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

Kylah nods after hearing T'Var's response and looks pensively at Wilson's communicator. "It would seem..." she says almost to herself, "that this is likely premeditated. I know of assassinations; they were common on Elas. And they are rarely spur-of-the-moment. Yet there are elements of both premeditation and someone who took advantage of an opportunity. The unsuccessful attempt to break past the resort's security came not long after the four most recent guests' introduction to the spores, and may well have been set up before Fastolfe even argued with Mr. Wilson. Further, the murder seems to have either known that Mr. Wilson often worked late and took that particular route, or followed him. Then there is the surveillance system problem. That would take cunning and technical knowledge, as well as a great deal of luck--despite breaking the surveillance system at midnight, the problem still existed three and a half hours later when the murder was committed. How could the murderer count on such a lengthy repair time? He or she must be both brave and intelligent.

"And finally, if the murderer is truly not Fastolfe himself, the fact that an identical knife was used indicates likely knowledge both of the knife attack and of Fastolfe himself--that he was due to arrive." She flickers her gaze to Delaney. "Lt. Delaney... you have made little secret that you once admired Lord Fastolfe as a fan yourself. Do you know if his weapons are a standard part of his... his costume?"

Graham leans toward Kylah a bit to hear what's she's saying, almost to herself.

He stands up and starts to pace. "Assassination...interesting word." He pauses for a minute and looks at Kylah. "You're making a good point, Mr. Kylah. We saw what that surveillance system could do earlier last evening," he says, nodding and deliberately stopping his head from turning toward Rangin. "Either whoever knocked it out was an insider who knew just how comprehensive and slick it was--or someone who was very, very thorough, leaving nothing to chance--like a pro."

"An assassination is a murder with a political significance or purpose, isn't it?" Delaney asks. "We don't know if this does yet." He blushes bright red when he hears Kylah's question. "Uh... yes, I'm a fan of Fastolfe's, and have been for a long time. At least, I was before he pulled a knife on Wilson yesterday. He definitely has a 'bad boy' reputation and is pretty widely known, notorious even, for carrying weapons, including knives. I don't know anything about these particular knives, though."

Kylah continues to watch the terminal. "Call it a conspiracy if you prefer, Lieutenant; I do not believe dictionary definitions matter," she says quietly but with an edge to her voice. "I believe this murder may have been prompted by financial gain, and may well have involved multiple participants--the use of a transporter, tracking Wilson's route, the technical knowledge needed to harm the security system..."

Frowning, she shakes her head. "Is it not strange that, on the heels of an earlier attempt to subvert the resort's security, a break-down in the surveillance technology would not raise immediate alarm and action in the security staff? Three hours to fix such a problem.... either Mr. Hsu's team is both slow to react and incompetent, or the malfunction was unusually catastrophic and cannily sabotaged."

She glances up at last. "You apparently saw the surveillance set-up in action, Mr. Graham. Do you believe it would be easy to take down such a set-up for multiple hours?"

"What about corporate espionage then," comments Rangin, "although given the issues with the surveillance here, it sounds like an inside job..."

He pauses for a moment, "...besides, weren't they supposed to be working with our Security to find out what was going on? Has anyone asked the Yorktown for an update on that?"

Collins's communicator beeps again, and she flips it open. You all hear, "Mr. Collins, this is Ens. Mary Three Crows. I've beamed down with a plainclothes Security detail of four, as ordered. We've awakened and confirmed that Vice Adm. Hardin and Lt. Cmdr. Ebling are alive and in their respective quarters. We'll keep an eye on them. Any other orders, ma'am?"

"Not at this time, Ensign" Collins replies. "Carry on."

Graham starts to pace again, listening to the various comments, then freezes and turns around to look at Kylah when she asks her question. He shakes his head. "'There's always someone in the control room,'" he replies. "That's what Hsu told us. So regardless of how easy or hard it would be to sabotage the system, what the hell was the duty officer doing?"

He scowls and gestures toward Rangin. "You're right, we should get an update from the ship on the diagnostics...If you don't mind, L-T..." he says to Collins, then opens his communicator. "Graham to Yorktown. Please transmit any data from the diagnosis of the attempted breach of the resort's security systems and subsequent monitoring, and let us know if there is anything of note to report."

"That's a good point, when I went back to the Security Office to check on the fingerprints, there was no-one in there and I didn't think to check on the security monitors. The question is, what has gone. I would guess the recordings are all static, but the monitors are working. That way, no-one in the office suspects anything until its far too late. Easy enough to check, someone just drops by the office."

Rangin ponders what to do next, before turning to Collins.

"Is there anything specific, you would like me to look at. Otherwise, I would like to go and check on the state of the spore plants in the resort. Whoever murdered Mr Wilson will have lost the effects of the spores if they were previously exposed. I did check, its highly, highly unlikely Felim Palver just lost the effect naturally. He would be an excellent candidate for someone who did it, or perhaps, someone who saw it and doesn't want to say anything. The shock of seeing a murder may be enough." He looks across at Kylah and nods, "Kylah, you were right to ask about following that up."

Kylah looks up when Rangin says her name and finds herself flushing. "Thank you," she says softly. She hesitates, then adds, "Perhaps we should put the medical staff on alert--ask them to keep track of anyone who complains of having their spore treatment 'wear off.'"

She then takes a quick look at the time and wonders when the resort's medical center opens--assuming it is not already. How will she manage to get away in private to see about emergency contraception? "Perhaps I can talk to them about this," she offers, feeling guilty for using a murder investigation to cover up her own shameful behavior.

Wresting her thoughts away from her personal situation, Kylah refocuses her attention. "In any event we will have to return to the interviews, just in case anyone saw or heard anything," she says. "Of course we must speak with Lord Fastolfe; I would also be interested to speak with Mrs. Webb, who was so adamant against assisting us earlier. And then there is the matter of whoever is in the contested yellow house. I remember Mr. Wilson did not wish to upset the woman there. It is quite likely he merely did so out of politeness, but there is a distant possibility that he had another reason. Perhaps he knew she was troublesome. Or...maybe he knew her personally." In light of the family photo, Kylah feels awkward about stating the obvious implication, so she simply says: "I have a list of which guests are in each house, but of course there is no reference to the colors. However, the only women staying alone are Mrs. Webb and Sylvia Aubrey, an actress."

She starts to sigh, then realizes she sounds like Dr. T'Var and stops herself. "The matter of the knives is very strange. Of course it points so obviously to Lord Fastolfe, but the rest of the crime does not. Would he leave his own highly recognizable knife at the scene? Has he the mindset to disable the security cameras? And what could possibly have been the motive? Yet if it is not him, who would have had such a similar knife--and would have known to use it, thus implicating Fastolfe?" Kylah tightens her lips for a second before continuing. "You wished to devise a strategy for interviewing Lord Fastolfe, Mr. Graham. Perhaps we should begin."

"All excellent ideas." Collins says blandly. "Make it so." With that she stands. "Stay in touch as needed, and we'll reconvene in, what? two hours? three?" She looks at Rangin for the answer, since he seems to be the most confident of the bunch.

Kylah does her best to keep her expression neutral after Collins's sudden dismissal of the meeting--a feat that is not too taxing, for once, since Kylah is so tired her face feels paralyzed. But she is still taken aback. The two of them were performing the interviews, and now the crew was about to discuss strategy for dealing with one of their prime suspects... and Collins feels no need to participate? She wishes to take a two-hour break?

No, Kylah will never understand Collins, it appears, just as the human will never understand her.

"Aye, ma'am," Three Crows says to Collins, signing off.

Cmdr. Vargas responds to Graham's inquiry a few minutes later. "Whoever tried to access the resort's security system yesterday afternoon did so with an encrypted subspace transceiver, as you know, and since there was no broadcast-to-receipt delay it could've been done from anywhere within a few light years. There was nothing unique or distinctive about the signal, and it was untraceable. Mr. Hsu tells me he changed all the passwords, and subsequent monitoring showed no other breaches. I can't prove a link to the failure of the surveillance system at midnight and since, but it seems likely."

Delaney says to Kylah, "I don't remember Wilson saying the person occupying the house Fastolfe wanted was a woman; didn't he just refer to 'another guest'?"

Kylah's terminal beeps. The decryption program has cracked Wilson's communicator's passcode. The communicator contains 42 messages.

"I beg your pardon, Lieutenant," Kylah says flatly. "But my ability to recall conversations is quite accurate. During the argument with Fastolfe, Mr. Wilson said that he could not throw another guest out of the residence she had reserved, and said 'she' was aware he was asking to switch due to another important guest."

When the terminal beeps at last she exhales in relief. "There are forty-two messages on his communicator," Kylah says with the first real sense of pleasure she's felt since... No. Do not think of that.

She quickly grabs the device and begins to listen to the messages, typing quickly to note the times and callers on the terminal.


Just checked and yes, Kylah is right. See post #788. Oh and even earlier, post 785.

Graham's mouth is actually open to speak when Collins seems to end the meeting. OK, well, she did a good job with "invite," but this was a little abrupt, he thinks.

"Ah," he says, knowing that Collins posed a question to Rangin, and expecting that Rangin will assume he's being an asshole by interjecting before he has a chance to reply. "Look, maybe it's worth just checking in on our theory of the case. We all--" he looks around at the group. "Now think--right?--that someone has been playing chess here. So when we interview Fastolfe, we're not trying to get him to incriminate himself but rather to suss out any signs of somebody pulling strings to make him look like a suspect. And..." he looks at Kylah. "We think Wilson might have known something someone didn't want to get out, with enough urgency to waste him while a Starfleet team was onsite. So--of course--we should check his comms, like Mr. Kylah is doing...are we, ah, all on the same page on this? Does anyone disagree?"

He clears his throat and shrugs. Maybe I should throw some encouragement to J.C., he thinks. "And maybe we should be less nice to the Hsus," he adds, glancing at Collins. "Or at least more cagey about the possibility this was an inside job."

Kylah has held off listening to the messages while Graham gave his speech. She frowns at a couple of points, and when he asks if they all agree, she has to speak up.

"I fear I do not agree we are all on the same page. It seems... forgive me... it seems strange to insist that we choose a single theory, and act accordingly, as if we are bound to it. Should we not keep our minds open until a preponderance of evidence begins to point in one direction? Thus far, I do not see any theory that leaps out more than others. The idea that Wilson knew too much does not fit in with the possibility that Palver eliminated a rival, or that--" Kylah slow-moving mind searches wildly for some other possible motive. "I do not know--perhaps Mrs. Hsu was having an affair with him, and Mr. Hsu learned of this and killed him for revenge."

She looks down at the table, feeling awkward at having accused people at random. "I have no reason to believe that is the case. But it is just as likely as any other theory right now, and I do not see why we should be treating anyone differently--such as being less nice to the Hsus, to use your words, Mr. Graham--and thus revealing our suspicions, or in going into these interviews with any fixed idea. It will push our questions in a single myopic direction, and thus we may miss some other avenues of inquiry."

Kylah inhales deeply. "That is how the Elasian law officers work. They decide on the crime in advance and fit their suspects to match their theory. It certainly resulted in many arrests and even executions. But not... not necessarily justice." She lifts her gaze tentatively to Rangin. "I suspect things may have worked similarly on Coridan?"

Rangin looks around the table suddenly realising that he has been asked a couple of questions.

"Sorry, I was thinking on something."

He looks back up at the assembled group.

"Right, we are not at the theory point, at the moment we are looking for facts. The more we get, the better. Doctor T'var, can you confirm the size of the murder weapon, including the possibility that a second weapon was inserted into the wounds after death. We have assumed Falstofe's knife is the weapon because it was there. Let's confirm it."

"We only have surveillance until midnight, then let's use it to narrow down Mr Wilson's movements. I would rather guess at half an hour than the several we currently know nothing about."

Rangin looks across at Collins, "Sir, I believe you would be an expert at that. I also suggest that you work out what questions that you will be asking any interviewees later on, during the boring bits."

Rangin looks at Graham. "According to the autopsy, time of death was about midnight. Have you ever known a nightclub close before then? If Falstofe was there it will be very easy to find out when he left. He makes a very big impression on people. I would also recommend following up with security to find out what they were doing last night. Oh and avoid the coffee in the office, it's dreadful. "

Rangin looks at Kylah. "Definitely worth checking with the medical wing about any requests for repeat spore introduction." Rangin knows she wants to get to some medical personnel from last night, might as well give her the opportunity. "and I should head that way as well for both the spores and the resorts transporter unit. Although Mr Delaney is probably better to look at that."

Rangin turns back to Collins again. "Reconvene in two hours is an excellent idea, sir. Also given the day's early start, you might want to consider people getting some sleep to prevent anyone making mistakes. "

One final look around the table. "Did I miss anything?"

Collins turns around. "No, Ensign, I believe you've covered everything." Analyzing a video feed. I can do that. "Dismissed" She stops to get coffee before heading to the security office to review the feeds.

Delaney shrugs. "I still don't remember Wilson referring to a 'she' or a 'her' who'd reserved that particular guest house, but I'll take your word for it, Kylah."

Dr. T'Var says, "The knife found at the scene had Wilson's blood on it, and I believe it caused his death by stabbing. There is no way to determine if it was also inserted post-mortem." She asks Collins, "Shall I return to the surface with Dr. Halsey now?"

Kylah scrolls through the communicator messages of Wilson's displayed on her screen. With a few keystrokes, she creates transcripts from the audio recordings. The oldest is from four days ago; the most recent is from 2303 last night. Most are innocuous work-related messages - a problem with the pool filter, a change in menu at the Otherworldly restaurant, a question about scheduling a staff meeting. Three concern Fastolfe's demand for the particular guest house before he was introduced to the spores. Two are personal, and are from Mrs. Hsu.

Kylah nods at Rangin's suggestions, although she adds, "I do believe we should interview potential witnesses sooner rather than later; the longer there is a delay, the longer they have to forget what they might have heard--or interpret it differently on their own, once the truth about the murder gets out."

At Delaney's doubtful remark, she simply says, "Thank you, sir. Perhaps someone else remembers the same thing I do?" Likely you were too busy drooling over Lord Fastolfe to notice pronouns.

