Blow ups Happen
The squadron sailed through hyperspace, bound for the Congo system. The squadron had moved around the edge of the Erewhon system as Witch Maiden pressed on to orbit the planet itself to collect dispatches and the supplies the Bosun had ordered for Dollaryde. She had expected him to be relieved, but he had merely grunted as if it didn't matter. His daily efficiency had plummeted, and those who knew the twins noticed that they seemed to be worried about him as well. But Dollaryde himself merely shook his head when asked.
As he trudged toward the passageway, Francis wondered why he bothered. The girls were worried, but he was a man, and his father had always told him a man took care of his problems by himself. But he couldn't see a way to fix this. An officer setting him up for a fall, his efficiency so bad he looked like a fresh kid entering engineering school. His brewing... He bit his lip. The one thing he had proven good at being destroyed. He was almost sure the system was fighting him as he monitored the plant today. He had spent every minute of the last shift just keeping it balanced, and everything he did just made it shift the other way even more. It was like trying to balance a ball bearing atop another one, a constant dance that he was failing more and more. Yesterday his efficiency had dropped to .98, if he were still in middle school it would have been a grade of D-. and he'd never scored that bad on anything in his life!
It had to be Krueger. Ever since he'd come aboard Krueger had ridden him like a mule, always pushing, demanding more, yet never satisfied. Oh he'd apologized for that insulting nickname, but Francis had found out what it meant before he did, and the meaning burned in his breast like a coal seam fire.
He felt like sighing when he met JG O'Connor as he reached the hatch into Fusion 2. "Dollaryde." He snarled, handing the rating his pad. His heart sank. He thought he had scored at least 2.98 today. But according to the pad, he was at .6. An F. "You are off the panel as of now. Go to Fusion one next shift, report to JG Sawyer. He's set up a remedial course to get you back up to speed. Until you pass his course, with honors, until you can do your job right, I will not have you on my deck." He turned on his heel, storming off.
Francis found himself headed for hydroponics, and the vats. He didn't know why he was bothering. Krueger would find a way to ruin this as well. His misgivings were well founded. The first thing he smelled wasn't the smell of brewing beer, it was the stench of human waste. He came up to the gently simmering vats, and found a pad laying below them.
Since you keep making filth, we felt it needed some flavor
He considered the storage where his remaining ingredients were as he slipped the pad into his pocket. O'Connor had given him permission to move them down from the ship's storerooms to hydroponics storage in a locked compartment. With trepidation, he walked to the hatch, keying in the code. The same stench hit him as we walked in. The drums that held his dreams had been opened, and the empty bucket told him what had been added.
He looked across the compartment at the barrel of peach must. Standing from the side of it was a fire ax , and he moved toward it.
Midshipman Krueger hurried toward Fusion 2. He'd stood a shift with the Astrogation department, and was still glowing with some of the praise he'd gotten from Lieutenant O'Malley. But he was worried about Dollaryde. While he had apologized for his unintended insult, the rating had not seemed to understand how badly the young officer felt. The man's efficiency had plummeted so badly that for the last two weeks, Krueger had merely nodded when he saw the young man's work,and couldn't understand why he was still failing. Lieutenant O'Connor merely told him the man had been reassigned, and refused to go further.
As he stepped back out of Fusion 2, he heard a scream of combined pain and rage followed by the clash of metal on metal, and headed toward hydroponics at a run.
Dollaryde was screaming, trying to free the fire ax he'd imbedded in the first of the vats. He was growling in his rage, finally prying the blade free, flipped the tool so it was the spike on the back face of the head that he imbedded in the second. Not satisfied with the one stroke, he raised the ax again, and slammed it into the tank again. Then he stormed over to the third.
"Dollaryde!" He spun, eyes focused on Krueger. He snarled, then hit the third tank hard enough that the ax handle shattered. Not deterred, he began pounding the metal vessel over and over, still screaming.
Krueger came forward as if he faced a madman, hands held out placating. "Francis, what is wrong?"
His calm voice, even raised to be heard over the noise of his attack somehow broke through Dollaryde's rage. The rating glared at him, breathing like a steam engine, then threw down the ax handle. "Not a fucking thing is wrong, sir. Just getting rid of this part of my life." He waved toward the ruined vats. "That should satisfy even you."
"What do you mean, Francis?"
"It means I give up, all right? Your little Schwulie will accept his place, and do what he's told. Are you satisfied?" At Krueger's confused look the rage returned. "Are you fucking satisfied now, sir?"
"Dollaryde!" Both men turned to see JG O'Connor standing in the hatch opening. "You're on report!"
