LeMarks seemed to think once he was elevated to second in command all his answers would come from some sort of invisible pipeline linked to instant knowing. When he was a lowly lieutenant he believed the noncoms should know their jobs well enough that he didn't have to do anything. What he did when he was an ensign was anyone's guess. He was a lieutenant commander for only a few months. LeMarks was a good example of what having someone in HQ in your pocket could do for you. They all hoped they would not be promoted into jobs they knew nothing about. It was embarrassing when you had a tough CO.

The hatch swished opened and he looked up ready to start his rehearsed speech to Jade. He had been practicing it in front of his mirror for a month in anticipation of fulfilling his fantasy of embarrassing someone that intimidated him. However, Captain O'Rourke stepped in looking aggravated, and she was more than what he felt he could tackle head on. However, the opportunity to make a public complaint against someone he knew the captain wanted as his second instead of him was too tempting to pass up. Two birds with one stone, he thought triumphantly.

"Captain O'Rourke," he chirped. He pushed himself to his feet, catching his belly on the table lip, and sitting back in his seat with a loud plop. "I would like," he paused as he struggled back to his feet, "to make a formal complaint about Lieutenant Commander Jade's," he paused to take a deep breath, "distain for being on time to my shift briefings."

His face froze when her eyes turned his way. His legs shook at the silvered look she gave him, reminding him of her threat to toss him out in space with his suit on. At that moment he thought she would do it, and to his knowledge, there were no outersuits available that fit him at this time. It was up to him to buy one since the original one he was fitted with was still in working order, it just didn't fit any more. He always thought he would lose the weight.

"I would take you seriously," O'Rourke said, "Meister LeMarks if you followed protocol in reporting a fellow officer, and didn't whine in front of staff." The captain gave a gesture for him to be seated.

His jaw clamped down hard to prevent the quiver in his jowls to give his fear away.

"Ensign Henly, when and where did you see Commander Jade last?" she asked.

"Captain." She stood awkwardly, embarrassed to be singled out. This was one of those times she wished the security cameras were up. "At 0404, deck five."

"And which way was she heading?"

"B lift," she answered promptly, and then added, "She was in a hurry."

She stole a worried look at LeMarks hoping he wouldn't grill her on what she was doing up at that time, through rationally she knew he wouldn't know that that was normally when she slept.

"LeMarks, you and your crew need to get to the bridge and relieve the second shift. Ensign Henly, remain. Lt. Ham can cover for Ensign Henly."

The group hurriedly departed with LeMarks hesitating, looking as if he would mention to the captain that as her second in command, and as Ensign Henly's CO he should remain. However, the security bot that accompanied the captain buzzed him, and then herded him out. LeMarks lumbered out, struggling not to display his anger for the bot would neutralize him and deposit him in the brig until the captain released him. It was a humiliating experience he had experienced a few times. Security bots around the captain were set to protect her at all costs, and the rules for emotional outburst or threats against a captain's life were standard on all ships.

When the hatch closed behind him Captain O'Rourke asked Ensign Henly, "Why were you up so late?"

"I just finished checking on the communication regulators on each of the decks, Ma'am."

"Why?"

"I've been getting some strange breaks in my transmission signals for the last month, Ma'am," she explained.

"I didn't see any indication of any abnormalities in your shift reports.".

"I had mentioned it to Commander Hudson before he left and to Commander LeMarks, Ma'am, each time," she informed her looking uncomfortable.

"And?"

"Commander Hudson said he reported it to the head of security and that was LeMarks, Ma'am. Now that LeMarks is Commander, he keeps telling me that it isn't worth putting on a shift report since I haven't been able to locate or reproduce the breaks. So, I mentioned it to Lt. Commander Jade at one of the meetings, being that she's the new Security Officer…" Her features darkened and her hairs flattened giving her a more feline appearance than normal. "It was before the commander arrived at one of the shift briefings. She authorized me to run scans on each deck, since I knew what to look for and bring the results to her. I…ah…she made me part of her security backup team."

Captain O'Rourke held her temper in check but her eyes silvered. If this was the military she would have thrown LeMarks in the brig, court marshaled him, and tossed him out of the corps at the next port. Hudson was a relief to dump in the hands of the port police. She always worried about her back with him.