She listens to the messages, notes them all down, and listens to the personal messages from Mrs. Hsu; she also notes the last message at 23:03. Kylah will also check the records for outgoing calls as well.

While awaiting a reply from Collins, T'Var turns to Dr. Halsey. "I could use something to eat and drink," she tells him. "Either on the ship or at the resort."

The doctor smiles. "Perhaps you could tell me more about Mr. Wilson. Any insights you would be able to provide might prove quite useful in our investigation."

Coffee in one hand, Collins opens her communicator with the other "Come on back down, Doctor. Save the body, though, in case we come up with something that needs checking."

"Acknowledged," T'Var says to Collins.

"Yes, Kylah does remember correctly," says Rangin. "Mr Wilson did mention it was a female who was occupying the house Falstofe wanted."

Rangin wanders across and gathers a coffee from the replicator, before picking up his tricorder and heading for the door, pausing for a moment to make sure he has everything.

While re-checking Mrs. Hsu's messages, Kylah hears her name and glances up. Her gaze turns warmer when she hears Rangin confirming her recollection, but she shifts it away from him as soon as possible. He is so courteous, she thinks with a pang as she stares at the terminal. My actions have disappointed and likely angered him, yet he remains professional and generous. How can he be such a good man?

Dr. Villa orders that Wilson's body be put in the ship's morgue for now, under a stasis field. As they walk back to the Transporter Room, Dr. Halsey says to T'Var, a little cautiously, "What would you like to know about him?"

Kylah sees that the communicator does not record or log outgoing calls. The two messages from Mrs. Hsu read:

Last night was great. It's so wonderful to spend time with you outside of the office. Can't wait for next time. That was three days ago.

Yesterday at 1944, she sent, Sorry Fastolfe has been such a pain in the ass. Ugh. I know you've got a lot on your plate, Tony, but wanted you to know I'm thinking of you and looking forward to some private time - maybe tomorrow? Call me. XOXOX.

Kylah's eyes open wide and she actually gasps aloud, pushing herself up to a standing position. "Velir," she blurts unthinkingly, turning to Rangin with a desperate look. "Please. Take a look at this."

She stares again, rereading what she herself typed--somehow she did so automatically without quite taking in their meaning. "I was right," she says in a strange voice. "It--it may mean nothing but--" Kylah turns to Graham. "Mrs. Hsu. She and Mr. Wilson were... I do not know if they had progressed to an affair, but there was clearly more to their relationship than colleagues, and more than friends, I believe."

Hearing his first name called, Rangin looks round sharply at Kylah and heads across.

"What is i...i...it. Oh grief. I think you're right." says Rangin quietly looking over her shoulder. "One thing though, if its not directly related to what's happened, then its none of our business what was going on. Personally, I'm hoping not, but at the moment there is no way to tell."

Rangin feels quite sad over the revelation Kylah has shown him. If it hadn't been for Wilson's death, it might never have come to light. And it was something he didn't want go get involved in. Not after interfering in last night and regretting it. Kylah still probably was angry at him for his actions, even if she said she blamed herself.

"Hold onto it for now, we can come back to it. Let's see what else we can find to work out if it is part of this enquiry or not."

"Yes," Kylah says, looking at the text. "It could be a sad coincidence. But it does warrant looking more closely at those security problems. Even before we saw this, I thought the slowness in fixing the surveillance cameras seemed odd, and if Mr. Hsu had anything to do with it..." She shakes her head. "But any inquiries into the security team's behavior should be done with great tact. Obviously we must not implicate Mr. Hsu in any way. And follow all leads, not just this. I do know ugly things can be uncovered in the process of investigations... things that might be misinterpreted..."

Her face suddenly feels hot and she steps slightly away from Velir. "But--but it is not for me to say. What do you think, Lieutenant Collins? Mr. Graham?"

She turns around and is surprised that Collins has left already. When did she leave? Kylah wonders if her missing this is due to her exhaustion or simply that Collins rushed out so quickly. Flustered, she turns to Rangin. "I--did not see that the Lieutenant had gone," she murmurs in embarrassment. "I am not myself this morning."

Graham has to work hard not to laugh at the back and forth in response to his question. Rangin thinks Collins and me are a couple of jack-booted thugs, Kylah looks like death warmed over, and Collins is checked out or something, he thinks. But nonetheless, folks are asking good questions and advancing alternate theories of the case. By hook or by crook, we might actually turn into a functional team. Or at least get the job done.

Then Kylah cracks Wilson's communicator. He's surprised by Rangin and Kylah's hesitancy about her discovery. Coming up alongside Rangin and behind Kylah, he smiles ear-to-ear and claps a hand on Kylah's shoulder.

"Great work. Outstanding." He removes his hand and rubs his chin. "Now we have possible motive on Mr. Hsu, and huge leverage to get more information out of the missus," he says, nodding.

Kylah was just about to shrug herself free of Graham's hand when he removes it, making her sigh in relief. Even the proximity of both men bothers her, and she backs away again, covering it with a little gesture from Graham to the terminal as if she simply wants to give him more room to look at the messages.

"I... I shall go to the medical facility just to be certain about the spore situation," she murmurs, quickly adding: "Perhaps one of you could call Lieutenant Collins with the information? And when should we talk to Lord Fastolfe? There is still the matter of the knife and his fingerprints." Kylah scowls slightly. "I almost worry about his safety. If he is not guilty, someone managed to get his fingerprints on the murder weapon, not to mention successfully stealing the knife from him."

"Anything you would like to share," T'Var replies evenly. "Did he get along well with the resort staff? What was it like working with him?"

T'Var will observe Halsey's expression as they speak. Also his body posture. How is he reacting physically to her questions? What tone of voice does he use?

"I'll tell Lt. Collins and I'll do it in person rather than over a communicator." replies Rangin. He can think of a few other things he wants to say to Collins at the same time and perhaps this would be an opportunity.

"Good luck at the medical facility, Kylah. Hope you find what you're looking for."

"Mr Graham...Sir," Rangin nods individually at Graham and Delaney, before picking up his tricorder and heading for the door to go to the Security Office.

Kylah looks after Rangin as he rushes out. Hope you find what you're looking for, she repeats mentally, aghast. Does he--why would he say that? She is meant to be ensuring that whoever's on duty will inform them of any people whose spore treatments have worn off. Of course her personal reason is separate from that, but how could he guess? Of course he is intelligent and saw her there last night, but... why would he say such a thing so casually, in front of others? It seems unusually tactless of him. She is probably being oversensitive--quite probably--but it still feels like a punitive slap.

Her expression blank, she turns to Graham and Delaney. "Will...will one of you be staying here to guard the evidence?" she asks dully as she saves her transcript back to the Yorktown as well as sending it to herself for backup, and then secures it with her own password. "We must keep the communicator safe. And Mr. Graham, do you wish us to schedule a time to talk to Fastolfe?"

Dr. Halsey says, "He got along well with the staff, all in all. He was a detail-oriented guy and liked everything just right, which is of course what WR&R wanted out of a resort director, given the clientele. That doesn't mean everyone on the staff loved him - far from it. He could be difficult, demanding, but that was what he sometimes needed to be to get his job done right." T'Var notices that Halsey doesn't look right at her as he speaks; his tone of voice is relatively flat and unexpressive. The two arrive in the Yorktown's Transporter Room, and beam down directly to the resort's Infirmary.

Collins and Rangin return to the Security Office. Mr. Hsu is there, and introduces you to Officer Vijay Patel, the duty officer, a young man of Indian descent, in a control room which Rangin hadn't seen before. Patel sits at a control station facing eight small display screens which cycle through various audiovisual nodes throughout the resort: the main lobby, the restaurants, the grounds, the garden, hallways here and there, the pool, etc. Hardly anyone is up and about at this hour. "What can we do for you, gentlemen?" Hsu asks.

Delaney looks over the evidence gathered so far. "I'll call the ship and have them beam down a portable safe," he says. He scans the floor. "We can pull back the carpet and gamma-weld it to the floor so one can cart it away."

"Rangin had a good idea," Graham replies to Kylah, "checking with the nightclub staff on Fastolfe's whereabouts. But I doubt they'll be coming on duty for awhile. So maybe we should hit Fastolfe when he wakes up. We can always check out his story with the staff later." He pauses. "And you'd like to be in on interviewing Fastolfe, I take it?" He pauses again, then adds and tries to smile supportively, "You do seem to be good at interviewing people."

Collins bristles slightly, as she always does, at that particular generic term. "We'd like to review the security recordings from last night." she tells the duty officer "we'd also like to see if we can help figure out what caused the outage."

At Hsu's direction, Patel brings up last night's security surveillance records from the archive. Patel says, "I was on duty all night, and what I seeing on the screens here seemed normal the whole time. Just a typical night. It was only later, after Mr. Wilson was found and when I went back to look over the footage of the guest houses' park, that I saw it was all static."

Hsu adds, "We think someone got into the system, put in a long loop of old footage, and that was what Patel was seeing. But no new footage was actually being either displayed or recorded."

"That's one of the oldest tricks in the book." Collins mutters almost inaudibly, recalling the late twentieth and early twenty-first century movies and TV shows she loved to watch as a child. "Someone with basic networking skills would have been able to make that switch" she says aloud.

Hsu frowns. "It'd have to be more than 'basic' to get through to our control interface after the intrusion yesterday afternoon. And why would we not be able to find the looped content now?"

Kylah glances down at Graham's compliment. "Thank you. I just listen and ask questions. In my hubris I once thought I was good at persuading, but that was--" She cuts herself off and stares at her hands, which suddenly feel cold.

Help me, Jan. You must do what I cannot. You must… be strong for me… You must release me...

Blanching, Kylah moves from Graham's side to the door. "At--at any rate, I--yes, I should like to be there, if possible. I seemed able to pacify him, if only by being obsequious enough." She pauses and casts a hasty look back at him. "I... I will go to the hospital, it will not take long, and then shall we meet at Lord Fastolfe's house in... in fifteen or twenty minutes? His house is number five. The blue one, of course."

Rangin catches up with Lt Collins as she enters the Security Office and before he gets a chance to speak to her. As they enter the room and are greeted by Mr Hsu, Rangin wonders if he knew and how it will affect him if he didn't. As for his greeting, Rangin considers the fact the Lt. Collins is female and he is from Coridan. The term gentleman is probably not appropriate for either of them.

As the footage is bought up, Rangin asks, "Have you traced Mr Wilson's steps last night up until the footage is altered?"

He turns to Collins and quietly asks, "Sir, when you have a moment, would it be possible to talk in private, there is something I need to inform you of."

"What was his relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Hsu?" T'Var asks Dr. Halsey.

Hsu says, "Good question." Patel shows you fast-forwarded surveillance footage as Hsu talks you through it: "Mr. Wilson had dinner alone, starting at 7:57pm, at En Francais. He left there at 9:07 and walked around for awhile, talking to a few staff members and guests as he did. He never went out on the grounds or into the gardens. He went to his office at 9:38 and remained there until 11:02. He then went directly to his rooms, a fourth-floor suite in the staff quarters, going through the door there at 11:12. That's the last we see him on these tapes. Neither his timing nor his movements were unusual, given his work habits." A timestamp is visible in the corner of all the footage.

Dr. Halsey replies to T'Var, "They were cordial. I'd say they all had a good working relationship with each other. Not the closest of friends, but I'm not sure Wilson had any particularly close friends among the staff."

Delaney says to Graham and Kylah, "I'm still running this computer check, and I'll call up to the ship for the safe. I'd be glad to keep an eye on things here if you need to leave."

"Few things spring to mind", muses Rangin as he looks at the tapes.

"One, is there any other realistic way out of that room except through the door. Fourth floor suite, so I would guess not. Two, how long would it take to get from that room to the site he was found and where would he have had to pass to get there and is there any route he could take which would not pass by other people, for instance avoiding the lobby. Three, did anyone else enter that room in the time before Mr Wilson, say the preceding three or four hours."

"When we're done here" Collins tells Rangin quietly

Graham thanks Delaney for taking care of the evidence and walks out with Kylah. "See you there," he says with a nod as he heads over toward the houses himself. Might as well have another look around and mull things over, he thinks.

Graham finds two WR&R security officers still standing watch in the park. "No one's come out of the guest houses yet, sir," one says. There is more sunlight now, and Graham can see easily. There is a small bloodstain on the grass where Wilson lay.

On a display screen, Hsu brings up the floor plans for Wilson's apartment. "There's a narrow service corridor adjoining it," he says. "The door's usually kept locked; it opens onto his study. No cameras in there. It'd take him less than ten minutes to walk from his apartment to the park. He could avoid the main lobby but would have to be out in the open most of the time. After 11pm, though, he might not bump into anybody, or not very many people, at least." Patel scrolls back the footage from the hallway just outside the apartment. No one goes into or comes out of the apartment in the previous four hours.

Dr. Halsey gestures to his Infirmary office and asks T'Var, "Would you like some coffee or tea? I have a feeling this is going to be a long day."

It is now 0640.

Kylah walks toward the infirmary, her steps wary. This entire resort building feels like a trap to her. Finally she reaches her destination--only to see Halsey and T'Var talking. Her heart sinks. She looks for someone else on the medical staff she can talk to. At least she has a cover story for why she's here.

"Coffee. Yes, please." Collins says gladly.

There is no one else in the Infirmary at this hour. Dr. Halsey glances up and sees Kylah through the glassteel door, and waves at her to come in.

Hsu looks curiously at Collins and says, "I didn't offer coffee."

Kylah walks slowly to Halsey and T'Var, staying as calm as possible. "Hello again, Dr. Halsey," she says after nodding to T'Var. "I am sorry you had to start your work with such a grim task, performing an autopsy on a colleague. I need to ask you a favor, if you would."

She quickly explains about the interview with Palver earlier this morning, and mentions his spore therapy having worn off. "Mr. Palver claims it occured while he was sleeping, which seems unusual, is it not? It might merely be a coincidence, and yet... we thought perhaps you might be willing to pay special attention to any guests who may have the same complaint. I understand there may be a confidentiality issue, but... it might help identify a murderer. Or even just a witness."

