As the trio marches off to the flat under escort, an ambulance flyer arrives, settling down onto the street near where the Annuitis merc fell. There are also a few more officers on flyer bikes coming in.
The trio eventually arrives at the flat to find it already being examined. There are a couple of armed and armored officers together with a small team of investigators with ordinary uniforms and scanning equipment.
On seeing the trio, one of the uniformed investigators, a female, looks at them thoughtfully, and then shoulders her scanner and approaches.
"You are Nekshi, right?" she asks in (rather proper-sounding) psy-translated Her-Galad. "And you are Granite Spear?" Without waiting for a reply, she turns and starts pointing at the holes in the north and northwest walls. "These holes were caused by high-speed, small-caliber slugs," she reports with obvious pride in her own cleverness, "most likely armor-piercing types with delayed deformation for increased impact trauma. The trajectory indicates they were fired from outside, the vectors converging on a site where a damaged weapon matching the profile has been recovered."
She points at bloodstains on the floor in two locations, and her look becomes more intent. "There were wounded at these locations."
She then proceeds to the hole in the wall next to the door. "This was caused by a shattering effect. Carbon scoring on some of the debris indicates that it was the result of a spontaneous thermal shock wave, most likely caused by a pulse-laser or low-power, pulse-fired plasma or thermal device." Her brows furrow a bit. "It was fired from inside the room."
Lirassa yawns. And then glares back at the chorus of stares directed at her by the surrounding Peace Forcers.
The investigator maintains her intent glare for only about a second and then strides purposefully toward the south wall. "These two holes," she says, pointing, "with matching damage paths traveling through inner walls, cookware, and exiting the building, were caused by a hadron-baffling weapon with a tight disruption pattern, such as a pinlaser or a phased-energy weapon in linear disrupt mode. The vectors and damage pattern indicate that the weapon was fired from a position outside in the garden."
Clasping her hands behind her back, the investigator approaches again and stops directly in front of the trio. Fixing her eyes on Lirassa, she says, "You're hard to read. Resisting me won't help you." Glancing at Nekshi and Granite Spear in turn, she says, "From both of you I understand that my description has been accurate. I also sense that you were the victims of a pre-planned attack. The report given to us by the security officer here corroborates this, and though his opinion of you is, shall we say, less than favorable, he has personally vouched for you. However, I have three serious concerns." She gestures toward the hole near the front door. "One of them is the question of who shot first." Her brows furrow. "I see that it was one of your party, as I suspected. I sense that you believed you were in danger and that it was a defensive action, but this can complicate matters. Next is the matter of the other members of your group." She gestures toward the blood stains where Zeton was hit. "This one was a Lybolt. The other was Foldorian. Where are they?" She pauses. "Do they need medical assistance? I'm not seeing anything clear. You're not totally sure, are you? A dark space...hmm." She pauses again and then clicks her tongue. "I hope you'll tell me more, especially with regard to the third matter." She takes a step closer toward Nekshi. "How did all this happen in the first place? What was the reason for the attack? What w..."
Suddenly she gasps, and her eyes go wide. The other Peace Forces whose faces you can see seem similarly surprised.
"Wh-what is...your connection with..." begins the officer.
Then the door bangs open.
"I believe I have jurisdiction here!" cries a hoarse-sounding voice in Her-Galad with a strong Lyranell twang. The officer that steps in removes his helmet to reveal Constable Betham. He looks absolutely exhausted. He also looks about ready to peel someone like a banana. "If there are going to be any questions, I'm going to ask them, feel? And who in Ganneth's Grave sent for you R'weinaia, anyway? Answer me that!"
The investigator strikes a self-important pose. "Central Command," she replies flatly. "You were clearly occupied and unable to..."
"...occupied and unable to...," echoes Betham, mimicking her Ergothei pronunciation. "Yeah, yeah, I feel. Well, I'm here now, and this is my game, so stand aside!"
The investigator makes a Hergoth gesture of indifference and clicks her heels. "As you wish, Constable. Do you wish to see the report?"
Betham glares at her with astonishement. "Report? But you've only been..." Then he sighs and waves her off. "Later! Later! Right now..." He glances around at the holes and blood stains and gives a Hergoth gesture of annoyance. "Waste!" he hisses. Then he walks over to the trio. Glaring at Lirassa, he snarls, "How surprised...or not...I am to see you here! At least you're not stunned this time. Yet."
Lirassa snorts.
Then Betham turns toward Granite Spear, leans closer, thinks better of it, and leans toward Nekshi instead. "She was here, wasn't she? You know who I'm talking about! She was here! Flames, I warned Mon'Fargret not to get involved!" He gestures at the blood stain. "Now look what it got you! Nekshi, I know you're not the sort to court trouble, except maybe for a good story, but you don't know what you're messing with here!"
"Neither do you, Constable," retorts the investigator. "I don't think any of us do."
***
Mey'Luskar stifles a sob, sniffles a couple of times, and then says weakly, "I never did explain what this is all about, did I?" She sniffs again. "Is that why we stopped here? Okay. I guess I owe you that much."
Those in the party without night vision can't really see what she's doing very well, but it's clear she's messing with something in her pocket.
"In about two weeks," she says, "there'll be an advertisement for a special broadcast of the Second Chancers' club performances. They'll also say that there's a video version of it for sale."
She clutches the item in her pocket.
"This is it. And it's not what you think. It's much worse. Much, much, MUCH worse!"
She breaks into sobs.
