The Outback Stars (42 page)

“You look—” Myell glanced around. “Gorgeous in those pajamas.”

Jodenny couldn't help but smile. Myell pushed aside her breakfast tray and kissed her. She felt the tiny shock again, the thrill of the forbidden mixed with his solid, undeniable presence. His hair was scruffy between her fingers, his hands firm on her shoulders.

When they broke apart, Myell sat on the edge of Jodenny's bed and said, “Dr. Genslar says people are talking about our romantic tryst gone wrong.”

“People are idiots.”

“I think we should deny everything.”

“Me, too.” Jodenny squeezed his hand. “But whatever you hear, whatever the next few days bring, remember that we have a date. Minutiae.”

“Cairo Delight,” he said. “What about your career?”

She didn't have an answer for that. It seemed foolish to risk everything she had and everything she'd worked for just for the sake of romance. Yet for the first time in her career she understood why people did, in fact, break the rules that kept them apart.

“One day at a time,” she said. “Can you forward the data you recorded on your server to Security so they'll have the proof that Chiba and Quenger attacked us?”

“I already did.”

He leaned forward for another kiss but a nurse appeared at the door and said, “Lieutenant Commander Vu's here to see you, Lieutenant. You ready for visitors?”

Myell mouthed, “No.”

Jodenny squeezed his hand again. “Yes. Send her in.”

“I'll be back in my cold, lonely bed,” Myell said, and rose.

“Wait.” Jodenny kissed him before he left. She intended to use that kiss—and the one before, and their first one on the deck of the access ring—to fortify herself for the trials to come. In fact, she intended to store up a warehouse full of those kisses for future emergencies.

Vu came in, her face a tight mask of worry. She wrapped Jodenny in a hug and said, “You scared everyone half to death! Are you all right? You didn't show up for quarters, and neither did Myell. You didn't answer your pings … people were speculating. The message boards are going wild.”

“I bet. What are the rumors now?”

“You two somehow got trapped in T18 and discovered Matsuda's body. Jesus, to think of him there all this time—I mean, I didn't like him so much, but still. What happened?”

Jodenny repeated what she'd told the duty officer. Vu didn't look convinced.

“And so you were down there, the two of you together, nothing else going on, and someone attacked you?”

“I saw them. Osherman, Quenger, and Chiba.” And the minute she got her hands on Osherman, she was going to strip the skin from his body with a rusty knife. Then she'd really hurt him.

“Jesus,” Vu said.

Jodenny's next visitor was Picariello. He did not hug her. He pinned her with his blue-and-brown gaze and said, “This is a mess.”

She had combed her hair and moved to a chair. Dr. Genslar had been right—fatigue drained her energy all the way to her bones. “Did you get the data Sergeant Myell sent?”

“We got it,” Picariello said. “Voices of the men who attacked you and maybe killed Commander Matsuda, though that's a big question mark. Data analysis should confirm their identities. What happened after you were attacked?”

“First tell me where Osherman, Ishikawa, Quenger, and Chiba are.”

Picariello grimaced. “Ishikawa's onboard, according to Core, but no one's been able to physically locate her. The others left the ship on the first shuttle yesterday morning.”

“They escaped? No one stopped them?”

“Stopped them for what? When you and Myell missed morning quarters your ensign notified us, but no one suspected foul play.”

Jodenny wanted to hit him. “How can you say that? You know Chiba's animosity toward Myell. The minute we disappeared, you should have been questioning him.”

“Don't presume to tell me my job, Lieutenant,” he warned.

That official tone was back, the one she so despised. She needed time to think. “I don't feel so good—” she said, and staggered from the chair into the head. With the door half closed she stuck her finger down her throat. Breakfast blueberries stained the toilet bowl.

“Do you need help?” Picariello asked from outside the door.

“I think—” Jodenny interrupted the words to retch again. “Maybe.”

Picariello left. When the nurse came to check on her Jodenny allowed herself to be put back to bed and asked for all her visitors to be turned away. When she was alone, she pinged Myell and updated him. She asked, “Did you happen to record the night when Osherman and Ishikawa told us they worked for the IG?”

“You bet.”

