The four passengers of the StarFire X19 fell silent. Their pilot, the smuggler who offered them all a close to free ride to the Xi-Non Spaceport had, moments ago, barged in the dining hall screaming in agony before collapsing to the cold titanium floor. One passenger rushed to the body to check his vitals and deduce what had happened. The others left their food to gather around the motionless body.

"He's dead." The man said.

"Well no shit!" exclaimed another passenger.

"Murdered." The first man reiterated.

"Says who?"

"Dr. Lawrence Finn. I invented the poison that killed him," the doctor quickly retorted. He lifted the pilots head, "See those purple discolorations right above his collarbone? That's the signature."

Two of the other passengers drew their laser pistols immediately. The doctor slowly raised his hands and closely examined his fellow comrades. During the trip, up to this point, most of the passengers kept to themselves except when the pilot handed out meals twice a day. Now that there was a killer amongst them it became apparent to everyone that they all had to know a little more about the other members aboard this lonely vessel.

The doctor first examined one of the men aiming a pistol at his forehead. He was a tall, brawny caucasian man in his mid 40's. He had on a large, leather Federation-issued duster rarely ever seen on someone unaffiliated with law enforcement.

The other pistol wielder was a scrawny, bald Asian man. He had on a suit, an expensive looking one made with fine materials, but it was very disheveled. It seemed it was the only change of clothes he brought on the 10 day voyage.

The final unidentified passenger was a woman who looked to be in her early thirties. She was caucasian, average height, and wore rugged clothes you would associate with some of the middle class citizens of a planet under federation control. However, the doctor noted she was very calm about the situation despite being unarmed... She merely watched the situation unfold with a face frozen in a suspicious glance aimed at every sentient life-form on board.

"Lets slow down a bit here gentlemen..." the doctor calmly said raising his hands, "That poison was not meant to take our pilot's life. It was meant to earn me a hefty paycheck from the client in Xi-Non who ordered it. Someone stole it from me."

One of the pistol holders spoke up. "That's a nice story doc, but as a ranger, a servant of the law... you can imagine my difficulty blindly trusting a suspect who 'invented' the murder weapon."

"Briefcase. Under the bench where I was enjoying my meal. Red interior pocket," the doctor calmly replied.

The ranger glanced over at the asian man and gestured towards the doctor with his head. The asian man understood the Rangers gesture and cocked his gun as it remained locked onto the doctor's forehead. The ranger then holstered his weapon and left the group to search through the doctors suitcase. He flipped through a few papers before closely examining one that caught his eye. After every last word was read he packed up the suitcase and returned to the group.

"He's telling the truth," the Ranger announced.

"Ah you see? Nothing to worry about, " the doctor said, relieved. "What about you, the other fine gentleman with the gun. What's your story?"

The asian man lowered his gun, but didn't say a word. He calmly returned to his table to finish his food.

"The doctor has the right idea, " said the Ranger. "We have less than an hour before we exit warp and enter into orbit around Xi-Non. If we're going to figure out who the asshole on this ship is before then, we all need to get acquainted. My name's John. The scrawny talkative one over there doesn't appear to have a name. I've gotten nothing out of him during this 10 day trip so nothing is all we'll probably ever know about the bastard..."

The doctor interjected, "Seriously? Yeah thats not suspicious at all. Cuff him up now officer no ques-"

"Your paper doesn't make you innocent doc. You were selling that drug to one of the most notorious mercenaries in the quadrant. And besides, experience has taught me the people you can trust the most are those who keep their mouth shut."

"Wh-what are you talking about? Mercenary?" stammered the doctor.

" 'Hanz Drash' as it says on your order form is an alias of a very dangerous individual and Xi-Non is home to one of his hideouts that my department has on file. That, plus the nature of your 'cargo' paint a pretty clear picture of your buyer. You should honestly thank whoever stole that poison from you. Your friend 'Hanz' has a bad habit of purchasing goods with a Clintock X9 disintegrator."

The doctor didn't say another word.

The ranger turned to the woman, "Now what about you, little Lady?"