Dollaryde walked toward the hatch. "With all due respect, sir, fuck you too." He walked past the officers.
"Where the hell do you think you're going, mister?" O'Connor reached out, his hand stopping when Dollaryde stared at it mere centimeters from his arm.
"I am going to my quarters. If you want to brig me, you had best send someone to pick me up from there. But if you touch me, I'll fucking kill you both!"
Bosun Sharpe set down the pad, and Rebecca looked at it. "So we have what, three people tagged?"
"Yes, captain. We haven't found-" The intercom interuppted her recitation. Her captain raised a finger.
"Yes?"
"Master at arms Campbell here, captain. I've just been told to arrest 2nd class fusion engineer Dollaryde, charges to follow."
"Do what you must." Rebecca replied. She looked at Sharpe. "It looks like we didn't move fast enough, Bosum."
Cao Mei looked up as Francis came in. She started to stand and come to him, but for the first time ever he waved her away, walking to his locker. He took a pad from his pocket, threw it in, then pulled out a flask. As she watched in shock, he lifted it, pouring the neat spirit into his mouth as if he was dying of thirst.
"Leibchen?" He flinched as if the word were a whip, but drank another sip from the flask. He flinched again as her hand rested gently on his arm. "Francis, what is wrong?"
"Once you girls dump me, nothing." She flinched as the weary defeat in his voice. "I'm not worthy of your love." He pulled a rolled scroll from the locker, pressing it into her hand. "Give this to the captain for me. Not worthy of her trust either."
Cao Mei shook her head, unbelieving. "Francis, talk to me. Please." The annunciator on the hatch sounded, and then it snapped open. Two of Campbell's ship's police were there.
"Francis?"
I know, Chief." He said, hugging Cao Mei. "Let me go, love. Let me go." He touched her face, then put out his hands to be cuffed. They proceeded down the passageway and the hatch snapped shut. It opened a second later, and Fengniao was there, looking confused.
"Schätzchen? Was is los?" Cao Mei's mouth moved, yet nothing came out. Suddenly she wailed, and threw herself into her sister's arms.
Another explosion
It took over an hour for Fengniao to get even a partial answer from her sister. The woman kept breaking down to cry, and the older sister had to calm her to get even that much. She finally put the younger woman to bed with a sleeping aid, and stormed out to find out what had happened. While so alike that few (Her heart lurched at the thought) could tell them apart, there were ways that they were fundamentally different people. Cao Mei was such an easy going person, that no one could picture her as broken as Fengniao had seen her. Her wails that Francis had told her the girls should abandon him to his as yet unknown fate had cut her deeply, though his refusal to tell her why had cut even deeper.
She had tried to see him in the brig, but the guard told her gently that he had refused to see anyone, and when the captain had come down, had merely lay in his cell, face turned to the bulkhead, and said nothing.
But the rumor mill was full of him. That he had smashed his own brewing vats, that he'd dumped human watse into them first. That someone else had dumped in the waste, and it wasn't the first time; everyone who had tasted his beer had been asking him when the new batches would be done for weeks now, and he had grown more and more sullen with every query.
There was even a rumor that he might have attacked an officer, or threaten to kill one... or was it two? She was growing more and more frustrated, and the rumor mill wasn't helping. The way she was different from her sister was while Cao Mei was easy going, Fengniao was the kind that took obstacles head on, finding a way through them even if it meant smashing through. But what could have caused this? How did she deal with an obstacle she couldn't even understand?
"Hey, Fengniao?" She looked up at Chief Webster, mount chief of Graser 7. "Any word on when your Schwulie will-" The man gasped as she snapped around, caught him by the throat and slammed him into the bulkhead.
"My what?" Her voice was low, barely controlled. "My what?"
The chief gasped against her grip. "I heard midshipman Krueger call Francis that right before we moved to the wormhole to await the others. I thought it was a term of endearment!"
She glared at him, growling in German. "Where is that Gott aufgestaut Hurensohn?" She said in an ice cold voice. At his confusion she snarled, "Where is Krueger?"
"I think he's in the pub-" He flinched as she let him go, storming down the passageway.
He moved to an intercom panel. "Master at Arms, Chief Campbell, speaking."
"Dutch? This is Sid Webster. I don't know what is happening with Dollaryde, but Krueger called him something. When I said it to Fengniao she threw me into a bulkhead. When I told her who had said it she went off like a missile in acquisition. You'd better get someone up to the pub before she blows Krueger to hell."
The hatch opened, Cao Mei looked up, snapping to attention. "Captain."
