Faction House Io: A Murder Mystery

[Nancy Io]

Aboard the Colossus of Shadows

It had been a particularly slow day. Sometimes days went by without much happening aboard the Colossus. The residents were generally well-behaved, with few crimes being committed aboard the massive city-ship. Usually it was petty crime—the occasional odd shoplifter or jaywalker earning little more than a fine or a slap on the wrist. But today, absolutely nothing happened. Where other citizens would have rejoiced, Nancy Io sat by the window of her apartment in a haze of purposelessness. She was a Civics Neutralizer, a detective. She was supposed to solve crimes. But if there were no crimes to solve, what was left for her to do?

She stared across the courtyard beyond her window. She did this often, especially when the numerous residents of the complex came home and went about their evening business. There were Bio-Organic Neutralizers like herself, as well as the older, more mechanical Neutralizer models, and even organic Citizens all living together. In other parts of the galaxy, this might be seen as a curious arrangement, but for House Io, it was a normal part of life.

While she watched, a woman in a red kimono walked across the yard to water some flowers growing along the path. The doll-like waxiness of her face gave her away as a Neutralizer. Through a lighted upstairs window, Nancy saw a man seated at a piano, fiddling absently with the keys. In the apartment next door, there was a party going on.

Nancy pulled out a white cylinder and placed it between her red lips. It looked like a cig, but produced an odorless “smoke” which was completely harmless. The vapor billowed from her mouth as she sat back, still admiring the view. The party was in full swing, the music blaring. The man next door, whom she suspected was trying to write a song, was not impressed. The woman in the kimono finished watering her plants and started to head back the way she had come from…

A sudden scream echoed across the courtyard. Nancy leaned forward instinctively, the white cylinder falling from her slack jaw. Her neighbors stopped what they were doing, poking their heads out their windows or rushing to lock their doors. They grabbed weapons—every Io Citizen was armed—and stood by, expecting trouble.

But there was silence. The scream had come from a room that was pitch black, the lights off and shades drawn. Nancy leaned even further out her window, like a dog sniffing the air, before a hint of a smile stretched her lips. Her purpose in life regained, she leaped over the sill and dropped down into the shadows below, her form obscured by the black dress she wore.

 

[Alessandra Io]

Location: Apartment District 22-C - Colossus of Shadows
Attire: Magenta and White Kimono
Tags: Nancy Io

Her sister had called her home.

And so, to home she had returned. Even so, a semblance of normalcy remained elusive for the young vilomah. The matter of what she would do with Ameliora’s inert chassis still had yet to be resolved, so for the time being, it had been locked inside of a vacuum-sealed storage unit, preventing it from degrading while also allowing the grieving mother to return to it at any time. At some point, she might have to say goodbye, but for now, Alessandra could only see it as her daughter resting peacefully while Akemi worked on something that might bring her back to life.

No matter the grim outlook of the facts, Alessandra still saw a chance that they could be together again, that once more, she could teach Ameliora how to dance.

For the time being, Alessandra allowed her processors to slow down while she caught up on episodes of Keeping Up With the Perls. Although the show was boringly predictable when watched at her normal processing speed, the Chaplain got a certain thrill out of it if her systems were slowed down while watching it, a tip she had gotten from her sister, who did the same while reading old fiction novels.

After one particularly emotional episode, Alessandra received a transmission regarding an incident. Although Chaplains rarely assisted with police investigations, when they did, they were most often assigned to interrogate witnesses and suspects or to assist in investigating crimes which dealt with Force Adepts. What this particular call would demand of her, the Chaplain had no clue. Regardless, Alessandra quickly changed into her kimono, and set off towards the crime scene, knowing that she was needed for the investigation.

To say the least, after spending over two months away from House Io on various excursions in Wild Space and the galactic rim, the feeling of being needed was something that the Nuetralizer had not yet reacclimated herself to.

 

[Catalina Io]

Wearing: General Purpose Shroud (Armorweave Catsuit)

Armed with: Type 2 Energy Sword

Recharging Commando Pistol

Yesterday...

It should have been a simple fetch job.

Emphasis on should have been.

Yet her public taxi was crashed, she was missing an arm half her face pulverized by impact, causing blue blood to leak everywhere before the blood loss stopped after a few minutes. As she pulled herself from the burning wreck of the Taxi, carrying only the Code Cylinder she had been assigned to retrieve from the Spy Station her House had set up on Nar Shaddaa, she suddenly felt dizzy. Internal balance systems were damaged.

No weapons. Industrial district.

