driving for her kidney. The attack made no sense to her but she was more than prepared for it, expecting anything. She continued her pivot toward and past Aguila, slipping the punch, driving her elbow into the neck of the admiral, and hopping aside to keep her balance. The admiral struggled on the deck to roll away and try to gain his feet, but the single blow seemed to have greatly weakened him. He finally got his feet under him. He raised his fists, took a deep breath.
"You don't look well," Jamie remarked. "Get off the ship before I hit you again."
"You'll have to kill me," the admiral said again.
"It's past my bedtime," Jamie said, and shot the admiral. "Catch him," she ordered as his muscles locked up temporarily and he began to fall forward. Two of the Marines struggled to lower the body gently to the floor. "How much do you think he weighs?"
"Almost a hundred," Aguila said. "He's starting to twitch. Another two tenths should put him under without damaging his augments. What are you going to do with him?"
"I don't know," Jamie replied. "I'd like to get a medical evaluation. I didn't hit him that hard. There's something wrong with him. Get his uniform off. I at least want to verify the scan. We'll dump him in some public place with a bottle of booze. Then we'll spend the rest of the night trying to find out what he did to the ship."
= = =
It was a day later.
Jamie felt the presence near her in the garden next to her cottage. The presence didn't resolve itself at once but remained at the edge of her senses. She was tired and this irritated her and she chose a combative response. She slowed to allow the stalker to come nearer, until she caught a glimpse of him in the corner of her eye. She judged the distance and selected the maneuver that would bring the person to a satisfying impact on the ground.
They both moved.
Jamie never touched him. She pivoted away to block a counterattack which never came. She blinked, and her tired eyes finally found enough moonlight to discern the Navy captain's uniform. She read the signal in her shiplink that identified him as regular Navy crew of the Freedom. She stood to attention and saluted.
The captain returned the salute.
"I was waiting to meet you," he said tonelessly. "I apologize for my hesitation. I assumed you would react somewhat differently."
"I'm sorry, sir," she responded with slight irritation. "I've processed about a thousand people aboard the Freedom today. I'm too tired to function predictably. Captain Direk, what do you want?"
"I have your promotion orders from O2 to O4."
"Promotion? Two grades?"
"You were a major before. I trust it will be within your abilities."
"I was a major three times, light colonel twice. But you know that."
Jamie moved closer to the Navy captain and stared at him. She did this to men especially as a challenge or even intimidation, and was always ready to back it up physically, if necessary. It helped keep the hormone traffic manageable. For some reason, she attracted a variety of males. The captain gazed back, not revealing anything by his facial expression or body language. He moved a step back from her, as though only needing more personal space. Captain Direk was a large man and the moonlight accentuated his pale face, almost white hair, and large hands that almost glowed in contrast to his dark uniform. She had to adjust her night vision as his ghostly image gave her unease. In this case, she was the one to feel intimidated.
"I wonder why you chose to bring this news in person, sir," she said, allowing more irritation to modulate her words. She could hardly care less about the promotion.
"I wanted to meet you," he said. "I apologize for disturbing you."
She never welcomed the attentions of a man. She never trusted them. She was a Marine, a woman in a military service dominated by the male gender. She had heard everything a man could say to a woman, and seen everything a man could do to a woman. Yet, his motive was not clear to her. Why would he have any interest in her? It finally emerged from her fatigue-muddled thoughts that here was another stranger who seemed to know of her. Too bad she was in no mood to be patient.
"You've met me, sir. Thank you, for the promotion, I think." She turned away and continued toward her cottage.
"May I talk to you, briefly?" he called after her.
She paused, not turning back to him. "You wouldn't be the dissenting member of a promotion review board, would you?" She resumed her march.
He followed her down the path between the flower beds. Her home on the Freedom smelled like marigolds. She entered her small cottage apartment and turned on the lights. The captain stopped at the doorway.
"I haven't had time to decorate and furnish the place," she said, tiredly accepting the task of acting hospitable to a superior officer. "I've never served on a ship like this. Even we Marines can live in privacy. My men all prefer the barracks. Damned if I'll join them. All I have is a bed, if you want to sit on that."
