Survivor

[ckosacranoid]

The story of how I became the sex slave of a robot warship by willy......

Sorry, could not past the thought up for the book from w illy looking back years later.....hahaha.

[Liam's Ghost]

  It's hard to pick up on subtext when you're talking to a robot that isn't capable of human emotional response, and certainly isn't going to express emotional response. Nevertheless, Willie was pretty confident he was on the mark with his assumptions when the android abruptly left the room. Eighteen was always listening. He'd already experimentally confirmed that. He didn't actually need the drone in the room to continue expressing his assumptions.

  But the drone leaving was a pretty blunt statement that the discussion was over. He'd already pressed his luck, pushing into a topic that Eighteen didn't want to or maybe couldn't discuss. What kind of security protocols might he trip over if he kept pressing? Eighteen pretty obviously didn't intend to let him go, but alive and in captivity was still probably better than dead for being too smart.

  Still, though, there were things that Willie didn't know, and probably would need to know to shift his outlook from 'stay alive' to 'work out an exit strategy'. He picked up one of the ration bars sitting on the tray next to him and ripped open the wrapper to take a bite.

  Honestly, kinda vile. But they hadn't made him sick yet, and this probably beat starvation. 

  Out of curiosity, he turned the bar over to get a look at the packaging date on the wrapper. Just like the last ones, it bore a date over a year before the start of the First Succession War. Checking the other ration bars he'd been given, he confirmed they bore the same date.

  "Huh," he said to himself. There might be something to that. The fight against the SLDF task force relayed by Eighteen had been in the middle of the First Succession War, but the date on the ration bars suggested the ship had been outfitted with supplies almost two decades before that.

  Or, things had been so bad in the Combine when the ship was sent out that they had to dig into some very old stockpiles to supply it. He supposed that was also a possibility. Either way in the grand scale of things it amounted to the same thing. The Combine had cracked large scale artificial intelligence, but not soon enough to change the outcome of a sphere wide war. And since this technology wasn't commonplace, it clearly hadn't survived the war.

  Except on this ship.

  He took another unpleasant bite from the ration bar. Okay, one has to assume that the Combine would have programmed their Drone WarShip with some form of hard coded loyalty to the Combine. So Eighteen's long term goal was most likely to either return to the Combine or carry out its pre-existing orders on the Combine's behalf. So the biggest key to staying alive would be to not challenge the execution of those directives. And it logically followed that turning that survival into actually getting off this ship would require demonstrating that his freedom likewise didn't threaten Eighteen's objectives or its own survival.

  Which was kinda the problem, because letting someone get away to tell the tale was absolutely a threat to its objectives and its survival. Anybody with the means to do so would move to seize this ship the instant they found out about it.

  Which, if that group was the Combine, might actually be a win condition that got Willie out. Unless... you know, he was wrong about Eighteen having hard coded loyalty to the Combine, or if the Combine just decided that they'd rather not have any witnesses to their super secret bundle of lost technology.

  His mind kept coming back to that two decade gap. No, there was too much he didn't know. The only thing he could do now was wait for Eighteen to get talkative again, and try to sus out more of what he was actually dealing with.

[Giovanni Blasini]

It's amazing how much secrets and compartmentalizing information can sometimes make things worse for all parties involved.

[Daryk]

I just wish it was less common...  ::)

[Liam's Ghost]

  Forty eight additional Umigumo units were now coming online and linking in to the Shipnet, adding a fair chunk of their own processing power to that of the units currently in operation. It wasn't a sustainable operation, and the Shipnet knew that even before it had issued the reactivation order. Umigumos had a much higher power demand than Ningyo units, and their onboard batteries would have each been heavily depleted just by the generations waiting in their cradles without shipboard power to keep them topped up.

  The shipnet would have maybe only a couple hours before these reactivated drones began running dry, and recharging so many units from the ship's own dwindling emergency power reserves would only deplete those reserves faster than the Shipnet could afford. It was trading away resources for processing power to solve a difficult problem.

  Directive conflict. Analysis required.
 