It was running. Running from the scene. It absolutely could not afford to be identified. But it's muscles had been damaged by the crash so it was only at the speed of a normal human.

It spotted an old repair shop as it ran through night darkened streets and made a beeline for it, ducking to its left, checking the pocket of her dark green armorweave jacket that had the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, worn over a dark green armorweave catsuit so skin tight it looked almost painted on.

The Security Blade was intact. It looked intact, anyway.

The Biot activated it and the back door opened without raising the alarm.

The Organic Droid struggled not to panic as she saw how barren it was. The place was going out of business.

It quickly closed the doors behind it and began searching for usable Equipment, along with anything that could serve as a weapon.

Her pursuer crashed through the window, and the Biot ducked behind a shelf full of tools. It was a Bounty Hunter, in golden armor, a belt of spare ammo and grenades slung over his shoulder.

"Come out, Android! There's nowhere to run. The SJC will never stop until your master is brought to justice. And I ain't stopping until I get paid. They'd love to find some way to take one of you alive. But they'll pay just as much for a dead specimen."

Catalina came out from behind the cover of the shelves.

"One mere lackey in Heavy Armor?" Catalina noted in a dry, low key tone, voice a low octave.

"From what I hear, you're one of their protocol models..." The bounty hunter answered, pointing a pistol at her. "You can't be that tough."

"I am a Nuetralizer." Catalina answered. "I warrant at least two of you."

"Whatever. Ready to die?"

"I was born ready, Motherfether." Catalina answered.

He fired, and Catalina barely dodged the bolt, which grazed and burned her face, and she retaliated by taking an old welding Laser and firing it at him, before diving as his return fire shredded her concealment.

He entered quickly, firing rapidly as she moved between shelves.

He managed to hit her, blasting open a knee and causing her to drop to the floor in front of him.

"Warrants two of me, huh?" he questioned, taking aim.

Catalina wheeled around at the last second and squeezed off two shots from her welding Laser.

The shots hit his visor, melting into one of his eyes.

He screamed in agony, clutching his eye as he dropped his pistol. She scrambled for it, picking it up, as she pulled herself up, set it to stun, and then shot him unconscious.

She staggered over to his unconscious figure and began the time honored tradition of stealing a defeated foe's sweet loot...

(Fallen Order Upgrade Sound Plays)

(Catalina has acquired new weapons and items!)

Weapon: HEAVY BLASTER PISTOL

Spoiler

A gold chromed, short barreled heavy blaster pistol with a pearl grip

Weapon: HEAVY SONIC BLASTER

Spoiler

Debilitating weapon of unknown origin, delivering high strength bolts of sound capable of doing heavy damage and shattering duracrete. This particular model is crimson plated with an Obsidian Grip

Weapon: X-21 SHOCK GLOVE

Spoiler

This glove delivers a potential electrical charge, potentially increasing effectiveness of punches

Weapon: SYSTECH ELECTRIC BLASTER

Spoiler

Pistol that fires damaging bolts of Electricity. Useful for killing enemies with a resistance to blasters. This one comes with a stock attachment point and is nickel plated.

Weapon: LASER KNIFE

Spoiler

Energy based, flat, double edge melee weapon. This version has an ornate hilt built like that of a stiletto.

Ion Grenades: x2

Sonic Grenade x1

Adhesive Grenade x1

Item: C70 CHARGER ACCESS CODES

Spoiler

Access codes to the Bounty Hunter's warship

Catalina took all of this, swiped numerous spare parts and took off, the wound in her leg having already ceased its bleeding.

One hour later.

Catalina hopped over the the energy fence of the space port, her arm partially regrown now a slightly longer stump than what it had been, her pilfered loot in a sack slung over her shoulder.

She ran across the field heading right for the hangars, weaving between dozens of smaller vessels, until she found the Charger. Her own ship, an X-Wing, had been impounded. Probably the Bounty Hunter's doing.

She transmitted the access codes from the datapad and the hatch opened.

A blast sounded throughout the hangar from a shotgun.

Catalina turned. It was an old security official.

"Can't let you take that man's ride, little girl."

The Biot cocked her head to one side in curiosity, than took a step forward. He stepped back.

"That's enough. Get on the ground."

Another step forward.

He leveled the weapon at her head. "I'm warning you..."

She took another few steps forward until her face was inches from the barrel.

"Based on skin sweat rate, eye and facial twitches, and vocal strain, I calculate an eighty percent probability that you will not pull that trigger." Catalina said quietly.

