No Honor in Death (40 page)

"How did they find out," he hissed.  Then, "The tender captain!  He betrayed the Admiral.  He was always the weak link."

Bingo
, Siobhan thought as another piece fell into place. 
Except my new-found knowledge won't do anyone a damn bit of good if I die here.

Suddenly, there was a loud click behind her and the door to the passageway opened, revealing a short, tubby figure in battle armour minus helmet.  Drex instinctively turned his blaster on the newcomer and pressed the trigger.  Siobhan jumped at the Second Officer without thinking, just as Able Spacer Guido Vincenzo fired his carbine.  His aim proved truer than Drex's, whose shot grazed Vincenzo's head, leaving a strip of charred, stinking hair in its wake.

The Second Officer's unprotected chest erupted in a gout of over-heated blood and gore as the plasma round punched through skin and flash-broiled his insides.   Siobhan's flying tackle caught him at the knees but he was already dead.  Drex keeled over wetly, showering gore all over the stunned Captain.

For what seemed an eternity, everybody was frozen in place.  Then, Banger Rownes pushed past Vincenzo, whose face already showed shock at his first kill and knelt at the Captain's side.

"I'm all right, Rownes,"  Siobhan pushed herself up.  Then she realized, for the first time, that she was covered with the remains of Drex's innards.  That, and the stench, overwhelmed her stoic resolve and she vomited in disgust.  Vincenzo, nauseated by what he had done, no matter how good the cause, followed her lead.

"How..." Siobhan asked between heaves.

"How're we here?  Hang on, skipper.  Nosey, drop that toolbox and fetch the Doc, and warn Mister Pushkin."

"No," Siobhan raised a hand covered in dark, sticky blood.  "Not the doctor.  I'm all right.  I just need to clean this off me."

"Go, Nosey.  Do it.  There a fucking shower in this brig, Vince?"  The big gun captain demanded, taking charge of the situation.

"Yeah,"  Vincenzo gasped, still feeling sick every time he breathed in the stench of death.  "Behind that hatch."

"Cap'n, I'll tell you while you clean off.  C'mon.  Vince, get some of your mates down here to do whatever investigation you guys do, and clear this," she kicked at Drex's body, "up."

Siobhan couldn't get into the brig's open shower fast enough.  She stripped off her clothes with trembling hands, part of it horror, part of it reaction to her close brush with death at the hands of a madman.  One of her own officers.  Except that he was never her officer.  He was Kaleri's. 
Had been Kaleri's
, she corrected herself.

Rownes picked up Siobhan's clothes and stuffed them into the brig's sonic cleaner.  She glanced at the Captain's naked body under the running and read her history in those white scars.  Rownes liked her skippers to be tough.  Deep space was a hard place that demanded hard people.  Dunmoore looked to be about as tough as Banger had ever seen. The gunner was glad she'd been able to help save her life.  Not the glad that any normal person feels at saving a life, but especially glad because Dunmoore was something special.

"You ready for the story, sir?"

"Go ahead."

"After we stood down, Drex sent everybody out of the brig area, saying he'd stand this watch himself.  Now Vince, I mean Able Spacer Vincenzo, thought there's been something funny with Drex for a while, 'specially since PO Hartalas had his 'accident.'  He figured Drex's offer to stand watch was unusual.  He'd never done it before.  So Vince keeps an eye on the brig and sees you go in.  He tries the door an' finds it locked from the inside, with Drex's own pass codes.  So he comes to get Nosey Bertram, who's got a talent for locks, to open the door."

"Hold on," Siobhan interrupted Rownes,  "why didn't he go to the First Officer with this?"

"You never know which side the officers are on, Cap'n.  Not on this boat."  Banger replied, shrugging, as if Drex's actions proved her words.  "Anyway, he feels he owes you something personal since you took his word against Zavaleta's.  I was with Nosey when Vince came running down and joined the rescue party.  Nosey did the lock and the rest you know."

"Looks like I owe you guys my life.  Drex was about to shoot me and blame it on Major Cayne."

"Cayne?  Oh, right, Kery.  Yeah.  He did for her, didn't he?  But hell, Cap'n  what we done is natural.  You take care of us, so we take care of you.  Simple."

