Sunset: Then, Now, Tomorrow (Maintenance & Role-Play)

[Sunset]

Lily Pad Six, Sslaa VI, Sslaa System...

"The Ixutsangi is being held over a bit longer than we'd been told," Timmons announced, unceremoniously sinking into one of the lounges that dotted the sun deck. "Hardware refurbishment. So we've got a couple of choices. Either we can stay here for some more training - there's a particularly interesting class on the reproductive cycle of mollusks coming up - or I've got two potential leads. Neither of which feels like a hunch, but..."

"I'm up for the class," Lae said, to everyone's seeming surprise. Everyone except Trinya that was. The Cyar was not widely nor regularly known as an academic and thus far all of the training classes he'd taken had focused on the physical; Survival, SCUBA, and a martial arts class that had utterly delighted him but left him bruised and battered.

"No, you're up for that Coatlicue girl who was in our kendo class. And by up I mean erect."

"Is she cute?"

"She better be for a slide-show class about snails!" Disdain dripped from Trinya's voice while behind her Lae made the outline of a tall woman with significantly larger curves than Trinya possessed. "Or yes, big boobs," she turned and growled at him.

"Why do you let him chase other women like that?" Daenia asked. "Didn't you two go through some kind of commitment ceremony?"

"It's just... I don't know. He's never shown any inclination to stay with any of them and he's always good company. Tells me he loves me and the sex is..."

"It's Cyar biology," Timmons interrupted, before the details could get too graphic. "The male-to-female birth ratio is about one-to-six so polygamy is a cultural norm. The ceremony was to confirm that Trinya would be the first to have Lae's children, which is an important distinction in Cyar culture."

"Huh. That's pretty sneaky then; As long as he isn't having... mphf mmmphf!" Lae had clamped one hand over her mouth but Trinya was already glaring at him.

"Which he's all too happy to take advantage of..."

"How about we get back to the question of what we're going to do next," Timmons suggested, holding up a big hand to ward off the brewing conflict. "As I was about to say, I've got two possibilities. The first is something of a ghost ship."

"A ghost ship?! What is this, Scooby Doo?"

"What's Scooby Doo?"

Everyone looked at the Seeker who started to explain before giving up with a shrug, "Alright, so, ghost ship. Where?"

"A few light years away. I picked up the story in a bar. A few merchant sailors were talking and one mentioned a shipwreck on a jungle moon so I got nosy."

"I vote ghost ship," Trinya's hand went up, followed by the Seeker's.

"I haven't explained what the second option is."

"Doesn't matter," she turned to look over her shoulder, a cruel smile on her lips, "Ghosts don't have boobs."

[Sunset]

Erika and Demi's Lawn, Botany Bay, Chuh-Yu...

"She looks lovely," Carlos Love whispered for perhaps the tenth time, barely bending to reach the ear of his own wife Eliza who only nodded again and whispered, "Yes dear," before returning to her beaming smile.

For those who were gathered to watch the ceremony, it was clear that one bride got her good looks as well as some of her curves from the couple standing in the front row right next to the center aisle. Even in (politely) late middle-age, Mrs. Love had the same pleasing shape but it was her husband Carlos who had given her the smokey dark eyes as well as some large measure of her ambition. He was also Ambassador Love - retired - and several of the guests had offered the elder diplomat a familiar handshake and promises to do some catching up once the reception began.

"...she looks delicious," another woman whispered from two rows back and in the opposite corner, just looking up out of the corner of her eye to the much taller man next to her. While Ateyf al Saleef should have, by tradition, been on Erika's side of the little six-row assembly of chairs that was set out on the front lawn she had instead chosen the last open spot next to Admiral Villanova. He was in dress uniform while she was not; Even a wedding hadn't stopped the clothing magnate from wearing something more appropriate to a trendy club on the boardwalk.

At least the bikini top was an ivory - never pure white to a wedding.

"That has to be Yberit," she guessed, looking Demi's dress over again. Both brides were dressed in white with Demi in a silk top dotted with lace appliques and a matching layered lace skirt while Erika wore a slimmer version with lace scallops across the bodice. "Or Eterin?"

"If you keep that hand there, you might lose it," Fidelo warned her, deviating sharply from her train of thought to remind her of the hand that had somehow found its way onto his backside. It was crossed over the slim arm of a woman who looked barely older than a girl with the cocoa skin associated with the Tonhi. She hung off his arm and her chest was very nearly hanging out of her low-cut dress and, despite the warning, the hand didn't seem to leave.

"But that's why I come to these things..."

"...bet they end up in a closet before the night's out," Katryna whispered to Amaril. Between cybernetic audio and elven ears, the pair could hear every conversation though mostly - mostly - they were trying to keep track of the movements of an entirely different pair. Between Mahini and Aviandri, Aviandri was the easier of the two to track. The self-appointed flower girl was standing just to the side of the brides with two bouquets of flowers held carefully in hand. These had been cut fresh from the Secretary-General's own garden just that morning and, with that infuriating way of elves everywhere, she had arranged them herself referencing only a few minutes with her grandmother on distant Earth. "We should lock them in there."

"Can't say I'd blame them..."

"...ass."

There weren't many more; A few people from Silaco Electronics, a few more government officials, and - true to her word - Tanya Zaldano. She was the only media representative and while there were no camera drones or intrusive interviews, she was clearly more focused on who was there rather than the ceremony that was nearly finished.

"...and do you take each other, to have and to hold, to encourage and inspire, to enjoy and to delight?"

There was no minister; Neither Demi nor especially Erika considered themselves religious. Instead the ceremony was officiated by the unusual figure of a large penguin who was, of the three standing at the head of the aisle, the only one wearing a suit.

"We do," both women said as they stood together, hands clasped with their opposite.

"Then I present to you, their friends and family, for the first time together, Mrs' Silaco-Love and Love-Silaco. You may now kiss the penguin!"

There was laughter from the spectators but both women still leaned forward to kiss him on either cheek before turning to each other for a more traditional shared kiss over a bouquet of flowers. A moment later and, right on time, the sun just touched the far horizon as the guests made their way inside.

[Sunset]

SDF-Ojeni, Delta Quadrant...

"Are you sure we should be spending our time running this thing down?" Sloan slipped into the booth across from Kami and dropping her plate onto the table between them with enough of a rattle to get her attention.

"Mhm? Oh, yeah..."

"I agree," Commander Astau seconded as he cantered up to the table to join the pair. The Centaur was the second-shift's senior officer and the lounge was one of the few times when all the senior officers would pass each other in person. "And not to your distracted acceptance of Sloan's question."

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about that. Something stinks and I'm not sure what."

"I wasn't thinking that," Astau countered, "I was thinking that we're here to escort the Chuh-Yu Sān and, I will point out, we were almost jumped by three ships there. Delta seems to be a lot more dangerous than what we're used to. We should get the station to Liu Xiu then we can come poke around. Carefully."

Commander Sloan dabbed at the corner of her mouth with a napkin; Her chosen food for thought was a half-rack of ribs and there was a ring of the dry rub around her lips, "Mhmm."

"There were a lot of ships there. Sure, some of them were damaged, but unless their opponent has some serious numbers I don't see that war turning hot. Even with the famine there's enough food to keep the fleet manned," she finished.

"There's the weird thing," Kami spun her glass around on the table, "And you just figured it out. How did a crop disease spread across all those greenhouse stations? Plants don't have legs, and I don't see seeds blowing across open space."

"Sabotage?"

"It would have to be an insider, then. Sabotage... Alright," Kami pushed herself to her feet and headed straight for the door. "Ojeni, get me the Eye."

A moment later the chief engineer answered, a floating hologram following her as she quickly walked towards the bridge.

"What's up?"

"Go back over the logs of everything we saw and did on that ship. You're looking for signs of sabotage. Let me know. It makes sense," she explained as the other two officers fell in beside her. "Those planetoids that were blown up? The crop failure? I'd bet good money that someone sabotaged that ship too. But why?"

"Infiltrator," Sloan suggested, sliding into her seat while Astau leaned over the back. "Someone working for their enemy."

"You blow up a bunch of planetoids and you don't take the initiative to finish your opponent off?"

"Could be a weaker state."

"That was a lot of ships," Captain Blaine repeated her partner's previous statement. "That's called pissing off the big dog. Little dog gets mauled."

"What are we going to do then?"

"Helm? Get us back to the Chuh-Yu Sān. We'll finish out that assignment and in the meantime I want interviews with the survivors. Every detail we can get, especially about their enemy. Separate rooms, monitoring, the whole nine yards. Interrogations. Nice interrogations."

[Sunset]

SDF-Niagara, The Fringe...

"Here's a theory for you...."

Captain - it wasn't official though time, deference, and the armful of worldly goods that he was moving into the Captain's cabin made it so - Waretram looked over and slightly down at the scientist who had fallen in beside him. Another advantage of the Captain's cabin would be the larger space. A Commander's cabin was reasonably spacious on a ship the size of the Niagara but the Captain was expected to entertain guests of all sorts and sizes from time to time and there was much more room for a two-and-a-half meter Troll to stretch out.

"About what?" He'd heard a lot of theories lately about any number of subjects; It seemed he was a natural magnet to such things. "It's not a conspiracy theory, is it? The last guy almost had me wearing the aluminum foil hat."

"I, uh...No. The city-ships."

"Shoot."

"Well, that's just it, Commander. We tend to shoot each other a lot. Humans that is. Destroy whatever planet we end up on, kill each other, hundreds and thousands of species extinct. This seems to be true of every branch of humanity. Even ourselves from time to time. So what if these ships are a kind of insurance policy?"