“Good. I'm going to get a lawyer down here to help us. Now might be a strategic time to throw up, faint, do something dramatic. Delay until we can figure out how to proceed.”

“No problem at all,” he said.

CHAPTER THIRTY

“Lieutenant! It's nice to hear from you again.”

“Thank you, Holland,” Jodenny said to the borrowed gib in her lap. “Can you get me Chaplain Mow?”

Chaplain Mow was delighted that she was awake and worried when asked to name the best lawyer in the Legal Services office. A few minutes later Jodenny reached Lieutenant Commander Cheddie. Notoriety helped: he had seen the missing persons alert and agreed to drop what he was doing to come over to the hospital. He appeared fifteen minutes later, a thin man with freckles and a sad excuse for a mustache.

He asked, “Am I going to be working with you or Sergeant Myell?”

“Both of us.”

“Then let's start with your side of the story first.”

Jodenny began with Myell's accident and moved on to their inspection of the slots, the discovery of the master chip, Osherman and Ishikawa's revelations, and most of the ordeal in T18. Cheddie made only occasional notes in his gib. When she told him about Myell's recorded data, his eyes brightened considerably. She finished and waited for his response.

“Why do you think you're going to need legal counsel?” he asked.

“Because Osherman said he was working for the Inspector General, but he participated in the attack on us. Ishikawa supposedly works for the IG too, and she even saved Myell's life a few weeks ago, but no one can find her.” Jodenny fingered the edge of her bedsheet. “If they're not who they said they were, I don't want to be blamed for believing them. There are also too many rumors going on about me and Myell, and I want those stopped. And if anyone wants to make trouble out of the fact we opened those radioactive containers, it was my decision.”

“I don't think anyone will object to that,” Cheddie said. “What about Matsuda?”

“What about him?”

“Maybe you killed him.”

“He's been dead since before I checked onboard.”

“Maybe Myell killed him.”

“He had nothing to do with it!”

“You only say that because you're lovers.”

Jodenny glared at him. “Sergeant Myell and I have not been involved in a sexual relationship.”

“You were using the cargo holds for your romantic rendezvous. A lieutenant and her sergeant. People will eat it up.”

“You can leave now,” Jodenny said.

“I'm simply preparing you for what people are saying.” Cheddie made another note on his gib. “I have a friend who works in the forensics lab. Are you aware that Sergeant Myell's fingerprints are on the identification card that Commander Matsuda was carrying?”

“Of course they're on it,” Jodenny said. “He pulled it out of Matsuda's pocket when we were inspecting the corpse.”

“You're sure? I thought you were wearing EV suits.”

“Have you ever seen the gloves on an EV suit? Too bulky for fine work. He took one glove off.” At least, she thought he had. He must have.

“I'm just saying,” Cheddie said. “They want, they could make an argument that his prints are on it because he helped kill Matsuda. There might be some way to date them, but still, it could be tricky.”

“As sure as I am sitting here, I'm telling you Myell had nothing to do with Matsuda's death. If you can't believe that, you shouldn't defend us.”

“Belief has nothing to do with defense, Lieutenant. I'll go talk to him, see what he says.”

“Do you really think we have anything to worry about?”

“Right now? No. You're the heroic victims of a vicious assault. You also discovered a murder victim and uncovered a smuggling ring. You didn't report anything, but you believed Lieutenant Commander Osherman, who may or may not be an IG agent.”

“How could he work for the IG and leave us to die?”

“Maybe he intended to tip someone off to your location and wasn't able to,” Cheddie said. “Maybe he did get the word out, but it was ignored or overlooked. Unfortunately, heroism aside, you're also the bringer of bad news, which is going to work against you. Data should have caught the dingo problems, and Core is going to come under as much scrutiny as Supply. Some unhappy people will try to discredit you by alluding to your relationship with Sergeant Myell, your professional capabilities, and your conduct since you came onboard.”

The nausea suddenly rolling in her gut had nothing to do with radiation sickness. “That's what I thought.”

“Of course, you have me, so it'll all work out just fine.”

“Oh.” Jodenny almost but not quite laughed. She had more than Cheddie, if she could just hang on.

