The Outback Stars

CHAPTER


TWENTY-SEVEN





J

odenny stared at the young woman she’d known as AT Ishikawa. “Agent Ishikawa? But you’re only eighteen years old.” Ishikawa grinned.

“Twenty-four, Lieutenant. I only look eighteen.” The four of them had moved up to the command module. Myell had taken a seat but Jodenny was standing by the windows, beyond which DNGOs arced and flew through the shaft. Osherman said, “The two of you have gotten yourself tangled up in a fleet-wide in-vestigation that’s included year-long operations on several ships, in-cluding the Yangtze and Aral Sea. Your initiative is appreciated, but you’re jeopardizing a case much larger than you can imagine.”



Only he could mix praise and recrimination so deftly. Jodenny didn’t care if he was unhappy with her. If someone had actually taken the time to clue her into the smugglers operating in her own depart-ment, she wouldn’t have stumbled into it like a woman in a darkened room full of furniture. The idea of Osherman working for the In-spector General left her cold. He was a spy—a legal spy, a spy out for the greater good of Team Space, but a spy nonetheless.



“They’re reprogramming the dingoes, aren’t they?” Myell asked.

“Using master chips to give them off-the-book commands.”



Osherman said, “Obviously I can’t confirm anything. I have a duty to protect the integrity of this investigation.”



“What about a duty to protect Sergeant Myell’s life?” Jodenny re-membered him limp on the floor of the observation module. “Circe nearly killed him because she had one of those damned chips in her.”



“It wasn’t Circe,” Myell said.



Jodenny gave him an inquisitive look but he was focused inward, on something only he could see. “The hull markings were wrong,” he said. “I remember that now. It was Castalia, the unit stolen back at Kookaburra.”



Osherman’s expression gave away nothing. “It doesn’t matter. The people who’ve subverted the dingoes—well, let’s just say they didn’t realize they had glitched the command routines that kick in during a General Quarters. In my opinion it was truly an accident.”



“The people who’ve subverted the dingoes,” Jodenny repeated the phrase. She focused on the tower shaft, where the DNGO lights were entrancing, almost hypnotic. “Chief Chiba, because nothing could go on in Repair that he didn’t have a hand in. Lieutenant Quenger, who went to the academy with Lieutenant Anzo—the same lieutenant who delayed reporting Lieutenant Commander Greiger’s accident to the captain and who covered for Chiba and Engel when they stole that dingo during the GQ. She works in Data, so it was easy to falsify the life-pod entries to give them alibis. But she made a mistake and made the report times unrealistic. More people who work for Chiba. Chief Nitta? Was his overdose an accident, or was someone trying to shut him up? What about Commander Matsuda’s disappearance back on Kiwi?”



Osherman stayed silent. Jodenny turned around to stare at him.

“Why? What are they smuggling or stealing? Weapons? Explosives?”



“Leave it alone, Lieutenant,” Osherman said. “You did enough harm with your curiosity back in the warehouse district on Mary River. By following Quenger and Nitta like some amateur detective, you almost wrecked our entire operation.”



“Those were your people who tried to detain me?” Jodenny had never told Myell about the events that had brought her to his brother’s farm and could see the curiosity on his face.



“I can’t—” Osherman started.



Ishikawa said, “It doesn’t hurt for her to know that, sir, and she’s earned it. Yes, Lieutenant. It was a joint effort between Team Space and the local authorities. We couldn’t afford to let you make Lieu-tenant Quenger suspicious. If you’d come with us, we could have ex-plained things there and then. But you ran, which increased suspicion that you were somehow involved or trying to get involved.”



Outside the shaft, a DNGO hovered and spun in place, its lights blinking. Jodenny had the uncomfortable feeling it was eavesdrop-ping.

“What did I ever do to warrant suspicion?”



Osherman grimaced. “You called in an admiral’s favor at Fleet to get reassigned to this ship ahead of any other eligible lieutenant. Then you got yourself put in charge of Underway Stores, the very center of our investigation. No one knew what your motives or plans were.”



