Chapter Three 

Colonel Young from Capella Space Station had sent one of his brightest officers to assist local forces with the identification and capture of the man who had organised the theft of hundreds of laser guns. Major Pattisson had been stationed in the principal city of Beledi on the planet Mayia, for some weeks now, co-ordinating the investigation. His appearance was ideal for an investigating officer, black hair (the most common colour in the galaxy), medium height and an easily forgettable face.  

He spent painstaking hours, tracking the source of the thefts and soon reached the uncomfortable conclusion that it had been an inside job. Someone in the Beledian security forces was the instigator or at least a key informant. It took two weeks to narrow down his identity to one of two men, Sergeant Crosby in Supply or Captain Fraser, one of the Patrol team leaders. Rather unfairly, Pattisson hoped it was Crosby. 

Because the evidence was inconclusive, Pattisson decided to pick up both men at the same time. He didn't like the fact that he had to depend on local officers to organize the raids. The chance of a leak, deliberate or otherwise to the two men under suspicion was too high in his estimation but he had not been given a choice. Colonel Young had used all his influence to get him put in charge of the investigation but that was as far as he could go. One thing which helped, was his authorisation to use the Lunar to communicate with the Colonel, instead of directing his calls through the local com unit, he had to hope that would be enough. He took one more small precaution. 

"We'll send two teams to their workplaces on Monday morning, the 17th of March," he advised his local liaison, Captain Tazi.  

Only the Lunar and Colonel Young knew he planned to bring the raid forward to Friday the 14th. 

Friday the 14th arrived and Pattisson rapidly appropriated the training exercise he had arranged for his two teams and gave them their new orders. The first team picked up an alarmed and outraged Sergeant Crosby with minimal difficulty. Pattisson had his first inkling that all was not well when the second team reported that Captain Fraser had not yet turned up to work or made contact to explain his absence. When they broke into his house, Pattisson was already suspecting the bad news. Captain Fraser had disappeared, unfortunately taking the time to destroy all his records. Pattisson was livid.  

Further investigations revealed that Fraser had left the previous evening. His neighbour reported that Fraser had left his house carrying a small bag at around 19:00 hours. He had been accompanied by a young blond man with a large backpack and DNA found in the house identified the young man as Billy Ryan, a former employee of the local brothel. Pattisson realized, with a mixture of anger and dismay, that the leak must have come from the Lunar, he had been working with Colonel Young far too long to even consider that the disclosure had come from his end. 

XXX 

Duran woke up on Saturday with mixed feelings, his leave was scheduled for that afternoon. Part of him was looking forward to another date with Ryan, but his instinct was on high alert that it had all been a little too good to be true.  

Later that morning Captain Ivanov called him into his quarters.  

"Good news, Duran," he smiled. "You've got your Captain's interview scheduled for Monday, the Academy is sending out a couple of officers all the way from Capella." Ivanov was genuinely pleased to be able to reward one of his best officers. True, occasionally he had doubts as to whether Duran had had too easy a run up the promotion ladder, in his experience an officer didn't reveal their true calibre until they were under extreme pressure, but that was something only time and experience could fix.  

"Thank you sir!" Duran took it too seriously to return the smile. This was his chance to achieve the goal he had set himself years ago, before he had even started at the Academy. A chance to be someone powerful and respected. The Lieutenant had lost both parents in a mining accident on Burra when he was six years old, and spent the next twelve years being handed from one reluctant relative to another. The only one he had got on with, had been ironically his uncle Gareth, a rather flamboyant homosexual.  

He had spent the first year with him, and Gareth had actually been preparing to adopt him when unfortunately, his Great Aunt Isabelle, making an all too common mistake, had equated 'om' with 'paedophile' in her mind and whisked him out of his uncle's care just as he was starting to feel safe and wanted again. From then on he had felt like an unimportant package being handed around to whoever had space or needed some help in the house or garden. 

He was just sharing the proud news with Alexander when both men were called to the Captain's quarters as a matter of urgency. They found Second and Third officers already there and the rest on their way.  

"Have a seat, we'll just wait a moment until everyone is here," ordered Ivanov. 

They seated themselves in silence and looked enquiringly at the other men present. The Second Lieutenant shrugged very slightly, evidently he knew no more than they did. It was obviously something serious. An unknown Major was sitting next to the Captain, who looked grimly worried. Finally everyone was present and the Captain spoke. 

"This is Major Pattisson, from Patrol Headquarters on Capella. He has been co-ordinating the investigation into the stolen weapons down on Mayia. He has something of grave concern to discuss with us all." The Captain nodded at Pattisson to take over. 

