Chapter 8 - Opening Moves

Despite Colonel Newhart's warning about a visit from Fleet Admiral Tucker, our night passed undisturbed. Therefore, the next morning found Linda and me marching to Colonel Newhart's office. Sarah had slipped off earlier promising to try to find a good location to listen to conversations between various DECO personnel. We discovered Colonel Newhart's office filled with confused and upset soldiers.

The Colonel spotted us when we arrived and whispered to a sergeant who came over to speak with us. "Commander, Lieutenant, if you can come with me."

We followed the man, who appeared to be thirty-four, far older than the normal marine. He led us to a small conference room and closed the door before pulling out a small box I recognized as a scrambler used to block the AIs usual cameras and microphones.

Once the sergeant was sure the room was secure he offered us a textbook salute. "Sergeant Rincon, sir. Sorry to bring you out of the office, but we just received word that the Sa'arm broke through one of our containment pickets and a hive sphere has appeared at one of the uninhabited systems just past Alpha Centauri. Casualties are low, but there are now several new planets threatened by this expansion, and our department is being tasked with providing additional supplies to the colonies now at risk. Unfortunately, it means having you train the Lieutenant by auditing our procedures will be impossible."

Linda gasped, but I kept my face impassive. "That's not a surprise. The Sa'arm have been putting pressure all along the front, so they were sure to breakthrough eventually. Please tell the Colonel that I hope everything can be settled soon."

Sergeant Rincon winked. "I'm sure it will be, and I hope your real investigation works out."

The man turned and left the room leaving Linda and I sitting quietly. Linda sighed and pulled my PDA out again, examining some notes she had made the night before.

"What should we do now?" Linda asked.

I shrugged. "Well one of Colonel Newhart's comments from last night gives me an idea. We could play bull in a china shop and wander into some random department and ask to see something. Or we could just wander and look like we are hunting for something."

Linda giggled. "How about you take me on a tour and at each department come up with some dubious claim of a violation we should investigate. The reactions might be interesting."

My laugh joined hers and moments later we were wandering the halls. At each department we would step inside and look around and I would explain to Linda what the people there did and about any previous investigations that touched their areas. It was sad, but the only department that I could say nothing about was the Marine Intelligence command of M2. They were chronically understaffed and only received what fragments of intelligence that the other commands were willing to give them, but twice they accurately predicted Sa'arm breakouts and their prompt and clear reports saved lives and even allowed the marines at Canus One to defeat the initial Sa'arm landing on their world.

Linda was shocked by some of the stories I had to tell. The Confederacy and the CAP testing supposedly removed all of the scum from selection, but the truism of power corrupting had proved accurate and despite the screening there were a few bad apples.

We were walking down a hallway after leaving the new offices of the Fleet Auxiliary. The man in charge there had practically pushed me out after I talked about the disappearance of one of the scout vessels they had sent out. The commander of the missing ship had no previous military command and more than a few officers suspected that the man had decided to work with the Cosca and not return to the Confederacy. Linda was shaking her head at the anger the man showed as we discussed the disappearance when a woman suddenly came out of a doorway and ran into me.

My Confederacy improved reflexes meant that I only stumbled. The woman merely came to a halt and glared at me as I recovered my balance. As I looked up at her I was surprised by what I saw.

The woman was wearing a professional pantsuit that belonged in some corporate boardroom. Her brown hair was in a professional and extreme cut as she glared at me.

"Explain yourself soldier!" she hissed. "What are you doing wandering the halls in this section of the ship. This is DECO's territory!"

I could see Linda about to speak, but I used my left hand to grab her hand and squeeze before I responded. "I'm sorry. Is there a new regulation that the military not enter these corridors? I saw no signs and the AI did not alert us."

The woman just glared at me. "Do you have a reason to be here?"

I shrugged. "Sorry ma'am. I'm Commander Norman Nelson. I work in the Internal Affairs department. I brought Lieutenant Jackson here to the Success for some training, but a military emergency disrupted our plans. I figured I could give her a tour of the ship and tell her about some previous investigations."

