The Serrano Connection (102 page)

"Yes. Well. I suppose you can get back to that report you were working on . . ."

Esmay could feel his gaze on her as she walked off. She knew he had sensed some difference, but couldn't pinpoint it. She could . . . and was amazed that she had never bothered to learn such simple things before. She saw Casea Ferradi coming toward her, and assumed the expression Marta had recommended. Sure enough, Casea almost stumbled.

"Lieutenant Suiza—"

"Hello, Casea," Esmay said, inwardly amazed and delighted.

"You're—I thought you were on leave."

"I'm back," Esmay said. "But busy—see you later." It could be fun. It could actually be fun. Buoyed up by that thought, she smiled serenely at Admiral Hornan around the next corner.

Barin came to attention. "Ensign Serrano reporting, sir."

His grandmother looked up. "At ease, Ensign. Have a seat. We have family business to discuss."

Family business did not put him at ease, but he sat and waited. His grandmother sighed.

"Marta Saenz tells me that you and Lieutenant Suiza had a row over Brun Meager."

Barin almost let his jaw drop, but tightened it in time. "That's . . . not exactly how it happened, sir."

"Mmm. Well, however it happened, and whatever the current status of your feeling for Lieutenant Suiza may be, I wanted you to know that from my perspective, as your grandmother, I have no advice to give. About her, at least. About someone else you've been seen with, I have the advice you can probably guess. As an admiral, I would like to see Lieutenant Suiza perform at her best—she has a strikingly good best—and would like whatever circumstances might contribute to that end, to happen. So if you feel you can do her some good, go ahead."

"She's—not speaking to me."

"Are you sure? Perhaps she thinks you're not speaking to her. Especially since there are others who might have an interest in keeping you two apart."

"Lieutenant Ferradi—" Barin said, through clenched teeth.

His grandmother looked at him as if he were a toddler; he knew that look. "Among others. Barin, you're old enough to know how our family name attracts envy as well as admiration. Lieutenant Suiza's rapid rise to fame and promotion has had a similar effect. It has come to my attention that there are people who feel it in their interests to have you and Lieutenant Suiza at cross purposes. If you did not care for her, it would be one thing, but since you do, it seems to me that it is a matter of family honor not to let them succeed. Subject, of course, to your own feelings."

"Ah . . . yes, sir—Grandmother."

She gave him a frank grin. "Sir Grandmother must be an unusual title, but I'll take it. Seriously, Barin—do you love this woman?"

"I thought I did, but—"

"Well, think again. Think, but also feel. It is not for me to play Cupid; if you two are meant for each other, you shouldn't need a Cupid. But take nothing for granted. Clear?"

"Yes . . . Grandmother."

"Good. If there's fallout, I'll deal with it. I trust your judgement, Barin—just be sure you have enough data to base it on." She paused, but he said nothing. What was there to say? With a crisp nod, she reverted from grandmother to admiral. "Now—how's that investigation of Lieutenant Ferradi coming?"

"I don't know," Barin said. "Both my captain and my exec told me to keep my nose somewhere else, so I have."

"Amazing," his grandmother murmured, in a tone that made his ears heat up. "Well, we're closing in on our active dates—it would be a help to me to know what's going on. I'd like you to go mention that to Heris, and let her murmur it to your captain's ear—or whatever it takes. Klaus still wants my job, and since he hasn't commanded anything but a desk for the past nineteen years, I'm unwilling to let him make a hash of it. Your ostensible message to Heris is that we're having a family celebration since the Fleet Birthday festivities will be very restrained this year. This is what you can—and should—tell anyone. But carry this—" she handed over a data strip. "For her hand only, and use the family handshake."

"Yes, sir."

"Dismissed."

"She's a natural-born weasel," Koutsoudas said, pointing out the graphic he had made of Lieutenant Ferradi's illicit activities in the legal database. "If we hadn't had that primed datawand, she might've got away with it, even with me on scan."

"Well, what has she done?" asked Captain Escovar.

"She used Pell's access codes into the first level, and then someone else's—would you believe Admiral Hornan's?"

"How'd she get those?"

"I have no idea, sir." Koutsoudas was watching the vid screen now, on which Lieutenant Ferradi's neat blonde head was bent studiously over a console. "Possibly from Pell . . . and while it's none of my business, you should probably know there's rumors that Pell's been called in for an off-cycle physical."

"So he has," Escovar said.

"And three other master chiefs here as well . . . it's making some of us nervous, tell you the truth."

"In what way?"

"Beyond my area of expertise, sir." Koutsoudas had the expression of a man not in the mood to trust anyone.

"Mm. Concerns have been expressed at higher levels than mine, as well."

"Just as well, sir. Ah—there she goes." Onscreen, Ferradi inserted her datawand into a port in the console. "Bet she inputs a file this time—look at her left hand. Yeah—there it is." On Koutsoudas' graphic, an orange line snaked along a tangle of other lines, and made its way into a blue box, where it flashed steadily. "Altering data, sir: that's one hundred percent clear."

"Do we know what the data were prior to alteration?"

"I don't, no sir. But I do know there was a secure backup made last night, blind copy to a storage unit she'll never find. And the trace on her wand will prove she altered something, and where in the file it is."

"These are very serious charges, Commander Escovar," Admiral Hornan said. "I've found Lieutenant Ferradi to be a most efficient officer . . ." His glance at Barin mixed suspicion and resentment in equal portions. Barin reminded himself that this man was his grandmother's rival.

