Starlight Gleaming Ch. 22

"Best to you and yours, Ranji." And he hung up.

Seeing the accident shook me. After the initial fear passed, I was pissed. This accident had involved two people that I loved - and neither one of them had bothered to call and let me know! After all the shit Janetta gave me for keeping secrets? Taking a breath, I calmed down, determined I was going to use it to force them both to start taking better care of themselves.

As he'd said, the second video showed even less than the first.

Curious about Janetta's HueCac, I used my Security tools and did a search on the vehicle's location. I found it at the Motor Pool. Checking the records, I found a work order indicating an electrical short that was yet to be fixed, and that a loaner vehicle had been checked out to Janetta.

Zinja falling asleep at the wheel was bad enough. Neither one had been wearing their safety belts. Had their doors been on, they would have at least been saved those bad falls.

I had to take another couple of calming breaths as I found myself grinding my teeth. Then I printed up the report and the expense form. After retrieving the latter, I filled out the appropriate areas and put in the billing information for my account.

Shutting down and packing up my laptop, I put on my vest, gathered up my light jacket - the winds outside were still pretty gusty - I stepped outside my office.

My admin looked up at me, pausing in her typing.

"Hanami, please call the Commissary and have a case of millet beer, a bouquet of flowers, and a chocolate sampler sent to Commander Terkouri's residence with my compliments." I handed her the completed maintenance repair form. "And please process this for me."

"Yes, sir." She immediately scribbled down the note onto the paper tablet next to her computer. "How much should I spend for Commander Terkouri?"

"Thirty credits should do it."

"Yes, sir," Hanami said with a nod, then glanced at the time. "Will you be back today, Commander?"

"No, I have urgent business at the airfield and I'm not sure how long it will take, but I'll be reachable by cell phone. Have a good weekend, Hanami." I looked at Sergeant Alto and Corporal Fay, my two guards for the afternoon shift, the latter new to her position. Fay hustled out through the doors across the bullpen while Alto stood, waiting for me.

As we drove to the airfield to Group Captain Tanosca's office, I read the accident report, then read it again to see if I had missed anything the first time through. It was succinct and contained everything that Terkouri had already relayed to me.

Once I got past his admin, Janetta's CO offered me a cup of cahault, which I accepted. I told him about the accident, gave him the printed report, and opened up my laptop to show him the first video. He grimaced when they were thrown from their vehicle, then swore quietly after I put away my laptop.

Looking at him, I said, "Captain Tanosca, I'd be very surprised if Sergeant Zinja wasn't seriously hurt by how hard she hit the ground."

Giving me an assessing gaze, he asked, "What is it you want to do, Commander?"

"Has Janetta notified you about the accident yet?" The video hadn't shown enough of Janetta to determine whether she'd hit her head during the accident or not. However, I was determined to find out.

He frowned, tersely admitting, "No, she has not."

"Has she filed for vacation time yet?" I asked.

He raised his eyebrows at me. "No, she hasn't mentioned a vacation either."

"She and Zinja have been putting in a lot of hours the past few months. Is she on CAP?" I was referring to Combat Air Patrol, the practice of keeping interceptors in the air to more quickly respond to hostile incursions.

"You don't know?" he asked, narrowing his gaze.

"No, I don't. My impression is that she's been heavily involved with the upgrade process, but she's refused to discuss anything with me, even considering my role with Air Security. What I do know is last month she and Zinja were putting in sixty hours, and this month it's been closer to eighty hours a week. Zinja admitted she fell asleep at the wheel last night. Even with their days off, they're barely recovered before putting in the same long hours. I fully appreciate the need for the work they're doing. High Guard is depending on them, but there's a point where there are diminishing returns, and I have a hard time believing that the whole thing depends solely on their participation or that it needs her to do more than sixteen hours a day for weeks at a time."

"I don't know how much you know, Commander. What she's working on is important. Seven hells, we've all been putting in long hours. However, I agree she shouldn't be putting in so much extra time."

"Good. Because I'm taking a vacation next week. My wife has business in Nahua, and then we're going to visit my parents. Janetta and Zinja will be going with me, even if I have to tie her up and drag her the whole way. We'll be gone for three weeks."

