by L.V. Lloyd
~~~
A month later found the Jerez at Capella Station again, to take on supplies and allow the crew some recreation time. Capella was a large station of some two thousand regular inhabitants and anywhere from another one to two thousand transients as ships docked and departed constantly. They brought in cargo, passengers and goods of all descriptions to trade. It was a miniature city, complete with shops and warehouses, offices and apartments, hotels and brothels, slowly revolving in space.
Captain Heyer and First Lieutenant Ferris alternated who stayed on board in command during their entire week long stay, though most of the crew was allowed leave. Eventually Ferris was off duty for two whole days and found himself heading to the nearest om friendly bar with King and Private Chan, all dressed in casual civilian clothes, King and Chan both hoping to meet someone else looking for a quick and hopefully passionate encounter.
Ferris was still undecided. He was content with just getting off the ship for a bit and relaxing out of uniform. Capella had its share of brothels which catered to a wide range of tastes, but to Ferris, that just seemed like another form of coercion and he had long given up seeking some company there. A mutual encounter was much more to his liking, although since his episode with King, he realised he had changed; he wanted more now than just sex, he wanted a friend and a lover. And the Jerez was exactly the wrong place that was ever going to happen. Perhaps it was time to start thinking about a career change.
Chan drifted away to the bar, allowing himself to be pursued by an older man who wanted to buy him a drink and left the other two alone at the table.
Ferris spoke up, “Don’t feel obliged to keep me company if you want to find some action. I’ll finish my drink here and then I might go in search of a place with some live music.”
King smiled back, unflustered, after all he’d had over a month to come to terms with the fact that the most he and Ferris were going to share was a friendship. “I might do that.” He looked over Ferris’ shoulder, raised one eyebrow and said in a low voice, “Oh-oh, don’t look now but there’s some incredibly hot action heading our way, and I think it’s you he’s after. I don’t think he’s even noticed me here.”
“Hullo, Matthew.” The last voice Ferris had expected to hear spoke over his shoulder. He shut his eyes for a second, braced himself and turned around. Daniel Peters stood there, his blond hair cut a little shorter, but his face just as beautiful as he remembered and his blue eyes tentatively seeking his.
Matthew? King raised both eyebrows. Judging by the myriad of emotions crossing Ferris’ face, there was obviously some serious history here.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise you had company.” The hot action had finally noticed him and was embarrassed. No, not just embarrassed, jealous. If he was any judge there had been an instantaneous flash of searing jealousy from the man standing in front of him. He didn’t think Ferris had noticed, he had his own feelings to suppress into a tight package. King looked from one to the other.
“It’s all right, I was just going,” he offered, rising to his feet.
At long last Ferris found his voice and attempted introductions. For one moment he felt a terrible compulsion to say, Daniel meet Daniel, the only two men in this galaxy I want to have sex with, but can’t, but he held it back and muttered, “I’m sorry, King. Er ... this is Lieutenant King, from the Jerez. This is-”
“Peters, Agent Peters,” the other man interrupted quickly. Ferris glanced at him, was he undercover again? Peters continued, addressing King. “Don’t go on my account. Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
He looked at Ferris again, “I was wondering if you had time to meet me for a drink, or something, tomorrow perhaps? I’d really like to talk to you,” he added with a touch of desperation.
Ferris was already shaking his head. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
Peters looked as if he were prepared to plead further, but then looked sideways at King and swallowed his words. “I’ll say goodnight then. If you change your mind, I’ve got an office at Patrol headquarters, first floor. Lieutenant,” he nodded at King and left.
King looked questioningly at Ferris, “I know this is none of my business, but would it hurt you that much just to talk to him?”
“I’ll think about it.” Ferris forced a smile and stood up. “I’m going to try and find a bar with some music. You go and have some fun and I’ll see you back at the hotel later.” King looked after him, wondering if he should follow, but he thought the First Lieutenant really looked as if he needed some time to himself. He turned back to the bar and started cruising.
