We were all clustered around the Cafeteria table. Gone was the sense of comradeship we had built up during our training, in its place was a heavy, silent suspicion. Everyone eyed each other, now nervous with the knowledge that there was a murderer among us. I personally was in shock. I knew Luke Edison had said that the saboteur would stop at nothing... but never had I expected them to be so cold-hearted and kill one of their friends, least of all sweet, innocent Yellow.

Red cleared her throat and everyone turned to her, but the feeling of uneasiness still remained.
"It is with great sorrow that I report to you all that Yellow has died."

I raised my hand, and she nodded. I respectfully spoke,
"Please, Commander Red. His name is-" my voice caught, "was David."

Red conceded sorrowfully,
"Yes, of course. My apologies." Then she eyed everyone, her face full of steel, "David was killed by someone on this crew. It appeared to be a gun that was used."

I watched Red carefully, feeling a sense of sympathy for her. Although she put on a brave front, I could tell she was struggling. But of course she was, for how must it feel to have a member of your crew, whom you are responsible for, murdered in cold blood?

As Red continued to sit in silence, as though trying to think of what to do next, I took the lead,
"What was everyone doing during this period of time?"

Purple turned on me,
"Now just hang on a second Lime, how do we know you weren't the person who killed him. How did you get there so fast!?"

I recoiled, shocked, when Brown interjected,
"It wasn't Lime! She was with me the whole time. Plus, I saw her empty the garbage chute in Storage."

I flashed him a grateful smile,
"Thanks Brown."
I turned to the others, frowning, and frankly a little hurt at Purple's accusation,
"Brown is also safe, I saw him do Asteroids."

Blue bitterly spoke,
"Well isn't that convenient. How do we know one of you isn't lying. Or maybe you are both imposters!" He muttered under his breath, "of course that would happen. Just my luck."

"Leave them alone Blue," Orange bravely defended us. "I think they are both safe."

White began to speak
"Well I think-"

"Be quiet. All of you." Red commanded, and we lapsed into silence, albeit with heavily suspicious glances at one another.

Red paused for a moment, then turned to me,
"Lime. Where were you and what did you do?"

I nodded, understanding that she was not accusing me but merely asking, and I restated what I had previously said,
"I went into weapons and did Data Download. Whilst there, I watched Brown do Asteroids. Then we went to O2, and I emptied the chute there. After that, we went to Storage and I emptied the Garbage chute whilst Brown watched. Then we heard a gunshot and I ran to Electrical. When I got there..." I took a deep breath, then continued, "Yel- I mean, David, was lying in Electrical surrounded by blood. I- I asked him who shot him, but he died before telling me."
I lowered my head and felt tears well up in my eyes. No, I must remain calm. I mentally shook myself and forced back the threatening tears.

Awkward silence.

Then Red turned to Brown, querying,
"Can you corroborate Lime's story?"

Brown gave a grave nod,
"Yes Commander."

"Very well. Now, Purple, where were you?" Purple bristled up, but Red indicated for her to calm down, "I am not accusing you Purple, we merely need to know everyone's whereabouts so we can get a better idea of who was where."

Purple released her clenched fists, conceding with a small huff,
"I was doing the Unlock Manifolds task."

"For the whole time?" Interrupted White.

Purple shot her a dirty look, seeming embarrassed, "yes... I kept clicking the wrong numbers." She shuffled her feet, "I'm dyslexic and have dyscalculia, okay?"

"It's okay, nothing to be ashamed of my friend," Orange smiled encouragingly, and Purple tentatively gave a small smile back.

Red interrupted the small moment of peace,
"Noted. What about you Orange?"

"I swiped my card in admin, which took a few tries. The darn thing is so sensitive, always too fast or too slo-"

"Give the short version dammit," Blue growled.

Orange glanced at him somewhat irritatedly,
"Sor-ry. Anyway, I finally finished swiping my admin card, Cyan was there as well, and then I started heading to Security to check cams. But before I could get there the body was reported."

"Very well," Red nodded, "Blue?"

Blue sat glowering, and Red had to prompt him once more. Crossing his arm, he snapped out,
"I was doing the Inspect Sample task."

I narrowed my eyes, feeling suspicious of everyone except for Red and Brown, and maybe Orange, but let his blunt statement and rough demeanor pass without comment.

Red continued to go around and have all the crew explain where they were at the time of Yellow's deaths.

Cyan did wires in admin, confirming Orange's story, and had been on his way to do the second wire task in Weapons when the body was reported.

White had been in Navigation, doing the Stabilize Steering Task.
At this, I had frowned as I didn't remember seeing her when I glanced into Nav. I said as much, but she dismissed it as her having moved to the side to do the Data Download, which was quite possible as the side of Navigation is not visible from the doorway. The matter was dismissed.

Green claimed that he had been aligning engine output, confirming that he had seen Blue in Medbay inspecting the sample, at which Blue grudgingly thanked him. I noticed Purple frowning at this, as though trying to remember something, but before I could ask, Red continued,
"...and I was doing the Download Data task in Cafeteria. Now, does anyone have any suspicions?"

We all shook our heads, and I saw Red's shoulder's droop, as though she was despairing at the lack of information, "very well, we must continue to do our Tasks. Be careful, and do not hesitate to call an Emergency Meeting if you think something is amiss. I would much rather have a meeting that results in nothing than to have someone killed as a result of no one coming forward. Does anybody have anything else to say before we continue our tasks?"

White raised her hand,
"Permission to speak Commander?" Red nodded, and White turned to us, "I have the Shields task, can someone please clear me?"

"Good thinking White, I'll come and watch you," said Orange.
Purple, after a baleful glance at White, disdainfully agreed to also come and watch her, although I got the impression she was doing it more to protect Orange than anything else.

"Very well," our commander spoke, "please, be careful, all of you.

Then we went our separate ways, not knowing whether or not it could be the last time we saw our comrades.