Despite himself, Tanosca gave a snort as he sat back in his chair. "She's a captain. Regs allow for two weeks with pay annually. And right now, I'm not sure I can justify giving her that much time off. A week, maybe, but not two. The ten aircraft that arrived yesterday were the first replacement craft we've seen in weeks, and we don't know when to expect the next batch."

Pulling out my little jammer, I turned it on and plopped it onto his desk. When his computer screen blanked, he frowned, then he glared at the cube on his desk.

"What the fuck is that thing?"

"Insurance against electronic eavesdroppers. What I'm about to say is not for public dissemination, Captain. The next flight from TDR will arrive in a week, and they will be like the ones that arrived yesterday, with shields and a single working weapon already installed and ready to fly. Subsequent flights will arrive every two weeks after that. There are some production problems, so more circuit boards won't be arriving for a while. The War Minister is taking personal charge of the situation.

"As for Janetta, she's so focused on giving everything to this project that she neglected to notify you, her CO, about her accident last night, an accident where she and her ground chief were thrown and hit the pavement pretty hard. Do you know her current whereabouts?"

"They're set up in that old Condor hangar, Commander, where the first upgrade happened. Made sense to keep using it. They've got four circuit boards running at the same time, but every time they add a fifth, the power systems fail to engage."

"I know where that is," I told him. "I'm taking them both to the hospital for a full checkup. They are out for the rest of today and the entire weekend. Notify whoever is backup of the situation. As for her and Zinja's vacation time, if you need to dock them for the third week without pay, do so. After the accident, instead of coming home last night, Janetta had them drive her back to her hangar. I learned about everything an hour ago from Ground Security, and trust me, I am not happy about the situation."

His eyes widened at that revelation.

I continued. "Need I remind you how prolonged stress and lack of sleep affects accuracy and perception? Good. How many hours has she and her crew put in this week?"

"My Second is monitoring that. Captain Tlacotli is in charge of the circuit board certifications. She's also on rotation for flight testing any upgraded aircraft. Commander, you're Air Security. What you're telling me is that she may not be flight worthy."

"Captain, she's a patriot and an outstanding pilot. I am merely expressing my concern. I won't know about her flight worthiness until she's been examined and cleared by a medical professional, which I stress both she and her crew chief need to see."

Tanosca didn't say anything, he just glared at me. I had thought from our prior encounters that we at least had a cordial relationship, so this attitude puzzled me.

Narrowing my gaze at him, I asked, "Are you going to argue with me?"

"No, Commander, I'm not." He looked at me a moment, then at a roster on a clipboard he'd unhooked from the wall, picked up the phone, and dialed. "Captain Bercort, what time did Tlacotli go on duty this morning?" Bercourt was Tanosca's Second. "I see. What's she doing now? What?" He looked at his watch, then said, "It's sixteen hundred hours and they're just taking their meal break now? Uh huh. I see. How bad does she and Sergeant Zinja look? Really? A fall? Both of them? No, by the gods, they were in a vehicular accident last night. I've just seen the traffic-cam footage myself. No, don't say anything to either of them. Commander Kandikan is coming over and he's taking her and her crew chief to the hospital. As of right now, Captain Tlacotli and Sergeant Zinja are on medical leave. Once they depart, the rest of her ground crew can stand down for the rest of the weekend. I'm sure they need it."

After he hung up, Tanosca looked at me. "Does that satisfy you?"

"I don't know what else you've heard or been told, but I'm not your enemy, Captain. I have a great deal of respect for you. I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job. Up until this point, I have trusted Janetta's judgment, even when it conflicted with my own worries. You can choose to see my actions as interference or as me following up on an accident involving two people that I love."

He took a long breath, then shook his head. "I don't know why I'm doubting you. Last year when her diagnostic computer was compromised and she nearly died when her bird's electronics were fried, you did right by her and me. I suppose I'm letting bad gossip sway me, when the few times you and I have interacted, you've been up-front and honest."

"Is it too much to ask who's been bad mouthing me?" I asked, already having a good idea who it was.

At that, he flushed. "Lord Roshan."

"Why am I not surprised," I growled. "That motherless bastard!"

Giving me a sharp look, he observed, "I knew Captain Tlacotli was bitter about her e-man's sudden departure, but why are you angry?"