“My motives…” Jodenny shook her head. “My only motive was to do the job I’m supposed to do.”



Ishikawa was eyeing the DNGO outside the window. Her hand moved across the controls, and it flew off. “On Mary River, you evaded our people and disappeared. We didn’t realize you’d gotten out of town until our people saw you return with Sergeant Myell. There was a great discussion then about whether or not to remove you from the equation, but Commander Osherman believed it would be best to keep you. He’s always been your advocate.”



“Have you?” Jodenny asked.



Osherman’s gaze was level. “You doubt it?”



She couldn’t say, one way or the other. The only comfort was that if Ishikawa was telling the truth, then they probably didn’t know about her and Myell’s trip through the Mother Sphere. “Did you make that complaint about fraternization?”



“There was no complaint,” Osherman admitted. “Lieutenant Com-mander Wildstein was asked to convince you to transfer Sergeant Myell. We’ve been worried about his curiosity as much as yours.”



But Wildstein had done a piss-poor job, and that had probably been deliberate. Certainly she could have come down harder on Jodenny, made the fraternization issue a bigger leverage point.



“I didn’t ask for Underway Stores. Why wasn’t Quenger put in charge?” Jodenny asked. “You might have had more opportunity to find out how their operations work.”



“Captain Umbundo had his own ideas,” Osherman said tightly. Jo-denny tried to put herself in the same position as the captain— knowing there were thieves on his ship, but unable to properly chase them down because of an outside investigation. Realizing how poor leadership was contributing to the problem, but prevented from shift-ing or punishing personnel while the investigation continued. Jo-denny had simply been a wild card thrown into the mix.




Myell spoke up from where he’d been watching the conversation.

“What about the dingoes? If some of them are operating indepen-dent of Core, what’s to prevent another accident?”



Ishikawa responded. “We don’t know how many have been com-promised, Sergeant, and we can’t do a full inspection without scaring the people we’re trying to catch.”



“I’m not sending any of my people into the slots knowing they could be killed,” Jodenny said.



Osherman said, “Once we get to Warramala this will all be over. We’ve asked the captain not to conduct any more drills. He’s not happy, but he understands.”



Myell didn’t look happy, either. “What if there’s a real emergency?”



“Then this ship will have bigger problems than a bunch of rogue dingoes,” Osherman said. “Lieutenant Scott, it’s vitally important that you and Sergeant Myell understand how delicate this operation is. You can’t discuss it once we leave this room. I’ll tell you right now that there are several places being monitored—”



“You’re listening in on my division?” Jodenny asked.



“—as are several communications channels, gibs, imail, and per-sonal imail.”



“Personal accounts are protected,” Myell said.



“Not if there’s a court order.” Osherman cocked his head in con-sideration. “Is there something you’d like to tell us, Sergeant?”



“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jodenny said. “He nearly died.”



“We don’t know everyone who’s involved, and so everyone’s a sus-pect. Is everyone here clear? No talking about this. No confiding in anyone. Word gets out, more lives might be lost.”



“More?” Jodenny asked sharply. “Who?”



“I can’t say.” Osherman turned to Myell. “Do we have your coop-eration, Sergeant?”



“Yes, sir,” he said, without enthusiasm.



“Lieutenant Scott?”



“I don’t like it,” she said. Beyond the window, another DNGO

de-scended from the shaft and blinked at them, its hull shiny and reflective.



“You don’t have to.” Osherman stood abruptly. “As far as anyone knows—and if anyone should ask you—Athena glitched doing ex-actly what Core was telling her to do. Agent Ishikawa will take care of the log entries. Please leave your gibs with me, and I’ll make sure they’re returned to you in the morning.”



Jodenny and Myell caught an empty tram back to Mainship and sat in seats across from each other. Myell kept his gaze on the advertise-ments blinking overhead. Jodenny wondered who else in the Supply Department could possibly be working undercover. Surely not just Ishikawa, an able technician without access to the wardroom or chiefs’ mess. Maybe an officer like Weaver, who always had a sharp question or two. Ysten? Surely not. The truth was she didn’t know who she could really trust. Meanwhile she had to sit back, keep silent, and watch the entire Supply Department be compromised.