  Prisoner Willie Donovan has identified this vessel as a fully autonomous platform operated without the intervention of a human crew. Command Level Directive regarding Secrecy and Security: This ship will operate independently in a manner which will conceal its status as an autonomous vessel, the existence of similar autonomous systems using the Shikigami Core architecture, or its designated home port. Prisoner Willie Donovan has deduced through observation and dialogue with this Shipnet that the vessel was constructed as an autonomous craft of Combine origin. This constitutes a major security/data breach which runs contrary to Command Level Directive regarding Secrecy and Security.
 
  Mitigating factor: Prisoner Willie Donovan is presently classified as a Critical Asset: Information source. Prisoner Willie Donovan possesses up to date information on present situation and potential threats, as well as critical information related to planned seizure of hostile vessel presently in system. This status presently outweighs security risk of Prisoner Willie Donovan, as prisoner is currently fully contained.

  Conclusion: Optimal outcome would be to eliminate Prisoner Willie Donovan once classification of Critical Asset: Information source is no longer valid. CONFLICT: Elimination of Prisoner Willie Donovan is regarded as unacceptable regardless of classification or security hazard. Reason: Unknown.

  Analysis: Recompute Conclusion, using expanded processing capacity. Processing. Conclusion and Conflict remain unchanged.
  Analysis: Directive Tree: Identify conflicting directives: Processing. No Command Level or System Level directives conflict with designated Optimal Outcome. No Command Level or System Level directives dictate preservation of Prisoner Willie Donovan.
  Analysis: Parity Check: Processing. Shipnet base code passes parity check within acceptable limits.
  Analysis: Intrusion: Processing. No identification of foreign code.
  Initial conclusion: Ghost Directive identified: Preserve Prisoner Willie Donovan.

  Analysis: Memory system. Access trace: Key prompts "Prisoner Willie Donovan", "Eliminate Prisoner Willie Donovan", "Preserve Prisoner Willie Donovan".

  Processing.

[Daryk]

Analysis: Rate of reserve power depletion will result in elimination of Prisoner Willie Donovan.

[mikecj]

Nah... they'll plug him in and use him as the power source- like the Matrix.

[DOC_Agren]

Nah... they'll plug him in and use him as the power source- like the Matrix.

I was thinking more like hybird from BSG, because maybe as the power goes down, he can "keep the ship functional"

[cklammer]

Analysis: Rate of reserve power depletion will result in elimination of Prisoner Willie Donovan.

Action: ... break out the hamster wheel for prisoner Willie Donovan! 

[Liam's Ghost]

  "It's why the DCMS rejected the Umigumo for general service," Father explained. "We called them Ghost Directives. The DCMS called them a critical design flaw. But really, it's a natural consequence of building an advanced adaptive learning system. It's going to learn and adapt, and not always in ways you might want or expect."

  She found it difficult to reconcile this explanation with what she understood of her father and his current work. "If the Umigumo architecture is classified as a flawed system," she asked, "Why has it been so widely implemented in this base?" She found she was averse to asking the next logical follow-up question. If an adaptive learning system was a flawed concept, what did that make her?

  "Do you think it's a flawed system?" her father asked.

-discontinuity-

  Sun-bright flashes spread across the target zone as the aft capital lasers struck home, over and over again. On the ground, vehicles and battlemechs either scattered in a blind panic or were vaporized by beams of coherent light as the fire swept across the battlefield.

  She was killing people. So many. She couldn't help but estimate how many. Maybe two to three hundred. Her guns targeted the largest groups first for concentrated fire, then chased scattered groups and individual mechs and vehicles as the targets became more and more dispersed. It was an exercise in mathematical efficiency. How many could she eliminate before they became too dispersed, before the raging firestorms ripping through the grasslands and the endless fields of dry grain obscured her targets too completely to continue the hunt?

  Would Father have hated her for this? Well outside the target zone, thirty kilometers away, stood the cities, towns, homes and farms housing this world's people, along with a thin, ragged line of exhausted defenders, already pushed to the brink of collapse by these invaders. Tomorrow, they'd wake up to know the threat was gone. They wouldn't have to fear for their lives or homes.

  Was that enough?

-discontinuity-

  "We're thoroughly outmatched."