She glances behind her toward the empty infirmary, and swallows. "And--and the rest of your personnel, too... when will their shifts start?"

Rangin rolls his eyes, wondering if coffee is the only thing Collins has on her mind, or if her head can only handle one thought at a time. Time to save face once again and Rangin wonders if he should retrain as a butler.

"Sir, I'm aware its my turn to get the coffee this time round, but could I recommend waiting until we find a replicator. No disrespect intended to Mr Hsu, but having had the opportunity to sample the Security Office brew, it has a certain flavour to it, no doubt enhanced by the fact it has probably been warmed over several days and regularly refilled as the level has dropped. On the other hand if you prefer your coffee interesting, well brewed with that certain metallic tang, then I'm sure I can fetch a cup. It may be a Security Team test of courage to drink it, but as a scientist I believe I will pass, or even hesitate to call it coffee."

Rangin grins and nods at the two security officers as he over embellishes the state of their coffee machine.

He face hardens again as he turns back to the monitor, "On the other hand, I guess that Mr Wilson's apartment is somewhere we should also look over. I do have one other question I don't want to ask but I should. Amongst the staff here, including the deceased, who would have the ability, the knowledge and authority to be able to adjust the video recordings without being spotted?"

Collins realizes she was recalling a different, older conversation and tries not to look completely embarrassed. The smart thing to do, given her performance so far, is to go back to the ship and have herself relieved of duty, but that isn't the right thing to do.

"Yes, thank you Ensign. I believe I will wait then." She tries to refocus "My apologies, Mr Hsu, I'm still not quite awake, in spite of all the activity so far this morning."

Dr. Halsey replies to Kylah, "I don't know of any cases where the spores wore off during sleep. I've had no other reports of that since I started working here, and have never read of it in the research summaries. My nurse will be in at 9am. Can I do something for you?" Dr. T'Var watches but says nothing.

"Hey, I make the coffee around here!" Patel complains good-naturedly. "It's not as good as in the restaurants, but the security staff seems to like it."

"They tolerate it," Hsu says, matching his tone and smiling. "It'd be a gross exaggeration to say they like it." He grows serious and answers Rangin's question. "Director Wilson, my wife the assistant director, my assistant Mr. Patel here, and I would be the only ones who could 'adjust' the video recordings, in terms of computer access, at least. Doing it undetectably at the time, the way it was done... I don't think any of us could. And of course we'd have no motive to do so. None that I can think of, anyway."

Kylah shakes her head and keeps her face neutral. "No, thank you. Just if you could ask your nurse to be aware of anyone else who has this issue, we would appreciate it. I suppose if you can determine any reason other than emotional stress that might have caused Mr. Palver's therapy to wear off, that would also be greatly helpful. Good day, sir." She nods at both doctors and leaves the infirmary without rushing.

As soon as she is out of sight of T'Var, Kylah begins to jog, and then run, toward the exit that leads to the guest houses. Her tight throat and chest hurt as she breathes, while trying desperately not to cry. Everything seems to be working against her. She resigns herself to the lab infirmary--if they are allowed a lunch break, she will have to go then. The thought of waiting is interminable, even though it is only a few hours. She wants to forget last night ever happened, and she cannot do that until this embarrassing part is over.

She bursts out of the building into the daylight. A stitch in her side makes her bend while she recovers herself after nearly hyperventilating. During the pause, she glances over the guest cottages abutting the resort. It is not yet time for her to meet Graham, but she wants to refocus on the investigation--not just because it's her job, but it is also the only thing that can distract her from her own thoughts. Remembering the messages on Wilson's communicator, she searches for the yellow house, and then looks at her notes to see who is staying in it.

Ens. Kylah again reviews the list of guest houses:

1 - currently vacant
2 - Fellim Palver, Rhaandaran
3 - Mrs. Webb, Luna
4 - The Ettoo-Oms, a family of Aurelians (perhaps those seen last night in the lobby), Pacifica
5 - Lord Fastolfe, Proxima Centauri
6 - Samuel and Bella Gold, both businesspeople, Earth
7 - currently vacant
8 - Prolun Jaxo, a top Hwuen government official
9 - Rosemary Calvin, author
10 - currently vacant
11 - Terrance and Claire Hutchinson, retirees, Earth
12 - Sylvia Aubrey, an actress, Cochrane V

She walks slowly around the square, and sees that both houses #8 and 12 are large and yellow.

Rangin can't say it, the possibility that Mr Wilson was tampering with the cameras to carry on his affair, not here, not now. Perhaps another tack would be useful.

"Let me put this to you", Rangin straightens up and moves away from the screen keeping his eyes fixed on it. "If this was an outside job, then someone got in without raising a problem, screwed around with the video and audio and then just decided to leave without fixing it. No, why leave a trace and leave everyone wondering what happened to apparently good audio and video. Which leaves the four people you mentioned. If you consider that should any of you go ahead and actually tamper then you would all be intelligent enough to ensure that it was fixed and unseen once whatever occurred had occurred. So the question is: who, out of the four of you, is the only person who would not have been able to fix the tapes if they had been tampered with."

Rangin turns and looks at the Security officers and with a completely straight face, "I cannot think of a motive, but you might want to check on Mr Wilson's background or possibly his computer access last night", then he turns to Collins, "and we might really want to have a look at his quarters."

Kylah's brow lowers in thought. She has never heard of Hwuen before. Walking toward the houses, she peeks into the windows of #8, hoping to see if this is a particularly grand house--at least, compared to the one Palver was in, which is her only point of comparison.





Does she see Graham anywhere?

Collins nods. "That will be our next stop," she responds to Rangin, "after coffee." she adds with a smile.

Graham nods to the security officers. He looks around at the scene and shakes his head while asking "what's the word around the station house about all this?"

"I was supposed to be checking on the level of spores in the plants to make sure none of them had been reused, but this might be a little more important. Would it be possible to gain access to those rooms, Mr Hsu?", Rangin asks the Security Officer.

The lights of house #8 are all turned off. Kylah sees nothing inside other than the vague outlines of furniture. It is a bigger but not necessarily nicer house than Palver's; all of the guest houses appear attractive, clean and well-kept from the outside, at least. When she looks around, she can see Graham talking to a Human female in WR&R security uniform down at a corner of the park. Another guard, apparently an Andorian male, is standing alone at the next corner.

The security officer to whom Graham is speaking says, a little reluctantly, "Uh, well, there are all kinds of rumors flying around, sir. Hard to know what's up."

Hsu frowns at Rangin's comments about suspects, and then clears his throat and asks, "Which rooms - you mean Mr. Wilson's suite?"

Kylah bites her lip in thought, then walks closer to Mr. Graham. She does not interrupt his conversation, just listens quietly.

"Heh," Graham nods. "No doubt about that, officer. Anything...interesting in the rumor mill?" He smiles. "We have a story passed down from my great-to-the-nth grandfather, back on Earth, he used to say the only place he could hear more gossip than my grandma's sewing circle was in the Boston P.D. station house." He shrugs. "Don't think gossip and rumors ever lead to solving many crimes, but some of them can be good for a laugh or two sometimes."

Hearing Graham's words, Kylah beats a hasty retreat from the security officers. She knows they will be more likely to perform the usual male bonding ritual of salacious tales--clearly the angle Graham is looking for--without her presence.

Unwilling to waste time, she walks back to the houses and this time checks one of the empty cottages--#10--to see if the door will open. If it does not, Kylah will ask one of the guards who is not in Graham's group to open it for her.

They had to meet somewhere, she thinks.

The female guard laughs a little self-consciously at Graham's anecdote and says, "Well... I can't vouch for any of this, but there's a story going around that Mr. Wilson was having an affair with a rich guest, and might even have done so before. I also heard he was about to be fired by WR&R and was dejected."

Guest house #10, which is green with white and yellow trim and one of the smaller buildings, is locked. The Andorian guard opens it for Kylah. "Would you like me to come in with you, ma'am?" he asks.

"Yes, the whole suite, please, including the back hallway you mentioned." Collins answers Mr. Hsu.

Kylah pulls out her phaser. "Yes, please. I doubt there will be any need as the house is empty, but I would rather display too much caution than too little." The bitter irony of her words does not escape her. She waits and, closing her eyes, concentrates on the house's interior, trying to sense if anyone is inside.

Graham whistles softly. "Well...that is a hell of a rumor." He shakes his head. "I guess I could see how that could play out..." He raises and lowers his hands as if weighing out two different things. "On the one hand, he has a sweet gig here...on the other, I guess you get a lot of he creme de la creme through here..." He shakes his head. "Of course it's just a rumor...but if you hear any other scuttlebutt like this I'd appreciate you letting me know, Officer...?"

He holds up one finger. "Oh, ah, and by the way, for the record, the family stories also say that his daughter--one of the first women they let actually have a shot at doing the job--was a hell of a better cop than he was." He shrugs and smiles. "Whether she stilled sewed too, I don't know."

He looks around to see where Kylah went.

"Adams is my name, sir," the woman says. "Glad to help."

Hsu says, "OK. I'll take you there myself. Keep an eye on things here, would you, Patel?" Hsu, Collins and Rangin leave the Security Office.

Kylah's empathic sense detects nothing within the house. The Andorian officer's eyes widen at the sight of her phaser-1, but he follows her example and draws his own, a civilian design, silvery and a little smaller. They enter and he turns on the lights. The house is furnished similarly to Palver's; no one is there.

Graham does not see Kylah anywhere on the sidewalks or the park.

Kylah puts her phaser away and moves carefully around the cottage, looking in every drawer, wastebasket, and closet. "How often are these areas cleaned by the maintenance staff?" she asks the guard, walking into the bathroom to examine any drawers and cabinets, as well as the wastebasket if there is one.

"Thank you", says Rangin, "I'm not saying anyone is a suspect, just that I think Mr Wilson is the most likely to have amended the video."

As Mr Hsu leads them out of the door, he turns to Lt Collins and quietly asks, "Sir, would it be possible to have that that private word now, I don't think it will take long."

Collins looks from Rangin to Hsu and back again, then nods and says "Mr. Hsu, would you excuse us for a brief moment?"

The Andorian officer, whose name is Thuvas, says, "I think they're cleaned daily if anyone's in residence, but not at all when no one's here." He checks a pocket datareader. "It looks like this house was last occupied two weeks ago."

Kylah finds nothing of interest in her search. The house is clean and empty.

Hsu says, "Of course," and walks a little farther ahead, leading the way.

Rangin wondered if he was doing the right thing. Privacy was certainly the best thing for the topics he was going to bring up. It was one thing to pass on the details about Mr. Wilson and Mrs. Hsu, which should be done discreetly and not used as a boot to kick people with as Graham wanted to do. But he was about to try and discuss Collins's handling of the team, and he was hoping she would be receptive to some help.

"Sir, there are actually a couple of things to discuss. The first is that Ens. Kylah decoded Mr. Wilson's messages. It appears that his relationship with Mrs. Hsu went beyond that of professionals and into a more personal relationship. We don't know any more detail than that including if Mr. Hsu knew. The second is...", Rangin takes a deep breath before ploughing on, "...sir, with the greatest of respect, you don't appear to be handling running this team well. I was going to ask, is there anything I can do to help?"

Collins looks at Rangin for a long moment. Her first instinct is to tell him to sod off. But deep inside, she knows she's making a total mess of things. Part of her would love to say Yes. Take over, please, and then run back to her quarters and hide; but that is not what a team leader would say or do.

"Ensign Rangin," Jeremi digs deeply for her most professional voice and stands strong, "you can be of tremendous help as my advisor. Tell me, how long do you think the affair has been going on?" She relaxes a bit, then adds, "and please feel free to privately coach me for the remainder of the mission. I don't take kindly to being called out in front of others, but on the side is another thing entirely." Which I don't like much better, but it is preferable.

Baby steps, baby steps, thinks Rangin, as he realises he's holding his breath and then lets it out slowly. Nodding to Collins, he says, "Understood. For the affair, we have no idea how long it has been going on or even how far it went, but from the messages it looks serious enough and if I had to hazard a guess, I would have said over a month at least. The messages don't read as two people just starting out." He looks Collins straight in the eyes. "As for assisting, of course, I'll see what I can do to help and yes, if there is anything else, I will bring it up in private." He smiles at the Security lieutenant, "Although I don't think it will take that long to sort out. I'd say it was more a lack of practice or experience than anything. You're already getting better by asking for ideas from everyone and then giving orders based on it. The next thing I would suggest working on, is waiting to get all the answers from everyone first. You're currently holding very short sessions when there is a little more to discuss. Wait for everyone to have a say, ask a question or two to show you are listening, and then make your decisions, based on what you've been told. Captains have been asking First Officers for options for years; this is no different." Rangin feels a slightly warm glow as he hopes his words have an impact, and if he can help Lt. JG Collins to be a better person, so much the better. My friends, my Coridan, my Federation, here's to making a start on that promise.

Collins meets Rangin's gaze. "Thank you, Ensign. Now let's go catch a murderer." She says as she offers her right hand.

Rangin shakes her hand firmly and nods. "You're welcome. After you."

"A cup of tea would be most welcome," T'Var replies.

Rangin follows Collins after Mr Hsu to Wilson's suite. Thinking over it, it feels weird and yet warming that Collins had accepted his help, even though Kylah had said she never would. He had previously considered asking Collins if she needed help, but in some ways that final push to ask came from Kylah's rejection of it.

It's a strange world indeed.

I really need more management and leadership training before I lead another mission. I just hope I don't get busted down to Specialist Collins thinks grimly as they walk along.

Kylah thanks Thuvas for the information and for his help as they leave the house. She is not surprised that this was empty, but she wants to be thorough. And she is curious about where Wilson and Mrs. Hsu were having their trysts, assuming there was more than one. It would make sense for it to be one of these houses.

Back outside, Kylah asks Thuvas, "Would you help me with searching the other empty houses, please?" She glances back to Graham to see if he is through mining for any rumors. This seems a simple enough task that she can take care of on her own, of course, but she does not want him to think she is ignoring him.

