room, then mulled around the desk waiting for the Captain’s arrival. It was more than an hour wait. When he finally showed, he had a look of exasperation along with a good measure of annoyance.
“Thank you for coming, Captain. We know your schedule must be overloaded about now,” I said.
“You think you have additional information, you said? What do you have?”
R.J. took over. “There were some things your forensic examination did not include, Captain.”
“Then I am at your disposal, though I cannot imagine that anything could have been missed.”
“I’ll get right to it, Captain,” said R.J. “On the wall right next to the door where you’re standing. Slightly above the level of your head, there are two additional disrupter signatures. It’s likely they were missed because the signatures are weaker, and the original scenario explained everything so well that no one thought to look further.”
The Captain looked at the wall and pointed to the general area. “Here?”
“Yes.”
“But how could any shots have been fired that would strike the wall here?”
“They were fired by the Sentian, Captain.”
“The Sentian did not have a weapon, Commander.”
“Actually, he had a dozen or more weapons at his disposal. Right there in the weapons locker behind him.”
The Captain began to look annoyed again. “It is locked by six different locking systems. It can only be opened by an approved officer!”
“It never was opened, Captain. The suspect was a Sentian. He could see into the locker. He simply reached in and grabbed a disrupter.”
“But he could not have drawn any of the weapons out. They would not pass through the metal on the door even if his hand would!”
“The weapon signatures on the door next to you are forty percent weaker than a normal disrupter blast. The Sentian fired the disrupter from inside the locker. The disrupter blast was not fully absorbed by the metal panel. Sixty percent of it made it through the cabinet door and hit the wall next to you.”
Captain Mars stood with an expression of astonishment on his face. His green skin tone turned slightly pale. He struggled to process the information. When at last he felt he had resolved it, he let out a long sigh and shook his head. “That is extraordinary, Commander. I see Captain Tarn’s appraisal of your deductive skills was no exaggeration. How did you find this?”
“It was because there were no prints on the officer’s weapon, Captain. The odds of that are astronomical.”
“But your finding doesn’t really change anything, Commander. It simply means that the Sentian managed to fire at Officer Ree before he was shot.”
“That doesn’t fit the problem with those weapons signatures on the wall next to you, Captain.”
“What about them?”
“You said Officer Ree had to be prone on the floor when he managed to shoot the Sentian.”
“Yes, yes he was.”
“Then why was the Sentian firing at someone more than five feet above the floor?”
“Wild shots in the middle of the battle!”
“The two shots are closely spaced, Captain.”
“Commander, are you trying to say the Sentian was shooting at someone else?”
“The blow that killed Ree probably came from behind and above. Am I right?”
The Captain stuttered, “Yes…yes it did.”
“May I go through the whole chain of events for you, Sir?”
“Please do.”
R.J. looked over the room. “The Sentian came into this room most likely to hide from someone. Maybe he had a partner that turned on him intending to keep all the loot for himself. I think the Sentian came aft hoping to escape that third person by passing through the sealed doors to engineering, knowing the person chasing him would not be able to follow. He reached the engineering doors only to find them shielded with a material he could not pass through. Am I correct about that, Captain?”
“Yes, Commander. The doors to engineering are especially dense. Please, go on.”
“Out of time,
“Thank you for coming, Captain. We know your schedule must be overloaded about now,” I said.
“You think you have additional information, you said? What do you have?”
R.J. took over. “There were some things your forensic examination did not include, Captain.”
“Then I am at your disposal, though I cannot imagine that anything could have been missed.”
“I’ll get right to it, Captain,” said R.J. “On the wall right next to the door where you’re standing. Slightly above the level of your head, there are two additional disrupter signatures. It’s likely they were missed because the signatures are weaker, and the original scenario explained everything so well that no one thought to look further.”
The Captain looked at the wall and pointed to the general area. “Here?”
“Yes.”
“But how could any shots have been fired that would strike the wall here?”
“They were fired by the Sentian, Captain.”
“The Sentian did not have a weapon, Commander.”
“Actually, he had a dozen or more weapons at his disposal. Right there in the weapons locker behind him.”
The Captain began to look annoyed again. “It is locked by six different locking systems. It can only be opened by an approved officer!”
“It never was opened, Captain. The suspect was a Sentian. He could see into the locker. He simply reached in and grabbed a disrupter.”
“But he could not have drawn any of the weapons out. They would not pass through the metal on the door even if his hand would!”
“The weapon signatures on the door next to you are forty percent weaker than a normal disrupter blast. The Sentian fired the disrupter from inside the locker. The disrupter blast was not fully absorbed by the metal panel. Sixty percent of it made it through the cabinet door and hit the wall next to you.”
Captain Mars stood with an expression of astonishment on his face. His green skin tone turned slightly pale. He struggled to process the information. When at last he felt he had resolved it, he let out a long sigh and shook his head. “That is extraordinary, Commander. I see Captain Tarn’s appraisal of your deductive skills was no exaggeration. How did you find this?”
“It was because there were no prints on the officer’s weapon, Captain. The odds of that are astronomical.”
“But your finding doesn’t really change anything, Commander. It simply means that the Sentian managed to fire at Officer Ree before he was shot.”
“That doesn’t fit the problem with those weapons signatures on the wall next to you, Captain.”
“What about them?”
“You said Officer Ree had to be prone on the floor when he managed to shoot the Sentian.”
“Yes, yes he was.”
“Then why was the Sentian firing at someone more than five feet above the floor?”
“Wild shots in the middle of the battle!”
“The two shots are closely spaced, Captain.”
“Commander, are you trying to say the Sentian was shooting at someone else?”
“The blow that killed Ree probably came from behind and above. Am I right?”
The Captain stuttered, “Yes…yes it did.”
“May I go through the whole chain of events for you, Sir?”
“Please do.”
R.J. looked over the room. “The Sentian came into this room most likely to hide from someone. Maybe he had a partner that turned on him intending to keep all the loot for himself. I think the Sentian came aft hoping to escape that third person by passing through the sealed doors to engineering, knowing the person chasing him would not be able to follow. He reached the engineering doors only to find them shielded with a material he could not pass through. Am I correct about that, Captain?”
“Yes, Commander. The doors to engineering are especially dense. Please, go on.”
“Out of time,
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