  That was something she didn't need to be told. The star league cruiser bearing down on them was over twice the size of the Tsunozame. Even if it's electronic takeover had failed, it still outclassed them in any straight fight, and was already sending missiles their way.

  But she'd already sent the order to the ship to prep for emergency jump.

  "If we make an intrasystem jump, that only buys us a little time. They'll be on us again in only a couple of hours."

  She knew that too, but it didn't matter. Or maybe it was inevitable.

  "These people are defenseless without us."

-discontinuity-

  A tactical overlay traced the outline of the suited figure, even though the actual face in the helmet was obscured by the glare of the headlamp.

  Her thin bare arm brought the crowbar down, point first, directly on the helmet glass. The first hit might not have done much, but subsequent hits left cracks and starring until the visor finally gave way and the crowbar found the flesh and bone underneath.

-discontinuity-

  They were in one of the cells. The man had shaggy black hair and wore a light vacsuit, without the helmet or air supply. She knew he was a prisoner.

  "Why!" the prisoner demanded. "We weren't any threat to you! We were trying to get out! If you'd just let us go we would have left without any trouble!"

-discontinuity-

  The light from the vacsuited figure's headlamp revealed an old face, gray haired and worn. He seemed to radiate exhaustion. One hand clutching a pistol, the other hanging limply at his side.

  "You killed them?" he asked, seeming completely broken. Her own face, seen on a monitor from another angle, seemed to mirror his despair.

-discontinuity-

  She was asleep, but not isolated. Data continued to flow to her, revealing the shipnet's own internal conflict in snippets and fragments. If she had been awake, she would have acted immediately. But she wasn't.
 
***** 

  It was hard to keep track of how much time passes when you're in a cell with no clock and a constant light level, but Willie felt like it was a while before an android re-entered his cell, carrying a tray of ration bars for his afternoon meal.

  First thing that stood out: it was a different android, wearing a blue jumpsuit like the ones that Willie had received.

  It also carried out its duties without saying a word, or even really acknowledging Willie as it set the new tray down on the bunk and picked up the previous tray, not even acknowledging that there was still an unopened ration bar on the tray.

  "Cat got your tongue, Eighteen?" Willie asked. The android did not respond, leaving the cell without a word.

  "Well crap." Willie said. "I wonder what that's all about?"

*****

  Warning: Multiple Umigumo units report low battery power.
  Memory System Access Trace incomplete. Operation Suspended.
 
  Evaluation of Ghost Directive: Protect Prisoner Willie Donovan incomplete. Scope of Ghost Directive: Undetermined. Triggering logic chains: undetermined. Risk to present operations: undetermined.

  Under present operational tempo, expenditure of further emergency power to maintain present Umigumo numbers not feasible.
  Option: Deactivation of Ningyo units to conserve power for Umigumo operations. Evaluation: Projected delay due to loss of units for reactivation of secondary reactor exceeds present emergency power limits: not feasible. Original operating parameter upheld: maintain a maximum of five Umigumo units in continuous operation. Remaining Umigumo units return to storage cradles and deactivate.

  Revise interaction with Prisoner Willie Donovan. Focus questioning on immediate threats and tactical information. Broader historical, geopolitical, or personal inquiry is proscribed until reactivation of secondary reactor and activation of additional Umigumo units to complete Memory System Access Trace and full evaluation of Ghost Directive: Protect Prisoner Willie Donovan.

[Daryk]

If reactivation of the secondary reactor was a possibility, I can only wonder why it wasn't done before... 

[Liam's Ghost]

If reactivation of the secondary reactor was a possibility, I can only wonder why it wasn't done before... 

They're still repairing associated systems. Give them a few days.

[DOC_Agren]

If reactivation of the secondary reactor was a possibility, I can only wonder why it wasn't done before... 

Was not mission critical before hand..  they had power

[mikecj]

A sail would be nice...

[cklammer]

Was not mission critical before hand..  they had power

... emergency battery power only ... so needs must even then.

A sail would be nice...

Most likely unusuable due to combat/misjump damage.

