can fault anybody for wanting to get to the bottom of things, to not let go...I've been there. But Wilson was kind of an asshole, he thinks, so fact is I'm not that invested.

Nonethelss, he's bothered. I'll get back to you shortly, he responds, wanting to take care of Hsu first.

He sighs, now more bothered: arresting Hardin for murder was a play he felt would pan out, at least shake things loose. Arresting Hsu for murder...Hardin had a clear plausible motive. Hsu...if they'd had a falling out, or...anything.

Fuck, he thinks. I can't concoct a good story, never mind come up with proof to back it up...

He frowns and glances at T'Var. Well, game time call.

"I'll keep this brief, Mrs. Hsu, since unless you change your mind we've got to abide by your request for an attorney before asking any more questions. I'm here to place you under arrest for..." he pasuses. Fuck. Dammit.

"Conspiracy to commit murder and failure to comply." There, he thinks, there's a good theory on conspiracy based on communicating with Hardin, and an obvious case of failure to comply....but I'm still not happy with this.

Ironically, he notes, he's consoled by the fact that this might soon be someone else's headache--something he realizes Ens. Kylah for one wouldn't appreciate.

Mrs. Hsu nods coldly. "Let me make it very clear: I am innocent on both charges. I'm waiting to speak with a lawyer by subspace radio. I have nothing else to say to you. Please go."

"I still don't understand why Hardin confessed like that." Velir responds after a moments thought. "To think all we were supposed to do was see how suitable WR&R was for running the resort? I think you're right, Palver is involved somewhere, otherwise why the calls to him. He's a major shareholder in an opposing group, all this is in his interest. Why else would Mrs Hsu try to get to his ship?"

Rangin shakes his head ruefully, "Perhaps we should go and ask him, why would he get calls from Hardin and why would Mrs Hsu try to get to his ship. Perhaps find out what protocol he has in that situation. After all, you don't normally let the captain of your ship just let on board any old person."

"Well, while we are waiting for Graham top get back to us, why don't we go and ask him. We should be looking at the Hsu's suite, but given their secrets I doubt we will find anything there. We would have better luck perhaps with Mr Hsu's office. Well As Kjaerstad is across there, lets ask him to do it instead. A little something to keep him occupied."

"What do you think Kylah, shall we get started, we don't really have much time. You might want to check with Rawlings as well to see if there is anything else about Palver."

Rangin waits for Kylah to join him before starting to walk in the direction of the guest houses and pulling out his communicator to ask Lt Kjaerstad to see if he can find anything in Mr Hsu's office in the Security area, given the warrants that came through.

Agreeing with Velir--especially that time is of the essence--Kylah joins him on a very quick-paced walk toward the exit and soon to the resort grounds. She looks up at the sky as they travel. Is the storm likely to return? Or are blue skies really ahead after all, in every sense?

She wishes she felt more complacent about Ebling, but the truth is, that recalcitrant woman allowed the team to chase shadows for nearly two days while she knew Hardin was a suspect. Why did Ebling wait until today to contact Starfleet Command? Hardin was a loose cannon ready to explode in their faces, and sure enough, he did. How can Graham not realize that if it were not for her keeping that precious secret, we would never have been stunned? The man could have killed us!

"And Hardin had that OSI file," she says aloud, unconsciously continuing a conversation from within her own head. "That is likely how he had access to that vicious weapon. Did she know about that as well? That only makes Ebling's refusal to inform us of Hardin's corruption even more irresponsible."

Now they are closer to Palver's red Victorian house--it suddenly strikes her as both coincidental and ironic that this house, the first one she visited after Wilson's murder, might turn out to be both the last stop in the investigation and the hiding place of the murderer. Kylah quickly looks around for Rawlings. She decides she might as well speak to him personally, especially if contacting him by communicator might give away his position.

She has been mulling over how to approach Palver. "Velir," she says softly. "We need to get into the house. It is just barely possible we might... we might see something, anything, out in the open. That should be admissible, I believe, as long as we are allowed inside and whatever-it-is turns out to be in plain sight. A file, a... a drop of blood, anything. It is unlikely, extremely unlikely since you were already there to inspect the house with T'Var, but perhaps he has grown complacent. And maybe he is packing to leave for his ship...."