"It's an idea that's come up before but an insurance policy against what?"

Waretram paused for a half-second at the doors to his new cabin and waited for them to slide fully open. With the awkward bundle of this and that in his arms, he didn't want to risk snagging it on anything.

"Say, are those curtains?"

"I like curtains. My mother made these," the Troll held up a long drape of blue lace with a heavy fringe, "You were saying?"

"Oh, they are very nice. Just never seen curtains on a starship. But an insurance policy against our own extinction. And maybe something of a sorting function too. Even though we're a destructive species, we're also a creative one. Seems to go hand in hand."

"Sure," Waretram agreed. "Look at all the species that seem to naturally coexist with their environment. Change comes slowly, if it comes at all. Now if that's a good thing or bad thing," he shrugged, setting the curtains down on the bed and starting to spread the other stuff out to sort through it.

"So what if these ships are a chance to save that creativity? For those branches that manage to keep themselves alive long enough to find one?"

"That would almost suggest that there is a purpose or goal for this creativity."

"Maybe there is. It could be like..." The researcher scratched his head while looking around the room. It was spartan and sparse, all black sheets and blank walls. "She wasn't much one for decorating, was she?"

"No," though the Commander didn't want to go into the details. When he'd gone through her room he'd found that Captain Taev had had an extensive collection of bondage gear. The lack of furnishings was to keep her, or her guests, suitable focused. He'd discreetly disposed of it while locking up her few personal possessions suitable for her next-of-kin with her body in cold storage.

"A distributed analysis program that runs on various systems to add a random element."

"What's the problem we're working on then?"

Taking the long curtain rod, he stretched his arms wide and held it up to the top of the virtual window that ran behind the small dining table and chairs that were sheltered in their own nook of the kitchen area. With a thought the lights came up to a pleasant level and the window went from the cold dark of passing stars to a pleasant scene of a hillside covered with wildflowers that fell away to a winding creek below.

"How's that look?"

"A lot better than military gray."

"So what's the problem?"

"No idea. Maybe the Singularity? That would make sense. We've always thought about it with both dread and wonder. We've had the ability to do it for a while now, but we like our independence. Some way to achieve the advantages without the loss of the self."

[Sunset]

Shadow Port Xinchub, The Fringe of Sessool Space...

Shoving the rifle to one side, Meli grabbed the stocky short barrel and used it like a handrail as she ran up the man's body like a staircase. One foot on his thigh, the next on his chest, and then with a heave that almost tore the weapon out of his grasp she kicked his head up into his own helmet. The sound of soft tissue tearing was mostly drowned out by the Dwarf's scream of triumph as the terrible ball sailed down the hallway trailing blood to pass right between a pair of startled goons.

"She shoots, it's good and... Goal! Goooooaaaal!"

They turned to look at the grotesque as it continued to bounce from bulkhead to deck and back again and this was all the spare time the murderess needed to scoop up the fallen man's rifle and shoot them both square in the back.

"Ahn that was pretty awesome if Ah do say so... Shoot."

There was nothing to be done for it; She'd been walking the halls of the shadow port with Marie when the room had suddenly cleared out and they'd been jumped. A half dozen thugs in motley armor and an assortment of erratic weapons were dead up and down the corridor now but so was the Neko. There had been a half-second where that last guy's gun had swung across her chest and that had put the nail in her coffin. Still, Meli knelt to check her for any sign of life but there wasn't much of a chance and a quick look-and-feel confirmed it. Scrambling through a trouser pocket she pulled out a grenade and set it on her lap.

"No time for a burial and can't risk any secrets you might 'ave been carryin' in yer head..."

A few seconds later a merry fire was burning in the hallway and, given the condition of the station's non-existent fire suppression system, it seemed destined to burn the corpse, the decking, and possibly the side of the station away. Meli was already gone though with two of the better looking weapons tucked under each arm. When you've just been involved in a shoot-out there's not a lot of reason to go low-profile and the Dwarf reasoned - successfully - that there might be more of them coming.

Ahead the corridor was still empty and this was more than enough warning. A big flying jump across and she was safe behind a bulkhead while shots variously whined, whirred, and burned their way through the empty space. It told her which direction they were coming from too and another grenade bounced down the hallway followed by a fragmentation chaser. Sound and light was either distracting or disabling and then the second sent a sphere of shrapnel scything through anyone who hadn't jumped for cover. It was the crack of a starter pistol and hot on its heels was an angry dwarf. The first one to poke her head out nearly dropped her gun as she saw the charging terror but she held it long enough to squeeze the trigger. Energy blurred past her and she nearly winged her with return fire before she ducked back.

That was the wrong short-lived move as the Dwarf ran up to the corner, thrust a gun around, and pulled the trigger as soon as it met soft opposition. A scream faded into a burbling cough and Meli continued to feather the trigger to chop the woman's body apart and mow down the next man and the next. Another attacker, still staggered by the flash-bang, was trying to scoot along the wall opposite and fumbling at his weapon half-blind when she saw him, tossed the rifle up to catch the stock, and chuck it end-over-end at him with enough force to dash his brains out on the bulkhead.

"Jesus fuck! I..."

"Jesus?" Meli rounded the corner and looked at the woman for a moment as she raised her hands in surrender, "Ain't God nor Son gonna save you but..." She pulled the trigger and put the bitch down, "Gotta wonder where you 'ear that name. Unless we're speakin' Spanish all the sudden."

They weren't and Meli paused to check the corners and then the woman's pockets. There was something odd about a woman out nearly thirty thousand light from Sol using a name which wouldn't drift that way via radio for another twenty-nine-odd thousand. Whatever the reason was, it wasn't fully evident in the contents. A few credit chips from various civilizations, some ammunition, and nothing even approaching a packet of personal items that would have led back to a convenient explanation.

[Sunset]

GEC-2995C (Akahshi), The Periphery...

"...this isn't a jungle."

Then it started to rain and the Seeker's critique was abandoned as the world changed. Thick trees, their massive trunks the pride of any Terran National Park, began to sprout both flowers and vines in profussion as water coursed down their winding trunks. It was guided there by the unique canopy where every crown served as both catch basin and photoreceptor with the outermost segments bending over to interlace with their neighbor and provide a single continuous canopy over the whole world except those rare places where water pooled deep enough or earth reached high to disrupt it.

Or, as was the case of the long gash where their shuttle had landed, something had plowed through the trees to come to rest at the far end under the cover of a tossed salad of rock, dirt, and vegetation.

"A little bit further out and this place would have never existed," Timmons noted as he looked skyward.

Most of the horizon was the orange and green of the canopy but above it was the swirling blue of the gas sub-giant that the moon orbited. There were also two more spheres, one in the open and the other half-hidden, but both bore the scars of repeated impact. Impacts which had saved the tiny gem of a world for long enough for life to evolve.

Flowers - or their rough analog - sprouted in profusion as they watched. Clustered around the base of the vines they were in bunches of nine or eleven with narrow petals in purple and brown. Where the water wasn't absorbed by the spongy vines it was caught in a shallow catch basin that had formed at the base of the flowers until it too overflowed. For a few more minutes the torrent continued and the waters continued to be absorbed into seemingly every nook and cranny until, as suddenly as it had started, the rain stopped.

"Don't crack your helmet to catch the smell of fresh rain," Trinya warned. Lae had already started but he stopped and she continued, "Watch."

All around them things were still happening. Nodules under the skin of the vines swelled and long stems formerly hidden under the flower pedals unfurled. A minute or so later and they exploded to send puffs of tiny spores, seeds, or in one case the flowers themselves drifting around.

"There's probably a regular cycle to it," Timmons offered. "The rain comes, the flowers grow and seed and then..."

"Look out!"

The big explorer turned just in time to be swept off his feet by Lae's last second warning. A creature long and gangly with five limbs and two grasping mouths on the end of two had surged out from under a half-buried root and was now cavorting around the clearing under the canopy like a whirling dervish. Here and there the long necks would snap out like a whip to snatch a drifting flower out of the air.

More creatures had joined it and now the space was buzzing and whirring with various forms of life both bizarre and somewhat recognized. For a few moments Timmons lay on the ground watching until the dancing creature once again came close and he rolled out of the way to regain his feet.

"Take samples where you can. Before they eat it all."

Most of it - from seeds to scat to flowers - was already gone but they quickly gathered what they could before moving on. Their destination was a few hundred meters away and as they got closer the details were slowly revealed.

It was or definitely had been a ship. The roughly beetle-like hull was partiality buried under a layer of dirt and rock that it had scooped up at the end of its descent and this was now starting to bloom with the surviving results of the cycle they had just witnessed. Here and there the dirt had been washed away by the rain to show bare hull. This was bone white and it looked remarkably like the bones of some giant insect. Adding to this were a set of enormous vanes for some external system. These had once sprouted from the underside of the ship but the crash had torn them free to scatter them around like broken wings. Just poking out from under several of the larger rear plates were the distinctive nozzles of a fusion torch-type engine. Most of these had been damaged or destroyed either in the crash or by the kicked up debris but several were in good enough condition to make for easy identification.

"I'm sending this up to Engineering," Daenia noted as she walked around one of the large open cylinders. "See if they can get any information on a manufacturer..."

Stopping at the forward end of the tube, she knelt and scraped a handful of mud away from a panel. Underneath the hull was essentially untouched with whatever materials made up the outer layers remaining essentially untouched by the minor travails of wind and weather as compared to the catastrophic re-entry that had rendered the ship a wreck. There was lettering underneath that had been partially obscured and she studied it for a moment, both personally considering it as well as launching a search through the available databases.

