May 10th, 2263. 17:45 St. Mary’s Station – Residential Wing

John smiled as he stepped out of the elevator. It had been far too long since he had been back home. He was looking forward to having a homecooked meal, some properly good scotch, and maybe if he plays his cards right some good loving with his wife.

The door opened and John immediately knew the last item clearly looked like it wasn’t going to happen. Alice, normally one to be bubbly, hyper, and overly excited to see her husband from deployment was laying on the couch and looked like warmed over death. John had to chuckle a bit at how many blankets she managed to cover herself with.

John walked over to the couch and looked down at his wife, “You look like hell.”

Alice squinted at her husband and coughed, “I know, and before you ask it’s a combination of pneumonia and the flu.”

“Oof, space flu and pneumonia. How’d you pull that off?”

Alice rolled her eyes, “There was a refuge ship that docked earlier this week. I apparently got both plagues when I was helping out with them.”

“Have you eaten yet?”

“I have not.”

John smiled, “Alright, I’ll see if we have the ingredients for chicken noodle soup. I’ll be your nursemaid today.”

“Ugh, John, I love you, but I don’t want to hear that from you.”

John grinned as he leaned down and rubbed his wife’s head. He walked into the kitchen, cleaned his hands, and then began digging out pots, pans, and a variety of ingredients. Six different knives, eight pots, four pans, and twelve different spoons were used. Only half of them would be cleaned that evening. The mess John made on the countertops was at the very least cleaned.

Alice greatly appreciated the soup, and it was the comfort food she desperately needed. John wanted a steak. Maybe a pork chop or spicy chicken wings. But despite his wants, it was good to be home and even better to be the helping partner in the marriage for a change. Too often John was on the receiving end of this partnership.

She took some medicine after dinner, crawled into bed, and passed out promptly. John tucked her into bed and looked at the dirty dishes. ‘Tomorrow’ he thought, the couch looked far too comfortable to pass up.

John was about to sit on the couch but then changed his mind and sat in the recliner. He suddenly remembered that a very sick wife was resting on that very same couch. Plus, he didn’t feel like disinfecting or cleaning anything. For starters, he wasn’t in any mood to be productive, and secondly, he didn’t exactly know where Alice stored all the cleaning supplies.

His evening would consist of sipping on a twenty-plus-year-old scotch and watching a cornhole tournament. Four hours later he found himself falling asleep in the living room. While it felt wrong to not sleep with his wife, he didn’t really want to get sick. He stood up and walked over to the closet and grabbed a blanket and pillow from it. That comfortable recliner would be his bed that night.

May 11th, 2263. 09:55 Commercial District

John was smiling as he was running errands that morning. It wasn’t often that he got to do such mundane things. But it was a nice change of pace. Not being aggravated or frustrated due to intelligence failures or possibly getting killed or shot at was much more pleasant.

“Good morning,” John said as he stepped up to the pharmacist’s counter, “I have a prescription to pick up for Alice Lief-Robertson.”

The worker looked up at the smiling giant of a man and looked confused, “You don’t look like an Alice.”

“Very perceptive,” John said sarcastically, “I’m her husband.”

“Do you have proof of that?” she asked dismissively.

“Yes, it should be on your screen that you’re not looking at,” John shot back.

The pleasantness of the morning was largely ruined because of one rude worker. John’s expression changed rapidly. The worker sighed loudly and then looked at her screen. Then she looked back at John and eventually slide her ass out of her chair and stomped over to the completed prescriptions.

“Here you go,” she said as she slid the prescription across the counter.

“Thank you,” John turned but stopped for a moment and looked back at her, “Here’s a helpful hint, dropping the attitude will make your day more bearable.”

He then finished his turn and walked out of the store. Several of the people behind him chuckled at his polite takedown of the rude worker. Once out in the promenade, John pulled up his tablet and looked at his honey-do list, and began talking to himself.

