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intelligence on Centauri personnel could not be regarded as complete. He then arranged for all remaining Centauri in the outpost to funnel through the access corridor to their shuttle, identifying each one in turn, then crossing them off his datapad.
    Halfway through the task, Shaw grew uneasy. As he checked off the last few Centauri workers, he knew his suspicions were justified. With all Centauri in the outpost now on their shuttle awaiting the Ranger’s permission to depart, six names remained unchecked on his datapad. At first he doubted himself, thinking he must have missed something, made a rookie’s mistake. However, a review of the process revealed no error on his part. According to the records provided by the analysts, six Centauri were missing. Perhaps the information provided by the analysts was incorrect? He headed back into the outpost to find Badeau and Turquon.
    Intending to look first among the living quarters, where he had last seen his captain and the delegates, he caught the sound of laughter coming from the operations centre and changed course. He found the trio engaged in light conversation, Badeau evidently having finished her sweep of the outpost. She and Turquon were smiling at some shared joke. Na’Quil looked a little . . . smug would be the word Shaw would choose. Then again, his government was gaining a world they had bled hard for in the past with no more effort than the signing of a treaty. Badeau looked up as he entered.
    ‘Everything check out?’
    ‘Er, well almost. Principal Turquon, I have just one query.’
    ‘Of course,’ purred the Centauri. ‘Anything to help our friends among the Rangers.’
    ‘I’ve checked and double-checked the personnel here against the records, and it seems there are six missing. Namely Danallis, Maladi, Caius, Kolonar, Nandra and Varga. Your records indicate they were all scientists.’
    ‘Let me see that,’ said Badeau, suddenly serious. She studied the datapad as Turquon spoke.
    ‘Yes, I remember. A tragic incident.’ Turquon had adopted a sorrowful tone. ‘We were looking at the possibility of terraforming one or more worlds in Quadrant 37 in the hope of establishing a more permanent colony. Those were the scientists directed to begin research here, but their ship met with a hyperspace accident, and they were lost en route.’
    ‘So why wasn’t this recorded?’ asked Badeau.
    ‘An oversight on the part the outpost’s clerks, I would imagine. They must have recorded the ship’s destruction in the very least. Let me see.’ Turquon moved to a console and begun punching buttons on a display. ‘Yes. Here it is. Ah, sorry, let me translate it to English.’ He typed in another command and moved aside for the Rangers to see.
    Shaw scanned the text in front of him and, indeed, the names of the scientists had been recorded as those lost on board a transport bound for Quadrant 37, the Valance . A malfunction of the jump engines had destroyed the ship as it attempted to enter realspace. A rare accident these days, but it did happen. Perhaps all the more likely if stories of the Republic’s ailing economy were to believed, he surmised. He glanced at Badeau, and she gave him a quick nod.
    ‘Everything seems in order gentlemen. Unless there is anything either of you wish to bring to our attention?’ she asked.
    As one, the Narn and Centauri delegates shook their heads. Badeau produced her own datapad and called up the treaty that would formerly hand over Quadrant 37 to the Narn Regime, then placed it on a nearby work surface. Turquon and Na’Quil placed their own next to hers.
    Badeau spoke first. ‘I witness the transfer of Quadrant 37 from the sovereignty of the Centauri Republic to the Narn Regime. I hereby declare all resolutions of the treaty have been observed by all parties involved.’ With this, she pressed her thumb on the registration interface of first her datapad, then the Narn’s and finally the Centauri’s.
    Turquon was next, but