“But given your time in your previous position, Nick,” Peterson told him, “you’re closer to their level. So once you get your feet on the ground and show us what you can do, I don’t have a problem bumping you to Sergeant Investigator, too.”
“I have an idea,” Demetrius suggested. “It’s nearly shift end; why don’t we all go out and grab drinks, and maybe dinner, at the local hangout and get to know each other? Then we can go help Nick, here, finish moving. Maia, you got a problem with that?”
“Not at all, Gene, provided you watch out for problems with the Imperial Police,” Peterson noted. “Remember where Ashton, here, is ‘on loan’ from…and why. Assuming he doesn’t apply for a permanent slot in ICPD, which I hope he will. Even then, we might still need to help him watch his back. After all, he’s not even supposed to be on the planet now.”
“Right,” Gorski agreed. “Yeah, no worries. We’ll look out for ‘im and keep it – and him – on the down low. This ain’t our first rodeo like this. Gonna come with?”
“I’m not sure yet,” Peterson noted. “I still have to tag up on some stuff to do with Ashton, and it might run me too late. Elvis gets…temperamental…if I’m late with his din-din.”
“Elvis? Wasn’t that an old-Earth music star?” a confused Ashton wondered, and the others laughed.
“Yeah, but that’s not who she’s talking about!” Rassmussen all but guffawed.
“Her cat,” Gorski chuckled. “Blue point Oriental. He’s temperamental on a good day. If she’s late with his dinner, he barfs in her shoes.”
“Or bed,” Peterson added, rolling her eyes.
Another laugh went up, and this time, Ashton joined in. Peterson grinned ruefully.
“I liked the name. What can I say?” she said with a shrug. “He’s my kitty tranquilizer when I come home from work on a bad day. It’s better than drinking myself under the table every night.”
“True words,” Gorski agreed.
“Well, you know the hangout,” Demetrius said. “If you get a chance, swing on by and join us. Even if only for a few minutes.”
“Will do, but don’t expect me, just in case I don’t make it,” Peterson said with a smile. “You lot go on and assign Ashton a desk and get him settled in, then head out.”
“All over it,” Gorski affirmed.
“…No, we never did get anything on him,” General William Kershaw, the head of the IPD on Sintar, told his superior, Imperial Police Chief George Stanier, at about the same time as Ashton was meeting the detectives. “Even though he’s been here for years and years. Not for lack of trying, lemme tell ya. Smart bastard. Carter never quite went the way we wanted him to go, but he never quite crossed any lines, either. Still, I can’t help but think how many kids he sent over to Imp City PD.”
“Yeah, but those were the rejects,” Stanier pointed out. “The ones we didn’t want. And let’s face it, Imp City isn’t big enough to bother us too much. We’re the main precinct for the Imperial Police, after all.”
“True.”
“So let’s get rid of another one, and go ahead and accept Carter’s retirement,” Stanier decided. “We can put somebody in that position that we know is gonna do exactly and only what we want him to do, and be done with it.” He paused, then added, “And when Officer Ashton gets back from his training, if he still doesn’t get it, we’ll take care of it then.”
“Right. Done,” Kershaw said, approving the form; in VR, it came across as checking the approval box on the form with a pen, when it was the electronic file that was in fact flagged as approved. “Be thinking about who you want to see in that position. I’ll come up with a list of candidates by tomorrow morning.”
“I think replacing him won’t take long,” Stanier agreed. “But I just had a thought…”
“What?”
“Carter has sent a bunch of rookies over to Imp City. What if Ashton really isn’t going offworld at all, he’s just going over there? He ducked out on your niece this morning, and that’s suspicious, according to what you told me earlier. She had him strung along pretty good, there, we thought.”
“Oh, that’s right. And he’s a problem child,” Kershaw said, considering. “Hm. Good point.”
“If he really hasn’t gone anywhere except ‘next door,’ then we need to go ahead and take him out. Otherwise, he’s liable to get us in trouble by blabbing to the wrong people. Especially about that attempted theft of the Sigil. We don’t need the Empress’ staff finding out about that.”
“True…” Kershaw shrugged. “His home address is on file with the department. We can always have a cooking-fuel explosion outta the apartment kitchen, overnight…” He shrugged again. “Then it doesn’t matter. One way or the other, he’s out of our hair.”
Stanier nodded.
“Make it happen,” he declared.
Repercussions
“…Yeah, Lee, we got Ashton eased in and going,” Peterson told Carter a few hours later, in the same nondescript VR meeting room. “And Gorski said he’d help him finish moving later tonight, so he wouldn’t be alone at his old place, just in case. Given the lot that went with ‘em to dinner, I expect there’ll be easily half a dozen on moving duty, so it’ll go fast. And they’re good, so they’ll stay out of sight, and keep him out of sight. Did you get the rationale sent, that will hopefully get the goons off his ass?”
“I did,” Carter said, “and got the feedback that they bought it…I think. I hope so, for his sake, anyway.”
“That’s good, then.”
“Yeah.”
“What’s your next step?”
“Oh, I’ve already taken it. I expect it to be approved any moment.”
“What’s that?”
“I’ve applied for early