“Ok, meds are done. Still need to get new pillows, food, soap, shampoo, and feminine products,” John sighed, “She’s doing that on purpose. I know she is.”

John grinned as he shook his head. The humble grocery store was going to be his last stop. Alice wanted a couple of new pillows first. But she was particular about which ones she wanted. They were sold in a single store, which was at the end of the district.

The pillow purchase was a painless one. That was a store John made a mental reminder to never go into again. If Alice did, that was her prerogative. His was to now avoid that store at all costs. Simple things were made complex by most of the stuff, or garbage, they sold. This store was clearly not aimed at the crowd John belonged to.

John was grinning as he walked towards the grocery store. If Alice was going to make him buy some of that stuff, he would comply, but make it as cringe-inducing as possible. He set his bags in the cart as he grabbed one and began moving about the store.

The food, spices, snacks, and vegetables were easy things to get. John knew that Alice was incredibly picky about her soaps and shampoos. While it would be funny to annoy her he thought doing that multiple times today would be pushing the limits. He picked out the soap and shampoo she desired and set them in the bag.

The fun part started when he got to the feminine products. He grinned as he scanned the lot of them. But he pulled out his tablet and called her.

“Oh, thank god,” John smiled and spoke louder than normal, “You are up. Hey, so I’m looking at all of these feminine products, and you didn’t really tell me the specific ones.”

“Tampons and pads,” Alice sounded very phlegmy.

“High, medium, or low flow?” John said loudly.

There was a pause at the other end of the line. John was pointing at several different items. He stood up and refocused on the call.

“Which flow honey? I don’t want to be buying the wrong one.”

“Medium.”

“Sweet,” John said as he reached down but then stopped, “Ah hell. There are four sizes.”

Alice groaned at the other end of the line. Several workers giggled in the store. A couple of other shoppers grinned at the oafish act John was putting on. None present, aside from John, knew that he was hamming this up.

Eventually, Alice spoke up again, “Medium pads, large tampons.”

“Hey, I was half right!” John exclaimed into the phone.

Alice immediately snapped back, “John, I love you. But I am not in any…” she then made a gross-sounding cough, “But now is not the time for you to be funny.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Fine,” John sighed as he tossed the appropriate feminine products in his cart, “Just have to pay at the grocery store and I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.”

“Thank you,” Alice said quietly before ending the call.

John grinned as he headed to the checkout counter. True to his word fifteen minutes later he was at their door carrying several bags of stuff he was instructed to buy. As he walked into their home Alice was flipping through the channels.

“Hi honey, thank you.”

John smiled, “My pleasure.”

As John walked by the television split into two screens, with the right one being an incoming call. He didn’t look as he set the bags on their dining table. He turned immediately when he heard a familiar voice.

“Ahh, Lieutenant Lief you are home.”

“Admiral Nelson, I just got home actually.”

“We need to speak with you. Urgently. NI isn’t happy.”

John shrugged, “When aren’t they, sir? I need to put this stuff away since you can see my wife is currently a bit under the weather.”

“Understood. I need you to hear at the bottom of the hour.”

The call ended. Alice grinned as she looked at her dutiful husband unpacking everything. The grin left her face when John chucked one of the pillows at her. He smiled as he rubbed her head on his way out.

“Hope you’re feeling better. There’s some leftover soup from yesterday in the fridge. I’ll be back soon.”

10:35 Naval Operations – Boardroom #3

John was escorted to the meeting room by a very attractive and flirty petty officer. John shut her down gently, but quickly as he flashed his wedding band. That didn’t seem to stop her from trying, but it was all for naught. He quickly entered the room and took his seat.

Commander Murphy sat down at the table across from him. She looked like she had sucked a terribly bitter lemon. Her eyes were focused entirely on him. If looks could kill, John would be dead hundreds of times over.

Another Naval Intelligence operative was sitting next to her, Station Chief Dexter Watanabe. He didn’t seem to be rather indifferent at being here. John presumed he managed to tone out whatever the Commander said.

