Alara had been very concerned about Jason since the simulator incident. She now considered whatever he was hiding a top priority because of the violent situation, which could endanger the crew. She waited until he left for his shift, then asked Ed to allow her to search his quarters.

"Captain Mercer, I wish to investigate Lieutenant West's quarters. I have reason to suspect there may be information there that could prevent a potential risk to the crew."

"Look, I'll give you this, but you need reasonable suspicion and to make this investigation official."

"I can't. I'm worried it runs deeper than this and making it public could endanger the investigation. He's already good at evading as it is. I just need this request, please. If I don't find anything, I'll drop the investigation."

"Fine, this once. But don't get caught. If you're caught, it's both of our asses."

"Understood, sir."

"You're dealing with a guy trained to counter espionage and track down people. Be careful."

"I'll go now sir. Try to keep him until I'm back, sir, please."

"I'll try my best. He's with Claire now, but once he leaves I'll keep an eye on him. Good luck, Alara."

Meanwhile, Jason was having a 'serious' talk with Dr. Finn about his outburst.

"Lieutenant West, why exactly did you feel the need to act so aggressive in the simulation?"

"Doctor, I feel like I've answered you twenty times already. I just got caught up in the battle and saw a gun at Lieutenant Kitan's head. My instincts kicked in, and I stopped thinking. When you have to handle situations like that on the ground, it's harder to distinguish between real high-risk situations and a random simulation."

"You incapacitated the simulated soldier within a few hits, but you continue to hit him. I'm not trying to interrogate you, Lieutenant West, I would just like to know what prompted you to exterminate him after he was no longer a threat."

"When you have a soldier with a gun, it's not always safe to leave them alive. Pretending to be unconscious or even coming back to their senses too soon can be a danger. In training we were taught to either cripple or kill armed combatants to prevent possible disastrous situations."

"Lieutenant, that's not Union protocol or training. Where exactly were you trained?"

"I was trained at Union Point, but a lot of the techniques I used were picked up in field training on Moclus." He didn't look convinced by his words.

"I am just letting you know, Lieutenant, that extermination is not necessary as a Union Officer. Your weapon has the ability to stun, so even in situations where you need to incapacitate the enemy for an extended time, you can simply stun them."

He sighed. "I understand. I'm sorry for arguing, it's just that my training taught me otherwise and it's hard to go against years of practice and drilling."

"Well, it's good you've come to see that. If it helps, I recommend you practice in the simulator to disarm and/or stun enemies, that way you can adjust to our weapons. I believe our session is done, Lieutenant. You can be on your way."

He nodded and stood up, walking towards the bridge.

Across the ship, Alara was plugging in her security code to the door to Jason's quarters. The door opened, and she stepped inside quickly and closed the sliding door. She turned and looked around the room. It was spotless, everything was clean, any blankets or other items were neatly folded and stored. One glance around the room told Alara that Jason was either a neat freak, or that he had never messed with anything in the room. As she started to look around, it looked like there was nothing there for her to find. In his cabinets it was just uniforms and casual clothes. All of his files on the system were clear of anything suspicious. She checked under the mattress and everywhere else, but there was nothing. Then, as she went to leave, she noticed something. One of the paintings he hung on the walls was a little tilted. She thought, 'It was probably nothing, but it couldn't hurt to check.' So she approached the painting and pulled the tilted canvas aside and up.

As soon as she fully cleared it from its original position, she saw the little indent in the wall. It was precise and straight, cut with just enough perfection that the box in the slot would have just looked like another section of the wall had she not been looking for it. She slid it out of the slot and started looking for a way to open the small box. Eventually Alara found a small slot on one side of the box and pulled at it with her fingertip. The top of the box slid off, and the inside was filled to the top with objects. The most notable she saw was a military armor that was very similar to the new Union design, but definitely wasn't human nor Union-made. Another was a gun, and when she checked it she noticed it used lead bullets. There were two more things in the box. The first was a medal made out of some strange metal that resembled silver. The second was a paper written in a language she didn't recognize. She took the items out, resealed the container, and returned it to its hiding spot, leaving the room as if she hadn't been there. She slipped out the door and took the items to Ed's office.

Ed had given Jason every single menial task he could think of to keep him occupied at the moment. Jason had asked to retrieve something from his quarters, but Ed kept saying he could go after this got done, then this, then this. And now, Ed had no more excuses. He let Jason go to his quarters and hoped that Alara made it out. When Jason arrived, he immediately noticed the now-fixed painting to the left of the doorway. He had made sure that it was always slightly crooked so he would notice if somebody moved it. He removed the painting, pulled out the box, and found all of his pieces gone. He looked at the empty box with rage and stormed towards Ed's office.