Ferris walked through the streets, his mind still going over and over the recent conversation with Peters. Was King right? Was he being unfair by denying Peters the chance to offload some of his guilt? Why else did he want to speak to him? Why couldn’t he let it go? Why for that matter was he, Ferris, spending so much time thinking about Peters? Maybe running away wasn’t the best answer, perhaps he should just let Peters have his say, and then they could both move on.
The sound of footsteps behind him broke into his overwrought mind. He looked up to find himself in a poorly lit alley with not a familiar building in sight, and turned to face his pursuers. He sighed, it was definitely going to be one of those nights.
There were three of them. Ferris had one of them on the ground before they realised they had made a mistake and picked on a professional soldier. As Ferris proceeded to tackle the other two, one of them drew a stunner from inside his jacket and fired point blank. The Lieutenant went down instantly. The short man replaced his weapon and bent down over his victim, searching for money and anything valuable.
“What’s going on there?” A loud voice came from behind him and the other two assailants who had just managed to get to their feet, faded away rapidly into the shadows. “Hands where I can see them!”
The attacker cursed silently, of all the damned luck, a patrol guard had found them. He thought fast. He tossed the stunner as far away as he could, into the shadows, and in the same movement, spun around to face the guard, raising his hands in the air. “Thank god!” he exclaimed. “I was attacked! I got one of them,” he gestured down at Ferris, “but I think the other two have got away.”
The guard approached cautiously. He gave the man on the ground a quick glance before checking the other man for weapons.
Finding him unarmed, he relaxed and lowered his stunner. “Right, sir. Can you tell me what happened?”
“I was just walking along, on my way home, when three men came out of nowhere. They didn’t even say anything to me, just started to attack. I managed to knock one of them out but I would have been in real trouble if you hadn’t come along!” He smiled gratefully at the guard.
“No point chasing after the other two, they’ll be long gone now,” stated the guard, looking down the empty street. “Did you get a look at them? Can you give me a description?”
The short man was shaking his head. “Sorry, it all happened so fast.”
“Well, at least we’ve got this one,” announced the guard with satisfaction. “Can you give me a hand with him to the station? It’s only a couple of blocks, then I’ll take your statement and you can be on your way.”
Both men turned to look at Ferris who was still unconscious.
“Of course,” agreed the assailant. He could hardly say anything else. The guard hoisted Ferris up off the ground and draped one arm over his shoulders. The assailant took the other side and together they carried him to the station, the assailant taking the opportunity to discreetly drop the items he had stolen along the way. Someone else would be bound to find them before he could retrace his steps but it couldn’t be helped.
Eventually they reached the small station and Ferris was put into a cell.
“Now sir, I’ll just take your statement. Your full name?”
“Tomas Wiatt,” said the other
man, giving a false identity. As soon as he had finished here, he planned on disappearing and never coming back.
By this time Ferris was starting to wake up and he struggled for a few moments to work out what was going on. “Hey!” he called out. “You’ve made a mistake. I’m the one who was attacked! That man was one of the assailants!”
The guard shook his head, the stories some people tried on. “Be quiet! I’ll get to you in a minute,” he replied.
Ferris hunted feverishly through his clothes, “I’m a Patrol Officer. My name is Matthew Ferris and I’m First Lieutenant on the Jerez. Let me show you my ID.” It was missing. No doubt his accuser or one of his friends had taken it, along with his wristcom.
The guard had started to look a little concerned when Ferris started speaking, but was now looking disbelieving again as he failed to produce his ID.
“Send someone to ask for Lieutenant King at the Blue Nova, he’ll come and vouch for me,” Ferris demanded. “Or is Colonel Young still stationed here? He knows me. Meanwhile,” he glared at Wiatt, “Can I request you search that man to see if he still has my belongings on him?”
“What a liar!” Wiatt lifted his arms for the search, pretending to be angry, “Go right ahead, you won’t find anything.”
The guard looked apologetically at Wiatt and quickly searched him, but found nothing out of place.
