Fatal Containment

Fatal Containment - Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Cheryl woke early the next morning as she always did. She had the uncanny ability to determine when she wanted to be awake, and she never needed an alarm to wake her up. She simply woke at the proper time.

Showered and changed into a fresh uniform, she dropped by the officer's wardroom and talked one of the stewards out of a few fresh rolls and some coffee. The steward would have breakfast ready for the officers taking first watch in another hour, but Cheryl wanted to use the time before her shift to run down a lead.

* * *

Connor arrived on the first shift to find Ensign Mayan running the scanner. He glanced over to the empty science duty station where lieutenant Kinson should be.

"Ensign where is lieutenant Kinson?" he asked quietly.

"She said something about speaking to Dr. Sanders, sir. I think she found a lead she was wanting to pursue."

"She's what?" he said, raising his voice. The captain looked over at him but said nothing. He lowered his voice and spoke to the ensign once more.

"Find someone to watch your station. Run, don't walk, and find Lt. Kinson. Have her report here immediately. Is that understood, ensign?"

"Yes sir," the ensign stammered and scampered off. Connor turned to find the captain standing beside him.

"Problem, Mr. Leary?" Owen asked.

"None that can't be resolved, sir."

"Very good. I will trust you to see that that is the case."

And with that, Captain Cantrell had conveyed in those short words his disapproval of the extent of Connor's ability to pass on a simple order, to manage those directly under his supervision, which meant that Cheryl Kinson was about to have a mountain of pain raining down upon her person as soon as she was within striking distance. It was one thing to be tidy about carrying out an order. It was something else to disobey the order and conduct her own investigation. That was simple insubordination. And it would be stopped.

* * *

Cheryl walked into the outer compartment for the holding cells. She spoke with the marine sentry there and then walked through the hatch to the cell where Tyrell was sitting on a small bunk. He had a blanket, a pillow, and a small toilet to call home until they reached Mutara base. She and Tyrell were separated by an electric curtain so they could see each other, but the latter could not freely leave his cell. Cheryl pulled up a folding chair and sat down in front of a very tired and disheveled looking prisoner. She also set down a tray of sandwiches and fruit. It had to be better than the fare Tyrell was receiving down here.

When Cheryl had arrived earlier on the bridge to start her shift, Mayan had reported that they had intercepted a message from the trailing shadow. Cheryl found the message odd in that it was so obviously intended to be intercepted. The ship trailing them wanted to send a message that implied the Kantians were behind the attempts on the medical shipment and wanted to make a buy on the science team's communication system. But Cheryl felt that was merely a cover. Kantians were more far reaching than that.

Without preamble, Cheryl laid out her thoughts on the matter.

"I have here a communication from a Kantian courier wanting to arrange for delivery of the new communications technology. It's addressed to you. Would you care to explain it?"

Cheryl held up her tablet for Tyrell to read.

Tyrell read the message. He also looked at the headers, just as Cheryl had done.