"The admiral is right—these are serious charges. That is why I brought them to you rather than calling Lieutenant Ferradi in myself. Under the circumstances—political as well as military—it seemed preferable to have you in on this from the beginning—"

"Not the beginning, if you've already done the investigation—"

"Only enough to be sure the original allegation was founded on fact, admiral. There's more to do—"

"Well, let's just hear her side of it—" Hornan touched his comunit. "Lieutenant Ferradi, would you come in, please?"

"Right away, Admiral." The slightest pause, then, "Should I bring the latest information from that database search the admiral asked about?"

"Uh—not right now, Lieutenant." A flush crept up Hornan's neck. Barin dared a sidelong glance at Escovar and saw that he had not missed it. So . . . just how deep into this was Hornan?

In only a few moments, Casea Ferradi came into the admiral's office, wide-eyed and smiling, a smile that widened into a quick grin meant to be complicit when she saw Barin, and sobered when no one smiled back.

"Admiral?"

"Casea—Lieutenant—these officers have made some serious charges against you. I want to know what you have to say."

"Against me?" For just an instant, in profile, Barin saw a flicker that might have been panic, but her calm returned. "Why—what am I supposed to have done?" She looked at Barin. "Did I bother poor Ensign Serrano? I didn't mean to . . ."

Hornan cleared his throat. "No . . . Lieutenant, I must ask: have you accessed any Fleet records which you are not cleared to access?"

"Of course not," Ferradi said. "Not without specific orders to do so."

"Which would give you authorization, yes. Are you sure of that?"

"Yes, Admiral," Ferradi said. Barin watched the pulse in her neck beat a little faster.

"Have you altered any data in any records whatsoever?"

"You mean like—watch records or something? No, sir."

"Or in a database? Have you ever intruded into a database and altered records?"

"Not without specific orders to do so, no, Admiral." But that telltale pulse was faster now.

"Then if I told you that you were alleged to have intruded into the records of the investigations surrounding the mutiny on
Despite
, and alleged to have changed certain files containing interview data on Lieutenant Esmay Suiza, you would deny it."

"I would, Admiral." Ferradi flushed suddenly. "I deny it absolutely, and moreover I would consider the source." She rounded on Barin. "Ensign Serrano, Admiral, has a grudge against me . . . he thought his family position gave him a right to . . . to take liberties beyond his rank. I had to be quite firm with him and he knows I could have reported him for harrassment. He probably made up this nonsense just to get back at me—"

Barin felt the blood rushing to his head, but a stern look from Escovar kept him silent. Admiral Hornan gave a short nod in Barin's direction, and cocked his head at Escovar.

"Well, Commander? I find the foolish behavior of a hot-blooded young man of a high-status family more likely than illegal acts by someone like Lieutenant Ferradi . . ."

"Admiral, with all due respect, that won't do. Lieutenant Ferradi was pursuing Ensign Serrano, not the other way around. I knew it, and so did everyone else on the ship. You will find references to Lieutenant Ferradi's behavior in her previous fitness reports; her present position in the last promotion cohort of her class reflects that behavior."

"That's not true!" Ferradi said. Her high color was patchy now, flushing and fading on those perfect cheekbones.

"And while her sexual proclivities would not, in themselves, be cause for disciplinary action as long as she did not interfere with anyone's fitness for duty, her intrusion into secured databases, her altering of the data, and her lies about other officers—including Ensign Serrano—would be."

"And you think you have proof of this?" Hornan asked. Barin watched Ferradi pale, as the change in his tone and expression got through to her. He could almost feel sympathy, because in that moment Hornan was changing sides, preparing to divest himself of an embarrassment.

"Yes. We have the records of such intrusion, from a datawand initialized for Lieutenant Ferradi, along with vid records of her using it that are contemporaneous with the intrusion and alteration."

"I didn't . . ." Ferradi breathed. But the admiral did not look at her now.

"How detailed are these records?"

"Extremely, Admiral. They include all the authorization codes she used to complete her intrusion, and to fake—I presume—the orders for the alterations."

Now the admiral did look at Ferradi, and Barin hoped very much no such look would ever be turned on him. "I would have to see such proof," he said slowly, with almost no expression. "But if you have it—"

"We do, Admiral."

"Then Lieutenant Ferradi is, as you say, facing serious charges. Lieutenant, your datawand, if you please."

Ferradi pulled it out slowly, and laid it on the admiral's desk.

"And that report you were working on is—where, Lieutenant?"

"On my desk, Admiral. But the admiral knows who—"

"You will consider yourself confined to quarters, Lieutenant. You will speak to no one except the investigating officer, when such has been appointed."

"But Admiral—it's a plot—it's—"

"Dismissed, Lieutenant."

Barin shivered as she turned and passed him. He had disliked her; he had come to despise her; for what she had almost done to Esmay, he could have hated her. But he would have wished on no one the devastation he saw deep in those violet eyes.

When the door had closed, Escovar said, "Admiral—she used your access codes. I'm afraid there's no way to keep that out of the records."

"Well—she would, wouldn't she, if she wanted to alter data? She'd have to have someone with enough authority."

"Did you give her those codes?"

Hornan pulled himself up. "Commander, I may have been an idiot, but you are not the person who will handle the investigation of this matter. It goes to internal security, as you very well know. And I will answer their questions, to the best of my ability, but not yours." He paused, then went on. "I suppose you're going to tell me I now have to revise my opinion of Lieutenant Suiza?"

"No, Admiral, I'm not. What the admiral thinks of Lieutenant Suiza is the admiral's business; she's not my officer. But if the data are tainted—"

"Oh yes, oh yes." Hornan waved a hand. "First things first. We have to inform internal security, and then Grand Admiral Savanche. He's going to be so pleased about this! Just what he needs, something else to worry about—" He hit the comunit control so hard it double-buzzed. "Get me internal security—"