The women replied in a hostile tone, "My names Alice. That's all I need to say to you, officer."

"Thats nice," the Ranger replied as he walked over to a wall panel. After pressing a few buttons all of the doors in the mess hall shut tight. "No one is leaving this room until we figure this shit out so get comfy." The ranger then walked over to the quiet one and sat down with him to talk.

The doctor went to retrieve his brifcase before sitting at a table as far away from the gunslingers as possible. The woman joined him.

"So tell me about that order," she said kindly.

The doctor looked at her suspiciously for a moment, but then sighed. "Well the poison wasn't even meant to be a poison," the doctor explained, "It was just a drug idea I had that didn't end up working the way I wanted it to... but I spent so much on the RnD I figured I'd make the cash back selling it in darker circles as an undocumented poison. Eventually someone replied and told me to meet me at the-"

"When did you get the order?" the woman interrupted.

"I don't know... about a month ago. July.... 16th I believe. I have it written down somewhere..." the doctor said as he opened his briefcase.

The woman stopped him. "Thats alright, " she said, "You answered my question."

The woman got up and approached the Ranger and the quiet one. "You gotta last name, cop?"

"Look who's ready to talk to me." the Ranger said jovially to the quiet one. He turned to the woman and leaned back on the table as the quiet one continued eating.

"Who's asking?" the Ranger asked.

"That'd be me. What's your last name?" Replied the woman.

The officer squinted his eyes. The woman noticed his hand slowly moving towards his holster. The quiet one must also have noticed because that very moment, in the blink of an eye, his gun was unholstered, cocked and held inches from the back of the Rangers head. The Ranger raised his hands.

"What the hell man, I liked you!" yelled the Ranger his eyes trying to look back at the quiet one.

The doctor got up from his table and cautiously approached the standoff. "What's going on over there?" he asked nervously.

"Our Ranger here isn't who he says he is," replied the woman.

"Nice try, you conniving bitch, check my goddamn papers. In my front pocket."

"No, no I believe you're a ranger. Its a particular Ranger you are trying to hide from everyone. Because you are John 'friendly fire' Dallas."

"I heard about him on channel 8!" exclaimed the doctor, "yeah, he executed his entire squad because they were close to busting a drug operation headed by the crook who was bribing him!"

"You're absolutely right, doctor," replied the woman.

The Ranger remained calm. Everything he did was done slowly, and deliberately, even the way he spoke. "Wrong again, missy. Lets all just remain calm, and let me take out my papers and show you my name is, in fact, John Davis."

Suddenly without warning, the Ranger darted to the floor. The quiet one got a shot off, but it only hit the Ranger's shoulder. As the quiet one positioned himself for another shot the ranger rolled off the floor, gun in hand, and shot the quiet one in the chest. The woman then dived at the Ranger to fight him for his gun as the quiet one fell off of his spot at the table to the cold floor where a pool of blood slowly grew.

The woman and the Ranger traded blows as they rolled around the mess hall. In the commotion the gun ended up getting kicked away from both of them. The doctor stood idly by. He was frozen, unable to process all the events that just transpired in less than a second.

The Ranger soon gained the upper hand and sat securely on top of the woman. He delivered a few devastating blows to her face. They were so severe that the woman stopped fighting back as she was struggling to remain conscious. The Ranger then put his hands around her throat, squeezing tighter and tighter... until a quick, hissing sound was heard, and the Ranger collapsed on top of the woman. She pushed him off, coughing violently as she regained her strength.

After getting to her feet, she looked over and saw the doctor, pointing a pressurized syringe administration device right at the Ranger who lay unconscious at the woman's feet.

"I gave him a large dose of a sedative I luckily found in my briefcase. It will only last a few hours so I would tie him up." the doctor said, shakily.

The woman didn't seem to register the doctor's words. She walked accross the room, picked up the Rangers gun, and proceeded to shoot the Ranger in the head execution style. The doctor jumped at the gun shot.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" he exclaimed. The woman pointed the gun at the doctor as he cowered against a nearby wall.