"No immediate match. Looks a little iconographic, a little logo-syllabic..."

"Someone was paying attention in class!"

"Yes! Thank you;" The Seeker had taken a linguistics auxiliary class while they were on Sslaa VI, "But I still feel like I'm talking out my ass."

She wiped another layer of dirt away and stepped back to send more pictures back to the distant Ixutsangi via their ride, an idle Halo-Class Fast Courier that had been in-system and with little to do until the Commander had commandeered her. The others were already gathered around an airlock that had blended into the drive cluster from a distance but now stood out as such, even with the pile of rocks and mud half-covering it. In turns they began to shift the rocks away until the doorway was clear but that still left them with a locked door and no indication as to how to bypass it.

"We'll breach it if we need to, but let's look around first," Timmons instructed. "There might be another way in, or a hole big enough to squeeze through. I'd rather not go blowing things up unless we need to though."

With that, the four began to fan out around the half-buried craft to poke through brush and debris in search of whatever they could find.

[Sunset]

SDF-Ojeni, Delta Quadrant, En Route to Liu Xia...

Commander Sloan moved to the edge of the bed and swept the wrinkles out of the sheets before sitting down. The room was one of the spare crew quarters redressed as a temporary recovery room. Dim lights encouraged sleep while the virtual windows showed a peaceful forest scene complete with the occasional chirp and play of animals and a breeze from the environmental system that emulated the same movement of the wind through the branches of the tall trees.

"Tell me about your home," she asked, leading the bird-like man through a seeminly casual conversation until she arrived at her own pre-determined destination. "Your enemies seem vicious; What do you know about them?"

His story and those of the other crewmembers interviewed were all markedly similar. Different in minor detail but close enough in the major that only one re-telling was needed and the Commander listened patiently while he walked through the now-familiar history.

"Thirty years ago - whatever that is to you;" The Avian wasn't yet fully familiar with the wonders of Augmented Reality, "One of our scientists discovered the secret to faster-than-light travel. It was an accident by all accounts but she soon had a prototype ship working and with our whole nation watching, she led the first expedition to a distant star! She never returned."

"What happened to her?" Sloan tried to sound concerned and to those listening outside the room she almost sounded convincing but they knew the next part as well as she did.

"Her ship arrived in the distant system only to be immediately attacked! She tried to run, sent a signal back, but they destroyed her ship. Our first ship. They were savages."

"What did their ships look like?"

He made a gesture that was equal to a shake of the head, "No one knows except the military. There have been leaks but," he sat up and leaned close, looking around the room, "Some people think they are being spread by the military so we don't know how bad it is. A few years later they blew up some of the moons and no one saw anything! Some kind of stealth field? No one knows. They'll attack our ships and there will be no trace of them! Like they attacked our ship before you showed up."

Which hadn't been an attack at all. The Eye had proven his nickname and somewhere in all that saved footage he'd picked up the signs of sabotage. Something smelled rotten and the crew of the Ojeni was starting to get a good taste for the scent.

Their theory was a classic tale with a twist. The military had ruled for many years when faster-than-light travel had been discovered by a scientist working on something else entirely. Perhaps they had tried to suppress research in that direction, perhaps not, but when the discoverer disappeared (or was eliminated) it presented an opportunity. A tremendous loss and an excuse to bring the nation back under their firm control. Ships would be needed to fight the enemy as well as suppress dissent. Laws would be needed to enhance National Security and to keep the people in line.

It wasn't a complete theory and by no means was it confirmed but things kept adding up. The woman who had flicked the lights to signal the Ojeni had mentioned that some of the crew seemed happy to get away. Were they sent away intentionally? It would be another masterstroke; brave souls lost in the service of the state and at the same time dissenters doomed to a lonely death.

"Or are we just concocting a story we like instead of looking for a simpler answer?" Kami asked herself these questions and more as she watched the interviews again and again as the Ojeni continued towards its first destination. A few more days to decide and then, "...to decide to do what?"

One ship, her ship, and her responsibility for better or worse. It was a backwards insight into the minds of a military that controlled a nation. Achieving the best outcome for the most people even if it meant that some were sacrificed along the way. If that was the truth of the matter and that thought determined her next action - to seek the truth.

[Sunset]

Special Projects Complex, Shiva, The Ares System...

It was a roundtable brainstorming session at a square table. That the square table was between two benches at a bar with several of the participants leaning over from adjacent booths simply made the choice of locale that much more apt because, as had been pointed out again and again, the subject of discussion was crazy.

"What would we do with it? Keep our beer in it?"

The more esoteric members of the Special Projects roster had been known to do odder things. With their assortment of weird, strange, or even ludicrous knowledge and areas of interest, the researchers, scientists, and engineers of Special Projects were expected to engage in weird, strange, or ludicrous behavior as well. The idea of storing one's supply of home brew in a personal universe was unlikely to be the oddest suggestion of the evening.

"It's your own universe," the topic starter, a positively diabolic-looking man in a cloak and hood countered. "Write the rules so that all beer must be at the perfect serving temperature."

As it was, the various alcoholic drinks that were on offer were already there; The bar itself had been built into an unused portion of the sprawling campus by the proprietor-slash-research associate after the location - several hundred kilometers away from anything that might catch fire - was noted to be singularly unsuitable for going out for a beer with one's buddies after work. That it also sat under a thick dome under an even thicker layer of perpetual acidic fog was also a point in the establishment's favor. The decor was office sheik, meaning it had been stolen from various unguarded offices and storage rooms. Again; Weird, strange, or ludicrous so this went un-commented on by all except the cleaning robots who were known to occasionally try to haul a chair - still occupied - back to its proper place.

That the beverages were served at the proper temperature was no mean feat, however. Aside from his self-appointed role as the facility's bartender, the plump Otterkin behind the bar was also a physicist specializing in black-body temperatures and their application. Since he was also a researcher, this meant he by default held the proper security clearances to allow the discussion of classified information in his underground establishment. For instance the creation - posited - of an artificial universe in something of the same method as managed by the Dulyani's distant ancestors. That they themselves didn't know how it was done didn't keep the speculation from continuing.

"I'm pretty sure that would cause some kind of cascade effect," another countered the point of the first. "The control doesn't seem to be that fine. Large changes only, and even those are chaotic. It seems to me that what we'd want to do is exactly what the Dulyani originally intended. Use it as a secure storage place for something with roughly the same environmental needs as our own. The only really unique thing about it is the lock."

"Which is another worry if we were to use it as a storage space."

"What's that?"

"We're not the only one who can change the combination," Katryna answered. She'd been leaning up against the back wall listening to the discussion and fiddling with the design for another project while she did. The drink in front of her hadn't been touched; She was there virtually and it was just a decoration. "Or the rules for this universe, at least if we keep to the current model."

"Can we change the model?"

"I'm not sure if we can. Hell, I'm not sure if we can even create our own. The Dulyani purged nearly every record from before the rise of the Great Houses. It's possible that the Great Houses are not so great; They could have had some kind of super-construct like a solar Dyson sphere that they were using to provide the power needed to create the thing in the first place. It's a whole universe, after all."

"But we know that particles can emerge spontaneously from the quantum substrate," the robed Sanglanti objected. "So maybe they didn't create a whole universe. Maybe they created just enough to house their prisoners and the rest came into being over time."

"Very, very slowly," the bartender said, waddling his way over with another round of drinks. "Here you are... And we're still not sure if that's actually spontaneous generation or if it's movement. Particles from another part of the universe moving to that location via any number of quantum effects. Which could mean that this artificial universe is robbing our own to create itself. When these portals are created, is there matter lost?"

"Not from the medium - the blood - itself, no..."

"What about the surrounding environment?"

"No;" It would have been very hard to check, depending on the amount of matter involved. If there was a slow leak it could be on the level of millionths from around a given portal. "I'll look into it."

"There's an idea for you though;" the group turned to look over the bench at another patron who had thus-far remained quiet. She was an older woman with the nearly black crest that indicated an Oeie who was past the age of sexual maturity. They were very rare in the Republic; She would have been one of the few survivors of the exodus that had brought her people to their new home. "A weapon, abet a slow-acting one. Or maybe not. Figure out a way to increase the draw from the surrounding space and plant one of these portals near a target. For certain types of applications it might be the perfect silent killer..."

[Sunset]

Switzer Resort, Zeta Irregularis...

"...doesn't matter, I don't know how to do either," Demi pointed out in response to the question posed by the young woman behind the counter. "Which is easier? And what are you going to do?"

"Hmm," Erika considered the wide offering of boards and skis on display. The resort had a full-service pro shop that featured not only the two traditional Terran winter sports but several variants and some that had been imported from cultures across the Galaxy. "Skiing would be more of a challenge - we're both surfers - but are you up for it?"

"We'd need lessons but we've got two weeks so... Sure. We'll go with skis."

Coming out from around the counter, the saleswoman began to lead them through the vast assortment of gear and equipment on display and, in a manner that might only seem reasonable to the rich, when Erika was confronted by a choice of two different items that fulfilled slightly different roles she simply bought both until the pile next to the counter was close to topping it. The most important purchase was the skis themselves and while Erika stripped down to try on an outfit, Demi stood to be fitted for her equipment.

"Now there are group lessons available every morning;" the woman walked around her, scanning her figure into the shop's database as she did, "As well as private lessons."

Demi looked over to Erika, who was standing in bra and panties. While the weather outside was quite cold, inside the shop it was pleasantly warm and it would be nice to escape from the confines of the bundling winter clothing the pair had donned while they wandered the resort's shopping village.