"Cao Mei, do you know what happened with Francis?" Rebecca asked gently. The woman shook her head, and began to cry silently.
"He came home after his shift. He wouldn't speak to me, he only opened his locker and began drinking. Then he... He told me that as soon as we were no longer his wives, it would be better." The woman staggered across the compartment, turning to hand the scroll to the captain. "Then he said he wanted me to give this to you. That he wasn't worthy of your trust. Then they took him away."
"I'm taking you and Fengniao off shift for a while until I get to the bottom of this." Rebecca told her. "Where is Fengniao?"
"I don't know. She left a short while ago-" The intercom panel sounded, and Rebecca slammed her fist on it.
"What?" She snarled.
"Master at arms, captain. Fengniao is enroute to the pub with blood in her eye. Something about Krueger insulting Dollaryde. I've got men enroute."
"Contact Sisko. Have him ready to stop her. Now!"
Fengniao stopped in the open hatch, eyes scanning the darkened interior, then locked on target. She stormed across the compartment, fists opening and closing at her sides, only her resolve not to descend furhter into her fury and run screaming at her enemy stopped her. Krueger looked up from the cup of coffee and the activated pad on the table, then stood. "Fengniao."
"Stay away from us." She snarled. "Stay away from me, my sister, and our husband. Just stay away, and remember that if you every call him … that name again, I will hurt you. No, I will kill you. Is that clear, sir?"
She spun on her heel, then felt his hand grab her arm, his voice saying, "Wait Fe-"
She caught his wrist, broke the hold, then spun, her other fist slamming into his elbow, dislocating it. Before he could scream, he gasped instead as her foot snapped up, shattering three of his ribs. Someone caught her from behind, and she struggled against them, her eyes on the man mewling in pain on the deck. "Never touch any of us, you bastard. I'll fucking kill you if you do!"
"Cao Mei?" She looked up from the meal she had gotten, and now couldn't find the stomach to eat. It was Chartaine, looking down at her with worry in his eyes. He set down the cup of coffee he'd come down for, kneeling beside her. "What's wrong?"
She shook her head wordlessly, holding up a pair of pads. He took them, looking at what they said. "Where did you get these?"
"Before they arrested Francis, he was in his locker. He didn't close the door all the way, and I saw that one first." She pointed at the most abusive one. "But I don't know why he took them."
The Republican looked at both silently. In a world where paper was saved for important documents, the place of memos and instruction sheets had been taken by the ubiquitous pads. Single use computer readers, they were programmed with the information, and handed out, and were cheap enough that no one would even notice if they had been thrown away rather than returned. A quick run through a magnetic field would clear them for future use.
"Do you know who send these?" She shook her head. "What's happened with Francis?"
"I don't know, Jacques." She whispered, then her eyes closed, and tears ran down her cheeks. "But he is in the brig, and so is Fengniao. And they won't even talk to me!"
He pocketed the pads. "Leave this to me. Finish your dinner, and get some sleep, please, Cao Mei." He sat there making her eat, then escorted her to the now empty quarters. Then he headed up to CIC. "Ma'am?" He looked at the exec, who was coding in another drill. "May I use a terminal for a while?"
"Your terminals down on the crew deck aren't working, Chartaine?"
"I just need a larger access, ma'am."
"Sure." She motioned toward an empty chair. "Use number four."
The captain stalked into her office, wishing she could rip someone's head off. Irene had caught her mood, and hid under the coffee table rather than jump in her lap as she slammed down into her chair. The Bosun had worked miracles catching three of the people that had caused this problem, and the Brig had them as new occupants. But it had all been too late. Both Dollaryde and Fengniao had gone ballistic while the Master at Arms had been hammering the three caught. Now with two Article 9s on her plate, and still no reason why, she wanted to hurt someone. She glared at Os as he silently delivered a fudge brownie with chocolate ice cream, and she wanted to throw it into the bulkhead rather than eat it. But she silently ate the treat, even if it was like ashes in her mouth.
She had talked with Dollaryde after his arrrest, though talking at him was more accurate, since he had stayed silent during that session. It had been worse with Fengniao. While Francis had merely turned his face to the bulkhead and refused to even speak to her, Fengniao had sat on the bunk, glaring at her and refusing to even admit she was being spoken to.
The annunciator sounded, and she wanted to rip it from the bulkhead. Instead she tapped the button. "Yes?"
"Mister Chartaine to see you, ma'am." the Marine on her hatch reported.
"Tell him I'm busy." She snapped.
"Ma'am, he's insistent. He says he knows why Dollaryde went ballistic."