"I'll stand," he said. He took a few steps into the cottage. The door remained open behind him. He immediately asked: "Do you know what happened to my mother?"
Jamie whipped around to get her first good look at the man and was shocked to know who his mother might be. She could see him much better in the light of her cottage. His eyes were almost colorless, like an Essiin. He was blond. Aylis Mnro was blonde. She had to ask it anyway. "Your mother?"
"Doctor Mnro was assaulted. She wouldn't speak about it to me. I didn't want to increase her distress, but I want to know what happened."
Here it came again - The Big Mystery! Her physical and mental fatigue vanished and questions queued up in her chain of thoughts.
"You're her son? Even so, I'm not sure I should tell you, sir. I was ordered not to talk about it. Why did you come to me for this information?"
"You would be responsible for investigating an assault."
"I would also not be allowed to tell just anyone what I discovered."
"There are others I can query," he said patiently, "including Admiral Demba." He hesitated then and seemed to force himself to say: "I also wished to meet you."
"The infamous Jamie Jones," Jamie said, tired of her reputation at the moment. Then she turned on her command voice and said: "Why did you wish to meet me, sir?"
"I'm afraid to tell you," he replied with a tone of sincerity that could have been humorous but clearly wasn't.
Captain Direk was immediately important to Jamie for reasons she could not possibly understand. Her heart rate increased. She couldn't lock gazes with him. She felt her face grow hot. It was an interesting reaction, and quite irritating. "This is a bad time to play games with me, Captain! I've never been so tired in my life. I have a crazy admiral and her mystery child to plague my thoughts. And I have Doctor Mnro to worry about. She's your mother."
"She is."
"But that isn't... I mean, everyone knows the story of her life. She's supposed to be childless, never married. What proof do you have?"
"She was married to my father. You can ask her." The Essiin captain stared at her the way Admiral Demba stared at her: too much hidden interest. "Do you, in fact, know what happened to her? Have you filed a report?"
"I started a report." Jamie sat down on the bed, took off her fatigue cap. She immediately stood up, feeling self-conscious in the steady gaze of this handsome man. Handsome? She never made such judgments, of either sex. She didn't trust her impulses but her impulse was to trust Captain Direk, based on his relationship to Aylis Mnro. Then she was appalled she had not cross-checked his identity, unconsciously assuming he was someone who 'seemed right.' She quickly retrieved his record and crew status from her shiplink. He was a Navy scientist, the Chief Science Officer! But he stared at her too intently and his announced need to see her in person was strange and opaque to her reasoning. Her imagination made her worry. She became more uneasy in his presence.
"You started a report," he prompted.
"They wouldn't explain to me why they didn't want me to investigate and bring charges. Doctor Mnro wouldn't tell me who attacked
her. I got upset. I said things I shouldn't have." She stopped. She was too tired. She shouldn't have run those ten kilometers after being up half the night. She wasn't being professional. She didn't think she should discuss the matter with him without proof of his kinship. Her uneasiness continued. Even though he stood well apart from her, his pale eyes seemed to invade her privacy and cross the threshold of intimacy.
"Her injuries were serious," Captain Direk said. "I saw her not long ago and she claimed to be recovered, but I could tell she was emotionally damaged. This suggests a certain form of assault."
He knew his mother was raped! It bothered her that he could sound so dispassionate. She could still taste the rage she felt at the crime. Her anger surged.
"I offered to kill him, if prosecution wasn't possible!" She shouldn't have said that again! It was wrong the first time. She would never learn.
"I can also theorize," the captain said, "that her attacker was someone of significant power. I can think of only one person who could have arranged the opportunity for such a crime against someone of my mother's status. The motive, however, completely escapes me."
Jamie sat down on the bed again, despite herself. She followed the captain's logic to realize where it pointed. It made her feel sick to believe the Navy Commander could be the perpetrator. She always knew the Navy had its criminal element, but to see it risen to the top of the Navy made her lose all respect for the most important institution