Dr. Halsey makes some tea for himself and Dr. T'Var. "Where will you go next for your investigation?" he asks, stifling a yawn. "Sorry. Still early for me."

Graham sees Kylah and Thuvas as they emerge from the empty green house. Thuvas says, "I really ought to stay at my post, but if you expect to be going into a lot more houses, I can call for another officer."

Hsu, Collins and Rangin walk to the staff tower and take the elevator to the fourth floor. The door to Room 401, Wilson's apartment, is locked, but Hsu uses his security override to get in. There is a small kitchen, dining room, living room, two bathrooms, one bedroom, an office, utility room and a study. Things are relatively tidy, although Collins notices some dust. The service corridor's door to the study is also locked, and Hsu opens it, as well. "Anything in particular we should be looking for?" he asks.

"Only two more," Kylah says. "The empty ones--we will need access to them. But I do not want to keep you from your post. Please do call for another officer, if you would. And thank you very much for your assistance."

Kylah sees Graham noticing her, and she walks closer to him. "Pardon me, Mr. Graham," she says. "I am sorry to interrupt. I was just checking the first of three empty houses ... just to be thorough." She avoids looking at the security officers, trying to be circumspect. 'Looking for Wilson and Hsu's tryst location' would be poor phrasing indeed. "Since it is still so early in the day, I thought starting with those would be less disruptive for the guests who might be sleeping. I will have a security officer to open the doors, and of course he or she can accompany me inside, but... if you are available, your knowledge of security sweeps would be helpful."

"Before we start looking around," Collins says to Hsu, "Could we possibly get some rubber gloves? I'm sorry I didn't think of this while we were downstairs."

"Why don't I open them for you," Thuvas says, "and perhaps Mr. Graham can go inside with you, while I keep an eye on the block from outside?"

Hsu says, "Not to worry, I brought gloves." He gives a pair each to Collins and Rangin, and dons some himself.

"That's a fine suggestion, Mr. Thuvas," Graham replies to the Security officer.

"No need to apologize," Graham replies to Kylah. "Happy to oblige." He pauses a moment. "Ah, assuming you really don't mind my company."

After accepting Thuvas's offer, Kylah looks at Graham and shakes her head. "Of course not, thank you," she says, a bit embarrassed to respond to the question in front of the resort employee. Why should he know the intra-team dynamics of the Yorktown crew? "I suppose as we are closest to House #7, perhaps we can start there?"

She turns and starts walking to #7. Kylah wants to explain to Graham why she is interested in the empty houses--although he may well have guessed--and is also curious to hear whatever he may have heard from the guards. But such explanations will have to wait until they are alone in the house.

When they arrive Kylah stands aside and pulls out her phaser again, but then casts a quick uncertain look at Mr. Graham. "Do you think I am arming myself unnecessarily? I thought... considering there is a killer somewhere, even though it is unlikely he or she will be inside..." Her shoulders lift in a kind of shrug. "By the way, Mr. Thuvas, can you tell us when #7 and #1 were last occupied?"

"The killers who, you know, actually succeed at killing multiple people have a nasty habit of turning up in unlikely places. You are not at all arming yourself unnecessarily." Graham replies, drawing his own phaser and checking the stun setting and charge. "Hey this is good practice, anyway. As we enter any room, we each take one-half - let's say I'm right, your left. That way cover the whole room more quickly, and don't cross each other's lines of fire. Likewise, we keep fire lanes clear - so I shouldn't stand directly in front of a door on the right wall, I stand a step back, you have a straight shot across the room. Or vice-versa."

He smiles authentically, and feels for a moment like he's truly being useful. "And sure it looks dopey, but while clearing a room you sight down the line of the phaser..." he cocks his arm so his phaser is up around his chin, just out in front of him. "You shoot what you see, you move it and your body in tandem with your head. The split second it saves you versus some shithead who has to swing his weapon around to aim at you can make a big difference." He chuckles. "Or sometimes not," he says, rubbing one of the phaser burn scars under his shirt with his other hand. "This one time it didn't, back on..." He pauses and feels slightly embarrassed. "Uh, long story...I'm sure you don't want to hear. Let's, ah, get to it."

Kylah listens attentively and automatically looks at whatever he's rubbing--presumably an old injury. She has never been wounded to such a degree, except for the excrutiating slime devil bite back on the Sakathian research station. The only time she's even had a phaser pointed at her was thanks to another Starfleet officer--Lt. Pourtash, and while he was only planning on stunning her, it was frightening enough. She swallows nervously and sympathizes with the rough past Graham has likely had; there is clearly a reason he is so... violent is the wrong word, although he clearly is at times... rough might be better.

"Thank you, I will follow your advice," she says intently, and positions herself to the left side of the door. "Oh--Mr. Thuvas, wait one moment please?" Again she focuses on the interior of the house, closing her eyes. This will be a little more difficult, now that she must filter out the emotions of two people instead of just one.

Kylah can sense no one in the house.

Thuvas checks his pocket datareader again. "House #7 was last occupied yesterday...likewise House #1. Looks like the residents of both checked out yesterday morning and left on the starliner, as scheduled." House #7 is all white and more modern in design than those Kylah has already seen. Thuvas opens the door and steps back.

Rangin thanks Mr Hsu for the gloves and mentally commends Collins and Hsu for remembering them , he had certainly forgotten.

"Looking for? If I knew it would make it easier, but I have no ideas as of now. Ok, given the situation, let's start by looking to see what could have occurred here last night. We know he was here for at least forty five minutes...actually, we don't know he was here for anything more than the time it would take to get from the front door to the study door. Can that service corridor door be opened from both sides or only from the study? I'm going to assume nothing, other than the facts we have. But if he was here what should he have accomplished. If it was a normal night, probably a bit of office work, relax, wash and then go to sleep. Is there anything we can find which looks as though he was doing something different. Perhaps something to give us an idea of how long he was actually in the room given that after, at most, seventy five minutes, he was deceased."

Rangin stops and pauses for a moment, before turning to Mr Hsu, "Possibly a dumb question, but I cannot remember: were the clothes that Mr Wilson was found in, the same clothes he was wearing yesterday? I didn't look closely," admits Rangin as she shakes his head, "and perhaps slightly more serious, if you were to go back through your security archives, has the same static appeared at any other time, and just has never been noticed as no-one has ever had to look for it before?"

Rangin gets out his tricorder and starts scanning, wondering what traces he might find of Mr Wilson.

He's right, thinks Collins If Wilson and the Hsu-ette have hooked up before, there might be signs. She goes into the bedroom and scans the whole scene, first with her eyes, then her nose, then with her tricorder. If Hsu-ette has been here, there might be a molecule or two of her left behind

Graham notices Kylah stand still for a moment and close her eyes beside the door. Hell, I hope I didn't make her anxious, he thinks. On the other hand, if she's taking this seriously, maybe that's what she does to get in the zone and focus. Good on her for that. He shifts from side to side. Of course for me getting moving tends to do it rather than standing still.

Wilson's body was found in the same dark suit he had on when the Yorktown landing party last saw him.

Hsu says, "The service corridor door can be opened from either side. For most staff, door would be locked from this side, but Mr. Wilson could've used his director's override to open it, if he wanted. There's no door in the entire resort he - or my wife, or I, for that matter - couldn't open. This particular door would also unlock automatically if the smoke or fire alarm was triggered, for use as an emergency exit. As to the static, no, that's never happened before, as I said earlier."

Collins sees that the bedroom has modern furniture and seems comfortable and lived-in. Two shirts are tossed over a chair; a pair of fleece-lined leather slippers is beside the large bed. The bed is made but a little rumpled. A datapad and a drinking glass are on the bedside table; there is nothing in the small waste can beneath it. The closet has a number of business suits and more casual clothes. The Security officer smells nothing in particular in the room. Her tricorder scan locates several hairs on the bed's two wide pillows, and some genetic material on the sheets and in the dust - dried skin flakes, it appears - under the bed.

In what room is Rangin conducting his tricorder scan?

dp

Collins sets the tricorder to determine from whom the hairs and genetic material came. She wonders if they are just from Wilson or if anyone else has been here.

"Let's start with the dining room and the kitchen. See if there were any midnight snacks being made."

While Collins is looking around and she is probably better at it than him, thinks Rangin, he will try to keep Mr Hsu occupied to give her a freer hand.

Kylah opens her eyes and exhales in relief. She glances apologetically at Graham. Of course she cannot tell him there is probably no one in the house, and besides, there is always the possibility that there is someone there, but for whatever reason she is unable to sense them.

"I am ready," she murmurs. Seeing the open door, she nods and enters the house, moving swiftly to the left with her phaser held up high as Graham recommended.

Graham follows Kylah in, covering the right as planned, and chastises himself for being just a split-second off pace--he feels a little distracted. Her earnestness and age, when she's focused on the job and not angry at me--well, when she's angry at me too, he thinks, remind me of Elizabeth.

Of course, he adds as a mental note, Elizabeth will go off wandering space in places where she might need a phaser over my dead body.

Kylah's gaze scans the room and looks for a light source. There was apparently a switch near Thuvas's side when they entered #10, but she isn't certain if this house is laid out the same way. She looks at Graham and then back at the room, wanting him to make the decision that no one is here. If she acts too comfortable, as if she knows the house is empty, he'll think she's either too cocky or he might... somehow... guess.

Graham scans his side of the room. Without looking at Kylah, he says softly, "With one hand, you check your side for a light switch. When you're back to being able to fully focus on the room, give me the word. At that point either I'll do the same, or we'll be able see enough to call the room clear."

He pauses. "Eh, I'm not saying this because I think you're stupid, I'm just...sharing a little of the ah, glamorous Security lifestyle."

Kylah does as Graham suggests and feels around for the switch. She does not want to give him any reason to remonstrate with her; after her behavior last night she isn't certain she can handle disappointing anyone with yet another failure on her part.

Kylah finds the switch and the lights come on. There is a much larger entrance foyer here than in the other house. An equally spacious living room lies beyond; Graham and she see that the furniture is all sleek and modern. There is apparently no one there.

Collins's scan confirms that the hair and skin particles in the bedroom are from Wilson and two other Humans. There are several very faint semen stains on the sheets; DNA profiling indicates it is Wilson's. Her tricorder does not have records with which to identify the DNA traces of the other two people.

Rangin's visual check and tricorder scan in the kitchen reveal no sign of any meal being recently prepared there. The refrigerator has juice, ice water, milk, vodka, eggs, pasta sauce, gurel sauce, cheese and Kaferian apple jelly. Two of the eggs are going bad. There are several dozen typical food staples in various drawers and storage compartments in the kitchen.

Kylah walks further away from the door and says, still keeping her voice low in order to avoid being heard by Thuvas: "You have probably guessed the real reason for my wishing to search these empty houses--if Wilson was having an affair, he and his partner had to meet somewhere. Her being seen in his rooms would be explicable, but risky if done too often. One of these cottages might have been better suited for their... purposes."

She refrains from using Mrs. Hsu's name, just in case Thuvas has unusually good hearing. "And there's the fact that Wilson was found in the park nearby. Perhaps they had plans--it certainly sounded as if she wished to see him soon. But the empty houses are not the only places they could have used. Frankly I also have suspicions about the ar--"

Suddenly she cuts herself off and turns back to Graham, her face warm. "I am sorry," she says. "I talk too much when I am overtired. Even more than I usually do," Kylah adds ruefully. "Please tell me your thoughts. And did you hear any useful information from those guards?"

Graham lowers his arm but keeps his phaser in hand. "Room is clear," he says quietly and almost by rote. He furrows his brow and shakes his head. "There's nothing you've said you need to apologize for," he replies. "You're on the right track. Rumor in resort security is that Wilson was having an--another--affair with a guest and was in trouble with WR&R."

He rubs his chin. "Maybe that rumor was based on him messing with..." He lowers his voice. "Mrs...ah, you know who...but I don't know--if you're that kind of man..." He can't help but feel a wave of contempt. Cheating on Jane was something he never contemplated, but now, after losing her, the thought of treating marriage so casually fills him with disgust and anger. "Well, if you're that type of guy, why wouldn't you take advantage of whatever came your way?"

He shrugs. "Anyway, we should take tricorder readings. Uh--what did you have suspicions about?"

Kylah puts her phaser away and again slips on the plastic gloves she used earlier, but keeps her widened eyes on Graham the whole time. "An affair with a guest," she says, almost excited. "Did they say what guest? Because... that actually relates to my suspicions. The argument with Fastolfe. She mentioned it on one of her messages. What if the yellow house Fastolfe so desired, and which Wilson was so adamant about not switching, is where they spent their time together?"

She speaks more quickly while pulling out her tricorder and looking at the screen. "There are two yellow houses that are occupied right now, #8 and #12. I believe only one is occupied by a female, as Wilson claimed--no matter what Lt. Delaney remembers or does not, I am certain Wilson referred to a woman. The first house is occupied by Prolun Jaxo, some official from a planet I have never heard of--Hwuen, do you know it? And the other is an actress, Sylvia Aubrey. Presumably from Earth; I do not know. What if either one of these is a false name, a cover for them to make sure the house is available? Or you could be right and he is seeing two women. In which case that adds yet a third suspect; aside from--her spouse, imagine if either woman found out about the other... or if Wilson was ending the affairs..."

Shaking her head, Kylah waves the words away as if dispelling them. "But I am getting ahead of myself." She looks hopefully up at Graham. "Does this make any sense?"

"Well nothing here, no traces of anything being prepared last night at least.", says Rangin to Mr Hsu. "Let's see if he did any work last night in his office after he got in."

"Sir," Rangin calls out to Collins, "we're just going to check the office, to see if Mr Wilson did anything extra last night."

He heads in to looks through any drawers, check papers and wastebins, and access any computers if there are any to see when it was last used and if it was used to tamper with the security feed. Rangin wonders, that if Mr Wilson had done it, whether the computer would still be on. Only one way to find.

Since she cannot ID the DNA, yet she thinks, she concentrates on the hairs that are not Wilson's, specifically their color, and tries to recall the hair on the guests they'd met yesterday morning and that of Mrs. Hsu.