The guard's aim faltered.

Catalina snatched the weapon out of his hand in a blur of smooth motion.

He backed away as she slung its strap over her shoulder, her eyes locked and following him as she approached.

Eventually he was backed into a wall.

Catalina eyed the old man and reached out...

...and took his pair of sunglasses from his upper pocket, putting them on and then turning for the ship.

Present.

Catalina sat in the darkness of her apartment room on the Colossus of Shadows, cradling a sleeping pet kitten. After her near death experience in Nar Shaddaa, she had needed a few hours to be quiet and contemplate it.

Her quarters had few things on the wall to identify it as hers yet, beyond racing images. She huddled in a corner of the room with her pet, watching it sleep in her hand.

The scream is what stirred her. She rose quickly, daintily putting her still asleep kitten on her bed and put on a dark metallic green armorweave catsuit, pulled a pistol and decided to investigate. She was grumpy about having her time with her pet interrupted as she exited her room.

"What was that?" an Advanced Model 1 asked as it came out of one room.

"Not certain..." Catalina answered as she sprinted at superhuman speeds, reaching the courtyard at around the same time Nancy Io did and stopping, staring at the Civics Nuetralizer.

She communicated in Khemostian Sign Language I'll be your back up. Let me know what you want to do. she said to Nancy.


Alessandra Io

 

[Nancy Io]

Nancy was the first person on the scene. She forced open the apartment from whence the scream had originated, scaring the screaming woman inside half to death.

“Civics Officer, don’t be alarmed,” Nancy said. “What seems to be the problem?”

Two more Neutralizers arrived, a Chaplain and a General. Nancy identified them as Alessandra and Catalina, respectively. Catalina signed a message to her, and Nancy merely nodded in acknowledgment.

The woman pointed toward the bedroom. Inside, Nancy found the body of a man laying on the bed, his clothes and the sheets soaked with blood.

Her photoreceptors scanned his face, searching through the House’s databases. She was able to positively identify him as Sam Ratchett, an arms dealer. He was aboard the Colossus in order to do business with the House. Well, it looked like that business had come to a sudden and violent end.

A small crowd was beginning to gather around the apartment. “Everyone please disperse,” Nancy said. From the inside of her wrist she produced a yellow Do Not Cross tape and sectioned off the area to avoid contamination.

“I came in, and he was dead!” the woman sobbed. She was young, pretty, and wearing a silk robe.

“What’s your relation to him?” Nancy asked.

“I—We just met earlier this evening at a bar. He invited me here. He said his name was Sam.”

“I see.” Nancy exchanged glances with Alessandra and Catalina. Nancy doubted she was involved, but they still needed to detain the woman as a possible suspect, then get to work examining the crime scene.

Alessandra Io Catalina Io​

 

[Alessandra Io]

Location: Apartment District 20-B - Colossus of Shadows
Attire: Magenta and White Kimono
Tags: Nancy Io Catalina Io

Alessandra arrived to find the crime scene quite fresh, much to her surprise.

A screaming woman, a dead man. Even for an advanced HRD with processing capabilities superior to that of virtually all naturally-conceived organics, the details were quite a load to unravel. Too many possibilities, causes, rogue factors, and yet more to account for. However, at face value, the woman’s proximity to the dead man—both physically and relationally—automatically made her a suspect.

And it seemed that Nancy agreed.

“I’m sorry miss, but we would like to ask that you remain here, as a person of interest in our investigation.” Alessandra said, her tone oddly calm and loving, but there was an implicit threat in her words, if she refused to cooperate.

From there, the Chaplain transmitted a request to Nancy via direct technopathic link, asking that she be allowed to interview the suspect or possibly assist in doing such.

 

[The Battalion]

Wearing: Channeler's Skin

Consort's Ring

Armed With: Heart of Edges


Earlier, Honorgh.


House Io was still discretely seeing to the recovery of certain worlds, securing friendships. The Noghri had suffered during the Bryn Occupation, and House Io was dedicated to helping reverse as much of the damage as they were able, while also providing supplies. Some Noghri Clans however had promised more concrete forms of support if they would aid them in an extremely dangerous task.

The Noghri had an Underground City, one that had not been breached by the Bryn. Not for lack of trying but due to the terrible guardian in its depths. One so ancient that how it had gotten there had been completely forgotten. But that was besides the point.

This ancient city supposedly had supplies. Weapons. All guarded by an enormous beast none of the Noghri living had ever seen, and of those sent to find and slay it, none had returned.

