Three days since the murder of la’ Otoc, and they were no closer to finding their shooter than on the first. Petty Officer Priyanka Dhawan had found no sign of him in her low overflights above the snowy range, and now Chiefs Kevin Abedayo and Ayala Shafir were back empty-handed too.

“We followed the trail as far as we could,” Chief Abedayo assured them, a sense of frustration in his voice that the elements had turned them back. “We had it, just barely, for thirty-four kilometers, but then we had to break off as the weather came in.” If it had been a casual backpack through low river valleys, he and the Polaris operator could have probably continued through the blizzard, but not with the hairy rappels and sketchy upclimbs littering the rugged landscape.

“Unfortunately, whatever trail there was was,” Chief Shafir added. “It’ll be washed out by the time the storm passes.”

Lieutenant Blackwood shook his head. Why had they even bothered trying to pursue on foot? That trek they’d gone on sounded a bit like his own personal version of hell, and for nothing. They had a cap over the planet, all flights grounded from the spaceport. Their shooter would not be able to get off Ydris V. It would be only a matter of time until they found him, assuming, of course, that he even made it out of the mountains. “Maybe your shooter dropped dead or fell to his death in the storm.”

“Somehow, I doubt that,” Commander Eidran shook his head. That shot had been taken by a pro, not someone who would get themselves killed by a little snow. “Any word from Park?”

“He’s wired into the colonial net, sucking up every planet-side surveillance feed and ident system,” Lieutenant Blackwood reported. “Doc Hall and Samira are also embedded down there, working the human intelligence angle in case anyone knows anything.”

All the right steps now, but not enough when it had counted. Commander Eidran sighed. “All our prep… the secrecy we maintained… the forgotten monastery on a discreet backwater… all the technology we brought to bear… and none of it mattered.” Fleet Admiral Reyes had trusted him with this, and he had failed her. Captain Lewis never would have failed her like this, had he still been alive.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, boss,” Chief Abedayo offered. “As they always say, all the security in the world cannot stop a lone gunman willing to exchange his life for his target’s.”

“Except he didn’t exchange his life,” Commander Eidran noted. “He slipped away without a trace.” Three days, and they didn’t have a damn thing.

“We’ll get him eventually,” Chief Abedayo assured the Betazoid. “He’s not going anywhere.” He looked out the window at the planet below. At some point, the shooter would have to surface. “What I don’t get, though, is why go through all this effort to kill a lowly la’?”

“The way the Klingons who came to pick up his body tell it,” Lieutenant Blackwood shared. “That lowly la’ might as well have been the second coming of Kahless.” He’d gotten a mouthful from the bristly ‘ech who’d arrived on a burly Vor’cha to retrieve la’ Otoc’s body.

While the others lamented their failure, Chief Shafir settled into one of the auxiliary stations to make herself useful. She pulled up the log data and began to peruse, looking for anything out of the ordinary. And then she saw it. “Hey, Blackwood… didn’t you guys say you’ve had a cap over the planet?”

“Yeah, of course,” Lieutenant Blackwood nodded, caught off-guard by the tone with which she’d asked. “Locked the whole place down. Why?”

“Because yesterday afternoon, an Aerie class transport, the SS Peregrine’s Mercy, departed the Ydrian spaceport and passed right through your net,” Chief Shafir noted. “It’s not a lockdown when ships get through.”

“Oh, that was an emergency medical flight,” Lieutenant Blackwood recalled dismissively.

“Are you certain about that?” Chief Shafir’s eyes narrowed on him.

“Of course,” Lieutenant Blackwood nodded assuredly. “Everything checked out. The ship was registered with Starfleet Auxiliary as an independent short-range medical transport. Two pilots, a doctor, a medtech, and a patient. Authenticated flight plan, confirmed with sector ops.”

Chief Shafir said nothing, her eyes on her terminal as she scrolled through the filings.

“We even scanned them as they departed, just to make sure headcount matched the paperwork,” Lieutenant Blackwood continued, feeling slightly discomforted by her silence. “It was completely legit.”

“Except it wasn’t,” Chief Shafir shook her head as she looked back up at him. “It was only legit enough to pass exactly the checks you would predictably run.”

“I don’t appreciate your insinuation,” Lieutenant Blackwood replied defensively. He’d done it by the book, and this girl, a mere ride-along for this trip, was questioning him.

Commander Eidran wasn’t so quick to dismiss her though. He knew the stories of her exploits on Archanis during Nightfall, and he was aware of the trust Fleet Admiral Reyes had in her. That was enough to hear her out. “What makes you think something is off, chief?”

“Because I’ve used this exact shell company to slip the net before,” Chief Shafir replied flatly without elaborating further. What bothered her, though, was how coincidental it all was. To avoid compromising his front, the Rigelian who ran this outfit was quite discerning about his clientele, so what were the chances they had just happened to run into one of his clients out here?

“I presume that was in your before life?” Chief Abedayo chuckled. From his upbringing, he was no stranger to the existence of such enterprises, and after spending three days with the Polaris operator, he had some sense for the sort of life Ayala Shafir had once lived.

“Naturally,” Chief Shafir smiled. “Now I just wave a badge and people help me do it.”

Commander Eidran pulled the conversation back to the point. There was still a killer on the loose, and now, in their slip up, they might have just gotten their first lucky break. “Where’s the ship headed?”

It took Chief Shafir only a moment to find the answer, and when she did, she almost snorted at the irony. “Archanis Station.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Commander Eidran remarked before turning to his officer of the watch. “Ollie, prepare the ship for departure. We’re headed for Archanis on the double.”

Lieutenant Blackwood frowned. “What if she’s wrong?”

Chief Shafir folded her arms across her chest. “I’m not.” She didn’t believe in coincidence.

“But if you are…” Lieutenant Blackwood countered. “No offense, Chief Shafir, but if we go off on a wild goose chase and you’re wrong, we’ll be letting the actual shooter get away.”

They both had a point, Commander Eidran knew. But he could have his cake and eat it too. “Tell Priya and Park to take the Type 12 back down to the surface. They can link up with Dr. Hall and Samira to keep an eye on things,” he ordered. “As for the rest of us, we’re headed for Archanis.”