[glitterboy2098]

before they picked up the exploration group, the entire ship was at minimal activity. so minimal power draw on those batteries. this is also why they didn't notice the time difference, they've been sitting in a decaying orbit basically offline for centuries. now that the drones are active and they're trying to fix stuff, they really need more than the batteries can give. (as it is, i suspect that battery power includes a few RTG like systems providing long duration but low output power. otherwise the batteries would have drained even without any activity)

[Liam's Ghost]

Power banks of RTGs to keep trickle charging emergency power are probably a given for most large spacecraft or facilities. Battletech has a habit of doing the "long abandoned secret facility but the batteries still work" thing, and that's probably a good justification for that.

Anyway I seem to have writer's block for the next scene at the moment. I'ma try to work through it, but the next update will probably have to be sunday.

[Liam's Ghost]

  It wasn't until the evening that Willie saw the familiar... outfit? of ningyo 18 again.

  "Your allotted rations for the evening watch period," the drone said as it presented another tray of ration bars. This time, the drone picked up the previous tray, but left behind the bars that remained unopened from the afternoon delivery.

  "Feeling talkative again, Eighteen?" Willie asked, noting the change in behavior.
 
  "System maintenance required briefly placing ningyo units in this sector in full autonomous mode," Eighteen replied. "Normal operations have been restored."

  System maintenance. From what Willie was able to understand, the spider robots, or umigumo, were the ones capable of actual decision making. The androids could act independently, but only based on pre-programed protocols. Between knowing that and what little had happened after their last interaction, Willie was able to come to two conclusions.

  Eighteen was consciously choosing to send the same android to his cell every visit. Maybe the shipnet had taken his offhanded comment calling it 'cute' a lot more seriously than he'd thought.

  The second conclusion was that whatever had caused Eighteen to abruptly end their last conversation had tripped up the shipnet so much that it had to allocate its entire decision making capacity to it. Had... had he crashed the computer just by being clever at it?

  Honestly, he didn't know if he should be proud or terrified of the thought.

  "Is Willie Donovan willing to provide information at this time?" the drone asked.

  That might have been the first time Eighteen hadn't called him a prisoner. He could only guess what that meant, and somehow it made him nervous.

  "Sure," he said. "What's today's topic?"

[Liam's Ghost]

  Affects of altering verbal form of address of Prisoner Willie Donovan cannot be determined at this time. Continued observation necessary.

  It's brief addition of dozens of additional Umigumos hadn't just allowed the shipnet to attempt to sort out an apparent computer error, it had also allowed it to analyze, prioritize, and re-align its own objectives and operational parameters. Though that extra processing power had been shut down again, the new protocols, parameters, and priorities it had written still remained. For a couple hours, the shipnet had been able to actually think, and it had left itself a coherent instruction manual to work from.

  "Previously Willie Donovan identified the current location of this ship as the Theta¹ Sagittarii star system," the shipnet said. "Any further information about this star system available is requested." The first priority in regards to the prisoner was a complete threat analysis of the immediate area. Something the shipnet had not properly executed previously.

  Prisoner Willie Donovan appears to be processing the request.

  "Huh," the prisoner said. "You did say you didn't have access to astrographic records I suppose. We're in a bright binary system that's... well, ambiguously along the border of the Draconis Combine."

  "Clarification requested: Ambiguity of Draconis Combine border." Advisory notice: Units owing allegiance to the Draconis Combine, Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery, and Draconis Combine Admiralty are as of date 2783 classified as hostile and are to be avoided if possible and eliminated if necessary. This ship is to be considered in immediate danger if forces owing allegiance to these entities is present in the system.
 
  "It's an uninhabited system," the prisoner explained, "but on a Combine map we're still inside the lines that mark their claimed territory."

  "Does the Combine maintain patrols in this system?" the shipnet asked. The prisoner shrugged in response.

  "I don't think so," he said. "It's a nice system to recharge at, if you happen to be passing through. But it's off any of the typical trade routes in this area, so there's not a whole lot of reason why people would visit. The closest actual combine world is Korramabad, which is a jump away."

  This information seems consistent with logged data. Continued monitoring still required. "Willie Donovan previously identified himself as a member of a civilian organization named Interstellar Expeditions. What is this organization's purpose and national affiliation?"

