"Miss Oswen gave me enough details on the cause of the damage to start writing a report, at least, but some things still don't sit right with me. Even if Inea's death made him suicidal I still don't understand Markov's motivation for trying to take out the entire station, for one..."

"He had the space crazies!"

"...I can't put that in a report. But unfortunately Oswen had very little contact with him following Inea's death. And we don't even really know what happened to Inea herself other than Zee's examination indicating blunt force trauma to the head."

"Ah, about that." Karoff fishes something out of his pocket and taps a button. "Relevant?"

A 3D image of an energy canister is projected into the air in front of you all. You recognize the type; the larger energy cells can be volatile, so the canisters are made with half an inch of steel and an interior enamel coating for protection. This one is about the size of a fire extinguisher, which is typical.

What's not typical about this one however is the is the dried blood and long strands of dark hair caught up on the outside of the sealing mechanism.

"Where the hell did you find that?" Hinsman wants to know.

"In the storage arm where Miss Oswen lost hers. There are a lot of spent canisters piled up in there, and I was looking for more power cables just now and stumbled across this one."

Hinsman's brow is deeply furrowed as he studies the projection. "That is just suspicious as hell. Has anyone had a look at the body yet?"

You and Karoff both shake your heads, and as Matti had just mentioned where they were stored, the three of you make your way to the dining hall.

The two bodies are on gurneys, zipped up in body bags in the back of the freezer. You open the bag holding the smaller form, ignoring Karoff's inquiries as to whether letting restaurant kitchens rent freezer space to morgues could be a viable alternate source of income.

Upon examination the dark haired woman's cause of death is immediately obvious, her skull on the left side having been caved in just above and behind the ear.

"Not a glancing blow, either. There's no way that happens from a spent fuel canister falling on someone's head. Not even a full one."

After a long moment he sighs and steps back. "All right, let's go over what facts we have. About a week ago, Inea Banca was doing routine maintenance in the medical wing and had her skull caved in with an energy canister. Markov Karst then goes into seclusion for two days, at the end of which he goes to the medical wing and attempts to cause a power overload that will destroy the station; a major act of treason against the Order that will render a number of Outer Rim colony worlds and ships unable to receive emergency aid and also kill the young woman who remains here. A bit dramatic even for a suicide attempt, but I suppose not outside the realm of possibility. When it fails he become violent when Oswen attempts a rescue and dies moments after. Miss Oswen sends out a distress call that doesn't seem to have gone through due to the failing power and waits here alone until we happen by. Does that all sound about right?"

You mull that over while he and Karoff discuss the details a bit longer.

"I'm sure there's more investigating we can do," Hinsman is saying. "The medical arm, for instance. That's where everything happened."

Karoff shakes his head. "Atmosphere and shielding has failed and there are holes blown straight through the plating. It'd be too much a risk just to satisfy our curiosity, even for Zee."

"Fair. It doesn't feel right to just sit around and wait on another team, though. We need to get together as much info as possible. It might be useful to read over the personnel reports again, and...oh! There's the report they sent in on Inea's death." Hinsman glances over at you. "And what about you, Zee? Let's see that sharp analytical brain in action."

"My brain's not any sharper than yours I'm afraid. And too bad, some kind of AI to analyze things might be more what you need right now." But you've been following a particular train of thought, and at his prompting you decide to give it voice. "But they didn't fill out a death report on Inea Banca. I don't know why Oswen claimed that. Banca was still listed as alive in their database when Karoff pulled up her file, right before we boarded. So in fact, I believe that..."

You say "Markov killed Inea and then went insane."

"Why look farther than Occam's Razor on this? It's the simplest explanation," you say. "Carst, his actions may have been...drastic, and there may be no logical explanation for his destruction of Order property, but before the station sabotage everything points to him murdering Banca."

"I think so too," Hinsman says, "but we don't have any details at all on what happened to her. Certainly no evidence."

"That he would feel compelled to return to the medical arm where she died is a good indicator that he was emotionally compromised. If his goal had simply been to destroy the station he would've started in the central computer room. And who else could've killed Banca? Oswen?"

"Well that was my original theory..." Karoff muses, stroking one end of his mustache.

"You read the personnel files too," you point out, cutting him off. "Matti Oswen is considerably shorter and lighter than Inea Banca was. It would take a lot to swing a canister at the back of Banca's head at that height, with that force. Furthermore, the damage was on the back of the left side of the skull. A right-handed person standing behind her would've struck the right side. And meanwhile there's only one left-handed person on this ship."

Hinsman's eyes light up. "Markov Carst."

"Damn, I was hoping it was the girl," Karoff complains.

"What? Why?"

The pilot shrugs. "No reason really, I just like being right completely by accident."

"Anyhow, great job Zee," Hinsman says, choosing not to respond to that. "But I just wish we had more evidence. It's really too damn bad we can't get at anything in the medical wing. At least one murder occurred and serious damage was done to a vital Order refueling station; everyone in HQ is going to be looking hard at this, and you know how they can sometimes be a little...overzealous. I don't want them demanding a bunch of answers from Matti that she can't give. The poor girl's already been through enough."

"Well...we can check for the report," Karoff says. "The one on Banca. Maybe it wasn't ever finalized and sent but it has to exist if Oswen said they wrote it."

Hinsman nods. "All right, let's do that."