"I didn't learn until after he fled High Guard, his hooks deeply embedded into Cholan. Roshan's idea of entertainment is to seduce young marriageable women at Court, and using restricted drugs, he convinces them to skip any birth control options. Once she is pregnant, he publicly abandons the woman and comments on her loose morals, destroying her reputation. Anyone of the woman's family making a fuss is bought off, threatened into silence, or has a convenient accident. The Empress is so disgusted with Roshan's behavior, she has forbidden him from attending any function that she herself attends. No, the only reason Roshan married Cholan is because she figured out how the weapon system worked and drew up the plans on how to integrate the Atlantean weapon to work with our new power system. For successfully making the first working energy weapon she stood to earn a quarter-million credits in prize money!"

"A quarter-million credits! I had no idea!" Captain Tanosca exclaimed.

"Yes, it's a fortune, all right. The marriage contract he convinced her to sign gives Roshan complete control of her money. He has a low opinion of women and he didn't like being told about the Protection Order we have at High Guard. Stealing Cholan earned him a fortune and she gets next to nothing in return, and he deliberately thumbed his nose at me after I'd told him she was off limits. He also made sure he left before telling me or Janetta, so we couldn't put a halt to things."

"Wait, you were sleeping with Sergeant Cholan, too?"

I nodded. "Yes. You remember how it was here at High Guard last year? Janetta insisted. Her ground crew were able to wear my grade pins, giving them extra protection."

"That actually makes sense," he replied. "She's always been protective of her people. And her sense of honor wouldn't let it be a convenient fiction."

What he didn't say was Janetta would be branded a liar, and that anywhere else in the Empire, her ground crew would be punished by publicly having to sexually service men several times a day for at least a month.

His next words surprised me. "Well, at least General Ulee'ar is gone. He was pressuring me and CAG to discharge Captain Tlacotli."

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"As if I'd get rid of a perfectly good pilot! She shot down two Atlanteans and drove off two others the first week she was here, and kept watch over her wingman till SAR pulled him from the drink."

After collecting my jammer, I put it away and stood up. "I'd best get moving. I have two women to transport to the hospital."

He offered his hand and we shook.

"Can't exactly say it was a pleasure, Commander, but it was enlightening. As long as the incoming replacements are working and ready to fly, even a few at a time is good news! And the fact that we don't have fuss with more bad circuit boards is even better!"

After leaving Tanosca's office, we drove over to the hangar that Roshan had once used as his lair. Yeah, even thinking about him made me start to seethe. Given the chance, he was one creature I would have no problem ending, and I would enjoy breaking some bones before I was done. Seven hells, who was I kidding? I'd gloat while breaking several!

Outside the huge hangar, I'm not sure why, but I scoped out the parked vehicles until I found Janetta's loaner HueCac. Squatting down by the left-front tire, I looked down behind the right-front wheel. There was a small pool of liquid on the ground. Reaching down, I touched it and ran it over my fingers, then sniffed it. It was oily and heavy-smelling as only petroleum products are.

Both of my guards watched me. Sergeant Alto asked, "Find something interesting, Commander?"

Standing back up, I said, "Sergeant, go sit in the driver's seat. When I tell you, push on the brake pedal."

Corporal Fay watched while I hit the tab-release and lifted the hood. Moving over, using my belt knife, I pushed off the retaining bar and opened the lid on the master brake cylinder. The fluid level was low. When Zinja took out the stop sign, the splintered stump must have nicked the brake line, and the line pressure was bleeding out fluid.

"Corporal, squat down where I was and watch for any leaks. Sergeant, slowly push the brake pedal down, and see how far it will depress."

He pushed it down, and I saw bubbles rise up, and then the fluid level dropped a bit lower.

"I see fluid dripping down, sir!" Fay announced. Standing up, she realized what it meant.

Alto said with concern in his voice, "It went all the way to the floor, Commander. Hardly any resistance at all."

After closing the cylinder cover back up, I returned my belt knife to its sheath and closed the hood. "Put a tire lock on the wheel, Sergeant. We don't want anyone to drive it until the brake line's been fixed. It's not safe. Then call Motor Pool to have them come pick it up."

"Yes, sir." Getting out, he went to the cruiser's boot and retrieved the tire-lock. While he did that, I pulled out my handkerchief and wiped the oily dirt off my hands, then headed toward the front of the hangar.

A couple of enlisted had been watching us, and a few more gathered while the tire was secured. They moved aside as I neared them, Corporal Fay shadowing me.