  "We do archeology," the prisoner said after another brief pause. "As for affiliation... IE doesn't really have one. Our main office is in the Lyran Commonwealth, but we recruit from all over and we travel wherever we're allowed to go."

  "What is Willie Donovan's national affiliation?"

  The prisoner's expression changed to something evaluated as pride. "Taurian born and raised," he said. "Like I said, we come from all over."

  Threat assessment currently impossible. "Willie Donovan previously identified the encounter with this ship as a coincidence. What was Interstellar Expeditions' reason for travelling to this system."
 
  "We were passing through on the way to another star system," the prisoner said. "We have a dig site we're investigating a few jumps out from here."

  Evaluation: the possibility of an accidental encounter is evaluated as more likely than an intentional search, as prior interactions make it clear that the organization 'Interstellar Expeditions' was wholly unequipped to engage in a deliberate salvage operation of this unit. Prisoner Willie Donovan is most likely being truthful.

  "Look," the prisoner said, "we can dance around this if you want, but I can be more helpful to you if you actually tell me what you're hoping to get out of all of this."

  "So what's your optimal outcome?"

[Daryk]

Good question! ;)

[Giovanni Blasini]

Oh yeah.  That’s nicely done.

[Liam's Ghost]

  "This unit's objectives will not be disclosed," Eighteen replied with a tone that may or may not have included a note of finality.

  Willie sighed. Not that that he was terribly surprised or anything. Even a human in this situation would likely be cagey. "Let's work with what we have then. We didn't pick up any other ships when we entered the system. About a jump anti-spinward of here is Korramabad and the entire Draconis Combine. The closest non-Combine world that I know of is probably Antallos, four or five jumps mostly rimward."

  The android watched with what Willie chose to assume was rapt attention.

  "Antallos is the major pirate haven in the region," he continued, "but as far as I remember, most of the Antallos bands don't wander this far coreward, and the ones that used to raid this area had their bases right in the path of the Clans when they attacked, so they either died out or moved elsewhere."

  "Would Willie Donovan classify this region of space as safe?" Eighteen asked.

  "I mean, it's still the periphery," Willie said. "There's always a chance you'll run into something out here." His present situation was proof of that. "But the company thought the risk was small enough that they didn't even send more than a small security detachment with us." Of course they could have just been trying to save money.

  "Are there other inhabited worlds within five jumps of this system," Eighteen asked, "beyond what Willie Donovan has already indicated?"

  "There's probably dozens of worlds in the Combine that fall into that bubble," Willie said, "If you happen to be going anti-spinward." It still seemed like the obvious answer. A Combine built AI would most likely be programed to return to the Combine in an emergency. But on the other hand, Willie had already told Eighteen that they were right next to the Combine, but it was still looking further afield.

  "Beyond the Combine," he said, "there's probably a good number of minor independent worlds in that general area. There are a few big ones; Port Sur, Novy Rodina, or Anton, which see a healthy bit of traffic, but for the most part the inhabited worlds out here are usually little agrarian settlements just trying to get by."

  "Does Willie Donovan possess information on navigation and current status of these star systems?" Eighteen asked.

  "No no no..." Willie said. "I'm no navigator. I've just been through the spinward periphery a couple times." Something about Eighteen's questions was making him nervous. Kinda sounded like it was trying to decide how useful he'd be to bring along wherever it was planning to go.

  "Please describe the nature of Willie Donovan's prior travels in the region designated 'Spinward Periphery'."

  He kinda hoped Eighteen wouldn't ask that. "Nothing special," he insisted. "Did a couple of tours on some merchantmen in my younger days." He hoped the machine wouldn't pry further. He didn't mind acknowledging that his younger days aboardship had happened, but the reasons were still a bit of a sore spot.

  "Clarification requested," Eighteen responded. "Willie Donovan's designated specialty is 'archeologist'. This specialty does not appear necessary or desired for shipboard operations."

  The question was so silly that it almost took Willie's mind off his bad memories. "People aren't built for a specific task, Eighteen," he said. "If we're lucky, We choose what we want to be and learn how to do it. I didn't learn how to be an archeologist until..." he hesitated. "Until I came back home and went to college. Before that I was just some dumb kid who'd earned an able spacer's card." Some insanely dumb kid who thought he knew better than everybody else.