Now she had what she needed to kick LeMarks out of the merchant marine. He broke the number one security rule and endangered the crew. They were not a heavily armed ship and their only real defense against pirates was keeping vigilant. Anything strange was reportable so the next shift could be aware. Repair freighters normally were not targeted but maybe a group of thieves thought they needed a repair vessel of their own.

"Communication on," she ordered.

"Communication is on."

"LeMarks, report to the command ready room. Commander Susa report to the bridge to replace LeMarks."

Cathy Susa oversaw engineering and the workings of the ships maintenance. She was not a bridge officer but O'Rourke needed someone with a cool head to babysit her third shift crew and Susa had Henison to cover for her.

"Communication off. So, Ensign, what did you find?"

"I…the glitch is from our systems, Ma'am." Her face turned darker. "I, umm, I was going to tell Commander Jade but she was in a hurry and…"

"So, you had contacted her to meet you on deck five?"

"No, Captain! I wouldn't wake her up. I was going back to my quarters for a few hours of sleep before my shift. I…umm…was moved to deck 5 to make room for a passenger."

"Okay. Write up your report. I want past, present and an educated guess at what you think you found. Include a reference to your report on the shift turnover. Did you get eight hours of sleep? Then after you've finished your report take a day off. You're bunking with Linden and Coran who are both sleeping at this time. I'm officially moving your quarters to deck 2C. On communication. This is the Captain."

"Captain identified," the ship replied.

"Move Ensign Henly's belongings to 2C."

"Available quarters are 2C5, 2C9, 2C17."

"Ensign, what's your choice."

"2C9, Ma'am."

"2C9. Ensign Henly is on 24 break following her completion of a today's report. Notifiy the proper department heads. Thank you Ensign."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

There was no need to double bunk or in her case triple bunk Ensigns and NCOs because of the down sizing of staff. She needed to bring that up to the department heads, or better yet, just put it in the computer and let it do the sorting out. Whose personality fit with whose was usually done by the computer anyway, with a personal director overseeing it; however, that was one of the officers that went with the downsizing. She really hated HQ. Next lease agreement she would be reading the small print with a better consultant.

As Ensign Henly left LeMarks entered. She caught his glare at the ensign.

"What was that for, Mister? You have a guilty conscience about something?"

"What? he asked startled.

"Have a seat, LeMarks. You'll be here for your entire shift and then some." She pressed the table in front of LeMarks and a screen popped up. She called up rules, regulations, and guidelines dealing with bridge command.

"There are three tests you're going to take. One is the typical officer's test on the basics of a freighter, and information a merchant marine officer has to know. The second is on ship security that everyone on this ship should be practicing, and as a bridge officer you should be enforcing. The third is protocol. When you're done, we'll both know whether you'll be keeping your job. And LeMarks, it's normally a four hour test. It's the same one an ensign takes to pass muster. Get on with it."

She turned and left the surprised officer behind her. At the door she keyed in her code to keep him in the room until she let him out.

Ensign Sing's quarters and lab was her next stop. She took the grav tube and dropped down to sixth level, and then turned a corner into the area that Sing claimed as his own. Her thoughts were busy organizing what she wanted the geek to do.

Sing was in his usual position, seated at one of his many consoles watching the magnified view of what his sensitive touch was doing to the tiny hardware under his care. If he heard her he made no move to acknowledge it. O'Rourke understood he would stop when he reached a place he could pause.

Sing leaned back, stretched his back and rotated his shoulders then flicked his hands to shake out the tension. He gave her a glance and a nod, and then went back to his work. It was five minutes later that he swung around and regarded the captain.

Sing was a person of few words and greeting anyone was not in his sparse word collection.

"I need a passive BBP to cover this ship for anyone that leaves or approaches the Wesley. Set up toties to be able to clam up the ship should it come to that."

Sing nodded not looking surprised or curious why she was asking it. That was one reason why she liked Sing.

"When can I expect it finished?" she asked.

"When do you want it?"

"Tomorrow."

He nodded.

"What are you working on now?" she thought to ask.

"Commander Jade asked me to see why hard coded systems are changing," he responded.

"Ah. When did you last see her?"

He shrugged his shoulders. O'Rourke remembered belatedly he didn't relate to clock time.

"She left something for you." He rose from his seat and moved to a table in the corner. He pointed to one of the monitors.

