The next few days were comparatively quiet. Regular updates on the scrambled data trickled in from the techs, and Kinnit tidied and organized the information, preparing for the in-depth analysis she wanted to do once everything was in.

Kinnit and Grimthorn kept their conversation in the office muted, always aware of the wire that had been planted.

Admiral Stonefist spent most of his time catching up on some his of paperwork. His frustration grew with each report he completed. Finally, in the middle of one workday, he slammed his hands down on his desk and stood.

"Enough of this," he said.

Kinnit looked up in surprise.

"Now I'm writing reports about how many reports I've written this month. This is all garbage work, and I'm not doing it any more. Come, Kinnit."

"Yes, sir!" she said, bouncing out of her chair enthusiastically. "Where are we going?"

"We're going on patrol. The bugs have been acting up more lately. More of their usual raids. Let's go see if we can find something to shoot at."

Kinnit suppressed a small smile. That was just like him. She decided to try needling him a little.

"But sir, what happens if the important reports aren't filed on time?"

"Then they can rot on Geina!" he barked. But then he saw the mischievous smile spreading on her face. He calmed down. "Or maybe I'll assign them all to you to complete," he said with an arched eyebrow.

"Then they would be readable, sir!" she said with faux seriousness and a sharp salute. But she dissolved into giggles, and even Grimthorn smiled a little.

They made their way to the bridge. Kinnit put together a patrol course, and they spent the next few hours flying through space, scanning border sectors, and watching for trouble. For a wonder, none appeared.

Kinnit enjoyed watching Admiral Stonefist as he settled into his role on the bridge. He managed the ship fluidly, and she could see the tension begin to melt from him as he guided the fleet.

Not everybody would find it relaxing to manage the grandest ship of the greatest fleet in the galaxy, but Admiral Stonefist did.

Afterwards, they began walking back to his office, but he paused outside the lift.

"What say we find somewhere we can work and talk without being overheard?" he said.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, sir!" she said, relieved. The atmosphere in the office had grown oppressive, knowing that their every word was being monitored. She welcomed the thought of being able to freely converse again.

"There's an conference room on level 3 that's hardly ever used. We can take that over for the time being."

"Yes, sir!"

They made their way to the darkened conference room and sat at the long table, pulling out their scanners.

More data had come in from the Archives. So far, most of the scrambled data was in the security recordings. The damaged data was strangely narrow ranges, usually covering only a few hours of footage.

After some preliminary analysis, she voiced her concerns.

"Sir, this damaged data... I think it's deliberate sabotage."

"I suspected that might be the case," he replied.

"The corruption is just too specific to be random."

"Very well. See if you can find a pattern. That may lead us somewhere, give us an idea where to look for the conspirators on board."

She nodded, her mouth in a tight line of concentration, and delved back into the data.

Admiral Stonefist took a deep breath. He'd been looking some things up, studying up on relationships, to bolster the advice he'd gotten from Admiral Balia.

His talk with Balia had made everything worse. Now, his thoughts were consumed with the "what if," and his gaze was constantly drawn to Kinnit. The churning in his gut every time he looked at her made it all the more clear that his feelings were running away with him. But he couldn't deny it.

He wanted a relationship with Kinnit.

It was foolish to think of, even more foolish to try. Triply so because he was so terrible at interpersonal relationships. But his heart would not listen to reason. He had to try.

And he'd decided to start trying today.

Admiral Stonefist cleared his throat.

"You look nice," he said.

"Mmhmm," Kinnit murmured, her focus on the data.

He cleared his throat again.

"Have you read any good books lately?"

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"Yes, sir," she said, still focused on the data.

"I was thinking about trying to read one of those space adventure novels you were talking about," he said.

"Of course, sir."

He frowned. This wasn't going quite as he'd hoped.

"I also thought about growing pumpkins out of my ears," he said.

"Very good, sir."

Admiral Stonefist moodily turned back to his work, since she wasn't paying attention to him right now.

----------------------------------------

A few hours later, Kinnit sat back and rubbed her eyes.

"I can't wait we get that console," she said. "Going through all this data on my scanner is giving me a headache."

Grimthorn lit up. Balia had warned him about exactly this.

He leaned forward and pinned her with an intense glare. His piercing eyes drilled into hers. She leaned back a little, uncomfortable.

"Is... something wrong, sir?"

"No. I'm listening."

She glanced around, dodging his laser gaze.

"Do you... think you could do something about the console soon?"

He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it after a moment's thought.

"No," he said. "But I'm listening."

"Oh... kay..." Nervous under his gaze, she buried herself back in her work.

Admiral Stonefist sat back in his seat, frowning.

Well, that hadn't worked, either. His mouth twisted in confusion.

But he was determined to keep trying until he figured out how to talk to women. Or at least how to talk to one woman.

----------------------------------------

The next morning, she walked into the office to find a box on her desk, and Admiral Stonefist sitting stiffly behind his desk.

"Oh? Did the console come in, finally?" she said, delight painting her features.

"No," he said. "But please tell me about it if the lack of a console bothering you."