Cheddie went to talk to Myell. For a while she dozed, lulled to sleep by the sound of the air vent over her bed. She awoke when Cheddie returned with Myell in tow. Jodenny was careful not to leap into Myell's arms or do anything else Cheddie might misinterpret.

“I didn't kill Commander Matsuda,” Myell said.

“Of course you didn't,” Jodenny replied. She thought he looked pale, and cleared a space on the foot of the bed for him to sit.

“Here's what we'll do,” Cheddie said. “I'll arrange a meeting with the SUPPO and the Security Officer, maybe the XO. Lieutenant Scott, you tell them what you told me, all the same details, nothing left out. Sergeant Myell, you'll corroborate. The thing to stress is that you believed you were following Osherman's orders. I'd like to set it up for right after lunch.”

“Excuse me.” Myell lurched off toward the head. Cheddie grimaced at the sounds that emerged.

“Only if you're well,” he said.

“We'll be fine,” she assured him.

Cheddie was gone when Myell came out. Jodenny said, “You didn't have to do that for his benefit.”

“I didn't.”

“Oh. All right, back to bed you go.”

Myell gazed meaningfully at her mattress.

“No, your own,” Jodenny said, nevertheless pleased. She walked him back to his room and made sure he was tucked under the blankets with some appropriately affectionate gestures. Dr. Genslar came in seconds after she smoothed the sheets.

“Am I interrupting anything?” the doctor asked archly.

Myell said, wearily, “Dr. Genslar thinks the rumors about us are true.”

Jodenny eyed the physician. “Fraternization is against regulations.”

“Yes, I know. And while I was a lieutenant, I was a firm believer in regulations. The nurses tell me there's been some emesis. Is that true?”

“Guilty as charged,” Myell said.

Dr. Genslar ran a scanner over Myell's abdomen. “You might need another radvax. Lieutenant Scott, you can return to your bed. I'll take care of this.”

At the hatch Jodenny asked, “Why aren't you a lieutenant anymore?”

“I resigned so I could marry my chief,” Genslar replied. “Gave up a very promising career in the Medical Corps.”

From under his blankets Myell said, “Good for you.”

Genslar replied, “We divorced five years later.”

By the time the meeting rolled around, Myell was still vomiting and Genslar vetoed his attendance. Jodenny fidgeted in her chair in the physician's conference room, wishing she could be by Myell's side. Wrapped in a thin bathrobe, tapping her slippers against the deck, she stood up when Al-Banna and Picariello entered. Captain Umbundo was with them, which startled her.

“Sir!” she said.

“At ease,” Umbundo said.

Jodenny felt foolish addressing them as she was, but she explained what had happened as clearly as she could and omitted only the personal aspects of her and Myell's ordeal in the tower. Cheddie took notes. Picariello stared at the bulkhead. Captain Umbundo's face was impossible to read, but Al-Banna leaned forward and seemed interested in every word.

When she was done Umbundo said, “You've been one busy lieutenant.”

“Yes, sir.” Jodenny took a steadying breath. “Was Lieutenant Commander Osherman lying about being an Inspector General agent?”

Picariello said, “It's best if we don't discuss that, sir.”

Cheddie said, “Captain, the lieutenant and Sergeant Myell were nearly killed. They deserve to know who to trust, and if their lives are still in danger.”

Picariello said, “It's not wise—”

Umbundo held up a silencing hand. “You did stumble across something, Lieutenant. You weren't the first. I can't jeopardize any ongoing investigations by telling you more, but rest assured that you're in no danger as long as you follow orders. Until this affair is concluded—and I'm assured that will be very soon—you and Sergeant Myell will be in protective custody on Mainship. There are too many people who would benefit if your voices fell silent.”

Jodenny knew how Myell would feel about protective custody. “Surely there's another way, sir.”

“Follow your orders, Lieutenant,” Umbundo said.

He stood, nodded at Picariello and Al-Banna, and departed without any further word. Jodenny watched him, agape. That was all he had to say?

“A few days of relaxing in a VIP suite won't harm you, Lieutenant,” Picariello said. “Sergeant Myell can stay in transient berthing.”