"I'll be with you in a minute" she calls back to Rangin. She turns her attention back to the bed and scans the semen stains. Perhaps Wilson swung both ways she muses.

T'Var takes a sip of tea. Not as good as what she enjoys from the ship's replicator, but adequate to her hydration needs at the moment.

"I will confer with my fellow officers, of course. Perhaps they have had more success regarding Mr. Wilson's murder."

Graham nods. "Sense enough. I think Wilson liked to, uh, make the most of the resort's attractions," he says. It occurs to him that Kylah seemed to have the same agenda herself last night--but hopes he didn't inadvertently open that can of worms. He adds quickly, "Ending an--or 'one of'--the affairs, or somebody deciding three's a crowd--tried-and-true motives." He shrugs slightly. "Especially for a stabbing." He taps his chest over his heart. "Up close and personal."

He glances around the room. "I agree checking on what houses he might have been using, and who figuring out who he was bang--ah, messing around with--is important."

Ens. Graham has heard of the Hwuen, and has even met one before; they're an insectoid race, generally friendly with but not members of the Federation. He doesn't know much about their naming conventions, but vaguely recalls that "Jaxo" is a government title.

Lt. JG Collins sees that several of the hairs she gathers and then bags and tags are red. Mrs. Hsu, she remembers, is red-haired - almost surely dyed, given her apparently Chinese heritage. Collins does not recall meeting any other redheads since arriving on OC3.

Wilson's home office has a large desk with a standard-issue WR&R computer terminal with three screens, side by side. Ens. Rangin sees that the swivel chair behind the desk is very well-worn and its upholstery is coming loose at the edges. The computer is on but the screens are blank; a prompt blinks: WR&R Management Systems. Password: __________. The desk is somewhat cluttered with paper printouts of financial spreadsheets, interoffice memos, correspondence with corporate HQ and guests, etc. The wastebin under the desk also has various boring discarded papers, some of which have been irregularly torn. There are various office supplies and odds and ends in the drawers and storage cabinet, and five datapads.

Dr. Halsey sips his tea, coughs and asks Dr. T'Var, "Do you think this... tragedy might affect Wrigley Resorts & Recreation's bid to keep the OC3 franchise?"

"I guess some people never stop working", comments Rangin. "Excuse me, you wouldn't be able to override Mr Wilson's password would you", he asks Mr Hsu, and possibly those of the datapads as well, if they are locked.

Rangin picks the datapads up to see if they can be accessed. He also picks up the guest correspondence for the last few days to see if there were any trouble. The comments from yesterday about Lord Falstofe wanting to changes houses are foremost in his mind. There may be details of it in the notes.

Mr. Hsu uses his security override to gain access to the computer and the datapads. The guest correspondence doesn't mention the problems with Lord Fastolfe; Rangin notices that the most recent letter there is from more than three weeks ago.

Rangin puts the correspondence aside with a shrug, "Nothing in there I can find. Let's see what these hold."

Pausing for a moment, Rangin comments, "It might be better to get someone more appropriate for this like Lt. Delaney for a more in depth look, but let's see if there is anything obvious." He moves to sit in front of the computer to begin accessing it to see what has been running

Rangin hoped that Mr Wilson had not decided to keep his love life neatly diarised in his WR&R computer, otherwise Mr Hsu was likely in for a shock, if he knew nothing about his wife's possible infidelity.

Hsu says, "Whatever you think best, Ensign."

On the computer desktop immediately appear a daily planner, music player, personal file folder, and several dozen resort-related folders including Housekeeping, Buildings and Grounds, Recreation, Spa, Hotel, Restaurants, Entertainment, Correspondence, Interoffice, Corporate, Scheduling, Resupply, Starfleet, Personnel, Forms, Payroll, Medical, Budget, Starlines, and so on.

An odd sense of relief slightly relaxes Kylah's tense muscles. Until now she has not realized how desperately she's needed to have her... her instincts... validated. After so many mistakes in judgment during everything that's happened with Ferguson, Collins, Velir and Jan, Kylah's self-doubt has tightened its grip around her throat until now it's nearly strangling her. Even if she is wrong about her speculation regarding the murder, at least Graham, someone with years of expertise, has not dismissed her ideas. She nearly thanks him just for listening.

When Graham explains what he knows of the Hwuen, Kylah nods and looks down at the list again. "I would like to meet him--or her, I should say. For some reason the name seemed masculine, but that was a silly... oh!" She rubs her bleary eyes with her wrist. "I am sorry, I see I misread the guest information. Ms. Aubrey is from Cochrane V, not Earth. But most likely human, at any rate." Kylah returns her gaze to Graham. "I suppose we should begin. Since I have the gloves, perhaps I should do the physical search, and you might scan for whatever fingerprints or evidence you can find? You must be better at that than I. And once we are done, Ms. Aubrey might be our next stop--" Kylah suddenly casts an almost teasing look at Graham. "Although you are probably anxious to interview Lord Fastolfe."

Graham chuckles. "Yeah, well, for all we know Fastolfe was jealous he wasn't Wilson's main squeeze, I mean, obviously you know..." Shit, speaking of can of worms, shut up Booker, he thinks. "Ah, you know it's a possibility." He clears his throat, stows his phaser, and takes out his tricorder. "Anyway, I'm sure he misses me too. But I'm fine with checking out this Aubrey first." He shrugs. "Any information we can gather before we talk to him that will equip us to give Fastolfe a hard time is a plus. I hate it when people like him use their position to act like bullies and get away with it."

He starts to scan.

Kylah gives Graham a sidelong glance, although she remains silent. But Graham's comment about using power and bullying others makes her wonder if he does not see any of that in himself, and in Collins's tacit approval of his actions. Does he feel remorse for attempting to intimidate Wilson yesterday with that knife--a knife identical to the one that, in only hours, would cause Wilson's death?

She shudders at the thought that the poor man was confronted three times with a knife in a single day, once fatally. How horrible. Her sympathy toward Wilson is not altered by the fact that he was apparently disloyal to his wife; she does not believe infidelity should be a capital offense.

With a sigh, she starts to search, looking in dressers, cabinets, closets, under the bed... hoping to find anything that might have been left behind, and might indicate that someone was in here after the guests checked out.

Graham's tricorder scan locates dozens of fingerprints on many surfaces. None of them appear to be Wilson's. There is a full kitchen, large dining room and entertainment room on the first floor. There are three bedrooms and three bathrooms upstairs, as well as a sitting room. Everything is very modern and chic. The sheets and towels are all new and clean, and have no DNA residue or hairs. Kylah finds no personal effects anywhere in the house, in or under anything.

Carefully slipping off her gloves, Kylah straightens after looking in the lowest drawer of the final bedroom dresser. She starts downstairs and calls out to Graham, "I found nothing up here either. I suppose we are ready to interview Sylvia Aub-- wait, no!" Her eyes widen and she nearly stumbles on the final step. "I am wrong! I completely forgot that there is another empty house left." With a quick, irritated shake of her head, she whispers angrily to herself: "Wake up, you fool, focus!"

She rubs her eyes again and continues into the main room, where she walks to the open doorway for a deep breath of the cool morning air. Perhaps it will revive the brain cells that are apparently catching up on the sleep she missed last night. "You are a better judge of the correct procedure, Mr. Graham," Kylah says weakly. "Should we finish the empty house sweep or interview Ms. Aubrey?"

"I'll pass on the the WR&R folders, it's probably business orientated and I won't understand a word of it, other than perhaps Buildings and Grounds. If I was going to amend the security tapes, details for it would probably be in there." Rangin mutters to himself and Mr Hsu looking at the screen.

"Actually, what we really want to know is when he last used this computer. Let's see if we can find when any files were last updated or programs run. Failing that, we can see if he had any planned meetings for last night he wasn't mentioning. If none of those come up, we would be better off asking Lt. Delaney to see what he can find. He's far better at technical matters than I could hope to be."

Not entirely satisfied that her scans of the semen stains showed nothing new, Collins slowly does another scan of the room with her tricorder, paying close attention for any blips on the screen.

Collins finds nothing else of note in her scan of the bedroom.

Hsu helps Rangin check Wilson's daily planner. For yesterday, it shows a staff meeting, office hours, and then meeting the Yorktown's landing party at the Starfleet research station. From the unit history, Wilson apparently last used this computer at 0743 yesterday, several hours before the starship took up orbit.

Collins finds the office and joins Rangin and Hsu. "How's it going in here? Anything I can do?" she asks sincerely.

"Nothing obvious here Sir, we might as well check the datapads before calling in the expert." Rangin sighs, he was hoping there would something, but is not surprised that there isn't. If something was going on, you wouldn't hide it in plain sight.

"The only thing it tells us is that he didn't use his terminal last night. Let's see if the datapads are the same and otherwise, we are moving onto some of the other rooms to see what we can find, because so far as I can see he got in, and then left." Rangin picks up a datapad at random to look at the data held on it.

"I didn't find anything either," he replies, shaking his head. "Let's finish the empties first--it's always best to keep reducing the degrees of freedom, checking off a full line of inquiry if you can before moving on to another."

He starts to turn around toward the door but stops - he doesn't need to be a psychologist or an empath to pick up on Kylah's mood.

"Ah - look, Ensign, if you are interested in some my ancient wisdom, you don't need to beat yourself up over every little slip--real or perceived." He smiles and gestures over his shoulder as if someone was there. "That's what senior officers are for." He pauses a moment.

"If you're having a problem with..." He trails off. "Well, forget it, I'm sure you don't want me trying to act like your mother. Plus it'd be like a monkey trying to do brain surgery." His voice is a littler firmer and more professional. "Just, ah, believe me, I've seen a lot of washouts but when you stay focused on the job, not other...distractions, as far as I can tell, you're going to do just fine."

"Mmhm" Collins mumbles, indicating she agrees with Rangin "Mr. Hsu? Would you mind excusing us for a brief moment?"

Rangin gets up from the seat by the computer and gestures Mr Hsu into it and puts the datapad back down on the table.

"Excuse us", Rangin says to Mr Hsu before heading across to Lt Collins. "Sir?"

Collins shows Rangin the red hairs. "From the bed" she quietly tells Rangin, "and I don't recall any redheads other than Mrs. Hsu. How about you?"

Rangin thinks for a moment and then looks back at Collins. Collins with that sweet face surrounded by red hair and for one moment all Rangin can see in his mind's eye is...

Rangin breaks his brief gaze from her hair before answering quietly, "I believe your correct Sir, no others I remember in the resort."

Kylah listens to Graham's decision about checking the other empty house first and nods without either enthusiasm or disappointment. When he starts to reassure her, she feels a bit of warmth--until he mentions one word. It's all she hears.

She spins around, wounded as if he struck her. Her exhaustion and mortification combine to unleash a barrage of words. "Mother," she repeats, her face burning. "She told you, didn't she? Collins? Yes, she must have had a wonderful time recounting to her fellow security officer--the one person she treats like a true team member--how spoiled and insecure I am, how she reduced me to nothing yesterday with her vicious words just before I was to head off to my interview. Well, I do not know what warped account of our argument she gave you. I do not know why she went for the jugular and turned a few friendly discussions with T'Var into some warped psychological defect. Mocking me as a child taken from her mother too soon..." Kylah's eyes sting with tears and she blinks them away, too angry to cry. "T'Var is a friend--as much as someone who thinks me unstable can be--not a mother figure. I have not had one of those since I was twelve--even before she died, really."

Kylah lifts a hand and shakes her head. "No, I will not recount my family history only for Collins to learn and throw it back in my face at some later date. Perhaps I would not be so insecure if my commanding officer had encouraged me instead of tearing me down so utterly right before I went on my first solo assignment. Perhaps I would not have let my guard down. Perhaps I would not have been so vulnerable, and would have been better able to prevent some stranger--"

She chokes to a horrified stop and presses her fingers against her lips, wishing she could cram the words back inside. With a ragged inhale she leaves the house and mutters to Thuvas that they are heading to the final empty cottage.

Thuvas looks taken aback by Kylah's appearance and asks, "Are you all right, miss?"

Rangin and Collins check each of the five datapads. One has a report from Dr. Halsey on resupplying the Infirmary, one a long letter from WR&R Corporate as to keeping the OC3 franchise, and three are empty. None has been accessed more recently than four days ago.

Kylah nods and brushes a hand across her eyes. "An--an allergic reaction," she says as calmly as possible. "I do not know what caused it. Cleaning fluid, some material, some dust... I do not know," she repeats.

Graham stands with his mouth open, as if to speak, but not able to come up with anything to say as Kylah storms out.

Way to go, Booker, he thinks. What the hell is it with you? He briefly imagines Elizabeth getting the letter he finally sent the other day, and something he said in it prompting her to phaser whatever photos of him she might have left into molten slag. Why don't you buttonhole Kylah about how her mom died? It wasn't so long ago that it couldn't have somehow been your fault...remember back when the shit-hit-the-fan-on-Starbase-whatever? Yep, that was Kylah's mom!

He rubs his forehead. He's not sure what to make of what he's learned: he assumed T'Var was...Well, Faisal and I are friends and we don't go around holding each other's hands, but whatever, it's probably a woman thing, he thinks. He has a hard time picturing Collins, who, if anything, has been too lax rather than too harsh, dressing down a subordinate in what sounds like such a devastating way...

Well maybe there's some kind of a woman thing going on there, too, he thinks.

Something does stick in his mind, though. "Prevent some stranger from..." doing what? I didn't get a bad vibe from Jan, at the nightclub, he thinks. Was I wrong? And how much trouble would I get in with Collins and Palver if I dangled him out of any upper story window while I asked him to clarify exactly what happened last night?

He frowns and wonders what he should say, or whether he should just keep his big mouth shut while they search the next house as he steps outside.

"So," Collins says to Rangin, "how do you suggest we proceed?" as she bags and tags the two datapads with something on them. Knowing what's in that letter may come in handy later when the subject of the contract comes up, but it's not likely to have anything to do with the murder.