The Battalion had offered to personally handle the problem. The Noghri had accepted it and The Master Witch found herself journeying into cavernous depths deep within the recesses of the planet, gliding ever deeper into shadows to meet her prey.

She came across an enormous underground valley, full of luminescent mushrooms, and trees. It honestly took her breath away.

Then she saw the worms. The Brynadul City killing worms.

Three of them lay dead, badly decayed. Her 'OHS%$#' meter started to go off in a VERY bad way as she landed, surveying the terrible damage to the valley.

The ground thudded, and The Battalion's eyes widened in actual, genuine terror for the first time in her existence.

The beast towered over her utterly. It's size that of a very small mountain. The Battalion took a step back.

"Oh HELL YES!" The Battalion exclaimed.

It at last stepped into the light of a giant luminescent tree, and The Battalion guarded with her light red blade.

The Gorog roared a roar that made the whole valley shake and throw her off her feet, self-correcting at the last second with The Force.

The Battalion took off in a running leap for it. The gigantic beast roared and lumbered towards her as she used the Force to fly towards it at high speed.

The great beast clapped its hands together instinctively, and the resulting shockwave flung her brutally from the air, knocking away her Lightsaber, crashing and skidding violently to the ground, shaving flesh off the side of her face and leaving a streak of acidic blood and muscle that began burning through rock and stone as she staggered back up. The Gorog bellowed, bringing both its fists down on her location. Only a last second burst of Force flight carried her away from punches that destroyed the ground.

She zipped between its attempts to grab her, still woozy. She felt her wife reach out, asking if she was alright but the Sith assured her everything was under control as she powered through, drawing on her rage and hatred to stay upright. She was showing Xiphos the power of the Dark Side. Power that would allow her to slay even this great beast.

The Gorog was NOT fething around, however. Its massive arms gripped a giant tree, tearing its roots from the ground in a plume of soil filling the air, and hurled it at the flying Witch, who barely evaded the missile, only for it to impact against the cavern ceiling, forcing the Battalion to evade falling debris from above, zipping between descending chunks of rock to try and reach the Gorog, evading another of its handclap shockwaves.

She landed right on its face, mutilated and gripped its left eye with the Dark Side, willing her hatred on the eyeball,

The Gorog roared, as the eyeball started to bleed, it's hand clawed at its face, trying to catch her but she had already flown away...

...and was clipped by a falling chunk of cavern rock.

The Battalion tumbled to the ground, summoning all her hatred to surround herself with a conformal red energy field as she slammed into the ground.

Her Force Armor shattered from the impact, and she blacked out for about two seconds before blinking her own good eye open, just in time to see the Gorog's massive, clawed foot come down. She flew away with the Force, the foot missing her body by barely a quarter second. Her right arm was broken. But she had spotted her Lightsaber and dived for it, just as the Gorog's hand swiped down.

She evaded the swipe, but the shockwave from the impact smashed into her and the flesh all over her skeleton started to sag and distort badly.

She lost the strength to fly and was forced to land out of its field of view, but she had gotten her lightsaber back.

The Battalion moved slowly and carefully, flesh continuing to sag disgustingly everywhere. The fight with the Gorog had drained her so badly she didn't have the ability to transform into or manifest any of the Witches within her who may have been better suited to the task of killing it. If she wanted victory, it would have to be done solely as herself.

Fortunately for her, she was clever. and she already had an idea.

As she passed through lush fields of luminescent plants, she leeched the life from them to try and restore herself, tumbling to the ground as the Gorog searched for her with every stomp, roaring. Her flesh started to reset on her skeleton.

The vicious beast roamed the great Cavern. The Battalion wondered how long it had been there. Who had put it there?

She looked emaciated as her flesh stabilized on her skeleton, still very weak. If it spotted her now, she would have almost no energy to fight back.

She hid behind a luminescent tree as its head swiveled her way, she waited until it started moving off.

She spotted a pair of crushed bodies, realizing they were Noghri that had gone here prepared to face a terrible threat, but caught off guard at having to face the Gorog of all creatures.

She went over to their bodies and began searching their remains, finding a pair of flares and a satchel charge of Baradium.

"Party favors." she joked under ragged breath.

She began feeding off the ancient tree, draining it dry but only looking slightly less emaciated for her trouble. At least the skin wasn't sagging anymore.

The Battalion realized the real problem was its mobility. If she could take out its leg, it wouldn't matter how powerful the beast was...she would be able to inflict death by a thousand cuts.