It really is a long shot, but Kylah hopes they might be blessed with good luck. She is also feeling a bit better about her chances at reading Palver. Her abilities seem to have improved significantly considering how easily she read Hardin earlier.

"So in order to ensure that we are allowed inside," she continues hopefuly, "we should be as non-confrontational as possible to start with, do you agree?"

Rangin nods. "Agreed. Last time I was in there I was scanning to see if the transporter was active and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. I don't believe T'Var noticed anything either. Let's be as polite and as normal as possible. I'll let you take the lead, you'll probably have more luck than I. Last time with the Hwuen didn't go so well when I tried so here's hoping he is a little more hospitable and it's a little more successful."


When Kylah is ready, Rangin will press the bell at the main door into the guest house for her.

Rangin is of lower rank than Kjaerstad and not in Security. Kjaerstad checks with Graham by communicator after receiving Rangin's suggestion and, if Graham concurs, begins a search of Mr. Hsu's office.

The sky is gradually clearing and the storm seems to be truly over, Kylah thinks, although Omicron Ceti is dropping towards the horizon and the light is fading as the day draws to a close. She can check with the Yorktown for a weather report or run a scan with her tricorder, if she wishes.

The hulking Ens. T.T. Rawlings nods at Rangin and Kylah as they arrive at Palver's guest house. "Would you like me to come with you, too?" he asks.

There is no answer to the doorbell, nor the second time Rangin tries it, either.

"Mr Palver hasn't left his quarters here has he?" Rangin asks Ens Rawlings. "I'm hoping he's just asleep rather than having tried to transport off planet to his ship as a certain other tried."

Kylah thinks hard, then pulls her tricorder out to scan for life signs in the house. She does not want to waste her abilities when she may need them later--and when technology can do as good a job or better. Besides, she has other uses for her brain right now: a scheme.

"It seems to me," she says slowly as she eyes the device in her hand, "that Mr. Palver was displaying and complaining of distinct signs of brain damage, even if they were not detectible by our scans. As he said himself, Rhaandarites are unique and may not be familiar to Starfleet medical teams. There is no doubt someone with his unusual memory blackouts and anomalous behavior might be in physical distress. Perhaps he is in jeopardy--remember, he was apparently attacked via a device transported into his house, or via some other method we have not yet determined. And two murder suspects seem to show an interest in him, too."

Her innocent glance flicks over to Velir and Rawlings before returning to the tricorder. "Yes, I am quite worried about his welfare and believe we have a duty to ensure his safety. What do you think?"

At Hsu's protestation of innocence, Graham shrugs and says "Whatever" flatly, then turns and leaves.

He OK's the search of Mrs. Hsu's office.

Once outside he rubs his head. He thinks it is possible Hsu did not intend for Wilson do die--that somehow a game being played went wrong--but he's sure she's guilty of something and her lack of cooperation eliminates any sympathy. Who was playing who? he wonders, frowning.

For a moment, he's a t a loss for what to do next. How about some coffee, he thinks, not expecting it to do much other than occupy a few minutes to find and sip.

Rawlings says, "No, he went inside and I haven't seen him since." He slyly smiles at Kylah's question, and says, "Well...."

She finds no life signs in her tricorder scan of the guest house.

Graham can go to the CP for coffee, or to the resort Security Office, or to any of the restaurants or cafes.

"I'm going to go grab some coffee," Graham says to T'Var. "Think I'll try one of the cafes, take a moment to clear my head." He heads toward his best recollection of where he can find a cafe--stopping to ask someone if needed.

Kylah gasps. "There is no one there--at least, no one alive," she says with a rising feeling of dread. She turns around, her gaze searching for the transporter jammers she asked Mr. Rawlings to request, but knowing the effort is probably in vain. "Mr. Rawlings, did you remember to ask for a transporter jammer for this area from Mr. Graham?"

Before he has a chance to answer--and she suspects the answer is no anyway--Kylah grabs her communicator and almost barks into it. "Kylah to Graham. Rawlings, Velir and I are at Fellim Palver's house, where he was last seen entering. He has not answered the door and I am finding no life signs inside. He may have transported out, or something may have happened to him. Do I have permission to enter the building by force? I--I recommend contacting the Yorktown to see if they have noticed the Trimalchio evidencing any transporter activity or dropping their shields."