It is still early yet and Kylah supposes most guests are probably sleeping or just getting up now. She moves ahead of Thuvas to the final empty house, first walking quickly, then breaking into a jog that she barely manages to keep from turning into a run. She wants to escape, to put as much distance between her and Graham as possible, but running like a child from an schoolyard bully will do her no good.

Besides, in her heart she knows it's possible his words meant nothing. He might only have been trying to help, and she blasted him with a phaser-like stream of--well, it was all the truth, but still they were truths that she should never have expressed. And the sad fact is that even if he is Collins's cohort in cruelty, purposely needling her about her mother, all she did was prove everyone's worst beliefs about her true. Even T'Var was right. There is a job to do, a vital job, and she cannot perform it by having hysterical confrontations with half the crew.

Sucking in lungfuls of bracing air, Kylah closes her eyes at the memory of what she nearly revealed. How is it that I could not even keep this secret for 24 hours? she berates herself. I have kept so many secrets, why is this different?

She opens her eyes just in time to find herself nearing House #1 and the small border of hedges that surrounds it. Trying to stop before she slams into the plants, she finds the high heel of her boot caught on some irregularity in the path. With a gasp she tumbles forward, and while her hands stretch outward to protect her head from injury, her left knee scrapes painfully when it hits the ground.

After a few stunned seconds, she rolls onto her side to sit and stare at the torn stocking, bruised knee, and hands now covered in dirt. She isn't sure whether to laugh or cry, and at last the sound emitting from her throat is a combination of both.

Kylah of the House of the Silver Weeping Tree has disgraced herself again.

"Well sir, there are a couple more rooms to check out, but it is beginning to look more and more like Mr. Wilson did not spend any time in this area after he stopped for the night."

Rangin thinks a little further. "The only other thing we might want to look for is any sign of a safe or other secret compartment in here. Once we have checked those we have the spore plants to check and the transporter to see if there were any unexpected trips. That should be our two hours before the next debrief and a chance to get another coffee. "

"Sounds good" Collins says as she starts feeling around the underside of the desk for something that feels like a trigger of some sort. She also checks inside and under each drawer.

Thuvas runs up to Kylah to help her to her feet; Graham is not far behind. "Careful, miss," the Andorian says. "Let me help."

Collins and Rangin find no safe or hidden compartment in Wilson's suite with their visual and fingertip search.

"Hmmmm" Collins says, and adjusts her tricorder to find discrepancies in wall density. She then scans the walls for a hidden compartment.

Rangin looks across at what Collins does with her tricorder and smiles. "Great minds think alike, sir. I was about to do the same. I'll check the other rooms for any sign that Mr. Wilson used them last night instead. We don't both need to search the same way."

Graham sees Kylah break into a trot--away from him? And then things move in slow motion as she stumbles and falls...

Lizzy was 15, on a rare occasion Graham was assigned to Earth and she was staying with him rather than Jane's parents. And so soon after they lost her. Rather than go out with her friends she'd stayed in and made a real hand-cooked meal, no replicators involved. Which was now cold, because he was late, because he was working, and because...because I can't face my own home and my own daughter without stopping to have a drink, Graham thought. Drink...s.

Things hadn't gone well from the first few words. Then she said "I don't want to talk to you when you're like this," turned, and as she ran toward her room her foot caught the edge of a rug and she fell, he heard her head hit the edge of the coffee table and there was blood. He moved--staggered--toward her to help.

"Leave me alone," she said, holding one hand over the cut on her forehead and stumbling to her room. "It was better when you weren't here!"

No. No no no no no no no no no no no no no no...

He can hear Rangin saying "I'd hate to be your daughter" just yesterday on these very grounds.

Graham feels as if he himself is moving in slow motion and is grateful Thuvas is there to help Kylah up as he tries to get hold of himself.

As Kylah shakes with almost hysterical laughter and tears, she realizes the WR&R security officer has rushed to her side and leaning down to help her. And Graham is there as well, lingering behind.

She lets Thuvas take hold of her arm and help her up, although as soon as she's on her feet she shrugs him off. "Thank you," she manages, rubbing her knee and keeping her face hidden due to her morification. "It is nothing. These stupid heels..." Her voice sounds nothing like herself and she does not dare say more. The laughter-sobbing is still bubbling near the surface.

She starts toward the house in order to prove she is all right and, more importantly, avoid the men hovering over her. Her gait is awkward as she favors her right leg with a limp. But she knows her left knee is just badly scratched and sore. Like every other foolish mistake she's made, the real pain is internal.

Wiping her hands on her uniform, which is grass-stained now anyway, Kylah stands before the house's entrance, not looking at either man beside her. She doesn't trust her voice so she just nods at the door.

Graham snaps himself back into focus and hurries toward the door. "Uh, hold on," he says, his voice cracking a little. He clears his throat. Although he realizes he ought to ask Kylah how she is, instead he tries to avoid having to look at her directly. "Ah, if we're going to do this right, we might as really well do it by the numbers." He takes out his tricorder and scans or life signs as well as standard security scans for hazards or explosives inside the house before giving Thuvas the thumbs up to open the door.

When she notices Graham using his tricorder, Kylah curses her forgetfulness. She closes her eyes and attempts to focus on the house to see if she senses anything. Her heart leaps when she feels some powerful emotion nearby but, concentrating more closely to locate the source, she suddenly realizes it is coming from Graham. Regret and discomfort so intense that Kylah cannot even get anything from the Andorian standing closer to her. She suspects she has no chance of filtering such feelings out to sense whatever is beyond the door, and quickly blinks and opens her still-blurry eyes in an effort to break off the connection with Graham.

Belatedly she reaches for her phaser. Her hand is also scraped, she realizes as the weapon touches her sore palm. She ignores the pain and tightens her grip, waiting for Graham to give the go-ahead and for Thuvas to open the door.

"Would you like to wash up, miss?" Thuvas asks. "There's a public bathroom not far away, or you could return to your ship, if you'd rather."

As Hsu looks on, Collins and Rangin scan the entire suite. They eventually find a concealed compartment, a cube almost half a meter on a side, behind an Impressionist print in the bedroom. Even after removing the picture from its hook, the outline of the compartment cannot be seen with the naked eye. There is no obvious means of opening it.

Kylah shakes her head. She will need to ask permission from Collins to go back to the ship, and she would rather get stunned than do so. But an idea occurs to her. She says tightly: "Thank you, Mr. Thuvas. After we go through this house, I will return to the lab station to clean and change."

"I don't see a switch," Collins says to Rangin, as she starts to feel around what the tricorder showed as the outline.

Rangin wonders about how lucky the Lt. Collins is in finding the safe, he was sure he had scanned across the wall, but she had found it. He maybe be good at coming up with the ideas but Collins was certainly better at carrying things out. He smiles as he realises how much he is enjoying this. However, safe searching and safe cracking are obviously a Security thing because he didn't have a clue how to open it.

Rangin calls across to Collins. "Sir, if that is a feature of the room, well Mr Wilson has full plans for the hotel on his computer so, it should say not only if the room has a safe, but also what type of safe it is, which will help in trying to open it."

Rangin then leans back against the wall and turns his attention to Mr Hsu. "Mr Hsu, do you know anything about this safe and how to open it. If you don't, it makes me wonder what secrets Mr Wilson was keeping private even from his Chief of Security. Of course, if you do I'm going to be disappointed you didn't mention anything about it earlier."

If Mr Hsu answers in the negative, Rangin will go to check on the hotel files on Mr Wilson's computer. If he answers in the positive, he will wait for him to open the safe.

Hsu's eyes widen and he says, "No, I didn't know about the safe. I'm just as a surprised as you that there's one here. I don't know how to open it."

Rangin finds no reference to the safe in the WR&R architectural or builders' plans for the staff quarters. Some of the hotel rooms and guest houses have safes, he sees, but none of them are concealed like this.

Delaney enters the suite. He reports to Collins, "We now have an evidence safe in the CP, ma'am, and I've put all that stuff in it. Both the safe and the room are secured. Need any help here?"

Rangin looks across at Delaney with Cheshire Cat smile. "Sir, you have excellent timing. We have a safe buried in that wall over there, where the Lieutenant is.", he nods across at where Collins is checking the wall. "It looks to be Mr Wilson's private, private safe which no-one else is apparently aware of and is not on any of the records."

He grins evilly, "Sir, would you like a challenge?"

"Lieutenant. Good." Collins greets Delaney. "Maybe you can figure out how to access this space behind the wall, here" she puts her hand on the wall and shows Delaney her tricorder readings.

If his tricorder readings show no threats, Graham stows his tricorder, draws his phaser. and asks Thuvas to open the door

Graham's scan shows no life signs or weapons within. Thuvas opens the door. This house is decorated like some kind of royal palace from ancient times - very ornate and expensive. Graham is reminded of pictures he's seen of pre-World War III Venetian mansions.

Delaney scans the compartment with his tricorder and rubs his chin. "I've never seen one like this before," he says. "Do you have any ideas?"

Kylah enters, puts on her plastic gloves, and begins to search all the same areas as before. Though her movements are more tenative due to her sore knee and hands, she does her best to find something that might be indicative of Wilson's presence--or anything unusual at all. Climbing up the stairs is a difficult task since she prefers to keep her left leg straight--bending pulls at the scraped flesh--but she manages with a modicum of wincing.

"Well," Collins says impishly, looking over at Mr. Hsu "we could always phaser it open."

Graham notice Kylah limping up the stairs. He stops his tricorder scans, pauses for a moment wondering what to do, and then moves to catch up with her. Clearing his throat two or three times, he mumbles "Do you need a hand? Just up and down the stairs, because of your knee."

Graham's voice from below her startles Kylah. She grips the railing more tightly to maintain her balance. "No, thank you. it is not necessary." Despite the pain, she forces herself to move more quickly up the stairs until she successfully reaches the upper landing. She lifts her chin in satisfaction and hobbles her way toward the bedrooms and bathrooms.

Rangin with an amused smile chips in with, "Well, I'll admit I was thinking of using mining charges, same effect, bigger bang." He looks round the room at the others, realising that once again Lt. Delaney needed to be told what to do instead of showing a little initiative. Of course, once pointed in the right direction, his skills would undoubtedly come to the fore.

Rangin continues "But somehow, I don't think WR&R would appreciate us demolishing the entire wall just to get at whatever is there. Of course, we are assuming its a space for hiding something and not just a cavity in the wall, although its not mentioned anywhere in any of the records for this apartment and the odds of a near perfect cubic cavity sat right behind a painting on a wall are a bit miniscule."

"Ok, here's some suggestions. First: we should check to see if there is actually a safe there, at least a shell of some description around the cavity and not just a cavity in the wall. Also lets check the age of the wall around it. Is it something newly hidden behind a facade and not meant to be opened or has it been there since the wall was put up. Also, can we detect anything within the cavity or is it just that; a cavity."

Rangin stares at the wall a bit further as if trying to see through to what is beyond it. "If it is a cavity and there's something inside it, we carefully take down the wall around it to get into it. If it is a safe, we should be able to find any mechanism it might have for activating it and making it available to us or we take down the wall carefully around it and move it out." Rangin then looks across at Mr Hsu, "and if that is the case, I might suggest contacting your superiors to see if they have any knowledge or possibly your wife in case Mr Wilson took her into his confidence as his deputy and showed her how to open it. Otherwise, we're back to phasers again."

"Of course, we could have missed the obvious and the painting contains a mechanism for getting to it. Something else worth checking."

Rangin looks across at Collins. "Sir, what would you like us to do?"

"Since the tricorder can show us the outline of the cavity," Collins looks pensively at the wall, "We only need to phaser the outline, and that piece of wall should fall right out." She turns to the others "Unless you," she looks directly at Hsu, "can think of another way in?"

Graham and Kylah find that the rest of the house is as opulent and richly-decorated as the front hall. The basic room layout is the same as in the earlier house, but another two bedrooms and a bathroom are on the third floor. Everything is clean and well-kept; there are no indications of recent habitation.

A scan and visual inspection of the painting in Wilson's room reveals that it is just that - a painting in a frame.

Hsu calls his wife, who also sounds surprised to learn of the safe. She says, "If you can open it without using phasers, that would be best. But if there's really no other alternative, you may open it that way. Please do the minimum possible damage."

Collins resets and carries out a more intensive scan with her security tricorder and finds that the compartment is indeed a safe of some kind. M-ray scattering indicates that something is in it, but because of the material from which the safe is made - an alloy her tricorder can't identify, but which seems to reflect scans to a degree - she can't tell what it is. The lock mechanism is also behind the wall and appears to include a transtator assembly and subspace antenna. The safe is of roughly the same age as the wall and the rest of the building's structure, but might have been installed after basic construction was complete.

Rangin looks slightly amazed. "Did I misunderstand that, or is that the safest safe on this and probably several other planets. You know, the only way in and out is to transport your bits and pieces into and out of the safe. Wow."

He looks at the wall with a smile, "I bet its triggered off Mr Wilson's communicator and I would hazard a guess it would account for the transport signal Mr Delaney picked up as occurring in the area of Mr Wilson's death this morning."

Rangin turns to Collins, "Sir, I think it may be very useful if I go and get Mr Wilson's communicator, the one we found on him this morning. It may contain the details of how that safe really works."

"Good idea. Delaney, go with him." Collins says, and plops down in one of the chairs. "Have a seat, Mr Hsu. No need to stand while you wait."

Hsu and Collins sit down and Hsu looks at her. "So...." he says.

Rangin and Delaney retrieve Wilson's gadget from the safe in the investigation command post (CP). Delaney uploads the thorough scan which Kylah earlier did in order to crack the late resort manager's password and access his messages. "There are several dozen subroutines on it," Delaney explains, "any one of which might send the signal which would - or might - open the safe." He says to Rangin, "To pick up on what you said earlier, I don't think transporting is the only way to get things into or out of the safe. It ought to be possible to open it; we just don't know how yet. Ready to go back?"