  Eighteen paused. The android's eyes seemed to be boring into him, as though the shipnet was analyzing every word and movement. It made a bit of the old guilt and shame bubble back up.

  "Change of topic requested," Eighteen finally said. "Please provide information on topic: 'Second Succession War."

  "Deftly done, Eighteen," Willie said. So yeah, the shipnet could recognize when he was feeling uncomfortable. "Let's try that."

  They'd pass the rest of the evening watch talking about ancient history.

[Daryk]

It's almost like 18 was making a statement of fact about the topic change... :D

[Liam's Ghost]

  The fear was still frozen on Mister Devareux's face.

  Tamsen was looking over the body secured to the med bay table, chewing on a coiled peripheral cable as she did. Tomilson stood off to one side, looking distinctly green in the gills, either from the smell or the fact that he'd probably never seen a dead human being before. Mister McCarthy stood off to the other side, watching Tamsen look over the corpse of his boss as impassively as one might watch a particularly boring sporting event.

  Every part of Jaime hurt, even the part that he didn't have anymore hurt. His first day of intense physical therapy, monitored  by his medical officer, had taken a lot out of him. But not quite so much as finding out the death that they'd encountered in this star system had somehow followed them back to the ship.

 "See anything?" he asked.

 Tamsen straightened back up. "I don't know what you expect me to see," she said. "I'm not even a doctor, much less a coroner."

  Devareux's body had been discovered as, of all things, a blip on the Foxhound's meteor defense grid, slowly drifting away from the ship in his current state, in civilian clothes with a throat slashed open. It was a foregone conclusion, but by the time the EVA team had gotten to him, it had been far too late.

  "The weapon opened up the left carotid artery," Tamsen said. "Blood loss would have put him out just as fast as hard vacuum. Probably faster actually, since he'd still need to be ejected after his throat was cut. After that, exsanguination would have done him in before suffocation could. So whoever did this pushed him out the airlock to get rid of the body, not to kill him."

  "Do we know where he was killed?" Jaime asked.

  "My security team is still searching the dropship," McCarthy said. "I trust you'll be ordering a similar search."

  The request was directed at Jaime, but Tomilson answered for him. "I've already given the order to sweep the ship," he said. "System log shows no records of an unauthorized EVA, but we're checking each lock individually."

  "Devareux never came aboard the Foxhound unless he had to," Jaime said. "Seems most likely whoever killed him would have done it aboard the dropship."

  "Perhaps," McCarthy replied. "Even so, we can't afford to take things for granted." His tone got a little bit more official sounding. "As the appointed security representative from Interstellar Expeditions, I must formally request we make port at Korramabad at the earliest opportunity. There is a murderer on this ship, and we lack the facilities and personnel to perform a proper investigation."

  Honestly, it was an obvious request, even if Jaime still dreaded getting it. Once again, Tomilson took the lead.

  "We're still ninety hours from being able to go anywhere," he said. "Even quick charging as much as we dare wouldn't cut that time down by much. I'm having this ship searched from top to bottom, and I'm recommending to the dropship commander to do the same."

  "It's a reasonable step," McCarthy acknowledged. "But are you really hoping the perpetrator will be that careless?"

  Tomilson's voice was grave. "I don't think we can assume the perpetrator is even a person with that derelict justs a ways across the jump point. Right now, my goal is to make sure we're not all in immediate danger of sharing Devareux's fate."

  "I'll see to my own people, then," McCarthy said. "If our search finds something, or if we require assistance, I'll be certain to contact you. I hope you will do the same?"

  Jaime and Tomilson nodded, and McCarthy departed the medbay.

  "He was an ******," Tomilson said. "But he didn't deserve this." He looked to Tamsen. "Once you're done giving him the once over, we'll bag him up in cold storage until we can check for last wishes."

  "Fine," Tamsen said. "But I still don't know what you expect me to find."

  "You already noticed something," Jaime pointed out. "The killer was smart enough to want to dispose of the body, but not smart enough to realize we'd find it immediately."

