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.The Doctor had to admit that there was no direct proof that she had been raped and I…I was told, by the Captain, to keep myself out of it.The ending was inevitable.Frank Wong was declared innocent.The only upbeat news was a conversation I overhead between Frank and the Captain, where he warned Frank in no uncertain terms that another rape would mean his instant death.Frank came out of that meeting sporting a black eye.And Ensign Gomez? She never recovered from her experience, despite all the help that we could give her.At the end of our deployment, she was transferred to a research centre in deep space, well away from anywhere else.I pitied her more than anyone else.She’d once been full of promise, until a bastard with too many political collections had got his hands on her.***The remainder of the deployment – two years, mostly spent in orbit around Heinlein – went slowly.I ended up remaining on the Devastator most of the time – Frank had apparently asked for my removal from the reporter-babying duty – handling the duties of three other Lieutenants.I also spent more time on two other starships, replacing officers who had managed to get themselves transferred, or killed in the line of duty.Actually, one of them had been killed in a local brothel, but it had been recorded as a combat death.Heinlein being Heinlein, it probably was.I had the faintest glimmerings of a plan before we started to prepare to return to Earth, but even with Kitty’s help, it would have to wait until we had some shore leave to ourselves.We also knew that we might not be together for much longer.I suspected that the Captain would approve my transfer request and Kitty might not be able to go with me, even though she wanted a transfer as well.She was technically senior to me.She might well be sent to another starship.I studied the lists of opening posts and tried to make a good case for us to be sent as a couple, but there were few openings for two lieutenants.There were plenty of possible posts for a single officer – and, of course, they might have been filled before I returned to Earth.Roger even offered to put in a good word for me with the Admiral, but the last thing I wanted was a post on the battleship.It was just too large.The only peace of good news came in a week before we departed for Earth, having been finally relieved by the Annihilator.Frank, who hadn’t set foot on the starship since someone – not me – had played merry hell with the stateroom’s life support systems, had been finally sent out of Lazarus to report on the countryside and the ‘Heinlein Improvement Project’s’ progress.The insurgents located his convoy and attacked it.No one survived.The infantrymen who finally reached the convoy’s remains reported that someone had cut off his penis and stuffed it up his ass.I couldn’t help, but laugh when I heard the news.Never let them give you to the women…“Serve the bastard right,” I gloated to Kitty.Ensign Gomez had perked up a little when she heard the news.Anna had convinced the Captain to allow her one of the spare cabins for her bunk, just so she wouldn’t be surrounded by male Ensigns, but it hadn’t helped.We’d even looked for a Rape Trauma Specialist down on Heinlein, but found none.Heinlein seemed to believe that the only good rapist was a dead one.How could I disagree? “I wonder how that’s going to be reported.”I should have known.The reports claimed that he had been killed after a heroic struggle that killed hundreds of insurgents.I doubted that there was anyone in the system who was impressed with the UN’s propaganda any longer, even the UNPF Generals.No matter what they said, it was always proved spectacularly wrong soon afterwards.As the ship headed for home, I had to force myself to relax.Back at Luna Base, the real work would begin.Chapter Twenty-OneA Lieutenant has more choice of where he serves than an Ensign or newly-minted Lieutenant, but often the choices are very limited.A term of planet-side duty can kill a career as surely as having the wrong political opinions.The political interrogation is often stronger as an officer creeps closer to the ultimate goal – command of a starship, master under God – not that the UN believes in God, of course.-Thomas Anderson.An Unbiased Look at the UNPF.Baen Historical Press, 2500.“Well,” Ellen Nakamura said.“You’ve had an interesting couple of years, haven’t you?”“Yes,” I said, carefully.Ellen looked as hauntingly beautiful as ever, but I wasn't fooled.She had a razor-sharp mind and full knowledge of everything that had happened on the deployment.I wouldn’t forgive her for sacrificing Ensign Gomez on the alter of political expediency, but I wouldn’t underestimate her either.She could break my career.“I have learned a great deal.”Ellen laughed gaily.“You definitely have,” she said.“You did well on your deployment to the ground and Captain Jones spoke highly of you during your deployment to his vessel.He actually wanted to offer you a post on his ship, but we decided that your services were still required here.”That rankled, more than a little.The longer I stayed on the monitor, the greater the chance that I would have to launch or call in another fire mission, directed against the ground.God alone knew how many innocents had been killed on Heinlein, but I would have bet good money that it was well over a million.I hadn’t known that Captain Jones had wanted me – he was short of officers after the insurgent attack – and I would have transferred at once, if he had offered me the chance.Life on a cruiser would have been far more tolerable than life on a monitor.The people I would have killed, at least, would have been trying to kill me.“But in any case all good things must come to an end,” she said, moving back to the more serious persona.“You are requesting permission to transfer to another starship? Don’t you like it on the Devastator?”It was an innocent question that had a nasty sting in the tail.I didn’t have the Senior Chief briefing me this time, warning me of what I would face.Saying the wrong thing would wreck my career, but I honestly wasn't sure what I should say.If I confessed to disliking the starship’s purpose, it would get me marked down as a possible subversive, while if I claimed to love it…well, she’d probably know that I was lying.“I want to get further experience of starship operations,” I explained, finally.It was even true.“The Devastator remains in one system and operates there.I want to serve on a starship that carries out patrols and maybe even explores new star systems.”“Boldly going where no one has gone before,” Ellen agreed.It was the motto of the UN’s Survey Corps, which examined new planets for human settlement
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Tematy
IndexChristine Amsden [Cassie Scot Cassie Scot ParaNormal Detecti
Christie Craig [Divorced, Des Divorced, Desperate
Moore Christopher Ssij, mała, ssij (II)
Stasheff, Christopher Wizard in Rhyme 6 Haunted Wizard
Christine Feehan Mroczna Seri Mroczny Demon
Cidney Swanson [Saving Mars Saving Mars (epub)
Stasheff, Christopher Rogue Wizard 04 A Wizard in Peace
Feehan Christine Mroczna Seria 01 Mroczny Ksišże
Stasheff, Christopher Warlock 01 The Warlock in Spite of Himself
Christine Feehan Mroczna Seria 13 Mroczne Przeznaczenie