Free No Honor in Death by Eric Thomson Page B

Petty Officer in the Fleet who wasn't open to a bit of creative subversion.
    I must see what Rossum is doing to piss-off our friend Sones, and find out if he is actually getting somewhere.
    Having been deputy commander of a notoriously corrupt Fleet Depot herself, Siobhan knew more than most about what could and couldn't be done.  But at least, Rossum was doing something , which was better than twenty-four hours ago, when the ship's stores had been empty with no plan to fill them.
    The next message was a short written note from the Battle-Group Personnel Officer.  With regrets, he was unable to fill the Stingray 's empty slots for the foreseeable future.  She would have to make do with her current complement.  Curious, Siobhan called up a ship's roster.
    Hmmm, we’re missing the Third Engineering Officer, two bosun's mates and one Supply Petty Officer. Since when, and for what reasons, I wonder.
    She touched the keypad.  “Third Engineering Officer’s slot, open since the 2nd of March of this year,” she read, “after Sub-Lieutenant Byrn was dismissed from the Service.” Siobhan frowned.  Dismissed from the Service? Why?  
    The computer’s answer was quick and short. "That information is not on record."
    "Leading Spacer Savarin was transferred to Starbase 31 on the 12th of January of this year, after contracting a chronic illness," Siobhan smiled, wondering if the chronic illness had a sexual origin.  Even five hundred years after the discovery of penicillin, the human race still found ways to contract new sexually transmitted diseases with alarming frequency.
    "Able Spacer Vasser and Petty Officer Melchor died in a shipboard accident on the 16th of February of this year."
    "Cause of the accident?"
    "That information is not on record."
    Siobhan sat back, eyes narrowed in speculation.  Sub-Lieutenant Byrn's reason for dismissal not being on record, she could understand, especially if he appealed the decision and won.  But two crewmembers dying in an accident aboard ship, that had to be investigated and the report published.
    "Two crewmembers die of an accident.  No record on file," Siobhan softly spoke to herself, eyes staring at the bare bulkhead beyond the desk.  "A short while later, an engineering officer is dismissed from the Service.  No record on file.  Not long after that, the ship's Captain is relieved and ordered before a Disciplinary Board which, if it finds enough evidence, is empowered to order a general court-martial.  No record on file.  Coincidence, or related chain of events?"
    Without the logs, the only ones who could tell her about those incidents were her officers and crew, and if yesterday was anything to go by, she wasn't going to get much about Forenza's days as Captain of the Stingray .  It wasn't a case of misplaced loyalty, she was sure of that.  A dispirited crew had no loyalty to give.
    Bottling her sudden frustration, Siobhan re-routed the message to Pushkin's terminal and turned to the next one in the queue.  It was another written note from the Personnel Officer and informed her that all transfer requests from the Stingray were denied, as there were no available replacements.  All returned transfer requests were attached to the present message.
    Well, that certainly made sense.  No point in approving transfers if he couldn't even fill the existing vacant slots.  Though why did he return the requests?  Why bother?  For a moment, Siobhan stared at the screen, frowning.  Then, out of curiosity, she took a look at the requests themselves.  The day after Forenza had left the Stingray , it seemed that half the crew, including officers, had asked to be posted to another ship.  She glanced at the message again and for the first time noticed the signature at the bottom.  Usually, she didn't care much for Navy bureaucrats, but this message made her curious.  Siobhan's eyes briefly widened in surprise at the name.
    "Ezekiel Holt," she whispered.  "What an interesting