Duran felt as if an icicle had started sliding down his spine, his stomach clenched and he made himself sit as still as possible. He had a horrible premonition of what Pattisson was going to say. 

Major Pattisson wished he had been able to interrogate the men separately, but the Captain had insisted on speaking to them all as a group. Pattisson felt frustrated by the Captain's insistence that none of his officers had been involved in the conspiracy but he had to admire his loyalty. However, he was just as certain that it was misplaced. 

He looked steadfastly at each of the men before him. "As you all know, I had identified two possible suspects and my men were due to take them into custody yesterday. Unfortunately, one of the men escaped. It appears he was warned in advance and went into hiding on Thursday." 

The Lunar's officers continued to watch him expectantly, none of them had worked out what he was getting at yet.  

"No one else apart from you men and Colonel Young, knew that we were going to act on Friday." 

Lieutenant Alexander drew in his breath as he realised what that meant, and Pattisson stared at him. Some of the other officers still looked confused.  

"That means that someone in this room is either part of the conspiracy or else talked to someone who was." The Major spelt it out as clearly as he could. 

Captain Ivanov jumped into the small pause. "I've already told Major Pattisson I refuse to believe one of us is part of this gang of criminals." Pattisson admired him for including himself in the group of suspects. 

He watched the body language of the men in front of him like a hawk. They all appeared to be expressing outrage in various forms except for the First Lieutenant who was motionless. He threw them another piece of information.  

"When Captain Fraser left, he was accompanied by a young man, Billy Ryan. Twenty years old, blond hair, grey eyes, slight build, very pretty I'm told. Ring any bells?" Pattisson kept one eye on the First Lieutenant as he scanned the rest of the men. 

Duran absorbed the blows without visibly flinching, although he felt like he was being pounded inside. Sweet god, he had betrayed the operation. He could kiss goodbye to any thoughts of a captaincy, in fact he would be lucky to keep his current position. Everyone would know he was an om, and worse, one who couldn't keep his mouth shut in bed. He opened his mouth to confess but nothing came out. He sat like a stone as the exclamations flew around him. 

Jack Alexander sat frozen in place. He had realised instantly what must have happened. He couldn't bear to look at Duran, he would be absolutely devastated by this. It was a while before he became aware that he was still silent, just sitting there. He looked at Major Pattisson. He was staring at Marc. The words came out of his mouth before his brain even knew he had made a decision. 

"I'm sorry Captain, it was my fault." He looked steadfastly at Ivanov, taking a split second's pleasure in the look of astonishment on his face. "I met Ryan in a bar, the Purple Heart, a fortnight ago when I had station leave. I must have let something slip." His brain was racing, trying to fill in the details. 

"You told a stranger about an operation in a public bar?" Ivanov was uncomprehending. Jack didn't dare look at anyone else. 

"I picked him up, Captain. I told him about it when ... when we were in bed, sir." He hesitated for a moment, his face flushing, then added the last nail to his coffin. "I wanted to impress him, but I swear I didn't know he had any connection to Fraser! It was just pillow talk." 

The other officers were already drawing back from him, Ivanov alone looking as if he didn't believe it. He couldn't risk a glance at Duran or the Major, he kept his eyes on the Captain. 

Pattisson was frowning at the Supply Officer. Until he had spoken up, he would have bet a month's wages it was the First Lieutenant...what was his name again? Duran, that was it, Duran who was the guilty one. 

On the other hand, he was the officer who had been severely wounded when the Lunar captured the first four men and retrieved the stolen weapons, perhaps that explained his lack of reaction, perhaps he couldn't believe that one of his crewmates would betray him like that. 

He stood up, "Captain, I'll need to talk to Lieutenant...?"  

"Alexander, sir." Ivanov filled in. "Where...?" 

"Do you have a secure unit here?" 

Jack swallowed. "You won't need that sir. I'll tell you everything you want to know." 

The Major ignored him, waiting for the Captain to reply. 

Ivanov took a deep breath as if he was only just realising that one of his officers was in serious trouble. "Chan?" he nodded towards the Fourth Lieutenant, "Escort Major Pattisson and Alexander to the detention unit will you?" 

Jack walked out between the two men, looking straight ahead. 

The Captain went up to Duran and patted him awkwardly on the shoulder, "I'm sorry Marc, I know he's a close friend of yours." 

Duran grimaced, his face suddenly turning white. "Excuse me Captain but I think I'm about to be sick!" He fled out of the room.