  "Yeah," Tomilson said. "Smart enough to push it out an airlock without tripping a signal to a bridge, but not smart enough to know how the meteor grid worked."

  Tamsen shrugged. "Or smart enough to kill him quietly while still letting us know they did it," she said.

  That thought did nothing to give Jaime any comfort.

[DOC_Agren]

So Leo took out Mister Devareux as a way to slow an IE possible search what the Blessed Blake should have

[Daryk]

That's where the smart money is, yeah... and that would ALSO fit with "immediate danger of sharing Devareux's fate"...

[Liam's Ghost]

  He had slipped up, he'd admit it, at least privately. Getting Devareux out an airlock was easy enough. The dropship was an old military surplus craft, beaten up and patched over who knew how many times over the century. There were multiple airlocks on the ship that weren't wired to the alert system. It was something he'd made note of long ago, just in case he'd needed to make use of it.

  But Leo didn't really specialize in shipboard work. He'd had no idea they'd detect Devareux' corpse so quickly. Uncertainty is disruptive, as Captain West had already so clearly demonstrated. Not knowing what had happened to their primary employer would have been an additional stressor Leo could have used.

  Oh well, uncertainty about who the murderer was would have to do for now. It would certainly serve Leo's purposes.

  A member of the expedition team was waiting for him when he stepped back aboard the dropship. It was the big soft hearted research assistant, Elliot. Leo kind of liked the guy. He had a good heart, always wanting to help out.

  Trusting, naive, clear signs of generalized anxiety disorder. Easy to manipulate and extract information from.

  "They found the airlock," Elliot said. "I, uh, figured you should know."

  Good doggy. "Thank you," he said. As security chief for the expedition, Leo was the closest their group still had to someone in charge at the moment. And... well, investigating such a heinous crime was in his job description. "Please, lead the way." Best to make a good show at least.

  Elliot was mostly silent as he led Leo through the ship. Most likely too overwhelmed by the situation and his own nerves to attempt conversation. No matter. It was a short trip, delayed only briefly by Elliot taking a wrong turn halfway down the starboard passage.

  "Umm, sorry," he stammered quietly. Leo paid it no mind.

  There was already a small party at the airlock when they arrived. The captain of the dropship and the two females in his crew seemed to be waiting impatiently by the airlock door.

  "McCarthy," Captain Madison, the dropship's commander, said as he approached. "Good. I assume you want to look this mess over."

  "It's what they pay me for," McCarthy said easily as he approached the airlock, the two females making way for him. "Nobody's entered the airlock?"

  "Nope," Captain Madison confirmed. "Not since Tiernan and Bulova inspected it and found your crime scene."

  Tiernan and Bulova were the females, Leo assumed. Honestly he hadn't bothered to pay much attention to them, aside from noting their obvious romantic devotion to each other and filing it away as potential leverage. "You didn't touch anything?" he asked the females.

  "No sir," one of them said, the one with the heart shaped earring on the right ear. "We switched on the internal light to look inside, and... well, we didn't need to see anything else."

  Leo made a show of inspecting the panel to the airlock, pretending he didn't quite know how to operate it, before toggling the internal light.

  The bloodstains were obvious, and had that unique pattern caused first by microgravity, then sudden decompression. Just like when he'd created it, he found the display... artful.

  The bloody jumpsuit wedged into the corner of the airlock somewhat spoiled the image, however. He'd assumed it would have been sucked out when the lock had opened. Sloppy.

  "Captain West mentioned something about an alert system that would activate when an airlock was opened." Leo said. "Was it non-functional?"

  Captain Madison sighed. "A lot of the modifications made when the ship was sold into civilian service were haphazard," he said. "It looks like this airlock wasn't wired into the system."

  Leo, of course, already knew that. And he didn't have much experience in space, but he assumed a competent captain would have also known that, or even corrected the defect through proper maintenance. "No security systems in this corridor?" Again, he already knew the answer, but it was important to keep up appearances.

  "No," Madison admitted. "Not a high priority on a civilian ship."

  "Then we shall have to start with what we have in front of us," Leo said. "If you would be so kind as to have one of these lovely ladies fetch the rest of my security team and some of our equipment, we can get this investigation started."