It took a few moments for O'Rourke to recognize the image as a section of an electronics panel. The parts on the panel moved as if they were animated. Since the parts were not moveable it seemed like she was seeing different panels appearing with the parts enlarging and moving barely noticeable from left to right or up and down. The picture speeded up and now she picked up a rhythm in the movement.

"It almost looks like the parts are breathing," she told him hesitantly. "Are these biocells?"

"No. The communications and navigation panel on deck 5. No living organisms normally are there." The screen went blank and he pulled out a small chip, enclosed it in a case and handed it to her.

O'Rourke took it and slipped it in a pocket. She didn't feel the need to ask him to run tests because she could see on his desk he was already studying it.

"Have you seen Lt. Commander Jade?" The tone it was asked in was not so much a question as a demand.

"What?" O'Rourke asked the seated Sing who had moved back to his work.

Ensign Sing looked up at her and waited.

"Did you say something?" O'Rourke asked.

"No."

"I thought you said something about Commander Jade."

"No."

"Okay." O'Rourke left him, intending to stop at sickbay and speak with another least favorite person, Lt. Commander Jud Trap. He was one of those people that should have either taken a medical leave of absence or resigned years ago. Unfortunately he did neither. Entrenched in his domain composed of sickbay and the equipment and personnel that came with it, he felt secure and protected. It was not a very large fiefdom. It consisted of four medbeds and their two nursebots, sixteen medbots that were four per deck, and of the sixteen, six were down with repairs. He had one tech that specifically worked on the bots, Ensign Tarish. O'Rourke made certain Jud Trap was not in charge of the biobeds for medvac or deep sleep. That went to another level of techs headed by WO Miles. The warrant officer had enough civilian experience to have given him management of a department but he hated the politics of that level of business and chose to work on civilian ships where WO is as high as he chose to go.

O'Rourke found Trap where she expected him, asleep on his office couch. She suspected he was passed out from a drug infusion.

Rather than approaching too close, she ordered a glass of water from the food dispenser and tossed the cold liquid over him. His heavy breathing continued unchanged as cleaning bots became activated and moved about, sucking up the watery mess and drying him off.

"Communication on. Lt. Commander Jud Trap, when you are awake after this stupor, I want a full inventory of sickbay and everything you are responsible for. I expect the report by 1700 today, that's Lundie, mark 220027." As much as she detested the man, she could not leave him in the dark why she was putting in a personal appearance in his domain. "HQ's bookkeeper is asking for a full audit of the ship. Com off." Turning around she went to look for Ensign Tarish. She found him under one of the medbeds.

"Ensign, tearing the bed down out of boredom?" she asked lightly.

Ensign Tarish considered Jud Trap his boss and not the captain since he was assigned to the medical bay. Therefore, he merely glanced at her boots, and returned to his tinkering. "No, Ma'am. Bed's acting up," his voice returned, sounding just short of insubordination.

"You and the doc have until the 1700 to have a full report of all working and nonworking bots, biobeds, and all other equipment otherwise known as inventory assigned to sickbay. Since the commander is out of it it's in your lap to comply."

"Right," he answered disinterested.

"You should take an active interest, Ensign Tarish," she told in a conversational tone of voice. "A department without stats to a financial officer means zero existence, therefore, no need to pay salary to whoever is listed under its staff or to allocate supplies. That's called cost cutting for efficiency, which is followed by reassigment. That looks good with the stockholders." Her lips curled up in a smile, recognizing the dropped tool to mean panic.

Message delivered with the intended effect O'Rourke turned and left. She was looking forward to dumping two more from the crew's roster that were worthless to the efficiency of her ship.

In the beginning she felt sorry for Jud Trap, but in a week's time she realized how her pity was condoning his condition. He was part of the DitMy Eradication Program. He was drafted right out of the university from the grasp of an established and politically influential hospital chain. It must have been an official rebuke to someone in the school and or hospital organization. It hurt him and his family since the job was to lift them out of their poor neighborhood. Instead, he received a low paying thankless job in the military that did little to provide for family members. However he was not the only one suffering from being part of military operations that were horrific to have participated in.

O'Rourke considered herself lucky that she was stationed on the other side of the sector during the war years by default. Her mother's family composed primarily of traders and merchants, whose name she grew up with, was not among those the ruling party trusted to be part of their war. Her estranged father and his family would have nothing to do with whatever his brief marriage to a social worker produced, including letting any of the off-spring carry their name. O'Rourke's way out of the hard life that claimed her mother's was to join the military as soon as she could. Through her own efforts she collected the necessary sponsorships needed to enroll into a fleet officer's academy.