"Why not remain in the military corridors?" the woman hissed.

"I thought DECO was still part of the Confederacy, and that you coordinated with the rest of the military. Are you saying you don't?" I answered.

The woman scowled. "Tell me soldier, what is your CAP and why should I help you?"

This surprised me and I could see victory in her eyes as my face showed a reaction to her comment. "What does that matter?" I asked. "Aren't we all part of the same Confederacy?"

The woman sniffed. It was like she did not want to say more, but finally she shrugged. "It's nothing I guess. But you are only a Commander."

It was my time to smile. "Internal Affairs doesn't really have any higher ranks for its investigators. But then again we don't really have a place in the table of organization either. However, since you seem to be somewhat reasonable I'll tell you I had a CAP of seven point five."

The woman looked both impressed and shocked. "Wait! You have that good of a score and you are slaving away chasing petty crimes against the drones? Why aren't you doing something important to help save the true cream of humanity?"

I could feel Linda's anger and shock, but mentally stomped on my own before it became visible. I carefully spoke to the woman. "I'm sorry I just can't think that way, Miss..." I made the last word into a question and the woman blinked.

"Oh gosh, sorry. Jennifer Gates. I'm in charge of the entire pickup program. It's a bloody disaster if you ask me. We should just gather up the eights and higher CAPS and move them to safety. Earth is doomed and we are wasting so much time picking-up the drones. Heck, too many of your soldier friends take concubines who could only count to twenty with their shoes off, and we expect their children to be better?" the woman said with a snort.

"Wow, I guess you have a high CAP then," I said, pretending to be awed. I gave Linda another squeeze hoping she would realize just how important this accidental conversation might be.

"It's a nine two," the woman said preening just a little. "But what do you expect. There isn't a person in my department with a score less than eight. I won't have them. If you want one like that then hunt down that mouse Traci over in Allocation. She's only got a seven eight, and pretends that her score is perfectly fine."

I gave Linda a nudge. She caught my hint and spoke. "So how complex is it setting up all the pickups? I mean with so many people only scoring in the six range isn't it hard to find more people for your department?" The young lieutenant made it sound just slightly scornful and Miss Bates smiled as if she found a new friend.

"Of course it is," she said. "But my department doesn't need many people. DECO just tracks the pickups and keeps track of who has been picked up. Well, that is our primary function. We do set up the special pickups when a truly worthy candidate is found. It sucks that the navy swipes so many. They always say the man is needed for some new research project, but that ass Tucker is just stockpiling men to keep Miles from his rightful position as head of the directorate."

Linda smiled herself and I was reminded of years ago in high school when the girls who led the popular clique were about to verbally eviscerate some unfortunate man. With a brief nod to both ladies I headed off as Linda began regaling the woman with some tales of other men who had acted above their station.

My hurried retreat led me to one of the many cafeterias in the ship. I decided to stop for a meal. As I was gathering my tray and heading to one of the tables, I felt a presence at my shoulder.

I turned my head and found myself looking at a massive marine. His shoulders had the single stars of a Brigadier General. With my hands full I could not salute so I offered a brief nod and then hurried to the nearest table to set the tray down. It was still clattering as I offered a salute.

The General returned a sloppy salute and then gave me a look that stiffened my spine. "So, why are you here?" he asked me.

"Sir?" I responded.

"Tell me why you are visiting this ship!" the man commanded.

I sighed. "Sir, Internal Affairs officers are forbidden to speak of their assignments to anyone other than the commanding officer of Internal Affairs or the officer who gave them the assignment. As you are neither, I would be subject to court martial if I spoke."

The man glared at me. "Why do you IA people always have a better backbone than any other officer?" he asked. The question was obviously rhetorical because he continued. "I'm General Clayton. I believe you met my chief-of-staff yesterday."