As I entered the hangar, I spotted Janetta at a workstation. Someone was leaning over the table she sat at, whispering urgently to her. The left side of my warrior's beautiful face was a puffed, misshapen mess. Seeing her like that hurt my heart, and even more that she's not taken the time to tell me she'd and Zinja had been hurt.

Standing up, Janetta scowled as she scanned around. When she spotted me, she stormed over, quickly closing the distance. She yelled out, "What the fuck are you doing here, Kandikan? I have important work to do! And how dare you put a lock on my tire! That's my vehicle, not yours!"

I was prepared to meet Janetta, but I saw Fay's hand go to her stunner, and I turned to block her. While I was distracted, Janetta punched me solidly in the kidney.

I seized up, dropping to one knee on the pavement. "Fuck, Janetta! That hurt!"

"Good! About time I got the better of you! Now get that fucking lock off my vehicle before I punch you in the other one!"

"He had to, you crazy bitch!" Fay yelled.

"I'm the Queen Bitch around here, so mind your mouth, Corporal! I don't care if you are Air Security. I'm an officer! Don't push me or I will hurt you next!"

"Commander, why'd you stop me?" Fay asked in exasperation, her attention split between watching Janetta and concerned for me.

"Because..." I wheezed out, "that's the woman I love."

"But she hit you!"

"She was an only child... and never learned to play nice with others," I quipped, and then deflected the kick she aimed at my balls. "Knock it off, Janetta!"

"Fuck you, Kandikan!"

"What excuse would you use with Izel had you connected, Janetta? She calls you her sister!" I shouted back, pushing down the pain and getting back onto my feet.

Janetta suddenly paled, realizing what she'd done. Very quietly, she muttered, "Shit. I'm sorry, Kandikan. By the gods, I don't know what came over me. I was angry and needed you to pay for my anger."

"You and your temper, Janetta!" I snarled at her. "You got your free shot on me, but that's done and over with. Go find Zinja and get your things together, because I'm leaving and the both of you are coming with me this instant! Am I clear?"

Sergeant Alto arrived. Moving up beside me, he murmured, "You okay, Commander?"

"No, he's not okay!" Fay told him. "She punched him in the kidney. Striking Air Security automatically earns a night in the stockade!"

"Fay," Alto said gently, "That's Captain Tlacotli. She's the Commander's mistress. They live together. Didn't you look through the photos like you were supposed to?"

"But she doesn't look anything like her photo!" Fay protested.

"Her name patch on her uniform is plain as day," Alto answered.

"Oh, gods, I am so screwed."

I sighed, then winced as another twinge shot up my back. I muttered to them both, "She's usually not this grumpy."

Janetta angrily braced herself. "I said I was sorry for hitting you. By the gods, Kandikan, I'm working here! I'm not going anywhere and neither is Zinja. I'm the Queen Bitch around here. What I say goes, and don't you forget it!"

"Captain Tlacotli, I saw the accident you both had last night," I growled back. "I know you chose to come back to the hangar rather than come home last night, Captain. I'm doing my best to keep my own temper in check. You aren't making it easy for me."

She deflated again, murmuring, "Shit."

"On top of that, neither one of you went to the hospital to get checked out. You're done here, and if you fight me on this, I will cuff you and if you still resist, you will ride in the boot. Now where in the seven hells is Zinja!" I glanced around and didn't see her. I pointed at three enlisted hovering around gawking at us, and barked out, "You, you, and you, go find Sergeant Zinja, right now! Turn to!"

Three faces blinked, then darted off deeper into the hanger amid the worktables and barriers marking off work stations.

"What about my vehicle, Kandikan?" Janetta said with a frown. "I need it to get around, but you put a tire lock on it! Did you think I was going to run?"

Exasperated, Fay snapped out, "It wasn't safe to drive!"

"What?"

"The brakes don't work! It's leaking fluid!" Fay said. "He ordered the tire-lock so no one got hurt." Then she muttered something else.

Janetta's face darkened. "You'd better repeat that, and louder so the rest of us can hear it, Corporal!"

"I said, for living together, you sure don't know your man very well. You assumed his intentions were bad. How—"

Alto put his significant hand onto her shoulder, startling her into silence. "Don't make it worse," he advised. "What's the first rule about domestic disturbances?"