Rownes' matter-of-fact summation touched Siobhan deeply and she stopped scrubbing to look at her.  "Thank you for my life, Rownes." The big woman looked away, embarrassed.

The moment was shattered when Pushkin burst into the brig washroom, out of breath.  "Are you all right, Captain?  Bertram said Lieutenant Drex was about to kill you."

The look of incredulity on his face was too much for Siobhan's raw nerves.  She leaned against the bulkhead and burst into laughter.

"I'm okay," she finally managed to reply, between outbursts.  "Thanks to some incredibly loyal spacers, eh, Rownes."

"Sir," she murmured, avoiding Pushkin's curious eyes.

As if the release of emotion had wiped away the last of her terror, Siobhan suddenly became all business again.  Disregarding her nudity in front of her First Officer, her ship's surgeon, who arrived on the instant, and any number of ratings, she rattled off orders.

"Mister Pushkin, place Cayne's and Drex's bodies in stasis.  Secure Drex's gun as evidence, then take depositions from Rownes and her crew.  Have someone clean up the deck.  I want a department head meeting in one hour.  We have a lot to discuss, I think, and not much else to do for a few hours, until we're deep in the Cimmeria system."

"Captain on deck."

The assembled department heads rose to attention as Captain Dunmoore strode into the small conference room.

"Sit down," she snapped.  "By now, you should all know what happened down in Security an hour ago.  If you don't then you have no business as an officer on my ship."  Dunmoore looked at the assembled officers, each in turn.  "How many of you knew, or suspected Lieutenant Drex was in Admiral Kaleri's pocket?  That he was a bloody madman?  How many of you knew about the black marketeering with Fleet supplies this ship was doing?  How many knew Kery was really an SSB officer?"  When no one replied, she smiled cruelly.  "As I thought.  Timid to the last.  Well, either you're feeding me fucking bullshit, or you're so bloody incompetent, you aren't even aware of what's going on around you!"

"It took weeks," she continued savagely, "before someone was willing to tell me how Commander Forenza ran this ship and explain why morale was the pits.  And what I heard sure as hell didn't match the depositions you gave for the Disciplinary Board.  No I didn't read them, but it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. This puts you all in the uncomfortable position of having perjured yourselves.  A court-martial offence, people, and the end to your careers."  No one met her eyes.

"I thought that in time, once I'd gained your trust, you would do me the courtesy of telling the truth.  Mind you, I didn't think the truth would be so deplorable.  An incompetent predecessor, I can handle.  A bloody conspiracy, I can't.  I no longer have time to wait for you people to find your courage and remember where your duty lies.  Therefore, it stops now."

"No more bullshit, no more lying, no more evasions.  I nearly died an hour ago at the hands of a nutcase.  Had I known the truth, that could have been avoided.  Major Cayne's death could have been avoided.  Drex's death could have been avoided.  Had I known the truth, Drex wouldn't have turned PO Hartalas into a saboteur and we'd be out of here, having destroyed the convoy before Brakal joined it.  Hartalas would still be alive, as would the two gunners who died in the last engagement, as would the spacers who will die before we make it back home.  How many more deaths are on your collective conscience?  The cost of not doing your duty is too high for anyone to accept.  Think about it."

"Permission to speak, Captain?" Luttrell asked, her face a rigid mask.

"By all means, Doctor.  Just make sure you don't feed me crap this time."  Her tone stung Luttrell.  "You, of all people, a draftee doctor, should have known better."

"It's easy for you to speak like this, Captain, but you don't know the hell we've been living in.  How would you react if your skipper threatened to have you struck from the medical profession if you testified against her.  She had the means to do it, too.  The bitch gave us ample proof of that. And with her working for Admiral Kaleri, we had no way out, nowhere to turn.  Think about that, Captain."

Siobhan's nostrils flared whitely.  "A load of crap, that's what your rationalization is, Doctor. If it were up to me, I'd have your license removed right now, for total lack of ethics.  Tell, me how many autopsies did you fudge for Forenza?"  She saw her comment hit home and smiled with cruel satisfaction.

