The atmosphere on board was tense the next morning. Rumours of all descriptions flew around. Hendriks had been attacked in his bed, no it had been Ferris. Sanchez had been caught trying to leave the ship.

Hendriks strode around the bridge, his expression forbidding anyone to approach him.

The Captain stayed in his quarters. This would blow over, surely? They just had to sit tight and wait it out. Perez wasn’t quite so certain when he received a communication from Colonel Young, announcing his imminent arrival. How had Ferris got the message out? He supposed it was too late for Lin to have an unfortunate accident.

Colonel Young boarded the ship with an assistant and four armed guards. He went straight to the Captain’s quarters and ordered him to call an immediate meeting with all his officers, including the Chief Medical Officer; then sat waiting at his desk until the last of them arrived. The guards spaced themselves around the room, watching the men seated in a semi circle facing Young and his assistant. Young let his gaze rest for a moment on Ferris’ broken arm and Hendriks’ swollen nose. Then he addressed the Captain. “Captain Perez, I have received a very concerning report about practices on this ship.”

Perez broke in testily, “It’s a load of crap, sir! I could have told you that and saved you a trip if you’d asked me. You’ve wasted your time coming all the way out here, Colonel!”

Young raised his eyebrows, “Indeed?”

“Yes, it was just one of the crew complaining when some sex he was engaged in got a bit rougher than he liked. He shouldn’t have started something he couldn’t handle. And as for Ferris,” he glared at the younger man. “Can I assume the report you received was from him?” He went on without waiting for the Colonel’s reply. “I’m afraid I will be seeking his transfer under Rule 158.” He tried to look regretful. “He’s an om and he has been trying to get sexual favours from some of the men by appearing to champion Lin.”

Ferris surged to his feet, outraged, but the Colonel waved him to silence before he could object. “You’ll get your turn in a minute, Lieutenant.” A sick feeling started in Ferris’ stomach, they couldn’t believe Perez, could they?

Young looked at Hendriks. “Lieutenant Hendriks?”

“It’s as the Captain said, sir. Lin followed me into one of the stealth capsules and asked me to have sex with him. I’m no om, but I thought why not take what’s on offer? So I did, and then he complained about it!”

“Can I ask how you got that injury to your face?”

Hendriks looked vindictively at Ferris, “It was him,” he stated, “He wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, and as I said before, I’m not an om.”

Young looked at Ferris. “Is that true, Lieutenant, did you hit Lieutenant Hendriks in the face?”

“Yes sir, but I—” the Colonel cut him off again. “Later, please.”

Ferris was beginning to feel as if he was in the middle of a nightmare. Ludicrous as these accusations appeared to him, he knew there was only his word, or Lin’s word, against the First Officer’s version. There had been no witness to either event, apart from Sanchez, of course, who would back up Hendriks.

He could only hope that Peters’ recording of Hendriks’ second visit to his cabin had been successful; surely that should go some way to supporting his account of what had actually happened. Providing he was ever allowed to tell it! He looked at the three conspirators. They were starting to think they had got away with it, he could see it in their body language, sitting back in their chairs, subtly relaxing.

Colonel Young called on Second Lieutenant Sanchez next. He simply denied that he had ever had sex with any crewman, consensual or otherwise. Ferris noticed that Young did not mention any of the victims by name, but couldn’t decide whether it was because he had discounted his, Ferris’, report or whether he was playing a deeper game.

Third Lieutenant Demir just looked shocked and bewildered, as if all this was totally new to him. He had nothing to add to either story.

Finally, it was Ferris’ turn but the Colonel did not allow him to tell him what had happened in his own words. He insisted on him answering a series of specific questions. Ferris hoped it was part of his strategy but he was beginning to question whether he had put too much trust in Young’s integrity.

“Lieutenant Ferris. You are the author of the account of the alleged intimidation on Jerez?”

“Yes sir.”

“Can you tell me how you became aware of it?”

“One of the crewmen drew it to my attention, sir.” Ferris kept his answers brief, he wasn’t certain how much detail the Colonel wanted him to give. He soon found out.

“He was one of the alleged victims?”

“No, sir.”

“Then why did he choose you to complain to, Lieutenant? How did he know you were not one of the perpetrators?” Colonel Young was watching him with cool appraisal. Did he know what had happened, what Ferris had done?

Ferris took a deep breath. He had done nothing to be ashamed of, really, compared to what the others had done... he stopped making excuses for himself and answered the question. “I made a pass at him. I misjudged his interest in me, and when he turned me down, I backed off. Then he told me about the abuse that was going on, we made some investigations and that report was the result.”

“Were you angry when he turned you down?”

“No, sir, I was thankful. I didn’t want someone who felt compelled to have sex with me. Personally, I couldn’t think of anything worse.” Ferris spoke with genuine feeling.

“Why didn’t you go to the Captain with this information?” Ferris could see the Captain shift uncomfortably in his seat.

“I did, sir, but he didn’t believe me. So I told him I was going to forward a report to you, and this was the result.” He lifted his broken arm. “Although, this was from Lieutenant Sanchez, not the Captain, sir.”

“Sanchez? How did Lieutenant Hendriks’ nose get broken then?”

“Hendriks was waiting in my cabin for me when I got back from seeing the Captain. He hit me and threatened to rape and disfigure the crewman I was talking about, so I fought back. Then Lieutenant Sanchez came in, and broke my arm. They threatened to rape me too, if I took it any further.”

“Excuse me, Colonel, but that’s spacecrap!” Hendriks interrupted. “Are you going to take the word of one om over three senior officers?”

Colonel Young sat back in his chair, and smiled deprecatingly. “That does seem to pose a bit of a dilemma, doesn’t it? Fortunately, I don’t have to make that decision. I heard rumours about problems on this ship a while ago and I sent one of my senior undercover investigators here to discover what was happening. He has been on board for a couple of months now.”