"Private lessons? I don't need anyone laughing at me while I fall on my butt."

"I will make sure to laugh at least once," Erika teased, "But sure."

"I'll have to keep an eye on you. Ski instructors are notorious for chasing the cute girls."

"Oh... Really. Well, I'm a fast learner so I'll have plenty of free time..."

Demi stuck out her tongue, "Way to start off a honeymoon! These are a little tight," she looked down to the clerk, who nodded and adjusted them. "I'll take the risk."

[Sunset]

SNN Nightly News with Tanya Zaldano...

"...and numbers like these," Tanya stopped next to a graph that was, while jagged, nothing but a continual series of upward spikes, "Puts Sunset solidly in the top one-percent of galactic economies for year-over-year growth. The manufacturing sector, as a whole, reported a stellar nineteen percent growth rate this year with most of that growth coming in consumer goods with several of the largest corporations introducing major new product lines this year."

The set was dressed to match the report with the various pillars and supports being either replaced or modified to resemble robotic arms and complex industrial machines that swung and stamped to produce the various infographics that Tanya was using. The host herself was in the thick of it in a black latex dress that looked like it had been poured over her to leave a skin-tight surface textured with various bubbles and drips. Skin tight wasn't good enough for the curving Latina though and a handspan cleavage line went from throat to just below her hips and then spread again to the bottom of her skirt. Various industrial-looking closures held it in place at top, bottom, and middle with polished steel chain bracelets and a dangling navel charm to finish the outfit off.

"The arms manufacturing sector has been keeping up though and today, in another surprise boost to the sector, the Defense Forces announced a contract offering for a new class of mixed starship-atmospheric vessel deemed the Tempest-Class Assault Frigate. The Tempest will serve as a fast assault and insertion craft for elite Marine divisions but, in an odd twist, it appears that it shares the same class name with a little-known naval vessel, the Tempest-Class Submarine. Perhaps it says something about the stealthiness of this submarine that only one of the people we asked had even heard of it. Whether or not the new class of vessel will retain the name or they will share it as BFFs has not been decided and the Defense Forces haven't issued any statement on the matter."

[Sunset]

GEC-7746421D, The Delta Quadrant...

A stiff breeze sent long ripples drifting through the high grass and rolling out over the long plains to disappear over the tops of the many low hills that stretched from here to the horizon. Small copses of trees or rough thick shrubs dotted the fields here and there and these broke up the waves into splintering patterns that ran here and there until they crashed into the only unnatural shape to break the beauty of it all.

"It answers a lot of questions, doesn't it?"

Captain Blaine leaned back to look up the crumpled starboard hull of the wreck. Like the other examples they had seen, the ship broadly suggested an Avian ancestory with a central command pod and two trailing wings that housed the ships maneuvering system as well as a large sensor array. These were bent and broken now - the force of the landing had utterly shattered the relatively delicate structures. Unlike the ships they'd seen - hard-edged and warlike - this one had a smoother grace to its design that marked it as a design apart. Sprawled out on the ground it looked like the tragic death of a songbird who had pined away for its lost love.

"It does, Captain. You don't need an eye like mine," the Eye pointed with one of the cybernetic tentacles mounted on his back, "Not to pick out damage like that or to make a guess that it was sabotaged."

Where the command pod merged with the drive section, sheltered under the protection of the starboard wing from most angles, there was a large hole where the hull had been punched inward. From her position looking up at it, Kami could see that there had been something there on the surface and - walking to the other side of the medium-sized craft - what had been there looked like it was mirrored by a power conduit or relay of some kind. Whatever it was, it was fortune that had saved the ship from being destroyed outright. But the damage was precise and as the Eye had pointed out, too precise for a random collision with a meteorite or space debris.

Together the pair continued to walk around the exterior as they looked it over. One was looking both for more evidence of sabotage and details of its design and construction while the other was seeking some sense of its purpose. Once the Chuh-Yu San was in place they had returned here to the one system that had been marked as off-limits in the navigational database of the derelict. It was easy to guess that this would have been the unknown enemy's core system - dangerous to all who approached - but when they had arrived they had found nothing but a remarkably pleasant planet with only a crashed spacecraft to mar its pristine surface.

"What do you think, Eye? A research ship outfitted with a prototype faster-than-light drive and piloted by its inventor?"

"Yerp. And when she got here either someone in the crew or a set explosive disabled her. I'd bet on the latter. If I were among the crew and saw this place, even if I'd been instructed to make sure she didn't come home, I'd make sure I came home or at least got my feet on the ground."

Kami turned and looked up and around the site and saw nothing. Only waving stands of grass. There was no indication that there was a perimeter of Marines spread out around the site, invisible in their stealthy power armor, set to protect both the site and those about to explore it.

"Perimeter secure?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Nothing here but the squirrels."

They'd be watching those especially carefully. The Republic employed any number of animal-shaped intelligence assets and there was no reason to think that any opponent wouldn't do likewise. However it was clear, just based on the lack of any radio and electromagnetic traffic similar to that of the Esti'Ilwe's home system, that there was nothing in the system unless it had been very carefully concealed. That was a possibility though and while the Captain and the Chief Engineer surveyed the wreck, the Ojeni and Commander Sloan was undertaking a careful cataloging of the planetary system.

"Entry team, go ahead," she ordered and a few minutes later the Marines were done sweeping the ship clean of any obvious hazards. There were none but more importantly and more obviously, there were not something else that she'd been expecting to find; "Where are the bodies?"

"Not here," the Lieutenant who had led the team answered as he stood, still clad in his armor, at the back of the room with both a good field of fire and his weapon still ready. "Not even blood stains, but someone was."

Cabinets were open, meal trays still scattered around the small kitchen area, and none of the interior doors had been locked or even closed in most cases. It was no longer a shipwreck but an abandoned ship.

"Which means she could be out there."

"I've already got my men on it," the Marine confirmed. "We'll track em down, dead or alive. They'll be wanting water and the likely flight path takes this bird over a river so I'm concentrating there first."

"Good work," Kami agreed. "Eye, you take care of the forensics here. I want to know how it happened and what happened afterward. If we can find this woman alive..."

[Sunset]

SDF-Ojeni, The Delta Quadrant...

"Toppling a military regime with the help of a distinguished scientist is a pretty lofty goal, even for you, Kami," Commander Sloan smiled as she talked to her lover on the far planet via the main bridge display. Behind the young woman the rest of the bridge crew could see just the barest side of the abandoned wreck while the wide vista of the endless plains spread out on the other. "Any idea how we're going to go about it?"

"I hadn't been thinking that," the Captain demurred; Actually she had, but it had only been a brief thought. Sloan knew her thoughts well though - they'd been friends and lovers for years now - and the look in her eye told the willowy woman that her guess was spot on. "No, first step is to find her. We haven't had any success but we have had some luck. One of the Marine squads found what looks like a campsite. It's old but we're looking in the right direction at least. What about you?"

"Not a trace. We're checking every nook and cranny for anything but aside from some amino acids, nothing."

The search went on. Following the river south - or what had been labeled as such for the convenience of the explorers - a series of makeshift sites was found along the banks until the plains ended and the forest began. With the mountains yawning beyond them, the search was halted as night loomed.

"If they are in there," Kami reasoned, looking into the shadowed depths, "Going in there at night might put them at risk of forest predators, especially if they think they should be hiding and run."

"Are you coming back up here tonight?"

"No... I've got a weird hunch. Call it a Doctor Livingstone thing but," she hesitated and waved at her distant friend, "It will have to wait for morning."

The morning turned out to be just about perfect.

The sun was rising over the prairie and the long wave of light had just touched the top of the trees when the little circle of shuttles began to stir but it was only after all but one had taken to the skies again to fan out east and west that the Captain's hunch became a prophecy. At the edge of the forest three figures gathered under the presumed cover of a large tree and the twisting vines at its base but it was only when one stood and stepped forward ever so hesitant that Captain Blaine emerged from the shuttle where she had spent the night.

Quietly she stood waiting until the Avian approached and as she did she looked her over. What remained of a spacers coverall - very similar to that worn by the crew of the disabled ship they had encountered earlier - was wrapped tight around her and augmented here and there with torn pieces of a survival blanket, other unidentified clothing, and a long segment of smooth vine around her waist as a kind of belt. She was carrying a wooden stick as both walking implement and weapon, though the fire hardened tip seemed to carry no threat by the way she leaned on it. A few minutes of crossing the field with her companions looking on from behind and Kami stepped forward to meet her away from the military wedge of the landed shuttle.

"Doctor Kaerren, I presume?"

The Avian looked startled, both to be greeted in her own language and by her own name and for a long moment she was unsure if she would run and so she continued quickly, "Captain Kamila Blaine, Sunset Defense Force. The crew of the Draen'Ilwe told me you'd be here and asked me to come and find you."

"What... Who... How did you?"

"I'm sure that you have a lot of questions and I'm also sure you and your crew are tired and hungry. How about some breakfast?"

[Sunset]

SDF-Niagara, The Fringe, Oddly Close to Sessool Space...

"The Tyzun, or at least they was until the shock wave from a super-nova ten light out went through here forty odd years ago. Been cleanin' em out ever since!"

Captain Waretram reached into his pocket and pulled out a credit stick to drop it in the open paw of the scavenger. The description might have been a stereotypical, but the rat-like alien turned the chip over in his hands a couple times before he figured out the display and pressed it to find a reasonably impressive number.

