Honor Among Enemies

'You mean to tell me,' Honor pronounced each word with deadly precision, 'that someone in my ship tried to murder one of my crewmen, and we don't have the slightest idea who it was?'

'I can narrow it down some, Skipper, but not enough,' Tschu admitted. 'It could've been any one of two or three dozen people. I'm sorry, but that's the truth.'

'Is Randy Steilman on the list?' she asked flatly.

'No, Ma'am, but...' Tschu paused and drew a deep breath. 'Steilman isn't, but Jackson Coulter and Elizabeth Showforth both are, and they're part of Steilman's circle. I can't prove it was either of them, though.'

'I don't care what you can prove. Not now.' Honor turned to Cardones. 'Screen the Master-at-Arms. I want Coulter and Showforth brigged, and I want them sweated.'

'I understand, Ma'am,' Cardones started, 'but with no evi...'

'My authority,' she said in that same flat, calm voice. 'You tell them that. And you remind them a serving member of the military does not have the right to remain silent. One of those two people just attempted to commit murder, and I want them hammered until I know which it was.'

Cardones met her gaze levelly, but his own was troubled.

'Skipper, I'll do it, but you know they're going to claim they never actually meant to kill her, that it was only a prank that got out of hand, even if we break them down.'

'I don't care.' Honor Harrington stood very tall and straight, hands still locked together behind her, and her eyes were brown, blazing ice. 'This is the second 'accident' to one of my people. Understand me. There will not be a third. I will have these two in the brig, and I will have them hammered, and I will find out who did it. And when I do, I will by God make whoever it was the sorriest piece of scum ever to wear Manticoran uniform. Do you read me on this, Rafe?'

'Yes, Ma'am.' Cardones nodded sharply, fighting an urge to spring to attention, and she nodded back.

'Good.'

Aubrey Wanderman sat in sickbay once more, this time holding Ginger's hand. She lay very still, mouth and nose covered by a transparent oxygen mask. Commander Ryder had promised Aubrey she'd be all right, that she only needed the oxygen until the quick heal repaired her acid-seared lungs, but she looked so still. So broken.

It's only the quick heal, idiot! he told himself sharply, and knew it was true. They'd put her under a general while they flushed the acid out of her lungs, and then they'd had to hit her with a massive dose of the quick heal compounds. That always put the recipient out like a light. But knowing it didn't make her look one bit less terrible, and he looked up as Yoshiro Tatsumi paused at the foot of the bed.

'Thanks,' Aubrey said simply, and the SBA shrugged uncomfortably.

'Hey, it's my job, okay?'

'Yeah, I know. Thanks anyway. She's a friend.'

'I know.' Tatsumi nodded, eyes dark with compassion as he gazed down at her. 'You know she's likely to have some problems when she comes out of the quicky, don't you?' he asked quietly. 'I mean, she went for a wild one, man. Odds are real good she's gonna have some post traumatic from it.' He shook his head. 'I knew a tech once, an electronics guy, like you, went for a Dutchman. He was working on a gravitic array and some asshole in CIC didn't check the warning board. Threw power to the array while he was on it and blew him clear off the hull. Power surge fried his com and half his suit electronics. It took us almost twelve hours to find him. That man never went extra vehicular again. Just couldn't to it.'

'Ginger's tougher than that,' Aubrey said more confidently than he felt. 'She's always loved EVA, too, and she was only out there about thirty minutes. She can kick it. No way she's going to let a stupid accident get to her that way.'

'Accident?' Tatsumi blinked, then looked around carefully and shook his head. 'It wasn't any damned accident, man,' he said much more softly. 'Haven't you heard?'

'Heard what? Lieutenant Wolcott gave me permission to come right down here, and I've been here ever since.'

'Shit, Wanderman, the Old Lady's brigged Coulter and Showforth. Word is, somebody sabotaged her SUT, and the Skippers pretty damned sure it was one of those two. She's gonna turn whoever it was into reactor mass when she figures out which one to hang, too. I mean, that lady is pissed, man!'

'Coulter and Showforth?' Aubrey repeated, and he didn't recognize his own voice. Tatsumi nodded, and Aubrey stood smoothly. He patted Ginger's hand gently, then glanced back at Tatsumi. 'Keep an eye on her for me, okay? I want somebody to be here if she wakes up.'

'Where are you going?' the SBA asked uneasily.

'I've got to see someone about a lesson,' Aubrey said quietly, and walked away without another word.

Chapter THIRTY-FOUR

'Christ, Randy! Are you outa your friggin' mind?' Ed Illyushin leaned close, voice low enough no one else in the big, half-empty mess compartment could hear.

'Me?' Randy Steilman smiled lazily. 'I don't have the least idea what you're talking about.'

'I'm talking about what happened to Lewis!' Illyushin hissed. 'Damn it, they've already grabbed Showforth and Coulter, you think one of them isn't gonna roll over on us?'

Al Stennis nodded nervously, eyes flitting about to be certain no one was close enough to overhear. Not that anyone was likely to be. Steilman and his cronies weren't exactly popular with their fellows.

'Showforth doesn't know shit about it,' Steilman said. 'All she's gotta do is say so. As for Jackson, hell, it was his suggestion.' That wasn't precisely true, but it was close. Steilman had simply decided the general euphoria over Wayfarer's recent victories had brought everyone's guard down, which made it the time to deal with Lewis. It was Coulter who'd suggested the perfect way to do it and planted the necessary files in Lewis' SUT. 'And unlike you maggots, Jackson's got guts. Even if he didn't, you think he could turn us in without confessing to attempted murder?'

'But if they sweat them hard enough, they might tell 'em about...' Stennis began anxiously, only to shut his mouth with a click as Steilman glared at him.

'We don't talk about that outside the compartment,' the burly power tech said softly. 'And no ones gonna ask them about it, because no one knows about it. And as far as 'sweating' them goes, they've both been around the block. They've seen the inside of the brig before, and they ain't gonna cave in just because someone locked the door on 'em. And how the hell is anyone gonna sweat them when they haven't got any evidence?'

'What makes you so sure they don't?' Illyushin asked in a marginally calmer voice. 'Why grab them, and only them, if there's no evidence?'

'Hell, the fact they hauled both of 'em in is the best proof they haven't got any evidence!' Steilman snorted. 'Look, they know the two of 'em berth with us, right? And they know I had words with Lewis, right?' The other two men nodded, and he shrugged. 'All right, that's why they're being questioned, you assholes. All they've got is a possible motive. If they had enough evidence to prove who did it, it would've told 'em which of them to grab, right? Which means all Showforth and Jackson have to do is hang tough and they can't do squat to us.'

'I don't know,' Stennis began dubiously. 'It looks to me like...'

The environmental tech broke off in astonishment as someone slid a tray onto the table beside Steilman. The power tech turned his head, mouth already twisting up in a snarl to order the interloper away, but then his eyes widened. He stared for one incredulous second, and then his face flushed dark as Aubrey Wanderman smiled