Free The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald

it.” Jodenny wondered if Wildstein would be as busy if someone else was calling—her protégé Quenger, for instance. She pinged Security and reached the office of the Assistant Security Officer, Lieutenant Commander Senga. He was a slight but intense man, with a noticeable tic in his left eyelid.
    â€œI’m told I have three sailors in the brig,” she said after introducing herself. “Kevwitch, Yee, and Barivee.”
    Senga checked his gib, one hand drumming restlessly on his desk. “Bar brawl. They already went to mast. Three weeks in the brig and docked pay. Captain’s very strict on that.”
    Jodenny changed the subject. “One of my dingoes disappeared during the GQ yesterday. Any chance of recovering it?”
    â€œThe Loss Accounting Division will take a statement, poke around, but you know. Kids or pranksters, probably. That dingo could be in a hundred pieces by now, souvenirs of the trip.”
    â€œKids or pranksters during a General Quarters?”
    He sounded glum. “You’d be surprised what disappears on this ship.”
    â€œThe dingo was with Sergeant Myell,” Jodenny said. “I understand he’s been in trouble recently.”
    Senga straightened immediately. “He should have been court-martialed for what happened.”
    The vehemence in his tone surprised her. Jodenny asked, “So why wasn’t he?”
    â€œThe girl didn’t want to testify. Myell probably got to her, intimidated her. Him or his friends. The captain could have gone ahead and had Myell charged anyway—should have, just to keep him from attacking some other poor tech. If you’ve got missing equipment and he was the last person to use it, there’s your thief.”
    Jodenny had already considered the idea. “He works with dingoes all the time. If he wanted parts, he could probably find a more subtle way to steal them.”
    Senga’s frown deepened. “Unless that’s what he wants you to think.”
    â€œHe doesn’t seem like the type.”
    â€œI’ve known him longer than you. He’s exactly the type. If he’s stealing Team Space property, we’ll nail him for it. That’s a promise.”
    His eagerness disturbed her. Jodenny signed off and leaned back in her chair. She couldn’t see Myell stealing a DNGO, and had to trust that if he hadn’t been brought to court-martial there was probably a good reason. “Holland, retrieve the personnel files on the following division members: Kevwitch, Yee, Barivee, Lund, Dyatt, Myell, and Dicensu.” She might as well get to know the more troubled members of her division through reports filed by her predecessors. But she would start with the most troublesome. “Open Myell’s first.”

CHAPTER SIX
    Sergeant Rosegarten, a diminutive woman with curly red hair, was the leading sergeant for Loss Accounting. She interviewed Myell about the loss of Castalia at the base of T6, taking notes on her gib but obviously entranced by the lights of the DNGOs operating in the shaft above them.
    â€œYou said the Repair Shop was closing?” she asked, her head tilted back.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAnd this was two hours before launch?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAre you sure it’s safe to stand under them like this? What if one drops something?”
    Myell pulled a wrench from his toolbelt and tossed it upward. It bounced harmlessly off the clearshield and clattered into the corner. “There’s no gravity in the shaft, so nothing can fall. But if the gravity somehow got turned on, you could drop an asteroid on that shield and it would still hold. It’s the same technology they use on the Flight Deck to protect against the vacuum of space.”
    Rosegarten lowered her gaze and rubbed her neck. “So why did you take the dingo over there if they were closing?”
    Myell went after the wrench. “I didn’t know their hours had