"Ahm sure you think you're bein' generous, but your Sunset money won't do me much good out here! Now iffin' you have some See-Saw creds, I'll take that instead!"

"Sorry, no. You can turn that in with Stores for whatever they will sell you though."

The scavenger didn't look especially happy about the offer but still he tucked the card away. Information wanted to be free, after all, and getting even a little something for it would be worth the man's time. Even more that he could then trade the information he'd gleaned from the Niagara's visit to the ruins of the Tyzun System to the Sessool.

"It looks kike your theory might have some merit," the big Troll commented to the more similarly sized man beside him before returning to the conversation at hand, "What do you know about them? Why didn't they see this coming?"

"No way they didn't, but it doesn't much look like they wanted to leave, either. Plenty o' little sub-light ships out there that would have made good sleepers if they were pressed to it. I've scooped up quite a few of 'em and sold em on in good condition and bad. Got a couple in the cargo bay if you wanna take a look," he held out a hand, the meaning obvious.

Again the Captain pulled out another credit card, "A few hours for my engineers to give it a proper look."

The garbage man's time was worth money after all, even if the pickings were easy. From their position in a side room just off one of the Niagara's docking airlocks they could all make out any number of orbital installations and debris fields around the system's primary world. The damage done by the solar shock wave had been extensive but there was still more than enough mostly intact salvage to justify the activity of their guest as well as a score of other salvage crews that were slowly picking the system down to the bones.

If any civilization had been ready to make the jump to interstellar society and escape the calamity that was about to befall it, it was this one. Their stations were large, multilevel affairs with a fringe of long spines hanging out from points on their perimeter. These were not the hard armor slabs of shipwrights more concerned with weight and launch windows but the graceful designs of a civilization that harvested, refined, and built what it needed where it was needed. Even if it proved inferior to Republic standards Waretram knew his engineers would love poking through it.

For months if he'd let them.

"Just as well sell you one, but sure. Price is right."

"Do you think any of them made it? Tried to run?" The researcher turned to the virtual window to continue his musings. Somewhere out there a bright spark and one of the long spines on one of the stations began to drift. "What's that?"

"Rare metals, likely as not," and the supplied answer was followed with a bit of elaboration from the scavenger. "Comm units, an' the locals were big into it. More ways to talk on those stations than guns."

"Huh."

"Break em down, melt the shiny bits, an any 'o the big spacefaring civs will give you a pretty pile of coin for it. Made my first solo ship ripping the wiring out of a wreck," the rat-man plucked at his vest proudly. "Now I got me a whole company. Now, where's your Stores?"

[Sunset]

Switzer Resort, Zeta Irregularis...

"I want a divorce..."

But Erika was still laughing and after a moment Demi cracked a smile of her own, "How could you find that funny?!"

"I don't think you'll ever find a humor module anywhere that doesn't find the sight of one's significant other bouncing down a hill wrapped up in a giant orange beach ball funny. Shall I check?"

The Secretary-General was right of course. When Demi had lost her footing and the skis had shot out from under her, the first thing she had thought of was the red safety strip attached to her new snow suit. That had sent a blast of compressed air ripping through various sewn-in pouches and inflated them in milliseconds to provide the errant skier with suitable protection against a dangerous fall. Once she had finished bouncing down the hillside from tree to boulder and back again to come to rest against the back wall of the ski chalet, the ball had slowly deflated and she had found Erika right there laughing her ass off.

"No, I believe you, but..."

"And you are unhurt," she stepped out of her skis, pushing them off to one side before kneeling down next to her wife to offer her a hand. "If you'd been injured, my reaction would be different. As it is, I'm surprised they don't have an organized run from top to bottom; That looks like fun."

"Oh it does, does it?" Demi stood and Erika followed her, until the two were standing chest to chest and Demi leaned in to give her a quick kiss on the lips, "Then let's see how you like it!"

A quick yank and the blonde woman was rapidly encased in the same bulbous cell-like arrangement as her partner had previously been. The force of the expansion had been rapid enough to knock Demi off her feet again, but she turned that into a rising charge and then her opponent was bouncing away around the corner of the chalet and down towards the village.

"See you at the bottom!"

----

"Which one of those is our own?" Demi looked up at the stars and wondered. "How are things back home?"

She could have asked, of course, but part of being human was that pointless speculation, that 'what-if' that often inspired a change in one's life or goals. In her head she had an image of Alex, the butler with the constant small smile, standing behind a mixing table with her hand on a turntable and a beat graph dancing up and down as she spun for a house party of...

"The neighbor kids?" She put her head back on Erika's bare shoulder and turned to her, looking up at her while her lover seemingly relaxed in the bubbling hot tub. "Would there be enough?"

A mental image of the butler going around the neighborhood, knocking on the impressively tall doors that seemed to be the norm among the wealthy that lived around the bay, and presenting an invitation to each on a silver platter made her giggle.

"Hmm?"

"Oh, nothing. Alex, DJ, party at our house. All the neighbor kids trashing the place. When I was young..." She slipped over until she was straddling Erika and looked down at her. Her eyes were still closed and she seemed more than a little distracted despite the naked woman now sitting on her lap. "What's wrong?"

"Sniper, in the hills, about seven kilometers away..."

"What!?" Demi ducked and looked around, almost falling backwards into the churning water, but Erika remained unmoving, "No, not here..."

The Latina pushed herself back across the tub to wait on the other side for several long minutes before her partner opened her eyes. For a while there she had forgotten that, even on her honeymoon, she remained Secretary-General and so when shit went down she still got the phone call.

"Sorry," she finally looked up. "Emergency call. You don't want to know, but the party was last night and no, you don't want to know. She's still cleaning up."

[Sunset]

GEC-2995C (Akahshi), The Periphery...

"Yeah, that was fantastic," Trinya said with a sigh, relaxing onto her back even as Lae began to pull the lower half of his body armor back up, "I needed that."

Needed or wanted, either option was still one of the more foolish things the pair could have done but done it they had. Separate from the Commander and the Seeker, the two had stumbled across a private spot in the form of a piece of wreckage that had been jettisoned from the bulk of the crashed ship to form a half-cave of sorts with the curve of the outer hull above them and a thick bulkhead forming an angled floor to keep Trinya's butt off the dirt.

"No need to get dressed yet," she continued, her tone coy. But he continued to fasten his armor and after another few seconds and a shrug of disappointment she joined him. "So... I suppose we should talk about it. What Daenia was asking earlier. Is that true?"

When she had met him, he'd been the cute but gawky type who seemed to have trouble talking to girls. That had made him an easy catch and a great lover since he was eager to please and did exactly what she told him to. Now he was still a fantastic lover but his success as an explorer plus ten kilos of muscle had given him a level of confidence that women - from a lot of species - found appealing. She also blamed herself a little; When they'd been separate while he was at the Academy it had been her idea that he find a bed buddy.

"Yeah, I mean, I guess."

"You guess? What's that supposed to mean," her voice rose. Despite their very recent intimacy, she stood and crossed her arms, glaring at him. "Is this what life's become for you? A chance to use your explorer cred to get whoever you want into bed?"

"No! I... It's just... So, okay, when we met I was young and I..."

"Fuck that," she nearly screamed. "When we met, you were a little runt who couldn't get a girl to look at you, let alone put your hands on her!"

"It's not that!"

He held up his hands and turned away to ward her off but, he had to admit to himself, that was a lot of it. When they'd met, he had just started the long series of rituals and ceremonies that would have marked him as a male of breeding age. Many of these were as much education as ritual and he, having skipped them like he had done with so many things in his academic life, had missed out on the fundamental knowledge that would have been imparted to him by the elders. Combine that lack with the sexually permissive nature of his new home and missteps and miscues were inevitable.

"Well, whatever it is, you need to figure it out," she turned her back on him, "Or else."

"Trinya, I... Trinya!"

He stared at her. There was something there, growing across the patch of bare flesh that had been touching the wreckage as they'd been intimate. She turned to glare at him but the shocked look on his face stopped her cold.

"What?" She twisted further and caught a glimpse of whatever it was; A metallic streak that was slowly moving across her lower back to consume the elaborate tattoo inked into her skin. "Shit! Lae..."

[Sunset]

SNN Nightly News with Tanya Zaldano...

"Early this morning, N'Xypndiltn-local time, Senator Thong was killed in her home in what appears to be a politically motivated assassination," Tanya announced, her voice dead calm. "SNN now takes you to the scene with what we know..."

The backdrop behind the news anchor fell away and she was now walking the grounds of an estate built in the Roanian style with lush jungle all around and the glittering golden triangle of a distant arcology visible in the distance. Police officers, some in power armor and others wearing plain clothes, were all over and as she walked, she stepped through some and around others. None seemed to take notice of her and they were clearly busy documenting everything and interviewing the staff and the other residents.

"Local law enforcement is being tight-lipped for now, but based on information gathered by outside sources and verified by SNN, we know is that the Senator was killed in a long-range sniper attack originating;" she kept walking and the scenery changed to another property, this time up on a hill with a ramshackle house built in the local manner from jungle leaves, vines, and a few rough-cut pieces of timber sitting right up against the edge of the jungle. She ignored it, however, and walked over to the ragged edge of the forest. Just as the first, police officers and detectives were all around with a healthy mix of the short Xypndi natives and others, mostly either Human or Tonhi. "From this location, which overlooks the Senator's estate."

The weapon that the detectives were pouring over seemed purpose-built for the task. Mounted on an automated bipod, it had been covered by a blind built of local materials had been built to cover the gun, but this had been moved aside. A long red line appeared and the scene changed to zoom through the intervening landscape to connect the muzzle to a shattered window on the back of the Senator's house.

