Eve On Station

Chapter Nineteen

Jasleen looked up when Eve walked into the security office in the morning, "Hello, I hear you sleep in the nude," she said with a smile.

Eve sighed, stopping to check the nametag and make sure which twin she was talking to, "So that was your uncle, I saw last night."

"More like he saw you," laughed Jasleen. "Seriously though, I am glad you are alright."

"Me too," agreed Eve. "I didn't want to die any more times this week."

"Huh?" said Jasleen looking puzzled.

"Never mind," said Eve waving it off, "just a bad inside joke."

"If you say so," replied Jasleen dubiously. "Any idea who your attacker was?"

"Not a clue," replied Eve. "The room was dark and then he got out the door and away before I could catch him, or get a look at his face. I guess some of the questions I have been asking are rattling some cages, so let's rattle some more. Have them send Captain Finch to my office and when he's done I will see if I can endure talking to LeBlanc."

"Will do," replied Jasleen. "From what I've heard, they've both been a major pain in the ass since being locked up."

"Well, if I can't put the fear of god into them, maybe I can put the fear of me into them," replied Eve grimly.

*

When a sullen Captain Finch came in and sat down, the first thing he said was, "I want to state for the record that I had no idea those crates contained weapons."

"But you knew they contained something illegal," countered Eve, "and given the situation with the colonies, you must have had a pretty damn good idea of what they contained."

"I don't admit anything," maintained Finch. "I was merely following orders and transporting a special cargo in a specially secured

Cargo hold."

"Fine, we'll leave that one alone for the moment," said Eve. She knew from her briefing that the independence of the colonies was as inevitable as it had been with the colonies of the old European powers back on Earth. Eve also knew that Earth and its former colonies would eventually form a trading and military alliance that would benefit both sides of the current dispute. Finch was either a Separatist sympathizer, or just someone out to make money, but that didn't really matter to her mission. The unknown enemy was certain to be against any future expansion of humanity and so would if anything oppose strong, independent colonies, meaning they weren't likely involved in the weapons running. Instead, let's talk how a United Earth agent happened to end up aboard your ship."

Finch shrugged, "She came to the dock and used the special password I had been given by my superiors back on Earth All I was told was that I was to give full cooperation to anyone using that password and not to ask questions. I had no idea who she was or anything else about her. I just followed orders and did what she said or tried to until you butted in, which was to get her off the station and forget I ever saw her."

"So,, you are claiming you didn't know she was an United Earth Special Agent and just stuck her in a hidden compartment along with the weapons that any such agent would throw a fit about if discovered."

"I didn't know anything about any weapons," repeated Finch stubbornly.

In the end, that was all Eve could get out of Finch and she sent him back to his cell. She had no idea what would happen to the man. He was a Captain and employee of Transteller which normally was the only source of jump capable ships coming to the station. Could another Transtellar ship be trusted to simply take Finch back to Earth? They might do so and then whisk him off before the United Earth Government could get their hands on him. Alternatively, whatever Transtellar ship