She was sent to a new academy on a remote planet called Delta Alpha that absorbed promising recruits from the lower classes. Those that graduated from DA were trained to lead by example, discipline, and skill, without family prestige overshadowing training and accomplishments. Many of the graduates went to frontline assignments, though some thought for reasons of fodder than leadership. In reality, those already at the warfront wanted officers they could depend on in knowledge, duty, and courage even if it was knowledge without the depth of actual combat. These were street kids who knew the rough and tumble world, and had the courage to face adversaries that seemed to know the battle plan, and could adapt quickly to the situation. To Delta Alpha's pride more of their graduates survived the war than any of the other academies.

In O'Rourke's part of the galaxy, Borik Sector, her group was led by a trio of top ranking officers from planets that were not backing the corporate war and refused to allow any of their people to be slaughtered for a war they found to be morally wrong. For eleven years she managed to be mentored by captains and admirals that saw to it that she learned what honor it was to serve in a military that protected trade routes against marauders. Out of the eye of politics and its darker side, O'Rourke was able to rise in the ranks quietly while earning a solid reputation along with the members of the fleet that kept Borik Sector safe. They were called the Exterminators by their grateful charges.

After eleven years of doing well in Borik Sector, and with the loss of seasoned fleet officers on the battlefront, HQ began to look at the officers once thought too lowly for their consideration for promotions, but not affiliated with any of the planets that refused to commit their own officers. Rear Admiral O'Rourke received her orders to report directly to HQ for promotion to Vice Admiral. It was months after President of the Third Ring, Dearth Gunner's death, who had been the one to declare the war for his backers, the thirteen Doubl Cartel families.

There were no military ships she could catch to her destination. They all seemed to be going everywhere but Creon. Dressed as a civilian she caught rides whenever she could to the capital of Creon, where the military headquarters for United Planets of the Twelve Radiants was located. While waiting for a freighter or any type of ship going her way, she listened to the dock workers gossip on Dearth Gunner's death and the state of affairs at the UPTR High Counsel in Creon. It worried her that talk of riots against anything government was so openly discussed. They also spoke of another war going on. In the capital of Creon a two week bloody civil war was being waged between the cartels to see who would pick their next puppet.

Though forewarned, Rear Admiral O'Rourke had her orders to appear before the Clerk of the Admiral of War for her promotion and reassignment. To not appear was treason…a death sentence in a time of war. Once in the city she had donned her uniform hoping that would protect her; however, her uniform was not decorated with a colored armband of one of the cartels so she was solicited, cajoled, and threatened if she didn't join any of them. What she found the most distressing was that her half-brother was the new secretary of war. Her father's protégé.

The clerk that accepted her resignation, Commander Altair Henison approved it quickly, almost furtively, and gave her her duty pay, and a comment aside that it was better she was leaving now and she should find a safe place until the cartel wars ended because things would get worse.

Getting out of the city was not as easy as getting in. Wearing a uniform was suicidal; walking the streets with no destination was looking to be swept up in mob killings if not doused in toxic chemicals. Those that were still in the city had gone mad. RCPs, military remote controlled planes were flying overhead, not even hiding the fact that they were leaving chemical trails that drifted to the streets below. She was standing in a sheltered doorway when Commander Henison, looking considerably different dressed in civilian clothing, appeared. Image her surprise that he found her. He was just as compelled to leave as she. Henison's behavior smacked of covert operations, but whose side he was on was a mystery to this day. He knew all the right things to get both of them out of the war zone without detection.

It must have irked the heck out of her brother that he failed grabbing an O'Rourke, though it would not really have made any difference in the battle between the two families. She had no connections to either her father's side or mother's.

Commander Henison, if that was who he really was, told her the admirals in charge of seeing her half-brother Ridgemond's battle plan put into practice threatened to quit with their staff rather than commit so many ships and personnel to a suicidal encounter for an energy company that already had record profits and acquisitions.

Civilians running military operations and making any such decisions that had no real experience should be banned against such practices, and when engaged in war, should only be there for suggestions or to remind the military that war casualties should not be wasted fodder, was her popular thought.