I thought and then relaxed. "If you mean Major Dupont, I did. I told him that I was here training a new investigator. Unfortunately our planned exercise was canceled by the news of the Sa'arm breakthrough"

The man nodded. "So what will you do then?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I need to check on how we can return. I know that the courier we came on left shortly after Major MacRoy finished giving the General's report, so I can't use that to return. I was giving my trainee a tour of the departments and telling her a little about previous investigations, so she'd know some things to look for."

The man looked grim. "And will do you that with my department?"

"Standards? I could, but I don't remember any previous issues with your department. I won't say it has a wonderful reputation, but when there have been problems they have come from Majors and Colonels who decide to cut corners in an attempt to appear more efficient. If anything your department is somewhat allied to mine since you try to make sure that corners aren't cut."

General Clayton relaxed and waved his hand towards the table. "Sit. I'm sure you are hungry."

I sat down and the General took the seat across from me. He looked around a bit nervously, but once he was sure that no one was listening in to the conversation whispered. "Sorry. At first I thought you might be investigating me, and then I was hoping you were investigating my problems."

"Your problems?" I whispered back.

He nodded. "There have been four shipments of fighters destined for some of the Midway class carriers where the shield generators in the fighters when they arrived were substandard. A maintenance crew on one carrier tore one unit apart trying to figure out what the problem was. Every part matched the schematic they had, but when you hold a detector up to the field, the field strength is one quarter what it should be. I know that somehow the schematic has been tampered with, but haven't been able to find out how."

I shook my head. "I've heard nothing about that in the Borneo District, but they only have one Marine Carrier, and its been mostly regulated to training missions for now. Right now the Navy has taken the lead in the district."

General Clayton nodded. "You came in on the Borneo courier, so I guessed you were from that district. I didn't realize that they had so few carriers. Most districts have been demanding more of the Midway class ships. The new fighters and their ground support abilities are prized."

"Makes sense, but there's no ground fighting back in the district right now and the command there is trying to make sure that any ground fighting is on Sa'arm planets. But if you have a problem with the schematics, have you asked the AI for the log of record changes on the design?"

I could see the man blush. "Damn. I forgot that it keeps track of changes. I might be able to replace the bad schematic and find out who changed it."

I shook my head. "No, you'll probably find the change, but I doubt you'll find out who. People who change data usually know enough to cover their tracks. Even when I find manipulated records in my investigations I don't always find out who did it."

The scowl returned, but General Clayton sat there quietly while I finished my lunch. I was trying to think of a way to walk away when he reacted to something occurring behind me. I turned around to see Major Dupont walking in. He had Sarah hanging onto his arm and she was clearly trying to vamp the man.

He looked almost pained as he approached the table. I stood up, thinking to offer a salute when Sarah noticed me and shouted. "Darling!"

My concubine seemed to flow away from the Major and wrap herself around me, covering my neck with kisses. I had to hold her up for when she lifted her legs to encircle my waist and she used my actions to put her lips next to my ear and whisper. "We have problems. Big problems. Get back to our room."

I kept my face impassive and looked over at the Major. "Thank you for bringing my concubine to me," I said. "I hope she wasn't causing any problems."

Major Dupont blushed again. "Other than offering me more kisses than I get from my concubines in a week, she was very accommodating," he said. "But she was in a restricted area when I found her."

"Sarah!" I called out pushing her away. To the two officers it looked rather rough, but Sarah and I had done this before. She played at stumbling away to enhance the illusion that I was upset with her. I held up a finger as if I was about to berate her, but she knelt down and looked up at me.

"No!" she pled. "I did nothing. The hallway was mismarked and I took a wrong turn. As for the kisses, he did rescue me. There was this Admiral who was so upset. He was muttering about how he should have you go through the challenge course with a full pack for allowing me to wander."