"What isn't known yet is who pulled the trigger, but we do know who is taking responsibility. Immediately after the crime was reported to local law enforcement, media outlets on N'Xypndiltn and on Zeta Irregularis both received a letter claiming that the Senator was killed for her anti-Roanian stance, betrayal of traditional values, and treason for siding with the Sunset goverment. This has all the experts we talked to in a state of confusion; All agree that this likely did not originate inside the Roanian government but many also doubt that that a pro-Roanian extremist group was involved. The Senator has been noteable in her support for the Tonhi and anti-Roanian Government stance, but she has also been very vocal in her opposition to the policy of enhanced diplomatic relations pursued by the Secretary-General's office. Most seem to agree that this would not further such a group's agenda and would likely backfire as a crackdown would be likely. That hasn't stopped people from accepting the statement as fact, however."

Once again, the backdrop fell away to show the interior of a large, modern arcology. Tanya seemed to be walking down the middle of a retail and shopping sector but there were milling crowds of Tonhi, mostly young men and women, on the streets.

"This is a mostly Roanian district, with most of the local businesses specializing in ethnic goods and services, and already several have been broken into or vandalized. The local police are advising the Roanian minority to stay in their homes, but agitators in the crowds are urging them on and the violence continues with harassment, assault, and mob violence directed against Roanians found on the streets."

[Sunset]

SDF-Ojeni, GEC-7746421D Orbit...

"We thought it had to be an accident," Doctor Kaerren warbled, her native tongue playing counterpoint to the automatic translation happening inside Kami's head. She stopping to take a bite of her breakfast, "We were here for nearly a full year before we accepted the fact that our own had betrayed us."

The bar was made of a tacky tofu-like protein that was covered in a variety of seeds and nuts that had been determined to be nutritious to the Esti'Ilwe. These had been purchased in bulk when the Ojeni had been in the Liu Xiu System on anticipation of future need and they had proven popular with both the Avians and the general crew.

"Ironic, really. You survived because the planet your ship crashed on was perfect for your needs;" the Doctor's wings moved in agreement, "And that is what the Esti'Ilwe need right now. A new planet. The military government has destroyed everything..."

"Your Commander Sloan has shown me. I do not know if I can believe they are capable of these things but after being trapped on that planet for so long, perhaps I cannot not believe. We made many trips to our ship;" she had explained to the Marine Lieutenant how the campfires had marked their route, "And never once saw any sign that anyone had come looking for us. Every time we flew past and looked down at the damage and wondered how it had happened. What mistake we had made. Some flaw in the design?"

"What are we going to do about it?"

"What do you mean," the Doctor replied. "The ship is a wreck. Why would you repair it, or even try?" she looked past the Captain to the open expanse of the lounge and adjacent galley. "Your ship is like one of the airships that flew the skies of our world. I wonder, do they still?"

"I don't know, but that's not what I was asking. What do you want to do about... This..."

Kami gestured and the unfolding disaster that was the Esti'Ilwe home system unrolled across the tabletop. Images of shattered planets were followed by damaged and destroyed ships, agriculture habitats with blotches of brown spreading across them, and row after row of warships under construction.

"The military government is on the verge of destroying your civilization. An attempted coupe, a civilian uprising... Another incident of outside 'sabotage' gone horribly wrong," she pointed to the ruined planetoids and the plagued farms, "And the whole system could explode. The military government is just holding on, creating excuses for why it should retain power."

Or was she just creating the narrative she wanted herself, and the Doctor, to hear? They had little proof, after all. Just a chain of circumstantial evidence that pointed in one direction. Except for the world below them. A world supposedly home to a hostile civilization that could instead be the salvation of the Esti'Ilwe if not for the control maintained by the government. That was the line that Captain Blaine was dangling in front of the Doctor, but would she bite?

"I'm kinda dropping this on you, but there's a couple scenarios here that I've been playing out in my head. First, we take you back to Esti'Ilwe... And they kill you. Kill all of us, likely enough. There's no way that the government is going to let a famous scientist - inventor of faster-than-light travel and an explorer to boot - live long enough to air their dirty laundry..."

As if it had been timed, a hologram of Commander Astau floating in the center of an infobox appeared over the table. At a glance it was easy to tell what the first words out of his mouth would be, "Captain, five warships matching Esti'Ilwe design have entered the system and are closing rapidly on our position... And they've begun launching long-range missiles."

She'd been expecting this and, by the calm attitude of the Centaur, so had he. In fact they'd suspected that the government either had a concealed monitoring station in the system somewhere or periodically sent a patrol to keep an eye on it and the second had turned out true.

"Take us out of here," she ordered and in the dome that stretched across the ceiling of the lounge the stars snapped to long streaks of light as the Ojeni went to warp.

"I... I'm not a leader;" the Doctor seemed rattled but this was understandable, though they were quite safe. "Are you suggesting a revolution? Millions will die. If they are willing to sabotage their own ship, the first test of a faster-than-light drive... Their own food supply!"

"Well, that idea is kinda moot anyway now," Kami took a drink and eyed the Doctor over the rim, "Now that they know that we've been here and there is the possibility that we've found you or recovered your ship or your body, they'll be prepared for a possible return. Or, I guess, I would. They're a paranoid government though, so it makes sense. Which takes me to the second idea."

"What's that?"

"No idea. I'll think of something."

[Sunset]

GEC-2995C (Akahshi), The Periphery...

"That was really dumb," Timmons said, his voice dry, as he bent to examine the young woman's backside. "I feel like I've been here before though. A long time ago, except that a young ensign had jammed a wooden flute up his butt instead and he was trying to communicate with the natives."

"The Tlokselo?" Deania guessed.

"At least someone has been paying attention," he chided to looks of chagrin from both Lae and Trinya. "Whatever shit you two are going through, you need to leave it back on the ship from now on or else I'll leave you there instead."

Both nodded and he continued with his examination. He wasn't a doctor, of course, but what he saw was being relayed to the lone medic on the Halo-Class that had brought them to the planet. Even she wasn't a properly trained medic but several courses of advanced field diagnosis and treatment had sent her running to the medical databases as well as sending the stream back to Fleet on Sslaa VI. The answer she, and they, were getting was...

"No idea," Timmons finished, though he kept the scanner pointed at her rump. "Could be a nano-weapon, could be some kind of local metallic fungus. But it hasn't stopped growing and that's a problem."

In fact, it had now spread to her upper legs and back as well as started to creep around the front side. A long silvery tendril mixed with flakes of rust-brown and dark blue was reaching towards her belly button and while the temptation was there to poke her with an armored finger he restrained himself.

"How big of a problem?" Trinya stared at him, wild-eyed. "Like..."

"Like you're not going to like the next part. Deania?"

"Yes, Sir?"

The explorer opened one of the outer pouches on the shuttle's medical kit and pulled out a flexible black tube about as long as her arm and handed it to her.

"I'm giving you the honors and you might wanna close your face shield... Just like this," he demonstrated closing the two ends together around his neck.

"Oh no..." Trinya tensed as the Seeker stepped forward. "Please;" but Tiommons shook his head and there was just a tickle of a smile at the corner of his mouth.

"Why, what..."

There was a click as she closed the two ends together and then the tube contracted, pulling tight to fit the young woman's neck snuggly. A whirring noise then preceded the most horrible sound they had ever heard before Trinya's body fell away and a long gout of blood - the first of several - sprayed out of the severed trunk to splash the Duab'Akii's armor from head to toe. She was left to stand there with a severed head in her hands and Trinya's eyes looking at her mournfully just before she lost consciousness.

"Ha! That's fucking cool!"

The decap-a-donut wasn't done yet though and a second later a bag inflated over the head and they were presented with a convenient carrying handle.

"Put her on the shuttle," Timmons instructed, pointing to the airlock, "And we'll..."

"Uh..." Lae's voice sounded choked and they both looked at the Cyar to find him pointing at their feet, "Is it - she - supposed to be doing that?"

The body was moving.

"It's just the autonomous body functions," Timmons suggested, though he was looking closely and on the verge of kneeling. "I was on Mars when there was a plague in the Ravenspire territories and we had to donut a few million of them. They did the same..."

The body sat up, pushed itself to its feet, and launched into a run straight towards the jungle edge.

"...thing."

[Sunset]

GEC-2995C (Akahshi), The Periphery...

"Put her in the airlock!" Timmons ordered, his voice half-shouting as he took off after the fleeing body. "And make sure it's locked!"

The suddeness of seeing a half-naked headless body suddenly get up and run had been enough of a shock to give it a good ten second lead and now the big man, followed closely by Lae, bounded after it to leap fallen trees and rocks in an attempt to catch up. Even without a head, it was navigating errorlessly and though they didn't have time to discuss this strange development it was lending urgency to their steps.

"Grab her!" Timmons dodged around a great gash in the earth where one of the long spines from the ship had torn its way through during the crash. "Cut her off Lae!"

The younger man was pulling ahead, his long body - built for a life in the tree tops - giving him an advantage in the broken terrain. With the forest edge only footsteps away it looked like he would win and trap her up against the edge and the thick brush growing there but the torso suddenly ducked into a concealed opening and the chase continued. Over shrubs and under vines, the only thing guiding them now was the crash and crunch as it too plowed through brush and leaves to try and make good its escape. While it seemed to know where it was going, the two men were faster and this kept them neck and neck with the body formerly known as Trinya occasionally visible just through the undergrowth.

"Are we circling around?" Timmons called out to an affirmative reply. "We're headed towards the ship!"

