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And here's the Executioner's Gambit scene I accidentally posted yesterday.

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A day or less? Tori couldn’t contemplate living for only another day. A few weeks was miserable as it was, but she wanted that time! She wanted to spend her remaining time with Druka. Even if she didn’t know where he worked, she’d rather be looking for him, than sitting here. She cleared her throat. “Well, I should probably be getting back to work.”

“No, wait!” begged the krakun. “Don't go.”

Tori scowled. Trying to make light of the situation, she asked, “You wouldn't want me getting in trouble with the commissioner, would you?”

At that, the krakun chuckled. After a quiet groan and short pause, she almost heard a smile in his voice, “I happen to be a close, personal friend of the commissioner. I could put in a good word for you.”

Tori sat back and rested her head against the wall. She closed her eyes. “I'm sure that would help a lot ... if I expected to survive until my next performance review.”

Commissioner Troykintrassa changed the subject, “So, Tori, I take it you're connected to this criminal investigation. What is it you do aboard this ship?”

She cocked her head slightly. “You haven't memorized all the crew rosters?”

“I read up on all the officers, but I didn't see your name.”

Tori smiled. “I'm the murder investigator. I'm hunting The Executioner.”

“A murder investigator?” he said with surprise. “I didn't realize the slave fleets had any of those.”

Tori nodded. “Yeah, I suspect I'm the only one.”

“And you said you transferred from another ship?”

She paused, trying to think back on everything they’d discussed. “Did I?”

“Well, you said that cloning was allowed when you were poisoned, and it isn't aboard this ship,” Troykintrassa explained. “Also, I did memorize all the accident reports, and I didn't see you on there either.”

“I was aboard the Harvest Reaper III at the time.”

“That's one of Commissioner Sarsuk's ships.” It wasn’t a question.

Tori chewed her lower lip, trying not to think about her accident in his stateroom. “Yes.”

Perhaps the commissioner sensed the strain in her voice? He quickly changed the subject, “And this Executioner's the one who poisoned me?”

Tori shrugged. “Presumably. There's been ten murders already that we've attributed to him,”—she cast a smirk toward the intercom—“and when we apprehend him, I'll be sure to ask.”

“Why?”

Tori blinked. “Pardon?”

“Why would this killer target me?”

Why would he try to kill the commissioner? Didn’t he realize what would happen? Tori reached up to fiddle with her earring before remembering that it was no longer there. “Well, that's hard to say, honestly,” she explained. “You sort of fit the profile of The Executioner's victims, but you also don't.”

“I'm listening.”

Even though he couldn’t see her, she gestured while she explained, raising one palm, then the other. “Well, the killer is targeting individuals who make the crew miserable—bad officers, supervisors, and administrators. Since you haven't been aboard the ship in so very long, you probably weren't targeted because of anything you've done,” she said. “But the victims also tend to represent the company itself, and as our commissioner, you definitely fit in that second category.”

“'Murdered for who he was, not what he did,'” he gruffed. “Doesn't that make a swell epitaph?”

“I suppose mine will be simply, 'Collateral damage,'” she sighed. “Not great either.”

She raised a finger. “Alternatively, it's possible that the killer was targeting Daskatoma and didn't realize you'd be coming in his place today.”

A hopeful note, “So, perhaps my sacrifice has saved his life?”

She shrugged and let her legs swing freely from the edge of the bench. “Does it count as sacrifice if you do it unwillingly?” she asked.

“I don't know,” he sighed. A pause before asking, “I'm guessing you became a murder investigator after you were poisoned and couldn't work your original job?”

“Exactly.”

Then, he said something curious, “So, if you hadn't been poisoned, you wouldn't have become an investigator, and if you hadn't become an investigator, you wouldn't have transferred here?”

Cautiously, “I suppose that's true. Why?”

“Nothing important. I'm just amused by what you and I have in common. Both poisoned, both killed by The Executioner ... eventually, at least.”

Tori grinned and with a claw, tapped at the wall separating them. “Hey! We could start a club.”

Troykintrassa laughed until he groaned. Over the intercom, a crackling whisper, “Do I want to know what he poisoned me with?”

She leaned back and closed her eyes again. “Does it matter?”

“I suppose not.” Then, with a heavy sigh, he asked, “What else do you have on this killer?”

Tori pressed her palm flat against the wall. “Sir?” she asked. “Wouldn't it be better if I left you alone, let you get some rest?”

“No! Please don't go,” the commissioner begged, his voice breathier as if his snout was pressed against the intercom. Another pause and a quieter question, “When you were poisoned, did you want to be left alone?”

“No, I didn't,” admitted Tori. She confided, “I was very fortunate that my mate broke all the rules to stay by my side.”

“Yes, you were fortunate.” Troykintrassa sighed and the wall between them rattled. Was he running his palm across it? He whispered, “I wish my mate was here. Well, no, I don't wish she was trapped aboard this ship like we are, but I do wish I could speak with her.”

“I understand, sir.”

“When does your mate get home, Tori?”

Pulling her strand from its holster, she checked the time. Oh right, I put myself on do-not-disturb when the commissioner arrived. I missed these messages. Half were voicemails that she couldn’t retrieve with the network down, half were text messages, so she skimmed those. Ihai had lost the blood trail in a freshly washed corridor, and the medics verified that there were no stab wounds on Nija’s body, so the blood had to be the killer’s.

A note from Sese said that none of the med bays had reported anyone with stab wounds today, but Ihai spotted a missing med kit on his search. Tori wished she could reply to any of these. Getting back to the commissioner, she said, “He gets off work at seventeen-hundred hours.”

The commissioner sighed. “I'm sure you'll want to spend time with him,” he said, “but I'd appreciate it if you'd let me enjoy your company for a few more hours.”

Tori nodded and rested her cheek against the metal wall. She didn’t trust her voice, so she cleared her throat and changed the subject, “So, on the killer... We know he stole the poison from the pharmacy. We know the pattern of his victims. We know he's been keeping trophies from his crime scenes—we've even managed to recover those.”

“How?” he asked with some surprise.

“We believe he planted that evidence on a patsy and used our investigation as a distraction to target one of the victims…”

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Reviewer's link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hu4f4auXbnqplTnDiQR1wUjsKLQGojjsdnha0Ib52c8/edit?usp=sharing

Thoughts?