Well, maybe not a thousand because that's a lot of fething cutting, even for her. One good piercing of the Brain cavity should do it, then drink in it's life force as it died a slow, vicious death at her hands, its massive amount of life energy enough to induce...changes...

The Battalion stalked it from behind as it moved through the ancient underground valley, making it rumble with every step.

She had enough energy for a few short moments of flying, a few was all she needed.

She lit one of the flares, hurling it with all her might to the side of its good eye, drawing its attention to the flare as she moved to where its bad eye was, hissing a spell of adhesion on the Satchel Charge.

She took a running leap as she used the Force to fly, her flesh immediately starting to sag again do to the drain on her reserves of energy as she flew to its leg, arming the charge, and tossed it right at its angle before veering away sharply.

Not fast enough.

She was no explosive expert. She couldn't have known just how much baradium was in that charge.

The blast was so powerful, it tore apart its leg, and blasted her from the sky, shredding much of her skin and armor from her body as she hit the ground a wet, mutilated mess, her blood burning everything that wasn't organic. Half her jaw was torn off and she was crawling, keeping her body going only with the Dark Side., but she was rapidly weakening. She needed to reach it. needed to buy time.

A broken hand clasped a glowing rose and wilted it in half a second, wilting the glowing grass as it crawled by it, knitting only minor fibers back together. The armor couldn't save her at this point.

By some miracle of the Darkness, she found her Lightsaber blade again as she crawled towards the injured, weakened beast, which was in too much pain to move.

She was glad it suffered.

After what seemed like an eternity of constantly buying herself another few seconds by feeding off the ambient life in the vegetation, she at last reached the head of the dying beast.

The Witch crawled to its scalp a broken mess, driving her light red blade into its skull and burning into the thick plating and hide in seconds. It screamed but was in too much pain to even thrash about.

Her bloody hand plunged into the wound, and she concentrated, clasping onto its life force and with brute, unsubtle strength began drawing its life force into herself, her flesh shuddering violently as her cells began to take in the maximum amount of life energy they could safely metabolize without exploding...

Feeding on its suffering supercharged her body with the Dark Side, so much so she was able to reach spiritually into Chaos itself, retrieving the personas of Brain Demon Cultists long ago banished to oblivion, and integrating them into herself...drastically increasing her own strength.

It was still not enough to match Phyre. Not fully...

Her flesh knitted itself together, the armor's self repair ability also supercharged...

(Fallen Order Upgrade Sound Plays)

(The Battalion's strength in the Dark Side has increased by a moderate amount, also pulling her lover closer to the Dark Side by nature of their bond.)

(Witch Personas have been recovered from the depths of chaos!)

Personas recovered : THE MULTITUDE, THE SWARM, THE CAVALRY, THE JURY (See Bio)

The Battalion rose up, fully repaired, flesh shuddering and warping, her face taking the countenance of each Witch she had retrieved from hell before resuming her own. Their time in hell had only made them more insane and sadistic than they had been originally. She found herself struggling to integrate them without being dominated by them.

She staggered about, her flesh and mind momentarily warping to that of The Multitude, ebon skin shuddering as it struggled to force The Battalion from her position of absolute authority within the Body, But The Battalion easily pulled her back down, warping her body back to it's original state.

The Swarm's sense of malice and control was so insidious, The Battalion didn't notice her body and mind had warped to the lithe frame of The Swarm's until she was staring out of empty, hate filled eyes thirsting to find someone defenseless to kill. It took The Battalion AND the second most powerful Witch inside of her, The Assembly, to wrest control back. The pair then proceeded to mentally tear the persona into screaming shrieking halves, each taking a half into themselves as the Witch had too much self control and Force of will to risk taking their attention off of. It would have to be assembled only when needed.

Of course, while they were both busy doing this, it had allowed The Calvary to assume control, who spent her first seconds of being alive again slowly breaking the ribcage of a small animal, to feed on its suffering. The Battalion soon struggled back to the surface, almost tempted to let her stay in control due to her sheer bloodlust for killing Jedi.

When the Jury took over the body, flesh warping from the Calvary's statuesque appearance to the Jury's almost valley-girl-esque guise with its straw blond hair, and drifting thoughts to finding younglings to take the souls from, it's hate was so potent it almost put The Battalion, The Assembly, and the Fragment of Ersethy into a sort of an indefinite mental stasis, and only a supreme act of will on all three allowed them to break out of it, tearing The Jury's mind into three separate parts to store between themselves. It was always this dangerous. Some personas brought immense power, but were often so dangerous you didn't channel them without good reason.