He looked to the side and indeed they seemed to be mirroring the path carved out when it had come down. Nearly at the end, this was proven true when the body took a sharp left and ran into the open and towards the midsection of the beetle-like craft.

"Get her!"

Both plowed out into the open and they were just on her heels when they pulled up short. Her was now them and she was being joined by a half-dozen more bodies, all covered in the same metallic substance, and all suffering from wounds and injuries of various kinds. A quick look from one to the other and they began to back off but immediately it was clear they were about to reverse roles in the strangest game of tag ever.

"Hold it!" Deania's voice bellowed from above and behind them, prompting them to turn and look.

The shuttle was hovering just above the tree line with its nose slowly swinging across the approaching group. To emphasize her words and make them perfectly clear for those who didn't have eyes or ears a blast from one of the mounted guns tore up the ground nearby. This was the signal for the animated bodies to scatter and run, most heading back to the ship while two ran for the forest.

"Where did she go?"

In the mad dash, Timmons had lost track of what had been Trinya and, as the shuttle dropped closer, he went back through his short-term recording.

"She's in there," he pointed at the ship, "And now we know why it's a ghost ship."

"Scooby-doobie-doo..."

[Sunset]

SDF-Niagara, The Fringe, Near Sessool Space...

The arrival of the Niagara in the Tyzun System had turned out to be a fortunate coincidence for Ivy's ground team. After a hasty withdrawal from the Xinchub Shadow Port hiding out in the nearby Tyzun System had seemed like a good idea. That the Heavy Explorer had been there on a chance investigation had made a longer-term extraction easier. Now their little scout ship was docked in the main shuttle bay alongside that of a few scavengers and traders who had come to trade information with the interested Captain.

"Damn shame," Meli repeated for perhaps the twentieth time. She was too much of a sociopath to consider that it might have been her fault but the Neko had been pleasant company. "Humans though - this far out - and a lot of them..."

She'd killed them all, of course. It was as much garbage disposal as revenge to the murderous Dwarf. Her point was clear; Sessool-space was largely dominated by non-Human species. It wasn't even one in ten or one in a hundred but rarely and notably. It had been to their advantage to have Captain Sasura there but that was exactly Ivy's next point as the pair continued to walk the corridors of the Defense Force starship.

"I think I know why," the lean black woman answered. As always, she was wearing the black leather jumpsuit and green sunglasses that were as distinctive as a signature for her and this garnered her interested and interesting looks from the average crew as they passed. "And I think it has to do with our pirate friend. A motley assortment of weapons, no papers or contracts, and not exactly trained soldiers?"

"Aye, they didn't put up the kind of fight ah'd expect from killers. We shoulda' been dead, but they kinda dribbled and drabbed at us."

Which had been enough to get Marie killed, but the Neko hadn't been physically augmented to the same level as the Dwarf either. Blending in as an Intelligence Agent was hard to do when you could rip your way through a metal bulkhead. Even that wouldn't have saved Meli if she'd have taken one right between the boobs but that was behind them now.

"So, I'm thinking it was Graycock's crew and they might have scored half his revenge, even if they didn't manage to live long enough to get word back. Raises an interesting thought though; We're pretty far out, as you said, and yet they heard that Sasura was here? I doubt they tracked us through Sunset-space. No pirate is going to have that kind of intel network. But the Sessool? They have an active interest in what comes out of Sunset and while they shouldn't have drawn any connection between us and them;" The ground team was, essentially, off the scope unless one had previous experience with them, "There are breadcrumbs between Captain Sasura and Sunset. She shows up, the Factor checks into it... No, strike that."

Ivy had stopped and now she was looking out of a virtual window that overlooked - at least representation-ally - the ventral fantail of the Niagara. One of the larger scavenger vessels had moved closer and opened their main cargo bay to allow a shuttle from the Explorer to cross. Inside, under the yellow lights that were comfortable to the rodent-like species, a team of Defense Force engineers was roaming around a large cargo craft or passenger shuttle that matched the general design of what she'd seen of the Tyzun System. Broadly beetle-like, it had a number of overlapping segments with the nozzles of various maneuvering and main thrusters poking out from underneath while a somewhat head-shaped cockpit section looked like it could be ejected from the whole. A spray of short spines fanned out around the back of the underside and these almost touched the deck, though it was up on its landing gear.

"I don't see the Factor as the type who would. He was the idiot cousin. But he talked to the Master who either checked himself or, more likely, his family then checked into it. Pirates make good contacts - they roam around, see a lot - and maybe Graycock or one of his crew are on the Sessool's list. Her name comes up, he flips a table, and we get an unwelcome visit."

"All very circumstantial."

"You killed all of them."

It was hard to interrogate blood splatters and shredded bits of bone and brains.

"Fair enough," Meli shrugged. "What are we gonna do about it?"

"Review the recordings from our ship while it was docked. We didn't see them at the Palace, so I'd guess they picked us up at the spaceport and waited til we left Fernethon and followed us to Xinchub. If that plays out, then we'll see if we can follow the link back to Graycock. Though, that's just my best guess. Given the price we paid for Sasura, there could be any number of bounty hunters after her as well. But I'll bet our next stop is the slave market on Lethon."

[Sunset]

The Olde Ambrose Homestead, Southern Anuke...

"Do I think she was involved? No..." Dr. Ambrose knelt to the level of the glass cage that sat, along with eleven others, on the long mahogany laboratory table that ran along one wall, "No, our Ms. Silaco is too canny for that. This Senator Thong," he pronounced the first word as if the very idea disgusted him, "May have been a political nemesis but from my limited understanding of the political process this woman - or wasn't it a man disguised as a woman? No matter - would have required a sizable support base to oppose Erika's agenda. As much as I find the idea of uneducated consumers having a hand in the governance of our society..."

"It's Missus now," Miss 16 interrupted, looking up from her clipboard. "She got married."

A bony hand swept up under the back of his lab coat and Dr. Ambrose drew the pistol that was always concealed there. Mechanisms of various sorts and mysterious functions unfolded and slid into place as he did with the weapon reaching its stable form just as it came level with the young woman's forehead. There was a moment - but only a moment - of wide-eyed panic and bewilderment before he pulled the trigger...

Twenty Years Ago...

"Yes, you have a question?"

The young professor acknowledged the young woman in the middle of the class, her hand raised. Her jet-black hair was cut in a short, trendy style and she had odd violet eyes but there was something familiar about her appearance. The shape of her face, even the way she held her hand up, but Stephen couldn't quite place it.

"Professor, I was wondering why..."

And with that, she proceeded to launch into a highly technical dissection of the instructions for the lab assignment he'd given the day before. When she finished the room was quiet; It was clear that her question was, at least technically, over the head and out of the scope of her classmates and the coursework. Most had tuned her out and those who paid attention were still processing it and looking at her when the Professor cleared his throat.

"Uh hum! Yes, well, Miss..."

"Silaco, Katryna Silaco."

"Silaco? Your mother isn't by chance Erika, is she?" He looked hard at the young woman, trying to appraise her age as the lights clicked on, and when she nodded and gave the affirmative he continued, "Ah, wonderful. I had your mother in this very class but I was unaware she had a daughter. But to answer your question..."

With that, he too began to explain the instructions in a highly technical manner while he began to move around the table in front of him, gathering this material and that and combining them in a large beaker. It was only when he reached the last ingredient - the key, as it were - that the young woman interrupted.

"Professor! Don't! That's..."

A Week After That...

"...reckless and irresponsible. Frankly, we're lucky no one was killed. Stephen, you're fired."

Now...

"...she continues to do an excellent job in maintaining a stable civil society and strong, capable government despite that challenge. Why would she risk what she has built by arranging for the assassination of what is, at best, a minor irritant? No, it is more likely that the individual responsible was exactly that; A lone gunman, like so many others in history, who acted based on his own motives and his own skewed perception of reality. There will doubtless be conspiracy theories - there always are - but in the end that is what I expect to be revealed as the truth."

Dr. Ambrose looked up from the cage and over at the corpse, "Remind me to explain that again to you in a week."

With that settled, he returned to the cage and the rats that were nosing at the glass. He still hadn't decided what he would do with them but the twelve cages certainly looked very scientific and very orderly. Perhaps he'd have an idea while he was arranging the cloning process.

"Miss 17? Yes, I think that's appropriate..."

[Sunset]

Special Projects Facility, Denali, The Yukon System...

"As they say in comedy - and in science - timing is everything," Dr. Kraus explained just as the pair rounded the final corner before the make-shift control room. "This test will be of utmost importance to the success of the CME program. If everything happens as it should, several key components will pass their stress-test and the long-term viability of the system will be assured."

"Which is all well and good..."

Ahead were the doors to the storage area-slash-control center and they paused as the motion sensors tripped and the heavy doors swung open. One of the two stopped perfectly but the other - perhaps in ominous sign of things to come - continued to move until it smacked into the bare concrete wall with a dull metal clank. Whether this was because of poor installation or lack of maintenance, Tibowski stopped to glare at it and the slowly growing crater on the wall while the Doctor stepped through. He'd had his hands clasped behind his long lab coat but now he stopped at the metal rail that had been installed just inside to keep visitors - particularly the Director - out of the main cluster of work stations.

"...power plant reads nominal, secondary safety and interlocks are yellow."

"Move to green," one of the senior team members instructed. The center was buzzing with activity and he was one of three who paced the room, constantly checking the various monitors and stand-alone test equipment and muttering terse phrases to each other while the junior members of the team watched their own stations closely. "Main sequence to standby."