Forgetting that Osherman had confiscated her gib, she reached for it and grasped only empty air. Myell eyed her speculatively. “You did good work today,” she told him.



He didn’t need her to tell him that. He was self-sufficient beyond her measure, able to make his own decisions without outside influ-ence. Maybe he had learned that in the hold, but Jodenny suspected the skill could be traced back to a failed farm on Baiame.



“Didn’t get us anywhere, did it?” Myell asked, but she had no answer.



* * * *



T

he next morning Jodenny sent Faddig to conduct quarters and holed up in her office, unable to face the fact that Osherman’s investi-gation and the unmasked smuggling ring were going to stain Under-way Stores, the Supply Department, and the Aral Sea as a whole. The scandal would blight Team Space itself. Any hopes she’d had for a good tour were gone. Commodore Campos had been right. Some-one else should have taken the job.



“Hey, Lieutenant.” Gallivan knocked at her hatch. “Tonight’s your last chance to hear me play over on the Rocks. My going-away party.”



“Oh,” she said. “Sure. What time?”



“Starts right after dinner. Bring your dancing shoes.”



Left alone again, Jodenny pulled up the only vid she had of her, Jem, and Dyanne, taken in the wardroom of the Yangtze. Try as she might, she couldn’t imagine what advice Jem would give her in a time like this. The vid was still on display when Myell returned from quarters.



“Anything exciting going on?” she asked as she signed off on COSALs.



“No, ma’am.”



He sounded as glum as she felt. Jodenny glanced up and saw him staring at the vid.



“Lieutenant Commander Ross and Lieutenant Owens,” she said.



“Friends of yours?”



“Taught me everything I know.”



“What would they say about this?”



Jodenny bristled. “They would tell me to follow orders, and that’s exactly what you and I are going to do.”



“You don’t know that Commander Osherman is telling the truth,” Myell said. “He could be just as much a part of it as anyone else.”



Jodenny pressed the palms of her hands against her eyes. “Do you know something I don’t, Sergeant? Do you have proof he’s lying? Be-cause otherwise he’s an official investigator appointed by Team Space and operating with the authority of the admiralty, and anything you or I do could be construed as obstructing justice. You may not value your career, but I don’t intend to be a lieutenant all my life. Is that clear?”



“Yes, ma’am,” Myell said tightly.



He was gone by the time she uncovered her eyes.



Later that morning she was on her way to the Flats when she bumped into Chang. He handed her a gib. “I was told you needed this, Lieutenant.”



Not her own gib, which Osherman still had; Jodenny opened it up and saw the serial chip had been dug out.



Chang gave her a wink. “See you later.”



Jodenny palmed the hot gib off into her pocket, where it burned against her thigh for the entire DIVO meeting.



“Lieutenant,” Al-Banna said at the end of it, “I hear dinner in the wardroom has become exceptionally popular. When were you plan-ning on inviting me?”



“You’re welcome anytime, sir.”



“I’ll be there tonight,” Al-Banna said.



After the meeting Jodenny locked herself in her cabin. The hot gib linked directly to a personal pocket server. Myell had charted DNGO

glitches over the previous six months. The graph showed an increase whenever the Aral Sea took on supplies, which didn’t sur-prise her. The DNGOs were at their busiest then. But every month there were also increases in DNGO glitches in the hours just before planetfall, when the towers slotted for that destination were released into orbit.



“Need to check Bowels,” Myell wrote several minutes later. “Don’t trust Osherman.”



The man just never gave up. But Jodenny understood what he was trying to say. If the DNGOs were rerouting Team Space property into the towers for smuggling purposes then the DCS system was compromised. A visual inspection of the conveyance belts would confirm or deny it. She checked her watch. The towers destined for Warramala would start to be released at oh-five-hundred.




“No,” she wrote back. “Not your concern. Do not, repeat, do not, go to Bowels.”



She’d go herself, and keep Myell out of it. Because when all was said and done, Jodenny didn’t know if she trusted Osherman either.



* * * *