“He probably slipped it to one of his accomplices,” guessed Ferris. “Please, can you contact Colonel Young for me? You’d take his word I imagine?”
The guard was beginning to frown uncertainly. “It’s very late. I’m certainly not going to disturb the Colonel tonight. I’ll send a message to him tomorrow, see if he’s heard of you.”
“Tomorrow’s my last day of leave, I’m due to be back on my ship at 09:00 on Monday,” said Ferris, starting to worry about how long all this was going to take. “Please, if you don’t want to disturb the Colonel, can you at least contact Lieutenant King? He’ll do it for you.”
“All right,” said the guard, impressed despite himself. He threw a quick glance at Wiatt who was beginning to stir restlessly. “I’ll send someone to the Blue Nova and we’ll all wait here until he gets back. I’d like to settle this tonight if we can.”
Lieutenant King was very unhappy to be disturbed by someone at his door, but not as unhappy as he would have been twenty minutes earlier. “I have to go,” he told his companion reluctantly. “Can I see you again tomorrow?”
“Perhaps,” the young man answered teasingly, “I’ll be at the Stars again, but I won’t wait around for long.” He reached up and pulled King down for a quick kiss. “I hope your friend appreciates what you’re giving up for him.”
“I’m sorry, I’ll see you tomorrow,” promised King. He dressed quickly in his uniform and went outside to speak to the man waiting in the passage. “What’s happened to Ferris?” he queried.
“He’s being held at the guardhouse in Second Quarter, he asked us to ask you if you could contact Colonel Young and see if he’ll vouch for him.”
“I’ll try,” answered King a bit doubtfully. Would a Colonel really come out in the middle of the night to help out a Lieutenant? Still, even if he were prepared to go there in the morning that would help. They reached the building housing patrol headquarters and King asked the Corporal on Reception if he could see Colonel Young.
The Corporal smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, Lieutenant, he’s on leave at present. Would you like to speak to the acting officer in charge?”
King shook his head, there was no point in seeing a stranger. Then he remembered Agent Peters had an office there as well, perhaps he could see him and ask his advice. He wasn’t quite sure how high an Agent ranked in the hierarchy but maybe he would carry sufficient weight to vouch for Ferris himself.
He turned to back to the Corporal at the Reception desk. “Would I be able to see Agent Peters?”
The Corporal gave him a funny look but said, “I’ll check, sir,” and spoke into his com unit.
“He’s on his way down,” he seemed surprised.
A minute or two later, Peters came into view, a questioning look on his face. “Lieutenant King? How can I help you?” He couldn’t help adding, “Did Matthew send you?”
“Not exactly,” said King and explained what had happened. “I asked for Colonel Young, but he is on leave, then I thought of you. Do you know who is replacing the Colonel?”
“Ah that would be me.” He looked at King a little guiltily. “I’m too used to being undercover. I find Agent is much more comfortable, nobody talks to me if they know I’m a Colonel.” He turned to the Corporal, leaving King with his mouth open. “I’ll be at the Guardhouse in Second Quarter if anyone needs me.”
“Yessir.”
“Let’s go,” he told King. He walked next to him, leaving the guard to follow along behind. “Has Matthew told you anything about me?” he asked in a low voice.
“No, sir,” King paused for a minute and asked evenly, “Should he have?”
“Oh. Well I don’t want to invade his privacy but I think maybe I should tell you I was the undercover agent involved in breaking up the Hendriks and Sanchez affair.”
“Ah.” King stared at him. So this was the man they said Ferris had made a pass at when he thought he was a private, the one that had caused him to swear never to approach a man on his own ship again. The other Daniel. “That explains ...”
There was a long silence.
“I know I have no right to ask this, but are you and he ...?” Peters forced the words out.
King looked measuringly at him. “No, we’re not. I would have, but Matthew won’t. He’s still bound to that oath he made; he won’t have a relationship with anyone under his command. We’re friends though.” He added, “Am I missing something here? I thought you, that is, the undercover agent, were supposed to be straight?”
Peters gave a painful laugh, “Yeah, so did I.”