Admiral Nelson and General Mizrahi were at the end of the table. Both men wore their traditional grim visages. Neither were individuals John wanted to cross purposefully. John wasn’t above testing limits. He knew both were at a minimum moderately upset that John had interviewed the subject.

Commander Murphy started the meeting out of turn by slamming her hands on the table, “What the hell were you thinking?”

John sat back in his chair, crossed his legs, and smiled as he answered, “My job. I checked your file while I was deployed. I’ve done roughly three times as many interrogations as you. Your team onboard the station was not only ill-prepared to deal with Harold but unqualified.”

He then looked at Dexter, “Captain Watanabe, would you disagree with my assessment or actions?”

The Station Chief sighed and looked at the elder statement in the room, “Naval Intelligence’s official response is of annoyance, however, given the Lieutenant’s history it is accepted that he is capable of handling interviews. He also didn’t overstep and offered the man nothing.”

“Chief, I must insist. He had no right to overstep his position.”

“We request that future interrogations are handled by our personnel. On an exceptionally long return to the fleet, they’ll be permitted to be in similar length. Unless of course, NI personnel is present. At which point they will run the show.”

“Request permission to sit in on those interrogations,” John said, “Should they happen of course.”

“Absolutely not. You will not tarnish this investigation any more than you have,” Commander Murphy spat out.

Dexter looked at John and paused. He appeared to be deep in thought. A moment later he nodded and spoke.

“I’ll permit it. However, the NI agent will lead the interview. You will only assist.”

John nodded, “I will abide by that.”

“You cannot be serious. He’s already compromised our investigation. The prisoner cannot be remanded into our custody,” Murphy said before she was silenced by Dexter with a single gesture.

“About that, I presume you had a plan for that Lieutenant?”

“There’s a maximum-security prison down on the surface. There’s also solitary confinement here at the station. Either would be acceptable from my point of view,” John paused then continued, “The station seems to be more convenient when the team here wants to ask questions of him, but ultimately I recommend the planet below because of the remote nature of the facility.”

“Chief, you cannot be seriously thinking this is acceptable. He is…”

“Enough. What’s done is done. He’s done more in a week than you have in six months,” Dexter said, “Now, onto more pressing matters. Your report is troubling.”

Admiral Nelson then joined the conversation, “If it’s true, then their organization is not actively involved.”

“I disagree, sir. They are involved in the purchase, construction, and ultimately what is researched. They just hire out the work to contractors. Send one of their people to observe and report back,” John said, “But, it isn’t a slam dunk case, and I don’t think we have enough to get the two secretaries on our side.”

General Mizrahi looked at Dexter, “I presume this most recent mission is sufficient for the investigation to continue?”

John was observing the operatives. Dexter showed very little emotion in his response to that question. But it was an unequivocal confirmation that the investigation would continue. Commander Murphy on the other hand appeared to be disappointed or at the very least very put off. That was not the kind of response he’d expect from her.

“It does. Three more teams on Titan were assigned to it and additional resources will be assigned to this station and the Vigilant. Commander Murphy will continue to be the liaison onboard the Vigilant. Director LeCroix has made me the prime agent on this case,” Dexter then looked at John, “The database, do we have a full copy of it now? Or did I misread that?”

“We have one full database sir. I’m not convinced there is only one. To be sure of that we need to acquire more of them,” John leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table, “That means we need more hot sites.”

“Unfortunately, the preliminary scans of the database haven’t provided us any potential sites,” Commander Murphy said, “We are once again resorting to looking at financial records and receipts of shipping companies.”

“What of the scans of the other planets?” Admiral Nelson asked.

“Platoons One and Four carried out operations on two locations we identified. One was an abandoned site,” Commander Murphy said, “No intel was found, and the place was completely cleaned. The other site was run by a pharmaceutical company in compliance with all Confederate and local laws. A false positive with an annoyingly disabled communications satellite dish.”

