“The Thek do nothing by halves, do they?”
“They have been exercised, if you can imagine a Thek agitated,” Sassinak went on, getting to the real meat of the cathedral’s findings, “about the planetary piracies and patiently waiting for us to do something constructive about the problem. The intended rape of Ireta has forced them, with deep regret, to interfere.” Just then, Dupaynil entered. “On cue, for I have good news for you. Commander. Names, only one of which was familiar to me.” She beckoned the Intelligence officer to take a seat as she leaned forward to type information on the terminal. “Parehandri is so conveniently placed for this sort of operation…”
“Inspector General Parehandri?” Fordeliton exclaimed shocked.
“The same.” Lunzie chuckled cynically. “It makes sense to have a conspirator placed high in Exploratory, Evaluation, and Colonization. He’d know exactly which planetary plums were ready to be plucked.”
Kai and Varian regarded her with stunned expressions.
“Who else, Sassinak?” Lunzie asked.
She looked up from the visual display with a smug smile. “The Sek of Formalhaut, Aidkisaga IX, is a Federation Councillor of Internal Affairs.” She noticed Lunzie’s startled reaction but went on when she saw Lunzie close her lips tightly. “One now understands just how his private fortune was accrued. Lutpostig appears to be the Governor of Diplo, a heavyworlder planet. How convenient! Paraden, it will not surprise you to discover, owns the company which supplied the grounded transport ship.”
“We could never have counted on uncovering duplicity at that level. Commander,”.was Dupaynil’s quiet assessment. He frowned slightly. “It strikes me as highly unusual for a man at Cruss’ level to know such names.”
“He didn’t,” Sassinak replied equably. “He was only vaguely aware that Commissioner Paraden was involved. The Thek extrapolated from what he could tell them of recruitment procedures, suppliers, and what they evidently extracted from the transport’s data banks.”
“But how can we use the information they obtained?” Dupaynil asked.
“With great caution, equal duplicity and superior cunning. Commander, and undoubtedly some long and ardent discussions with the Sector Intelligence Bureau. Fortunately, for my hypersuspicious nature, I’ve known Admiral Coromell for years and trust him implicitly…”
“You know Admiral Coromell?” Lunzie asked, amazed.
“We are in the same fleet, dear ancestress. And knowing where to look for one’s culprits is more than half the battle, even those so highly placed.” Sassinak saw her thoughtful look and went on briskly. “I have been given sailing orders, too. So, Fordeliton, brush up on your eloquence and see whom you can recruit from among the Iretans. Kai, Varian, Lunzie, I’ll have Borander return you to your camp with any supplies you might need to tide you over until the ARCT-10 arrives. Just one more thing…” and she swiveled her chair about, turning to the rank of cabinets behind her and opening one with a thumblock. She heard Lunzie’s sigh of satisfaction as the squatty little brandy bottles came into view.
“Clean glasses. Ford - I’ve a toast to propose.” And when all stood with their glasses ready, she expanded Lunzie’s brief presentation: “To the brave, ingenious, and honored survivors of this planet… including the dinosaurs.”
That got a smile from all of them, and a chuckle as the smooth brandy slid down. Revived by the brandy’s kick, Kai and Varian rose, eager to get back to their camp. The Thek decision had given them both a lot to look forward to, and plenty of work.
“Kai, Varian, you go on without me,” Lunzie said, surprising the co-leaders but not Sassinak. “I’d like a little while longer with this relative of mine.” She turned to Sassinak, a bit shy and stiff suddenly.
In the flurry of parting, Sassinak rather hoped she knew what might be coming. After all, Varian would have her animals to study; Kai would have his minerals to mine… what would Lunzie have? Nothing. She’d be picked up by the ARCT-10; she’d try to find a recertification course to bring her up to date in medicine, and then she’d hire out for something else. Not the sort of life Sassinak would want. Even if she’d been a doctor.
“Let’s eat here,” she said, as Kai and Varian, escorted by Ford, went off down the corridor. “It’s an awkward time for them in the messhall, right between shifts.”
“Oh. Fine.” Lunzie wandered around the office as Sassinak ordered the meal, looking at the pictures and the crystal fish. “That’s my favorite,” said Sassinak of the fish. “After the desk. This thing is my great hunk of self-indulgence.”
“Doesn’t seem to have hurt you much,” said Lunzie, with a bite to it.
Sassinak laughed. “I saw it fifteen years ago, saved for seven years. The place makes them one at a time and won’t start one on credit. They spent two years building it, and then for five years it sat in storage until I had a place to put it.”
“Umm.” Lunzie’s eyes slid across hers, then came back.
“As near as I can make it, that Thek conference lasted four and a half hours,” Sassinak said, running her finger around her damp collar. She’d loosen it once lunch had been served. Right now she had to loosen up Lunzie. She held up the bottle. “Wouldn’t you recommend another shot. Doctor Mespil. Purely medicinal, of course.”
“If this old fool can prescribe a similar dose for herself?” Lunzie’s smile was little more natural as Sassinak filled both their glasses with a generous tot.
“Thanks.”
Before they’d finished savoring the brandy, two stewards brought trays heaped with food: thinly sliced sandwiches, two bowls of soup, bowls of fried delicacies, fresh fruit obviously bartered from the Iretans.
Lunzie shook her head. “You Fleet people! And I always thought a military life in space was austere!”
“It can be.” Sassinak tasted her soup and nodded. Another one of her favorite cook’s creative successes. The stewards smiled and withdrew. Now Sassinak loosened her tunic. “There are certain… mmm… perks that come with rank and age.”
“Mostly rank, I’d guess. I’m happy for you, Sass, you seem to have earned a lot of respect, and you’re clearly suited to your life.”
For some reason this made Sassinak vaguely uneasy. “Well… I like it. Always have. It’s not all this pleasant, of course.”
“No? Have you seen combat often?”
“Often enough. Cruise before this one, we were boarded. Someone even took a potshot at me.”
That caught Lunzie with her spoon stopped halfway to her mouth, and she put it down safely in the soup before asking more.
“Boarded? I didn’t know that happened in… I mean, a Fleet cruiser?”
“That’s exactly the reaction of the Board of Inquiry. It seemed like a good idea at the time, though, Lunzie.” Far from being upset by her great-great-great as a listener, Sassinak discovered a certain catharsis easing tension, almost as beneficial as medication. And just the thread of a new thought, bearing on the information the Thek had extracted. “My Exec had a shipload of slaves to get out of that system ASAP.” She told Lunzie the whole story, backing and filling as necessary.
“And you’d been a slave… you knew…” Lunzie murmured softly.
There was more understanding in that tone than Sassinak could well stand; she changed the subject again, surprised to find herself mentioning another problem.
“Yes, and as for crew loyalty, by and large you’re right. But not entirely. For instance,” and Sassinak leaned back in her chair, regarding her guest with a measuring glance, “right now, I’m fairly sure that we have an informer aboard: someone in the pay of any one of those prestigious names we’ve been made privy to. Dupaynil and I have scanned and dissected the records of everyone on board and it hasn’t done us a bit of good. We can’t find tampering or inconsistencies or service lapses. But we have got a saboteur. My crew ‘re all starting to suspect each other. You can imagine what that does to morale!” Lunzie nodded, eyes sharpening. “The timid ones came to me, wanting me, of all things, to arrest our heavyworlders. As if heavyworlders were the Jonahs.” She noticed Lunzie’s startled expression. “And the next thing will be some political movement or other. There has to be a way to find the rotter, but I confess I’m stymied. And I particularly want the bugger found before any hint of what we’ve discovered here on Ireta can possibly leak.”