The Battalion soon resumed control of the body, exhaling from the effort.

Present...


"A fethin' Gorog?!" Xiphos said in shock as she practiced Force Choking on a Jedi Knight under The Assembly's observation.

"I know, right?! That was totally the reaction of everyone in this body..." The dark skinned Sorceress replied in agreement at the unexpected surprise of it all as she daintily ate a bit of Sushi, watching her wife break the Jedi's neck, feeling the satisfaction she got. It is impossible to describe how happy The Assembly was at the idea she was helping save Xiphos's soul. she was reclining lazily on a sofa in a long white gown within their private apartment on the Colossus of Shadows, eating an olive. The Assembly liked Olives. The Battalion preferred almonds as a snack. Xiphos had it all down on a list which Persona in her wife liked which snack.

"Who do you think put it there, Master?" Xiphos asked as another Jedi Prisoner was brought out, bound and gagged.

"You're guess is as good as mine, dear." The Battalion's voice answered out of The Assembly's mouth, followed by the much deeper contralto of The Assembly herself.

"One time I went into a dungeon I thought was kinda bullchit, right, and anyways, the motherfether who built that thing had a sense of humor, I will give him that, because this guy, he put a Sith Wyrm in a sea of Fire Diamonds."

"Your favorite type of gem. But I'm not sure I see the humor, Lucinda." Xiphos replied, feeling another Jedi's neck break.

"Oh don't worry..." The Assembly replied, eating another olive "I'm getting to that."

"Now me and this guy, we had been enemies for years, and he knows Fire Diamonds are my favorite. And obviously, a sea of fire diamonds isn't chump change. So I drag myself over to this guy's tomb because I want those diamonds, feth that Wyrm."

"Who won? You or the worm?" Xiphos asked as a corpse was dragged out of the room.

"Neither. He'd put a magical booby trap so that when I killed the Wyrm, it set off a magical chain reaction that destroyed every single diamond in the chamber. I was so pissed. It took me a week of torturing this Padawan to vent all my frustration."

"It's all therapy to you, huh? The torture, the murder?"

"If it wasn't to you, you would never do it." The Assembly asserted.

"I'm still not seeing the humor."

The Assembly rolled her eyes.

"By The Brain Demon you can be thick sometimes..." every Witch in the body said at once in exasperation.

"If you have to explain the joke, then there isn't a joke."

"I swear, trying to argue the merits of situational humor with the student of a Holonet troll..." The Assembly replied mockingly. "But I am pleased to note how easy it is getting for you to Force Choke.

"Maybe you'll be pleased when you learn of my next request..." Xiphos said, sticking to the painstaking long term scheme.

"I'm all ears..." The Assembly said, munching on another olive.

"I need you to completely infect and take over Syd Celsius. I need you to absorb and make her just another False personality."

The Assembly stopped, blinking in shock. But before she could go further the nearby terminal beeped and she went over and read its contents...

"Dear..." The Assembly trailed. "There's been a murder..."

Xiphos immediately signaled the ship A.I. to lockdown all travel too and from.

"Send a psychometrist down there..." Xiphos ordered. "Any chaplains you can spare, too...

Nancy Io

Alessandra Io

 

[Nancy Io]

The woman, still quite stunned, was compliant with Alessandra’s commands. Nancy transmitted the go-ahead to the Chaplain, allowing her to interview the suspect as she saw fit.

In the meantime, Nancy began to investigate the crime scene. She approached the body first, examining it. With her advanced photoreceptors and scanners, she counted twelve stab wounds in the man’s torso. Some had been done with the left hand, while others were done with the right—perhaps two people had stabbed him, one left handed and one right handed?

The amount of blood on the sheets indicated he had been murdered while lying in bed. A sample of his blood revealed a large dose of sedatives remained in his system. He had been drugged, then killed. Ratchett had been dead no more than an hour.

<<Has anyone been in or out of this sector in the past hour?>> Nancy asked the local security units.

She received an answer almost instantly. <<No one was seen exiting the apartment block in that time.>>

Then the murderer or murderers were still somewhere close by. <<Lock the whole sector down. Don't let anyone in or out.>>

Finished with her analysis of the corpse, Nancy began to check the surrounding area. The bedroom window had been left open—the murderer likely used it as a means of escaping the apartment. In addition, she found a used match, and a partially burnt note with the words “member Daisy Captison” written on it.

Nancy wondered if Alessandra was getting anywhere with interviewing the suspect...

Alessandra Io​