Ridgemond Happensburg issued orders to fire all the military's top brass all the way down to ensign level, not trusting anyone, with her name on the list. It was taken literally, just as it was meant. But before it was passed on he too was assassinated by the military staff he oversaw, and Henison was fearful of the warlords backlash against anyone in a uniform. O'Rourke heard no trace of the city was left. All she and Henison saw was a flash of brilliant white light as the small ship Henison commandeered sped away.

It was months later, when she was being interviewed as taking over captaining the Wesley that she heard that whatever hold the cartel had on the ruling members of the UPTR their planet's citizens demonstrated in global mass against the hardships the greedy corporations had on their lives.

Sweeping changes were made with laws and rules regarding those elected to sit on the UPTR passed. It was called Pitman's Rules of Order. It also covered just how much control any group can have over an individual. Chip implantation was outlawed and electronics to neutralize them were everywhere.

Was this a more perfect galaxy of politics? O'Rourke didn't believe so. She saw the same families that once were called cartels that engineered the ten year war still in places of power to influence information and commerce. She saw this only as a reprieve. She knew those once in power were planning on how to get it back and keep it for a longer period of time. But just as determined they were to take over again there were others just as determined to see that they didn't.

Meanwhile, ordinary lives went on through determination to handle what they could. She had taken a job as captain of a freighter that hauled cargo, repaired ships in space, and carried passengers at a cheaper rate than most transports. She had one month to learn her job and then her new employer was leaving to her new job, running her new family's business.

Probably because O'Rourke was still feeling the bitterness of the war, the moment she returned to her quarters she did not wait any longer to send her challenges on LeMarks qualifications to the Merchant Marine's Court. Waiting for his official records from the MMA in another sector was no longer necessary. Thoughtfully she ran a scan on the staff meeting room and found he was conversing with someone. She dampened and isolated the room. Even the vents were locked from opening.

Curious, she traced his call and found it was from a security kiosk. She tapped into the camera there but no one was there and according to the logs, no one had been there since an engineer had checked it for a short the previous day.

"Now it's starting to get interesting. I actually have something I can say is wrong." O'Rourke blinked as a quick flash of a flower appeared in the corner of her screen. It was a sign from Jade. It was a code they had once set up in case the ship was boarded by pirates. It meant she was in deep cover and was sulking about. It was a relief on many levels.

She sent a note for Lt. Gerald who was second to Jade in security to check out 1st Seaman Ment, the last person to service the kiosk.

"Bridge to Captain. This is Commander Sousa."

"Go ahead, commander."

"We're approaching Port Sal and there's a broadcast going out. They have an epidemic. We're being warned off."

"Did you confirm it?"

"Now interesting that you should mention that… I'm not getting any replies."

O'Rourke pursed her lips in thought.

"Continue on with all bioscanners engaged. How long until we hit the first marker?"

"Ten-ten."

"Well, then, let's use one of the geeks toys."

"As ordered, Captain. Ensign, release Geekazoid I."

O'Rourke put a hand over her mouth to keep her laugh from being too loud. It was not Ensign Ja Sing's wish to have anything named after him due to he created too many things and it would get confusing. This was his first invention and was held off using until LeMarks no longer was involved with security. Only a handful of officers were aware of what it did so O'Rourke felt she was a step ahead of anyone that had infiltrated her ship's crew.

"Released and…reading good, Captain. It's picking up a ship off to our port, just outside of normal scans."

"Pirate?"

"No. A friend of yours," she answered dryly. "It's the Harrodidu."

"So…" She thought a moment. It would serve the Harrodidu's Captain Alad well if she didn't make it to her stops on time. "The warning could be a hoax or not. Continue on course but be vigilant. Call first shift to assist. Bring up a few of your engineers to check all decks for anything out of place. I've relieved LeMarks of duty. I've isolated him to the meeting room until we've reached Port Sal. No one is to speak to him without my direct approval."

There was a moment of surprised silence and then, "I read you loud and clear. Anything else, Captain?"

"Stay alert. With the Harrodidu out there anything can happen. When we're within normal hailing distance, give them a courtesy hail and see if anything interesting comes up. Don't volunteer anything. I don't want them claiming we were spreading a rumor. This smells of a legal cluster bomb."

"Aye aye, Capt. That it does."

Continued...