Murder on a Moon Trek

Chapter 16: Debriefing and a Theory

Vaan walked past Neptune and left. I put my hands on my hips. "What do you want?"

"I want a debriefing."

"Not now. I want to get to that tour of the bridge that Captain Swift offered."

"You're not going to the bridge. Debriefing. Now."

"I thought you could hear everything I said."

"I can." He didn't look particularly thrilled.

"Then why do you need a debriefing?"

"Follow me." He turned around and left.

I looked at my surroundings. This ward was where I was supposed to be. In a small corner of the ship, away from the passengers and the security team. In charge of folding uniforms and storing them neatly between requisitions. I'd taken a big risk to get on board Moon Unit 5 in the first place, but that was because I knew I was qualified to do the job vacated by the original accident-prone uniform lieutenant as soon as I saw it listed on the ship manifest. It was a low-ranking position. It was perfect for me because I could fly under the radar.

Nobody should have had reason to question if I was qualified or how I'd passed the physical exam. Every single person on this ship had been given two uniforms before departure. The only time I'd be called on was in case of uniform infraction or promotion. The crimes on the ship had made my position far more visible than I liked.

Neptune came back in. "Stryker. Now."

I may have cursed at him under my breath.

I had to jog since his legs were so much longer than mine, but there was no way I was going to tell him I couldn't keep up. We went into the elevator. He swiped his card and the elevator started its descent.

"You're not putting me back in the holding cell, are you?" I asked.

"We're going to engineering."

"Why?"

"Because I want to know what you know about what happened in there."

"You do know. You just heard me dictate it to Vaan."

"Commander Marshall's line of questioning was intended to elicit answers to a different set of questions than the ones I'm asking. And while you're working for me, you will address him—and every other ranking officer on board this ship—with the proper title."

"I can't start calling Vaan 'Commander Marshall.'"

"Unless you have evidence to strip him of his rank, then you'll show him the appropriate respect."

I almost wished I did, but I didn't. Vaan had achieved his position the hard way: through high grades and networking. Unlike the other twenty-three members of Federation Council, Vaan hadn't been born into a legacy position. A Federation Council member had died, and there had been no family line to take over. It was the kind of thing that happened only in the rarest of situations, and Vaan had been the right candidate at the right time. He was the most honest person I'd ever met. I'd tried really, really hard to hate him after he took the position, but I couldn't. That made it ten times harder to get over him. Eventually, I did.

But that didn't make us friends.

Neptune didn't ask any more questions. I sulked on my side of the elevator for the duration of our trip to engineering. Neptune acted like he always did: eyes staring forward, arms crossed, biceps flexed, mouth turned down. His lack of personality was taking all the fun out of finally having achieved a position on a security staff. I widened my own stance so my gravity boots were shoulder-width apart and crossed my arms over my chest.