Turning on all my different monitors, I scan my ship for multiples. Orion frowning at my hologram. Killa in her room. Nicholas in his. Killa also in his room.

I materialize a hologram into each room while my physical body stumbles toward the new direction.

Killa in her room startles slightly when I appear. Then she regains her composure and goes back to brushing her hair out. "Is something else the matter in this ill-fated venture?"

"When was your first kiss?" I ask her.

In the other room, Nicholas is the one who reacts when I appear. But he doesn't really startle so much as raise an eyebrow. "It's becoming a regular party in here."

Killa rolls her eyes at him. "I only came in here because I had one of my feelings."

Nicholas waggles his eyebrows at her. "I knew you had feelings for me."

She kicks his shin before dropping back down into a sitting position on the edge of Nicholas's bed. Then she turns back to me. "Is there a reason you decided to stop in? Did Orion send you to chaperon or something?"

"We gonna need it," Nicholas says glibly.

"More like a witness," Killa counters. "To keep us from killing us."

I study her. "And what did your feeling say, Killa?"

In the next room over, Killa just frowns at me. "I have had no first kiss. That is foolishness for girls, not trained soldiers and respectable cops."

Spoken like a true Killa.

In Nicholas's room, that Killa answers, "That this ship isn't clear yet. There's something malicious still here."

Nicholas turns to her. "So, of everyone on this ship, you decided to stand guard over me?"

"No." She turns up her nose. "I just decided you were the most likely candidate for a malicious threat."

Also spoken like a true Killa.

So which one is really her, and which one is Wayta putting on her best good girl act? Is it the one who's alone so the man who secretly loves her won't be able to call her out? Or is she the one with the built-in contingency plan- to threaten Nicholas to escape?

Whichever one she is, she's made enough of a study of Killa- or at least, a very good hasty judgment of her.

What is something that only Killa would know?

"Killa," both my holograms say in unison, "what was the first case you solved as part of this crew?"

Nicholas laughs. "Oh, that's easy-"

I give him a look that threatens a jerk of electricity if he keeps talking. He sheepishly shuts his mouth before raising an eyebrow at me.

The Killa in Nicholas's room also looks confused. "The case where we tagged the ringleader of the petty bounty hunting ring operating out of Eros."

The answer is affirmative. I prepare to take action against the Killa in Killa's room, but then the woman there lays down her brush.

"That was the case with the defected sergeant who was operating a ring of thugs in Eros. And Nicholas was one of those petty bounty hunters who decided he saw the light."

Also affirmative. I log into the galaxy wide web and search several key stories.

It must have been long enough ago that Killa's carefully recorded reports for the Academy has released it into the public domain.

As for her carefully recorded reports, it's entirely possible that Wayta has discovered them on this ship and reviewed them already.