“Have we bothered to look outside our borders?” John asked.

Dexter shook his head, “We’re heard things but haven’t followed up on them. Our remit is only in our territories. Plus, we know that one of his operatives is working with the pirates to get to you.”

General Mizrahi then spoke up, “Which means you are not leaving our space. With the additional resources would it not make sense for a team to dig up intel on bases outside of our space?”

Dexter looked at the General, “I won’t commit to anything this instant, however when the new teams arrive, I will look at the workloads and reevaluate accordingly.”

“Do we have any active leads?” John asked.

“None at this time. You and your platoon will finish their shore leave as planned,” General Mizrahi said, “Any leads will be handled by the other teams that are active in the field now.”

“I want to pivot back to Harold and the scientists,” Dexter said, “What are our plans for them? Trying them would be… Tricky.”

“Harold still has uses. Even if the little shit lied to me. I think he has connections of some sort with interested parties in the Union. The pair of scientists from the Alliance can be airlocked for all I care,” John said, “The Confederate scientists are the real trouble here. None seem to be capable of understanding the severity of their actions.”

“We examined their histories. Each and every one of them showed significant lapses in moral judgment,” Commander Murphy said, “They knew what they were doing, but they didn’t seem to care.”

“How did Norman’s organization know about them though? Those types of records are supposed to be sealed,” John said as he closed his eyes, “That means his grasp is deeper than previously presumed.”

“That is if your assumption is true Lieutenant,” Commander Murphy said dismissively, “You have no proof that he does have access to those records.”

“For now, we will confine them,” Dexter said.

John looked at everyone in the room, “Why not just make up the whole damn thing, convict them, and throw the damn keys away.”

“There is a presumption…” Admiral Nelson spoke but was then interrupted by the General.

“We do not need to make a decision on that matter today. However, what the lieutenant said has merit. They all are guilty as sin, some deserve death, and others that punishment is excessive. Detain them for now but we will need to review this in the near future.”

Dexter nodded, “NI can handle that. We’ll have at least a month or more of interrogations on them. If you don’t mind, we need to get running on the paperwork.”

Admiral Nelson nodded, “Good work. Lieutenant, in the future I’d recommend you listen to the spirit of the request, not what the request enables you to do.”

John nodded as he stood up, “I will review my actions and think upon them how I could have better followed the orders.”

He then saluted and turned to leave the room. Dexter was at the door but turned around to hand the senior leaders in the room a pair of data slates for their eyes only. John and Commander Murphy walked out of the door together.

John could feel the tension to his right as the Commander wanted to lash out at him. All it took was one turn down a quiet hallway for her to quickly step in front of him and put a finger in his face.

“Embarrass me again and I will end your career!”

John shook his head, “Rebecca, you’re not only a failure of an agent and naval officer. I legitimately don’t understand how you could suck as much as you do and keep a job. Wake the fuck up and do your damn job so I don’t have to.”

Rebecca’s eyes bulged out and she began stammering for a moment before collecting herself, “I did not want this assignment. This isn’t…”

John interrupted her, “A perfect opportunity for you to rise up in the organization. Except your pissing that opportunity away. I really don’t understand why you’re actively screwing this up as much as you are. Whatever the case, improve and you’ll be a regional director or station chief in no time. Keep it up and you’ll be run out.”

“I mean it, undercut me again and I will…”

“Accept it and move on. Rebecca, I’ve killed people far less competent for far less egregious things than you’ve done to me. Don’t think I won’t bring the hammer down on you if you try any sneaky bullshit on me.”

John grinned and then walked past the stunned woman. The time for games and civility was over. He’d work with her if he must, but he wasn’t about to let her insult him. Or threaten him. No, legitimate threats like that were going to be dealt with more excessive threats. John knew she had nothing on him, nor did he think she had the stomach to pull the trigger on any plan to discredit him, but she knew he was all the more capable, and willing, to follow through on his.