The extra flight of stairs onto the third floor does not help Kylah's knee scab over; she can feel the blood trickling down her leg. When she gets downstairs, Kylah is about to tell Graham that she needs to get to the lab infirmary--a visit she hopes to utilize for more than just the scraped knee--but then realizes that her original problem still exists: a Starfleet infirmary visit will go on her record. And she most certainly does not want an after-the-fact contraception injection and tests for sexually transmitted diseases to be available to any medical personnel, especially T'Var.

Downstairs again, Kylah looks briefly at Graham. "I am afraid I must clean myself up and see to my knee before we go to interview Ms. Aubrey. I apologize for the inconvenience. I promise will not be long. I understand if you prefer to go alone but I hope you do not. Or at least, perhaps you could try one of the other houses--Mrs. Belinda Webb in #3 refused to allow us inside earlier; perhaps she will be more responsive to you. If not, there is also a family of Aurelians in #4, the Ettoo-Oms. But I will be back as soon as possible."

She limps out the door, hoping to find the public restroom Thuvas spoke about. If he is near, she will ask to be directed to it.

"Not so fast, Sir", says Rangin to Delaney before they leave the CP. "I don't think you considered that Lt. Collins asked the pair of us to go, perhaps to give her a chance to talk privately with Mr Hsu before we come back. Given what we know, she may decide that now is as good a time as any to broach certain subjects, one security officer to another. Of course, they just be chatting about the weather instead."

Rangin considers what Delaney says "True, it should be possible to open the safe somehow, but that will probably involve removing it from the wall and you might find its local door is already open. Regardless, its still buried in the wall, with no other means of access. That's why excavating it from the wall is the next step."

Stretching, he considers how much has occurred today and how much of the day is left to go and suddenly thinks of something and pulls out his communicator and calls Dr T'Var.

"Excuse me Sir, Rangin here. We were meant to be going hiking at 10am with the Gunnarssons but given the circumstances, I believe it would be wise to cancel it. If so, I can let reception know to pass on a message before breakfast as agreed."

"So, person to person," Collins smiles, "How well did you know Wilson outside of work? There must be something about him, something someone didn't like, else why would he have been murdered?"

Hsu looks uneasy. "He was a pretty good boss, but he was the boss, after all, and sometimes he made decisions people didn't like. He had to fire people now and then, just as any boss does, but none of them are still on OC3. I really don't know of anyone who disliked him enough to kill him. Nothing worth a murder, as far as I can tell. He was smart and capable, wanted to see this resort well-run, and he always did right by me."

How's your knee?

Sorry about your mother.

I actually don't know what's up between you and Collins, but is there anything I can do to help?

These are all reasonable and probably appropriate things to say that come to Graham's mind as Kylah starts to leave, but he says none of them. He tells himself it's an entirely rational decision, since given his track record whatever he says will probably make things worse. But he's not entirely convinced: you haven't had the guts to have the talk you should have had with Elizabeth, and now you're punking out of finding out what's really going on with Kylah.

"Don't worry about it," he mumbles. "Do what you need to do. While you're at it I'll try my charming personality on Webb," he says.

He asks the resort security officer outside which house is occupied by Webb, and if she knows anything about her.

Thuvas directs Kylah to a public restroom a short walk away. There is a first aid kit on the wall. She is able to stop the bleeding and clean herself up, mostly.

Officer Adams has a small pocket datapad, and shows Graham the same list of guest houses which Kylah had earlier seen:

1 - currently vacant
2 - Fellim Palver, Rhaandaran
3 - Mrs. Webb, Luna
4 - The Ettoo-Oms, a family of Aurelians (perhaps those seen last night in the lobby), Pacifica
5 - Lord Fastolfe, Proxima Centauri
6 - Samuel and Bella Gold, both businesspeople, Earth
7 - currently vacant
8 - Prolun Jaxo, a top Hwuen government official
9 - Rosemary Calvin, author
10 - currently vacant
11 - Terrance and Claire Hutchinson, retirees, Earth
12 - Sylvia Aubrey, an actress, Cochrane V

Both houses #8 and 12 are large and yellow.

Adams says, "I haven't dealt with Mrs. Webb myself. I don't know anything about her except I hear she's rich and has a strong personality."

Graham grunts and chuckles. "Great, a woman with a strong personality. I have such an awesome track record with that scenario..." he says, shaking his head. He thanks her, goes to the door, and rings the chime. "Mrs. Webb? Ensign Graham, Starfleet Security. Sorry to disturb you, ma'am, but I need you to answer a few questions," he says, forcing a big smile on his face and making his normal professional voice as chipper as possible.

Kylah looks in the restroom mirror. With her sunken and red eyes, lifeless expression, still slightly-dirty uniform, ripped hose and an unsightly bandage on her knee, she has the bleakly dry thought that if she met him today instead of yesterday, he would never have asked her on a date.

She examines the holes in her stockings. I cannot interview anyone looking like this. With some difficulty--her hands are still raw--she pulls off her boots and removes the pair of hose altogether, dropping it in the wastebasket. Another look in the mirror and she realizes her bare legs aren't much improvement, with a growing ugly bruise on her right knee and the bandage on the left.

I must go to a gift shop and get another pair of dark stockings. Nervous and reluctant to enter the resort's main area at all, since she wants to avoid exposure to too many spore-treated guests, Kylah hobbles her way to the entrance.

"Do you know anything about his social life?" Collins asks Hsu.

Graham has to wait a loooong time for Mrs. Webb to come to the door. When she does, she looks tired and frazzled. She almost shouts, "I told the other lady I have nothing to say. Leave me the hell alone, or the resort will be hearing from me! This is outrageous." She shuts and locks the door again. Graham can just barely hear her stomping back upstairs.

Kylah realizes she could have a clean uniform and hosiery beamed down from the Yorktown, too.

Hsu tells Collins, "He socialized a bit with the senior resort staff, but generally kept to himself. I know he was in regular touch with his wife and family, and he had some offworld friends, too, who occasionally visited. He seemed at his happiest when they were here."

Kylah takes out her communicator--gingerly, wary of her sore palm--and flips it open to contact the ship.

...But on second thought, she rejects the idea. The hem of her current uniform is wet from her cleaning efforts but will dry soon enough, and the dirt is hardly noticeable. Well, not very noticeable, anyway.

And she is certainly not about to request another crewmate take such trouble all for a single pair of stockings. Kylah knows she is seen as a 'princess' or spoiled brat by at least two members of the staff, and having someone sending such a small item to her--especially if Ferguson is on duty at the transporter--will not improve her reputation.

She enters the resort building near the staff area and heads down the corridor toward the lobby. The thought now occurs to her: will any shop be open at this hour? There must be something available around-the-clock; the resort seems to have thought of everything for the convenience of its guests.

I will ask at reception, she decides, and slowly makes her way there.

Graham, if anything, widens his smile and whistles a happy little tune in his heart. He presses the chime. "Mrs. Webb? Ensign Graham, Starfleet Security. Sorry to disturb you, ma'am, but I need you to answer a few questions."

He starts counting down from about half the time it took her to get to the door last time. If he reaches that mark before she appears, he repeats ringing the chime and the same statement.

It is now 0810.

The man at the front desk very apologetically tells Kylah, "All the stores are closed at the moment, ma'am. Is there something I can get for you? Or the concierge will surely be able to persuade one of the shop staff to come in early, if it's an emergency."

Mrs. Webb does not appear. After a minute or so, Thuvas walks up beside Graham with a wry grin. He says, "She just called the Security Office to complain. They told her it was an authorized inquiry; she swore and hung up."

Kylah's spirits cannot take much more disappointment; even such a mild one like this adds yet another weight to her weary shoulders. She shakes her head. "No... no, it is not a great emergency, I just... When do the stores open?"

"At nine, miss," the man says to Ens. Kylah. "Please let me make a call for you."

Dr. T'Var responds to Ens. Rangin's query. "I agree with you as to our planned hike with the Gunnarssons, and will contact the front desk to leave a message for them."

T'Var next calls Lt. JG Collins. "I am here in the resort Infirmary with Dr. Halsey. Is there someplace else you would prefer me to continue my work?"

"Do you know, when was the last time his friends visited?" Colls asks. They're the beard, obviously.

"About a month ago," Hsu said. "Three college buddies of his."

"Don't worry Sir, I said I'd do it and it's fine. Besides I need a bit of thinking time on my feet for a couple of things. Rangin out." Rangin folds away the communicator.

Following the response from Dr T'Var, Rangin looks across at Lt. Delaney. "Sir, I'm just going to swing by the lobby to drop this note off and think a bit on my own. I'll see you back up at Mr Wilson's room shortly, we should have given the Lieutenant enough time by now, although walking slowly back may help."

He heads for the door and wanders down to the lobby. With his head filled with thoughts of the safe in the wall and what it could mean, his eyes are focused on the ground. His mind elsewhere he finds himself constantly having to stop and avoid the guests in the hallways as they head for breakfast. His luck runs out at the entrance to the reception when he collides with a couple, his mind wondering how on OC3 did Wilson manage to install such a safe without anyone noticing. "I'm terribly sorry, I didn't see you,", he says contritely while checking that the two are ok.

Delaney nods. "See you soon."

The couple, two elderly Latinos, are in exercise gear, with small duffel bags in hand. The man says, "No problem. No harm done." They walk off at once.

"Excuse me a moment." Collins says to Hsu as she pulls out her communicator "Collins here, Doctor. We were all going to reconvene shortly. Why don't you make your way to the conference room we're using. Here are the coordinates." She taps at the communicator a bit. "See you shortly. Collins out."

"Mr Hsu, have you met these college friends before?
"Are any of them redheaded?
"Could you please tell me again where you and your wife were last night?"

When the man at the front desk repeats the offer to have one of the stores open early, Kylah swallows back her automatic refusal and thanks the him. "I just need stockings," she says. "If it really is not too much trouble..." She suddenly finds herself wondering if the man knows that his boss has been killed. If so, he seems remarkably poised; chances are the staff haven't been told yet--

Her thoughts are cut off by the sound of a familiar voice in the distance. Muscles tensing, she turns and, sure enough, sees Velir Rangin talking to a couple of guests several yards down the corridor leading to the staff area.

Fully conscious of how horrible she must look, and of the embarrassing situation that caused it, she whips her head around and, with a murmured "I will wait near the store area" to the receptionist, she moves as quickly as her throbbing knee allows her. Which, sadly, is not more than a slow shuffle; she suspects she's actually injured the knee rather than merely scraped the flesh.

Kylah grits her teeth and ignores the pain as she tries to put more weight on her left leg. Less of a limp will cause less of a distraction, and thus perhaps Velir might not notice her at all. Wishful thinking: her knee is not cooperating. She is now in the area near the shops. Perhaps she can hide successfully after all.

Having made sure they are fine, he heads straight for the desk, his mind back to wondering why no-one else knew about the safe given all the people around, especially if it had been installed after the hotel had been built and is once again lost in his thoughts.

As he arrives there he meanders up to the receptionist at the desk, eager to pass the message on before getting back to work to unravel the mystery. "Hi, sorry to be a bother, ahh yes, could you leave a message with the Gunnarssons, two of your guests, an Icelandic couple and inform them that, due to other circumstances, Dr T'Var and Ensign Rangin will be unable to go hiking with them with today at 10am. Thanks."

While the receptionist takes the note, Rangin looks round and notices a familiar uniform, a familiar uniform hobbling away, one knee not supporting its weight, legs that this morning had been covered as part of her uniform and are now no longer. Rangin forgets the message and the safe and strides across quickly. He has almost caught up with her before he calls to her. "Kylah, you're limping, are you alright, what happened? Here let me give you a hand." and he reaches out to offer assistance.

Graham smiles (his normal, equally wry smile) back at Thuvas and shrugs his shoulders. "Just seems to be my special day to bring joy to the lives of people around me." He shakes his head. "It never ceases to amaze me why people want to do things the hard way."

He programs his tricorder to alert him every 45 seconds. "You might want to hang back. She seems like the sort who'll file complaints from here to the Starfleet Chief of Staff just to be a jerk." He pauses and chuckles. "Although if this goes on for more than an hour, I might appreciate some water."

Then he turns back toward the door, puts on a big smile, rings the chime, and ebulliently repeats "Mrs. Webb? Ensign Graham, Starfleet Security. Sorry to disturb you, ma'am, but I need you to answer a few questions."

He does this every 45 seconds until interrupted.

Kylah is startled when she hears Velir call her name so near to her. She shakes her head and is about to speak, but when she turns in his direction her left knee chooses that moment to buckle completely. She twists to prevent yet another clumsy collapse and manages to grab and lean against the wall for support, rather than Velir. The pressure on her still-sore hands makes her suck in her breath.

Perspiration dampens her forehead and she can almost feel the blood draining from her face. Turning just her head to Velir in a vain effort to hide her injuries, Kylah sees that he is still ready to offer help and she quickly holds up her free hand to prevent him. "No, please--I am fine, it is nothing serious!"

Rangin sees Kylah raise her hand and notices the scrapes across it before looking down and noticing the rest of the damage included a plaster across one knee and a bruise on the other. He cannot think what Kylah might have been through this time, whether something simple or something serious, he just wishes he could help her. But from the look on her face, Rangin can guess Kylah just wants to soldier on and not accept help and be her own person. Well tough, not this time, he didn't want to be, but sometimes being cruel to be kind was the only way.

Rangin's face darkens as he looks back at her and the tone in his voice drops to be audible to her alone, "No. No you are not fine, its not nothing, not this time. You need assistance and you are going to accept it just for once. You're hobbling around, you have scratches on your hands, who knows what's happened to your knees. You need to go to the infirmary now and get it seen to. I'm not asking you this as a friend, I'm telling you this as your colleague, and as someone with more than enough first aid to notice when some needs some prompt medical attention."

His face softens again as he continues to hold out his hands to help Kylah, "Please."

When Velir begins to speak, his tone is so hard that Kylah feels like a chastized child, and she casts her gaze downward at the stern voice and cold words. She cannot blame him for aiming such frustration and annoyance at her; they are well-deserved. I have lost any chance with him, she thinks in dismay.

But then she finally looks up--and her breath catches in her throat. His warm hazel eyes are filled with concern, not anger. If only she could drink in his gaze for as long as she wished... she might feel whole again, instead of utterly broken.