Graham realizes the perversity of perking up--actually feeling glad to hear some news, some reason to act--even though it may mean Palver is dead or fled when he hears Kylah reporting with urgency.

Perverse doesn't mean it ain't true, he thinks. But I was looking forward to coffee...

"Seen entering, no answer, no life signs?" he replies. "Sounds like a medical emergency to me, do what you need to enter. I'm on my way. And I'll check with Yorktown."

Graham starts into a trot toward the house, asking Yorktown for a status update on the Trimalchio and any signs of a transport from the surface.

"Yes sir, but-- perhaps if you question Hardin now, with Palver possibly missing, he might be less afraid. Ensigns Rawlings and Rangin and I are already... forget it, we will enter and you do as you think best." Kylah shakes her head and puts her communicator down, tells the others to stand back, and pulls out her phaser, setting it to disintegrate. Although she is both angry and afraid, she suddenly feels like laughing. How can she, of all people, have become the go-to team member for blasting her way past doors?

"Watch yourselves," she says to the others, staring down the length of her phaser. "Once it's down, Rawlings, you know how to enter and search better than I. You go right, Velir and I will go left." She waits for the others to back up with her, and finally, taking a deep breath and holding it, presses the trigger at the door.

T'Var nods. "I think I will go get some tea, then, if I may." She walks away.

Graham finds a cafe nearby but doesn't have a chance to get his coffee before Kylah's call comes through. He is about five minutes' trot from the guest house. When called, Cmdr. Vargas says from the Yorktown's Bridge, "Fastolfe's Chariot's shields are still up. Trimalchio dropped its shields about 20 minutes ago, with the Captain's permission, after they had a field coil malfunction. They're making repairs now. Sensors have picked up no transporter activity from either."

Rawlings does not know of any transporter jammer nearby. Before Kylah can fire, though, he asks, "Shouldn't we ask resort personnel to remotely open the door for us, or try to pick the lock first? It would only take a little longer."

It was St. Croix, not Rawlings, to whom Graham and Kylah spoke about transporter jammers. I understood from the last two paragraphs of post 3529 and the third paragraph of post 3533 that they were to be for the Hsus and Hardin - three suspects held separately, thus three jammers - and not Palver.

Kylah is too angry with Rawlings to answer him, but opens her communicator. "Ensign Kylah to any security personnel in the vicinity of the Security Office. This is an emergency: unlock the door to Guest House #2, Fellim Palver's house. Now. If it takes longer than ten seconds I am shooting this door down. Respond immediately."

Peters comes on the line after a few seconds and says, "Stand by... OK, that should do it." The door slides open.

Rawlings goes in to the right, phaser in hand; Kylah and Rangin go to the left. It soon becomes clear that no one is in the guest house. There is no body. Several drawers are open in the master bedroom; nothing other than guest house furnishings is there. Palver appears to have packed and gone.

Kylah feels like exploding with rage. Communicator in hand, she snaps: "Kylah to Cmdr. Vargas and Graham. Palver is gone. Packed and vanished. Recommend you contact the Trimalchio immediately. He is a murder suspect and a flight risk. If their shields are still down, a team should board in pursuit--I am willing to join them." I am also willing to slam my phaser into Rawlings's head. "How did they transport through shields? Was the Trimalchio not being monitored for transporter activity?" A thought occurs to her. Surely, surely Graham had instructed Security to shut down and monitor the resort's transporters, but at this point Kylah is ready to believe that no incompetence is beyond a Security officer. "Kylah to Peters. Has there been any activity in the resort's transporters? If so, we need details now."

After a brief pause, Peters says, "No indication on the systems board that our transporter has been used, ma'am. But I'm sending a guard and a tech to have a look now. Peters out." He breaks the connection.

Vargas says over the same Starfleet open channel to both Graham and Kylah, "We were already denied search warrants for Palver and his ship. Their shields are still down, but I won't order a boarding party under these circumstances." He thinks. "Given your past dealings with Palver, you are to contact him directly. See what you can find out that way, and then we'll consider next steps. In the meantime, we'll see that he doesn't break orbit. I'll brief the Captain. Vargas out."