"Think of the people who have died on this ship because no officer aboard had the guts to do something about the rot.  You," she swept the table with her extended forefinger, "are all accessories to murder, because you didn't act, because you kept silent, even once the immediate peril to your precious careers was over.  Well I don't think like that.  I still believe in personal duty and honor.  I intend to nail Forenza's ass to the wall for what she did.  I will also make sure Kaleri answers for her actions in front of a general court-martial, exposing the corruption in all its glory.  Her family connections and wealth won't mean a damn!"

"We're fighting a bloody war out here and we have a duty to the Commonwealth that goes beyond any duty to our own persons.  You people will assist me in this by telling me everything, swearing whatever deposition I ask and anything else, or so help me, what I will do to your careers will be much worse than anything Forenza or Kaleri have threatened.  Doctor, I can make Forenza's threat of barring you from medical practice true in a way that makes it both open and untainted by any sign of corruption.  By a court-martial that will see you disgraced forever in the eyes of your profession.  The same goes for the rest of you.  I'd rather have your cooperation because you've proven to me you were capable people, and because I believe you can redeem yourselves in the eyes of the Fleet, and in your own."

"What happens when we admit to perjury by submitting new testimony to the Disciplinary Board?"  Luttrell asked hotly.  "We'll still go down.  Not good enough, Captain."

"Oh?  I don't see you have much of a choice.  Cooperate, and I'll see you're cleared.  Otherwise, the only way out is to kill me right now.  And even that won't save you for very long, assuming you succeed."  The thought of murdering her appalled the assembled officers.  Siobhan remembered Drex's words and the revelation that had struck her earlier.  "Fleet Command is already aware of the shenanigans going on aboard this ship. Admiral Nagira, as we speak, is working to root out the corruption.  All he needs is proof to bring whatever scheme Kaleri has going with her SSB pals crashing down.  My disappearance or even your lack of cooperation won't stop anything.  It'll only make things worse."

With sudden force, Siobhan slammed her fists down on the table and leaned towards them.  "Make your choice, people.  The truth or you can kiss any hopes of a decent life goodbye."

"If we even get home,"  Shara said, in a stage whisper.

"Oh we will, Lieutenant, make no mistake."  Shara quailed under Dunmoore's hard stare and looked down at the scarred table top.  "I know how Helen Forenza ran her ship, and a simple amended deposition from each of you will ensure she gets the dishonorable discharge she deserves. I'll make sure Admiral Nagira overlooks your initial testimony due to extenuating circumstances."

Pushkin who'd remained silent and contemplative all along, unexpectedly, rose and nodded, every inch the First Officer.  "Sir.  You'll have them within the hour."  He looked at each of the officers in turn.  "That, ladies and gents, is a bloody order.  You know the price of disobedience.  Make sure you don't suffer it.  I'll be reviewing your depositions personally so I encourage you to be thorough and accurate.  God help you if they're not."  He nodded at Siobhan again and sat.  "Sir."

"Thank you, Mister Pushkin.  I'm pleased to see that my confidence in you is not misplaced.  That takes care of Helen Forenza.  But we're not through yet.  Not by a long shot."

"Mister Rossum, this ship has been short of just about everything ever since Commander Forenza took over, right?"  The plump Purser nodded, mopping his shiny forehead with the ever-present white handkerchief.  "We never got a full load from the tender either, did we?"

"No, sir."

"Anyone care to venture an explanation why?"

Siobhan watched her officers file out of the conference room, subdued and silent.

"What now, sir?"  Pushkin remained alone with her, looking as thoughtful as ever, wondering how to come to terms with his role as First Officer under Commander Forenza, both officially and personally.

Dunmoore's public affirmation of confidence heartened him, but it would take time before he'd be able to look at his reflection without a measure of contempt.  And deservedly so.  But Dunmoore's magic had worked on him as it had on the others.

Pushkin's catharsis had started earlier and he had watched the others' faces as they spoke. It had been for them, excepting Shara, an epiphany, a kind of professional re-birth.  Faced with the ugly truth, they looked to Siobhan for guidance.  She had given it to them by reminding them of the tenets of their oath.