As soon as he mentions the infirmary, Kylah's mouth parts in alarm and she barely hears his almost tender request. She leans forward in desperation. "Yes, I--I will go with you, I will do whatever you say, but not there, Velir. Please do not take me to the infirmary. T'Var will be there. I do not want her to see me like this. She will ask questions about everything, and will have to make a report and... I could not bear it." She grasps his hand as lightly as possible, wincing but still keeping her pleading stare on him. "Please?"

Slightly taken aback by the response, Rangin pauses for a moment and then nods. "Ok, not the infirmary for now, but I think you will need to go at some point. I know, the Command Room should be empty, we're not due to meet for a while yet and Lt. Delaney should have left it to go to Mr Wilson's room by now. I was there earlier picking up something before I came down here. There should be a first aid kit there and I'll see what I can do to patch you up slightly better than you have done. Perhaps see if there is anything more serious than a few scrapes and bruises."

Rangin reaches across to take Kylah gently by the arm and support her away from the wall. "Ready when you are."

Collins continues to ask Mr. Hsu question about Wilson. "Did your wife and Wilson have a good working relationship?
"How was Wilson regarded by WR&R?
"Do you think he liked working here?
"Did Wilson ever do anything that you thought was wrong or improper?"

After a relieved exhale at Velir's agreeing to her request, Kylah lets him coax her from the wall, shifting her so that most of her weight rests on him. Slowly they make their way back toward the lobby, where Kylah must apologize to the receptionist and explain that she will be a little delayed after all--if the staff person opening the store could wait fifteen or twenty minutes she would be extremely grateful.

They continue in silence down the corridor, Kylah letting Velir guide her. From his respectful but determined demeanor he appears patently aware of how fractious she is; she cannot help noticing the care he is taking to avoid crowding her. Still, at times, when she stumbles due to her possibly sprained knee, she is thrown off-balance and Velir's lean body makes sure she is well-supported, his arm tightening around her back for just a moment until she has straightened again.

She does her best not to show the warring emotions within her. She is grateful to Velir for his attentiveness, and more than that--attracted to and fond of him, as well. But her torn reaction to this physical connection is a confused combination of comfort and alarm.

There have only been two men who have held her this closely. One of them was her uncle Aldaan. The other...

She bites her lip and simultaneously clamps down on the memories that gnaw at her. She knows must not think of last night, not now. Not when Velir Rangin is near. Kylah tries to keep from connecting his touch with anything that happened in that hotel room. But her mind is just as uncooperative as her knee was earlier.

At last they are only a meter or so from the conference room that has been taken over by the mission crew. Velir stops walking and Kylah follows suit, surprised. "I'll just make sure Delaney has left, okay?" he tells her. When she nods, he gently leans her against the wall out of sight of the closed door and moves forward to look inside the room.

While he does, Kylah takes the opportunity to contact Graham. "Kylah to Graham," she says into her communicator. "I am sorry I have not returned yet," she says softly. "My knee is more injured than I thought. Mr. Rangin found me and is insisting I get better first aid than I applied myself. I should only be fifteen minutes or so. I hope that is all right?" As she speaks she watches Velir, hoping the room will indeed be unoccupied.

Dr. T'Var replies, "Acknowledged. On my way."

Mr. Hsu says, "No, I'd never met those college friends before - well, not two of them, that is. The other, a guy named Corrigan, I had met maybe a year ago. He was a redhead; the others weren't. My wife and Mr. Wilson did have a good working relationship, I'd say. We both respected him. He was careful never to put her in a spot where she'd have to side with him against me on some issue concerning the Security Department. I think he was very well-regarded by WR&R; being director of this resort is a pretty good job to have. I think he liked working here, all in all, although I know he missed his family now and then. I can't think of anything he ever did that was wrong or improper - I didn't always agree with him, of course, but he didn't flat-out make a mistake, as such. No big ones, anyway. Nobody's perfect."

The front desk clerk acknowledges Kylah's request about getting stockings, and Rangin's as to calling off the hike with the Gunnarssons.

"So what, in your opinion," Collins grabs the thread "were some of the small mistakes?"

From looking round the room, Rangin can see that Delaney has left; the tricorder he was carrying was absent and there was no sound of him in the bathroom. Looking round on the side and clearly marked was the First Aid kit that is kept in all Conference rooms.

Moving into the room, Rangin picks up a chair and moves it nearer to the door for Kylah to sit in, while still giving access to the table. He then heads back out to see her putting a communicator away. He wonders who she was talking to, but it would be easy enough to ask later. A slight shrug and he moves to assist her again.

"Okay, the room's empty, let's get you in and sat down. There's a chair opposite the front door next to the table you can sit straight in."

He offers an arm again to Kylah. "When you're ready."


Kylah leans forward and feels his arm circle her waist once more. Again she is grateful for Rangin's patience as he walks and she slowly limps--it's more like a hop, really--into the conference room.

Once he helps her into the chair and she's finally off her feet, she swallows and looks at her bruised and patched-up legs, self-consciously hiding her hands by resting her palms on her lap. "I hate to cause you such trouble. You are very necessary to Lt. Collins, I am sure, and I... I have already made Mr. Graham wait long enough. I am sorry."


Rangin hears Kylah's comment and it makes him smile for the first time in a few minutes. "Kylah, It's no trouble at all, and I'm quite capable of being important to lots of people at the same time. I'm sure if Mr Graham knew the state you were in, he would probably have sent you to the infirmary himself."

As he is speaking, he moves to get the First Aid kit, puts it on the table and nods as he takes note of what is in it and then fetches a bowl of warm water from the replicator. "Okay, lets start with the easy ones first, lets take a look at your hands," he says to Kylah as he opens the kit.

Pulling up a chair, Rangin sits opposite Kylah before gently reaching across and taking the left hand to turn it over.


His touch is both reassuringly competent--he is clearly experienced at First Aid--and extraordinarily gentle. Kylah winces only slightly while he dabs at her hands with a sterile cloth he's moistened in the basin. Of course she already cleaned them herself once, but she does not care. When he started, at first she was afraid that she would react just as she did last night when he took her hand; afraid that her mind would again be sent back to the restaurant, the garden path, the hotel corridor and suite and bed--where every contact of Jan's hands with her flesh was heated and certain and hungry for more. And to Kylah's shame, she could not stop herself from grabbing at him with the same fervid demand.

Yet rather than reminding her of last night, the warmth of Velir's skin against hers is so soothing and protective that she is far less tense than she expected. She watches his movements while he takes care of first one hand, then the next. Then slowly, shyly, her focus shifts up to his face.

Velir's concentration is aimed at his work, a small frown lowering his brow. There is no judgment in his expression... no anger on his kind, handsome face that has become almost impossibly dear to her in the brief period she's known him.

But there is no affection there, either. He is in work-mode, professional as always. She has never been more tempted to gauge his feelings, but she does not dare. She would never forgive herself. And, admittedly, she is too afraid to learn what she already suspects.

She feels pinpricks of tears in her eyes and she quickly blinks them away as she lifts her gaze to the blank wall opposite her. Her hands are now trembling and she does her best to still them. I must accept whatever he gives me, she thinks. There can be nothing more now that he knows of her behavior. A friend's tender care has to be enough. It is, indeed, more tenderness than anyone has shown her in many, many years.

After carefully cleaning the scrapes in her hands, soothing them with some ointment and bandaging her palms, Rangin is happier than he was a few minutes ago. Kylah obviously did her best, but with injuries on both hands, it must have been painful. They were shallow and should fade without scarring, as long as she didn't pick at them. No, he was putting off asking what happened, thinking just about her state in front of him. Was it something small, a simple accident? Had something worse happened, perhaps a run-in with Jan again, or perhaps something unexpected, something unknown? By nature as a scientist he was curious and now he can feel that familiar itch on the back of his neck.

Looking up at Kylah, Rangin can see her gazing away and he carefully lays both of her hands neatly on her lap. "All done with those, they should be fine. Do you mind if I take a look at your knees as well, see if there is anything else wrong?"

Rangin pushes the chair back and drops to one knee to better look at Kylah's knees in front of him. One coming out in a bruise and the other with a bandage across it. He concentrates hard on them and tries not to be distracted by the smooth legs in front of him--and trying especially hard not to follow the curves of her thighs upwards. Under other circumstances... he thinks. Well it was unlikely those circumstances would ever happen. Kylah has made that clear enough and in some ways it made this easier. It was just one colleague helping another. Yes, best concentrate on it just being one colleague helping another.

He is nearly done wrapping an elastic bandage firmly around her left knee, which seems to have been sprained, when he looks back up at her. "Almost through. If you don't mind, it may also help distract you... do you want to tell me what happened?" Rangin asks while waiting for her acknowledgement, his curiousity finally getting the better of him.


"I fell." The words are spoken in a soft monotone, and Kylah hears them as if someone else is speaking them. "It was my fault. I was careless. I was moving too fast, I hardly knew where I was going or what I was doing, and I fell." She realizes she is no longer speaking of this morning, and her eyes close. "I knew it was wrong and I tried to explain, I wanted to escape, but I could not, I did not control myself, I must not have tried hard enough. And so I fell and I ache and now I--I feel filthy." Her hands, the hands he tended to, fly up to her face to cover herself as she begins to cry.


Rangin is stunned into silence by Kylah's tears in front of him. Looking at her and seeing her face buried into her hands, he's unsure at that moment what to do. But she's a friend, a colleague, someone in distress, it doesn't matter what she may or may not feel. Nervously, he reaches out and puts a hand on her shoulder unsure if it would make it better or if she would react badly given what had happened to her last night. Rangin's shoulder was hers to cry on, but he did not know if she would.

"I'm here for you..." he says as friendly and as firmly as he can. Hoping it doesn't kick off another unpleasant memory from some other time. Hoping he can help.


Kylah does her best to stop crying, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. "I know you are. You are strong and supportive and always there for everyone. But I wanted more... I still--but it is too late, and I should have known I would ruin such a chance. Even our friendship has changed, much less the possibility of..." She shakes her head. Through blurred eyes, she can see he is still looking concerned and somewhat dazed.

"I am sorry. I will not bother you with this anymore," she says. "I know it must be wearying to be near such a troublesome person. It is even more wearying to be one." She tries to make the words light but she realizes even as she's speaking that she has made a decision. And it is painful to accept but, she thinks, it is the only one she can contemplate. "Velir," she says softly. "I believe I have destroyed my future on the ship. Collins despises me, T'Var believes me unstable--correctly, as I am sure you agree--and I dread returning to learn what further lies Lieutenant Ferguson has told others by now. Of course, now if the truth of last night comes out, he will not have to lie."

Swallowing, Kylah makes sure her hands are dry before gingerly taking hold of his hand where it rests on her shoulder. Removing it, she looks down at his fingers. "After the mission is over, I will make the request for a transfer. But I want to tell you now..." She is nearly crying again and she forces herself to stop. "Even though we have known each other for a short time, you have meant more to me than you can know. I finally had someone I looked forward to seeing, to talk with, to listen to. Just to be near. And for once I could imagine letting myself..." She flushes, unable to continue, realizing she must seem like a hypocrite considering her behavior with Jan.

Rather than continue, she lifts his hand to her lips and kisses it, then lowers it onto her lap, holding it as tightly as the pain will allow, and finally she cannot help but start weeping again. "Thank you," she whispers. "Thank you for everything."


If Rangin was stunned before, he is now dumbstruck by Kylah's words. Listening to her, to what she thinks of herself and the others, he can see how much it must affect her and it breaks his heart that someone should be in that much pain. At the mention of Ferguson, Rangin's eyes dart across her face trying to work out what had happened. Then she mentions a transfer request and his heart freezes, knowing just how much Kylah has come to mean to him even over the short time together, they just seem to fit... and now she kisses his hand and begins to sob again.

"Kylah, please don't cry, I'm right here, with you, together. When I said last night, I wanted to know more, I meant it. When I said I didn't matter what you did, that I would be there for you, I meant it. I already value our friendship, our time spent together, our understanding. Kylah, I value you, you already mean a lot to me. Last night, I thought you never wanted to see me again and it hurt, more than I wanted to admit. If, if you were to transfer, I don't know what I would do, other than follow you. I don't want that feeling of being apart, of not being near you, of not being someone you care for and if...if you would give me another chance, for something more, something closer, I will not let it go."

He takes a deep breath as if realising what he had said, how much further than before he has perhaps gone. Rangin gently takes the hand holding his and raises it to his lips, kissing the delicate fingers before putting back in Kylah's lap.

Hsu frowns and exhales. "Oh, I don't know. He didn't always schmooze with the guests as well as he might have. He wasn't always as fast in responding to interoffice memos as I would've liked. He denied my request for hiring two more security officers a few months ago. Just stuff like that."

While Rangin speaks and starts uttering such... remarkable things to her, Kylah lifts her head and stares at him in genuine, growing astonishment. Velir Rangin values her. Her lungs freeze during the rest of his words: she fears that moving a muscle will cruelly wrest her from this dream-like moment. He would--he would leave the Yorktown for her? Her?

And then he returns her gesture by kissing her hand, and Kylah feels herself melting tentatively from the initial shock. She exhales raggedly. "You truly mean this?" Kylah whispers, still afraid to shatter what almost must be an illusion. "You... care for me that much?"

She looks down at their entwined hands and shakes her head in wonder. "You have not accidentally become affected by my Elasian Tears, have you?" she adds with a nervous laugh. "I know I made sure to dry my hands before touching you, but... Oh please, Velir. Please tell me I am not misunderstanding you!"

"Really?" Collins finds Wilson's denial of extra security very interesting. "Was the resort in need of more security? I got the impression that you and your staff had everything under control. Until last night, that is."

Hsu says, "Ordinarily we do. This is a safe place, or has been, and we do our best to keep it that way. But there are times, especially when the resort's at full capacity, that a few more officers would be useful. I put in a request and he turned it down. It was nothing personal. I understood his reasoning - there would be times when ten officers would be more than we needed, and of course budgeting is always a hassle - but I just thought it would be better to have the extra capacity."