<div dir="ltr"><span id="gmail-docs-internal-guid-df6791d8-7fff-dfb1-172e-7aa6e9c54105"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:10pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Mission: Murder on the Exeter Express</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Day: 2</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Stardate: 2445.12.02</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">(USS Exeter - Acoustics lab - FO Cmdr Ailynn Bracken - 2119</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“I would like to go through the raw file first. Just in case we get some bias by listening to the clean up one.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Sure.” Ailynn said, putting on her headphones and tapped a quick combination on the terminal, playing the raw, uncleaned file. It was distracting listening to a jumble of words constructed into a sound file, rather than a complete sentence, but infuriating though it was, operational security was everything.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">As the sound played, Ire closed his eyes and perhaps concentrating in the moment perhaps shutting out visual distraction. Saying nothing, Ailynn listened herself, the silence between them being broken a moment or two later.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Okay can I listen to the cleaned up one.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Nodding, Ailynn switched files, and ran the version that the computers software had cleaned up. How’s that?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“There is something, but I can’t put my finger on it.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">He gave a sigh as he looked over at Bracken.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Do you mind if I run in through my data port?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Ailynn paused, “a tentative yes, so long as you run the process past me? What does it do?” SHe knew the basics from when she was the CMO, but she hadn’t been responsible for Ire for very long before becoming Command.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“When I fly, I jack into the fighter and all its external sensor data as well as the fighters internal information gets passed into my brain. I can process all the information and separate it out so that I can priorities it into what is urgent and what is not.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">He paused for a moment.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“I might be able to get something that the computer cannot?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“In that case sure, go ahead. I can’t help feeling that there’s something. You’re right. I can hear it too. It’s almost like...I’m not sure, there’s a signature to it that I can’t place.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">(Reply Ire)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">She paused while Ire sorted himself out and then he ran the files through his dataport. “Anything?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">(Reply Ire)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Dammit!  Anything...something...nothing. This is ridiculous.” She snapped at him. Even as she did she knew that it was the tiredness that was cutting across her temper and her mood. She was utterly utterly exhausted. She'd told Trip that she was used to this level of tiredness, but in truth that had been a lie, she suspected that he knew, but she'd been younger, and even then it had forced her onto a path that had been so self destructive. She covered her eyes and rubbed her temples.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">(Reply Ire)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:10pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(29,34,40);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">(Posted by Robbie)</span></p></span><br class="gmail-Apple-interchange-newline"></div>