She chased some of the melted ice cream, her mind now totally focused. "Send him in."
The hatch snapped aside, and Chartaine marched in, snapping to attention. "Well you wanted to see me, and the sentry tells me you might know what is happening." She leaned back. "Talk to me, Chartaine."
The rating looked embarrassed. "Before I do, I have a confession to make, Captain."
"Well confession is supposed to be good for the soul."
"My last posting before Mister St Just died was to State Security, Cyber investigations." He flinched as her eyes focused on him like the grasers of her ship's broadside. "My duty was to break encryptions used by possible traitors so that their private files could be read. I avoided the purge after the New Republic was formed because I was scrupulously honest. I never created files that would be used to condemn the innocent, merely handed off the data I discovered to my superiors. But I was considered tainted by the use others put that data to. I was returned to Naval service after the coup, and have been at my present post, working with Manticoran data systems since then."
"And you are telling me... why?"
"The twins, the ones your crew calls the Darling Duo are friends of mine; especially Cao Mei, as we both work in the same division in CIC. She gave me these, and I undertook the task of finding out who had created them." He set the two pads on her desk. The captain picked up the first.
We'll keep this up until you stop
She looked at him as he set the second down. "This was done yesterday."
Since you keep making filth, we felt it needed some flavor
She set it down with the over control of someone beyond fury. "So you know who created these documents?"
"Yes, Captain." He said softly. "But I may have violated the rules your nation uses for investigating a crime. We may not be able to charge that man."
She looked at the offending pads. "Talk to me, Chartaine."
The hammer falls
Cathcart wondered about the summons from the Captain. He had covered himself in every way possible, so she could not accuse him of violating her orders. But all of his assistants were now in the brig. He stopped outside the hatch leading to her office, and the contempt in that Marine private's eyes was obvious. "Captain? Mister Cathcart is here."
"Send him in." Her voice was cold, try liquid helium cold. The hatch sna;ped aside, and Cathcart entered the compartment. The captain was standing with him at her back, her hands clenching behind her as she considered the bulkhead before her where a schematic of their patrol area lay. He marched up, snapping to attention, then relaxed, reaching for one of the chairs before her desk.
"Did I tell you to be seated?" Her voice cut like a scalpel. He returned to attention as she turned to face him. "Are you satisfied, Mr. Cathcart?"
"Ma'am?"
"I asked, are you satisfied, Mr. Cathcart?" Her voice would have stripped paint off of battle steel at 500 meters.
"I don't understand, capt-"
"Spare me your attempt to cover your ass, mister!" Now the voice would have stripped the outer layer of that battle steel. "It was so choice of you to make sure your own co-religionists did your dirty work after I ordered you to stop." The captain turned, a valkyrie seeing someone unworthy of her attentions. "Well let me give you a precis of what your vendetta has done. Lieutenant JG O'Connor is in the brig for using the faked data that made Francis Dollaryde an incompetent. He's charged with using falsified data to condemn an innocent man. If he is lucky, I might let him merely resign... but he had better not bet on luck.
"Yeoman Chief Dricsoll, who created the program that skewed Dollaryde's reactions to the data that lied about what was happening during his shifts is charged with creating falsified data during time of war. Even if it had been peacetime, his career is dead.
"Egnineering Rating 1st class Mitchell is charged with adding an illegal program to falsify data. He's looking at ten years for that. Then Quartermaster Mate 3rd Daugherty, who was the one that polluted Dollaryde's vats at your instigation is looking at five to ten for destruction of private property in excess of 2000 Manticoran dollars for his pollution of Dollaryde's vats, not once, but twice." She spun toward the bulkhead again, her hands clasped so tight that he could see the bloodless circles where her fingers cut into her hands.
"The only thing saving you from a court martial this very instant is that the proof that you were the instigator of it all was discovered without due process. Lucky for you that a Republican computer programmer acted out of friendship to find out what had happened, but forgot to tell us. You are so fucking lucky, lieutenant."
"So I cannot charge you, along with your fellow consprators." She turned again, and he flinched from her basilisk stare. "But I will tell you this now. As much as I have never used patronage before, you have earned my hate. I cannot prove your complicity in these action, thanks to the legal requirements of the law, But I have proof that cannot be denied. That has been appended to your personnel file, and any that ask can have it all.
"Your career in the navy is dead, you bastard. If anyone is willing to assist you, they will get a full download of why I see you as filth. Anyone who supports you from this point on will recieve exactly what you have done to earn my hate. Now get out of my sight before I rip off your head and shit down your neck! Dismissed!"