I had to struggle to hide a smile as Sarah offered that piece of information. Instead I looked over at Major Dupont as if I was looking for confirmation. The man provided exactly what I need when he nodded. "She's not kidding Commander. He's some new upstart who was picked up about six months ago. They fast tracked his promotion because he was some hot shot at Fort Benning. But he's only a Commodore."

I returned my gaze to Sarah who pretended to be shrinking under my angry glare. Personally I was struggling to keep a stern look in my face, but I managed to growl. "Get back to our room, and stay there. I'll be there shortly to punish you."

Sarah gave a perfect cry of fear and dashed away. She started returning the way she had come in from, but General Clayton helpfully shouted that she needed to exit from the right passage and she changed direction and vanished down the hallway he indicated.

As soon as she was out of sight I sighed and turned back to the general. "I'm sorry," I said. "I should deal with this right away. If I let it go, she might get in deeper trouble next time."

The two officers looked at each other and I could see the knowing look that passed between them. I offered them a salute and after General Clayton returned it I carried my tray to the recycle station and then headed down the passageway following the path Sarah had taken.

I encountered a few others who were hurrying through the corridors on their own errands, but no one spoke to me and I finally came to the room we were staying in. The door was closed, but slid open upon my approach. With a last glance around I stepped inside to find Sarah sitting in the lower bed trying to refrain from laughing.

She saw me enter and lost the battle, bursting into deep laughs as the door closed. "Oh god!" she wheezed between laughs. "I forgot how much fun it was to play the poor concubine who's upset her master."

I was smiling myself. "Well, we can eliminate that General from the suspect list. He was worried about a swapped schematic he discovered. It's actually something he's supposed to deal with, so I gave him a suggestion. We were just sitting together when you arrived with Major Dupont."

She giggled more, although the deep laughs had stopped. "Yeah, The Major was fun. He was so stiff the whole walk to that room after he found you were in that cafeteria. At least he did stop that stupid commodore before he got really nasty."

She could see my concerned look and waved her hands. "Hey, I wasn't even in the hallway. My morning was going well, but the cafeteria I had been in was empty so I wandered a bit. I could see the markings, but there was an argument going on in the hallway and I decided to eavesdrop. The stupid commodore found me standing at the entrance."

"Fine, you hadn't committed a violation," I said grumpily. "I still don't like you taking chances."

Sarah just shook her head. "It was no chance. The worst that could have happened would have been me placating the bastard who caught me outside the hallway with a blowjob. Although I'm not sure he would have wanted one. He might be a commodore now, but the man was so regular army that the individual hairs in his buzz cut were standing at attention."

"And from what we heard, he was picked up from Fort Benning recently, possibly from the same group as our Colonel Yarnway," I mused.

Sarah shook her head. "I couldn't exactly ask that. But while the commodore was standing there and glaring at me some lieutenant ran up with some report for him to read. The man started screaming about how DECO kept sending him unacceptable people and how the losers he was receiving could never become good marines."

I raised an eyebrow. "It sounds like we have a definite suspect here. Anything else?"

Sarah blushed. She started fidgeting and I sighed. I sat across from her and waited as her fidgeting increased. Finally she dove off the bed and started kissing my shoes. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'll cancel it, I promise." She wailed.

"Sarah?" I said.

She had wrapped her arms around my legs and I could feel her tears pouring down my legs. "I met this girl concubine. She was sweet and cute and we got to talking. It turns out that her mistress is about to dump her because her CAP isn't good enough. She's allowed to wander freely and I thought..."

"Who is she?" I asked.

Sarah let go. "Her name is Fate. Frankly her story made no sense. She's a bright girl and obviously very caring, but she said that her mistress demanded that she retest her CAP and when it came out that it had dropped from six four to six one, her mistress declared her a failure and said that she would be exchanging her as soon as she could arrange it."

"Not immediately?" I asked.

Sarah shook her head. "No, I guess that neither the Success nor the Townhouse have any spare concubines. So Miss Gates has to find time to either teleport to a ship conducting pickups and find someone to trade with, or wait for an opportunity to travel to a colony and check there. From what Fate said, this woman..."

