“I’ll just bet you don’t,” Carter snapped. “Now answer my question. Why are you here?”
“Returning from a sabbatical to get my master’s degree in forensics, sir,” Koch noted. “May I ask who you– oh damn! You’re Captain Carter, aren’t you?!”
“I was Captain Carter,” he noted. “I am now Director Carter.”
“What’s a director?”
“It means I run IPD now,” Carter replied.
“Oh,” she said with a slight smirk. “So you’re one of us, too.”
“I doubt it,” Carter replied, short. “If you’re coming back, where’s your uniform?”
“Um, it’s been a couple of years, sir, and my old uniforms need to be re-tailored or replaced,” she said, flushing slightly.
“Aha. Graduate student spread?”
“Something like.” She flushed deeper. “I’ve been trying to stay in shape, though.”
“Have you sworn your Oath yet?”
“When I first signed on, way back as a rookie, sir.”
“No, I mean the new Oath. To the Throne.”
“I don’t know of any new Oath, sir.”
“Then we need to rectify that.”
“Oh, I’m sure Lieutenant Colonel Ashton will vouch for me.”
“You might be surprised, girl. And it’s Investigations Lead Ashton. He runs the Investigations division, and he’s my Field branch assistant – Investigations falls under the Field branch. We got rid of military style ranks a year ago.”
“Oh, I see,” Koch said, surprised. “My, he’s come a long way since I saw him last.”
“More than you know,” he replied then. Carter didn’t realize that she’d seen Ashton – and given him away – to her uncle when Ashton was still with ICPD. “Now come with me.”
He rose from his chair and headed out the door at speed, Koch following.
“But, um,” a chagrined and disconcerted Koch said, as she stood before the lie detector chair that the Emperor’s staff had seen the IPD acquired, the one expressly for the Oath ceremony. She was confused and thinking fast, trying to come up with a way to get out of the chair. She didn’t mind ‘swearing the Oath,’ but she had no intention of keeping it, and didn’t know how accurate the chair would be on detecting the falsehood.
“Sit,” Carter ordered, pointing.
“Uh, but, but I don’t know the new Oath,” Koch tried, even as Ashton, Ames, Stone, and Peabody entered the room to watch; Dr. George Withers, the new IPD Headquarters staff physician, already sat there, alongside technician Scott Sanders.
“We’ve had that issue before,” Carter said, calm – and hard as flint. “Sit. I won’t say it again.”
Koch sat.
“Now. In VR channel 1111, you should see the words of the Oath displayed,” Carter said. “Scoot all the way back in the chair until your back is resting against its support, place your forearms firmly on the chair arms, and press your calves back against the chair legs. Some officers find it helps to go up on tiptoe to push your calves against the chair.”
“Um, Nick?” Koch appealed. “Is this really necessary, baby? Can’t you explain to Chief Carter?”
“I’m not your baby, and yes, it is necessary,” Ashton replied, curt. “And it’s Director Carter.”
“Which I already told you,” Carter reminded her. “Do as I told you, if you want to see your old job again.”
Sullen, Koch did as she was told, positioning herself in the chair… except she subtly arched her back to minimize contact.
“Flatten your back, please,” Officer Sanders ordered. “Put it up against the chair back, as closely as you can.”
“But I have a problem with my ba–”
“Then you’d be disbarred from your old position for medical reasons,” Ashton barked. “Do it, Tabby. We don’t have all day.”
“Obey the man,” Carter said, when Koch frowned.
Finally Koch was positioned in the chair to the technician’s satisfaction.
“You may begin,” Sanders said.
“Um,” Koch murmured as she opened channel 1111 and read the text there in the lower half of her vision. “I, Tabitha Eliana Koch, do solemnly swear that I will, um, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the, uh, the Throne of the people of, of Sintar.”
Carter, Ashton, and the others glanced at Sanders and Withers, who both pressed their lips together and shook their heads.
“Would you like to try again, Ms. Koch?” Carter asked, deceptively quiet.
“Not particularly,” Koch noted. “I don’t see why I had to do it in the first place.”
“Maybe because your uncle was crookeder than a shipment of springs, and you followed in his tracks?” Ashton retorted; it was practically a snarl.
“You’ve got no room to talk,” Koch flashed. “Look at you, all sitting pretty in your fancy office, so early in your career. Look who your right-hand man is!”
“Investigator Peabody swore the Oath honestly, and has stood by it, Ms. Koch,” Carter said. “Which is apparently far more than you can say.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you have one last chance to swear – honestly – to the Throne of Sintar, or so help me God, I will personally throw you out on your ear.”
Koch flushed a deep red in anger, and opened her mouth to speak, coming partway to her feet. Then she thought better of it and sat back down, carefully positioning herself in the chair so that it would look as if she were contacting it properly, while actually minimizing all contact.
“No, Ms. Koch, it won’t do,” Dr. Withers said. “We can see in the telemetry that you’re trying to cheat the chair. Sit properly.”
“No. I’ve had enough,” Carter said then. “Ms. Koch, your employment with the Imperial Police force is now formally terminated. You’re fired. I’m sending two of my people with you to your home to fetch your old uniforms and equipment and return them to Headquarters.