There was a bank of monitors across the far wall and like everything else they had been cobbled together with cables and junctions running everywhere. On the largest was the test system itself; A large double-spindle of three awl-shaped towers and connecting rings with generators built in the middle of these. A huge torus in the middle of the spindle was the main power station and it was there that the energy harvested from the star glowing yellow-hot in the background would power the enormous siege engine.

"All shows green..."

"Full power test in twenty," the Akashan - it was an even mix here between Nematojin and their Akashan counter-parts - instructed. "Reconfirm targeting..."

One of the smaller monitors flicked and showed an overlay as the target - the only other planet in the Yukon system - flash off, then on, and then moved back and forth to center again.

"Confirmed..."

"Twenty... Nineteen..."

Engineers hunched close to their stations now and Kraus backed off to fold his arms over his chest and whisper under his breath, "Just about there."

"Ten..."

Turning, he grabbed a fire extinguisher off the wall and vaulted the railing to bring it down in a heavy blow on the console of a completely shocked young woman. Turning to the next and the next, he sent them both flying to scatter across the room. It was a couple seconds but one of the senior engineers launched himself at the Doctor and tackled him to the floor while the other two began barking orders.

"...move back to standby. Shit, that was the power station. Shelby, use the routing station to..."

Kraus pulled the pin on the extinguisher and a cloud of white filled the back half of the room. Another station went offline as the fire suppression agent shot into the interior. Coughing furiously, the engineer leapt back to nearly tumble and added his chair to the mix of Kraus and senior engineer. The tall man surrendered the extinguisher and hefted the chair with the clear intention of tossing it towards the monitors at the front of the room but the engineer grabbed it and used it to pin him up against the wall.

"What... The fuck do you think you are doing?!"

"System stress test," Kraus said calmly as he relaxed and the chair clattered to the ground. "Scheduled for two fifteen and I did clear it with you," he looked up at the clock above him. "Perfect timing and, if I might say so, an excellent crash recovery."

The engineer glared at him but just then an alarm chirped and a flashing message box appeared just next to him, 'System Stress Test, Dr. Kraus, 2:15'

"Well, okay. Maybe my timing was a little off..."

[Sunset]

SDF-Ojeni, Deep Space, Delta Quadrant...

"Nothing?"

"I got nothing, fold," Kami tossed her cards onto the table and sat back, arms crossed as she blew a stray lock of hair out of her face.

It had been a dumb idea anyway.

She knew a lot of things about a lot of different things and many of them she was good at but apparently poker was not one of them. Neither was it Sloan's thing, or Commander Astau, or the Eye. Between the four of them they knew just enough about the card game to know they were bad at it and to, as it were, throw in the cards. With the collapse of her hand came the collapse of the game and any chance that it might be used as some kind of a brainstorming session to figure out just what to do about the Esti'Ilwe.

Maybe the best option was to do nothing.

That just didn't sit right with the Captain though, and as she leaned back to stare at the overhead light, she tried to think of something - anything - that could be done.

"...go in there blaring about how it's all a sham and... I dunno, get a few million people killed?"

"Eggs and omelets, Captain," the Eye replied. "Is the omelet worth it?"

The comment might have been offensive to the Avians but then again, it might not have; None could recall asking or being told anything about Esti'Ilwe reproduction.

"If we had support from Fleet - which we don't - we could set up a colony and put the word out."

"Which would still get a lot of people killed," Sloan pointed out. She rose from her chair to spin it dancing from leg to leg back to where it had been. The Captain's quarters - their quarters - rated a small kitchen and she went behind the counter to dig around in the cabinets. "They'll try to hold on to them and if they can't, they'll kill them. Or make it look like we did."

"Ouch, yeah. I just don't like the idea of losing this one. Noodling around in Delta with this thing hanging over us."

"Maybe that's exactly what we should do," Commander Astau suggested. "Noodle around. Sleep on it."

[Sunset]

Defense Force CORE III Station, Deep Space, The Fringe...

"So it's back in the pretty little cage, huh?" Captain Sasura asked as she leaned against the wall in the hallway of her own gilded cage. "Better than the noose, I suppose."

It was one of the traditions that Sunset had retained from its Earthly past; Pirates that were taken alive would be hung using iron chains and their bodies left outside the port to rot away as a warning to others. In the cold vacuum of space bodies did not rot, of course, and so there were still examples twisting in the stellar wind outside several of the oldest stations in the Republic.

"Sure is."

"Until the next time we need your services," Ivy offered as she triggered the field that would seal the Captain into her apartment. "I don't think you'd want to go to Lethon anyway."

There would be more than a few roaming the market who might want a cut - literally - of the pirate captain and of the various bounties and rewards on her head and, in some cases, more explicit body parts instead. Escape was a possibility as well though the Agent doubted she knew just how thoroughly she was wired to blow.

Lethon was the next natural step; During the review of their own surveillance recording, they had caught just the tail corner of a lander coming down in a bay just a few slots over from their own. While it was just another boxy drop craft to the Republic operatives, Sasura identified it immediately as one owned by a mercenary who had had previous dealings with Captain Graycock. The same shuttle had been there when they'd lifted off with a cluster of men and women lounging around it. Several of them had looked skyward as their ship had lifted and they'd scrambled for their gear.

"We'll head to Lethon then ask around for Graycock. I think we're looking for a capture this time," she turned to the Dwarf, half-lecturing her. "Or at least a couple heads we can talk to. If Graycock was tipped off by the Sessool, this will give us a critical chance to learn something about their intelligence network."

"Ah kin try..."

Meli wasn't about to promise anything though. Two factors were at play; Revenge for the death of Marie, and the general ruthlessness of the pirates and their allies. If circumstances came down in their favor she'd make the attempt but otherwise it was whatever was needed.

[Sunset]

Demi and Erika's House, Botany Bay, Chuh-Yu...

"Right now? No..."

But there was that hint of hesitation in Demi's voice and Katryna pressed her on it. The honeymoon was over now and they were home again just in time for a new product launch that everyone at Silaco Electronics seemed excited about. Except for the CEO - she was up to her hips in the investigation and political fallout from the assassination of Senator Thong.

"But maybe in the future?"

The three - Katryna was there in person with Amaril sitting on the stairs leading up to the second floor silently working on something - were in the living room while just outside two boisterous children were swarming over the sailboat that the butler had hauled up to the carport for a spring cleaning.

"I'm not going to say no, but I've come into an extended family, haven't I? Enough for a family reunion and Christmas at Grandma's at least;" Some religious traditions continued, though they were nearly completely commercial now, "And I have grandkids by proxy. I dunno..."

Demi sat back in the corner of the couch, her favorite resting place, and sipped at her coffee. The subject had been something she'd considered but only lightly; She wasn't old, but she wasn't young either. She liked to think of it as the prime of her life and injecting a kid - or kids - into the middle of that? She was still an Ambassador too; Even in a generally stable situation she could be called away to some distant part of the galaxy at any moment.

"If I ever want kids down the road? Maybe I'd want to adopt. An AI with a Human partner and an Elf for a brother-in-law and another AI as a step-daughter? We're already a mixed family. Why not find a child that deserves a chance at a good life, no matter what species? A refugee or war orphan?"

Katryna nodded. Erika wouldn't exactly be disappointed that her new invention might not find use in her own life but she also knew her mother would have enjoyed seeing it used. The possibility still existed though and the idea of adopting was sound.

"But for now?"

Demi turned to look at one of the front windows which had been set to show the carport. Mahini, always the daredevil, was walking along the arm of the mainsail while her younger brother tried to scale the mast only to find the handholds just beyond his grasp.

"Yeah..."

Erika chose that moment to make her own appearance, emerging from her office followed by the floating disembodied head of Attorney General Ure Noldo, head of the Department of Justice. They'd been holed up in her office which was just off the living room and half-concealed by an alcove wall draped with cascading ivy and creepers on one side.

"So what's the verdict, Ure?" Katryna asked, "Who's guilty?"

The insect-like head drifted over to the coffee table to hover above it before swiveling to look at her. It was the physical embodiment of the Attorney General; Unlike the Secretary-General, the Admiral, and the Butler, who were all Evolved Intelligences, he had been purpose-built as an Artificial Intelligence specializing in the practice of law back in the early days of the Republic. His tenure in the post was almost twice as long as Erika's though many assumed the inhuman-looking robot head was some kind of drone.

"Unknown. Progress on the case regarding the murder of Senator Thong;" He tended to talk in strict legal terms and was a terrible dinner partner, "Is limited. The data is incongruous. Method, location, and timing suggests someone with detailed knowledge of the Senator's daily habits rather than an attack of opportunity. The weapon that has now been successfully linked to the killing was custom-made using a mid-range three-dimensional assembler for this specific use. Design is custom which suggests an individual with detailed knowledge of techniques. Roanian and Tonhi community on N'Xypndiltn has extremely limited experience with said technology with a preponderance of educational backgrounds in the areas of agriculture, light manufacturing, and retail."

"So it was an expert assassin and not just some whack-job lone gunman?"

"Reduction is the most likely probability. Statistical anomalies are possible. Avenues of investigation are government agent, professional killer, or disgruntled savant."

"And both of the first two suggest a larger conspiracy of some kind," Erika broke in. "That rifle was still worth a couple hundred thousand in rare materials alone and was perfect for that shot, at that time, at that location. Building a complex remote-triggered system just to kill someone while they are in the bathroom suggests a certain level of care - an extraordinary level of care - was involved in the planning and execution. For something claimed as a political killing it was far too surgical."