I held up a hand. "Let me guess she is very elitist when it comes to CAP and looks down on her concubines. I think I've met her."

Sarah looked surprised. "Well Fate said she dresses in business suits. I understood she works in DECO, but that was all."

I smiled. "Yes, I've met her. Linda should still be with her chatting. I hope Linda understands not to admit her real CAP. So you invited Fate to come here and...."

Sarah blushed. "Well, we can't give anyone to this Miss Gates, but Fate seemed like a really nice girl. She's just turned eighteen a week ago, but she's got a lot of spunk and spirit."

Before I could shake my head an argument broke out outside the room. I dashed to the door to open it and found Linda escorting Miss Gates who was screaming at a cowering girl with brown hair.

"You!" Jennifer screamed. "I know I brought you along, but that was so you could go stumble into some machinery or something! You are worthless! Five months with me, and you not only couldn't improve your CAP, but it dropped a third of a point. I've never heard of anyone so pathetic."

I waved Linda to enter the room without a word. She had to brush against me as she disappeared inside. Once she was out of the way I schooled my face to show no emotion and spoke. "Excuse me. Jennifer Gates, correct? I met you with the Lieutenant about two hours ago."

Jennifer turned to glare at me. She looked me up and down and then sniffed. "Yes, Commander. I remember that conversation. What brings you here?"

I waved behind me. "This is the stateroom they gave me while I'm on the Success. Sorry to bother you, but what is the cause of your shouting?"

Jennifer pointed at her still cowering concubine. "This useless piece of trash," she growled. "She got six months of tutoring from some of the best teachers in the Confederacy and her CAP managed to drop rather than increase. That teaching is supposed to raise her CAP, not lower it! I want to replace her, but there's no way to dump her until I get a chance to go on a survey of colonies or something. And I'm stuck here in Earth orbit for another six months."

The girl whimpered again causing Jennifer to kick her. "Shut up!" Jennifer screamed. "You might be useless to me, but I'm not heartless enough to throw you in a recycler. But if you cause me more trouble I just might."

Jennifer's attitude was angering me, and I found myself struggling to prevent the blood from rushing to my face. Mentally I was performing some rhyming exercises to meditate. Finally I felt I had my emotions under control so I spoke softly. "I guess I'm confused. You make it sound like you were planning on breeding her."

Jennifer smiled. "Oh, that's right, you aren't DECO. Of course I plan to breed her. Humanity needs more high CAP people and the only way to get them is to breed for them. This one had a six four CAP and is pregnant from one of my aides. He has a nine one CAP. But Miles worried that it wasn't enough so all of his people set up tutors and training for concubines. The idea is to raise their CAP, but this one had her CAP decline. She's a failure."

This didn't sound right and I know the frown reached my face because Jennifer's eyes narrowed. "I'm confused," I admitted. "If her CAP had gone up wouldn't that mean she was no longer your concubine? And what if it only went up to six eight or so?"

Jennifer laughed loudly. "Is that all? This loser is the first one of mine who didn't go up at least a full point. I've had two jump from six four to above eight. But she failed. And now I need to find a way to replace her."

This discussion was causing my stomach to twist as the anger hit me. Some of my earlier investigations into concubine abuses were sickening, but the casual indifference of Miss Gates stunned me. Finally I gave her a solid stare and spoke. "I can't offer you a replacement obviously, but if you want I can take her with me when I leave. My home district is happy to take unwanted concubines right now."

Jennifer glared, but nodded. "If you can get two or three sent to me from your home with six four CAPs, I'd appreciate it. But take this one anyways. I have no use for her!"

The woman put her hand on the cowering girl's shoulder and hurled her at my legs. The power in that thrust was enough to force me to step back to keep my balance and I saw a small spark of triumph in Jennifer's eyes before she stormed off, screaming for the AI to acknowledge the change in ownership.