A confused look crossed her face. She lifted the lid off the box. Her confused look did not clear up at all.

Admiral Stonefist had been doing more research. And he'd learned that women liked shoes.

"Sir, are these combat boots?"

"Yes."

She lifted them out of the box.

"They're pink."

Admiral Stonefist, felt slightly trapped. The article he'd read made it very clear that women liked pink.

Perhaps that was only Terran women?

"Yes," he said.

"Is this standard issue in the Navy, sir?"

"It is not."

Kinnit was unsure how to respond. So she thanked him politely and put the boots back in the box. He seemed to relax a little, so she set the box aside.

----------------------------------------

A few days later, in the evening, Kinnit walking into the mess hall. She waved at Lucy, the spider-like serving lady. Kinnit had taken up the habit of visiting with Lucy in the evenings when the mess was empty.

"Evening, Lucy," she said, taking her usual seat.

"Evening, hon. Coffee again?"

"Yes, please."

Lucy skittered over with two mugs and a pot of coffee and settled in across the table from Kinnit. She poured for both of them and slid a mug across the table.

"So what's on your mind, hon?"

Kinnit sighed, staring into her mug.

"I don't know," she said. "It's the Admiral."

"Is he treating you bad again?"

"No, no, not that," she said. "But he's been acting weird lately."

"Oh?" Lucy settled in, ready to hear some good gossip.

"I don't think he's trying to get rid of me again? He's not being ugly, but-- like, he's asking me weird questions, and staring at me a lot. And he's just being so awkward." Kinnit sipped at her coffee.

Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"How so?"

"Oh, like the other day he was asking me about musical scales. What do I know about musical scales? That's a Terran thing. And then he brought the most awful things into the office. Live roaches tied up with strings." She shuddered. "He said they were ditchbugs. That's a classic Kobold confection, but it's just a funny name. It's really just little caramels in spun sugar, not actual bugs. I don't know if he was trying to be insulting, or if he was just being... well, dumb."

A sly look of understanding crossed Lucy's face.

"I just don't know what's going on with him," Kinnit said. "Maybe the stress of everything that's been going on lately has gotten to him."

Lucy took a long sip of her coffee. Smirking, she looked Kinnit up and down.

"Well, well," she said. "It sounds like somebody's finally conquered our dear Admiral's fort."

"What do you mean?"

"Hon, when a man gets that awkward all of a sudden, it means he's interested in a woman."

"Ohhhh. Huh. I wonder who he's interested in?"

Lucy stared at her levelly.

"You haven't been in a relationship before, have you, hon?"

"No, why?"

Lucy placed two of her hands over Kinnit's, and looked directly into her eyes.

"He's trying to get your attention."

Kinnit's mouth fell open in an "o" of shock. Then she burst into peals of high-pitched laughter.

"Lucy, you're so funny!"

"I wasn't joking."

"But that's so silly! I'm his Assistant! Besides, he's not interested in a relationship at all. He's Admiral Stonefist! THE Admiral Stonefist! He's conquered half the galaxy, and he's the very avatar of the Imperium! What use would someone like that have with a relationship?"

"Oh, hon," Lucy said, shaking her head.

----------------------------------------

Lieutenant Dol sulked past the Data Archives again. He hadn't been able to get back into the Archives to finish his task. For some reason the techs had been in there almost constantly this week.

He grimaced. His contact was not going to be happy that he hadn't finished his work.

He hadn't done nearly any of his regular work lately, either. His mind had been filled with visions of court-martials, disgrace, and execution. The dark figure had claimed he could protect him, but if he couldn't finish the work tasks he'd been assigned, and he couldn't finish the treasonous tasks he'd been assigned...

He slunk back to his bunk and pulled up his scanner. Nobody else could protect him. He'd just have to take care of himself.

He began typing furiously.

"I, Admiral Stonefist," he wrote, "have assigned Lieutenant Dol to a secret task: to go undercover to expose conspirators aboard the ISS Swordheart. He is authorized to act outside the bounds of Naval law and protocol in the service of discovering the source of treason on board, per--" Lieutenant Dol quickly did some looking up and returned to his document. "--per Section 17, subchapter 455 of the Naval code. This document serves as proof of this assignment, and absolves him of any liability in the pursuit of these duties."

Lieutenant Dol took a deep breath. Now he just had to find a way to authorize this document, and he'd be safe.

----------------------------------------

Assistant Kinnit lay on her bunk in her room, staring at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep. Perhaps she shouldn't be drinking coffee this late. Maybe she should switch to decaf in the evening. Besides, the coffee wasn't the point; she just enjoyed talking to Lucy.

Even when Lucy was saying crazy things.

Kinnit scoffed to herself. Admiral Stonefist, pursuing a relationship with her. It was nonsense. Grimthorn Stonefist wasn't a man like other men. He was Admiral Stonefist. Thinking of him that way was like thinking of a, a jetbike wanting a relationship. It was just too weird.

She rolled over on her side.

Lucy was just trying to gin up some gossip. That was all.

It was still a long time before Kinnit could get to sleep.