Battleship Destroyer (42 page)

Jack stepped off the platform and went to the nearest come screen on the bulkhead as alarms screamed in his ears. Tapping out of the comm system he entered a security screen
using his bio ID and then into the sensor cameras around the ship and got a shock. Someone was already in the system. Jumping in on top of them Jack watched as the image of the lab coated man was being blotted over in the process of erasing him from the records. Not having time to do anything else Jack touched his wrist comm, synced it with the screen and started recording what they were doing.

A few seconds
later several officers and men came running up the passageway and into the core next to Jack. "What is going on here?" The lead officer said as he saw Jack.

"Look at this. Sir." Pointing at the screen. The officer looked over at the
rapidly advancing scene on the screen as Jack was attacked and the man tumbled over the  rail while a roughly boxed shaped man to blurry to identify as he was being erased stood at the edge of the platform. The box moving as he did. The platform continued up until it reached the gun deck and the boxed man left the platform.

"Ok Ensign what is this about
?”

"You should find two civilian biddies at the bottom of the pipe chase sir. As you can see
, I was just defending myself. I doubt the record will show what you have just seen. Someone is altering the record as we speak."

The Lieutenant tapped his comm. Seconds later the
Intruder Alert alarm started sounding and 5 minutes later Jack was in the Captain's Cabin. The Captain sat behind her desk hard at work as Jack walked in. Looking up she dismissed the Lieutenant. "Now you look like shit Ensign." Handing him a towel pointing to the cut on his forehead. "What the hell is going on here? What is this about bodies?"

Frowning
, Jack mopped his forehead whipping off the blood then holding a corner of the towel to the cut. "It seems someone did not like me interfering with business as usual in the Research Directorate." Jack synced his comm with the captains screen and hit play.

The screen Jack
first recorded appeared over the desk with the lab coated man talking then showing the two men attacking Jack with the man at the side of the platform demanding and threatening the other men. The playback finally changed to show what Jack had recorded from the security screen until it stopped as the security file finished being wiped.

The Captain sat there for a good five minutes after words as Jack quietly sat waiting to find out his sentence. Feeling guilty for tossing
the two men over the side accidentally. Then the Captain’s comm sounded. "Captain, we have found two civilian bodies lying at the bottom of the mass tanks pipe chase. Looks like they fell quite a ways. One body looks a bit beat up."

"I am sure he does.
Make sure our guests are in their Compartment and if anyone has returned in the last hour. Then lock and hold them for security from the Red Dwarf to arrive. We don't want any more of them wondering off and falling down the ships chase." The Captain punched up the security records of the platform and watched as Jack threw the two off the platform again except half the original wrestling match was missing showing Jack kneeing thin air before suddenly being grabbed by a man that just appeared out of nowhere for Jack to throw over the rail. "Now that is quite a feat. When the ship went to Intruder Alert the systems and decks were isolated as standard procedures, whoever was doctoring the video lost contact with the security system. Too bad they managed to hide the third party before that." Shaking her head. "Damn shame your comm watch is some cheap piece of shit and the video is so grainy I can’t tell for sure who that is. Did you happen to get the name of this third party?"

"Sorry sir
. I have never had much use for much more than the occasional call that usually simply meant that I was in trouble again, but it was just some old guy with a very expensive tailor made lab coat. I could see where a name pin had once been but that is all. But I did record some of the conversation with him on my comm as you saw."

The Captain tapped a couple of icons and the Refugee Compartment with some
50 people mostly in lab coats appeared on his main screen. "Anyone their look familiar?"

Jack looked around and then pointed at a figure.  "That was him. Said a bunch of things I did not understand about my grandfather while saying something about being able to prove
the Ion Engine was his idea once he got rid of me and doctored the files before I hit my watch to record it."

"Looks like the rumors I have heard are true.
That is the Director himself. This must have been off the cuff since he got his hands dirty. Hopefully since this is a spur of the moment attempt maybe our security people can find the evidence when they get here but I won't hold my breath. This guy has been top dog in the Directorate for decades and has many very influential people in high places."

The Captain
's comm sounded. "Captain, no one has left or come back into the Refugee compartment for over two hours sir. The director and his staff have sworn to that and the hatch logs confirms it. The Director wants to know where his two men are. What do you want me to do?"

"Follow orders
Lieutenant and manually lock the hatches and place guards on them until marines can be sent from the Red Dwarf. Also open the manual isolation switches for the Comms and computer lines in the core for that compartment, ahhh, that whole deck as well as the two surrounding decks and then stand down from Intruder Alert. Out." Turning to Jack "Mr. Turner, it looks like you were assaulted by two civilians for no provable reason at all according to the legal records." Nodding at Jacks disbelief. "That is for now. Maybe security will get lucky. The main point is that you are in the clear with the case records sealed by me. Go down to Sickbay and get fixed up then head for your bunk. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. Dismissed." The Captain went back to work as Jack sat.

A half a minute later the Captain looked back up and frowned at a frozen shocked Jack. "Mr. Turner, you did a great job defending yourself and had no choice but what you did. I know you could have killed both men dropping them at your feet in only a few seconds as untrained and stupid as they were
, if you had wanted to kill them. I saw your records and several of your defense training bouts trying to figure you out and you are well ahead of most other recruits in your ability to kill. They stood no chance.  The fact that you tried throwing them to the deck trying to incapacitate them several times instead of killing them proves that. It is a shame they do not teach police holds and take down procedures that do little harm to suspects but that would only confuse you in combat were police procedures would only get you killed. You had no choice Mr. Turner. Those men killed themselves the instant they decided to try killing you. You even gave them both multiple chances to change their minds so do not blame yourself and that is an order Mr. Turner. Now get your butt to sickbay, the Doctor is waiting for you."

--------------
 

Late
r that night after a half hour under growth repair beams on his bruises and cuts, the Doctor had turned him loose. Jack still half in shock trying to figure out what and why, he opened the hatch to his cabin, walked in and froze. He had checked to see if he had been transferred to a new cabin and found out that he hadn't and took it for granted that the Ensign had transferred out. But the Ensign was laying on her bunk with one bare naked breast hanging out from under her blanket over the side of the bunk with one arm almost to the deck. He stood there with the hatch hanging open starring at her in the light from the passageway and the immaculately clean cabin for a good minute. Finally deciding that she had had his things moved out and was not expecting him back allowing her to sleep naked, he took a deep breath and started to back out and shut the hatch only to see his pictures on the bulkhead. Pictures that had not been on the bulkhead that morning or any bulk head ever, his pictures of his mother, a few friends and a ship he liked. Looking closer he started seeing more of his things around the cabin neatly laid out on shelves or hung. Then he noticed the comforter his mother had sent him on the bunk replacing the Navy issue blanket. A comforter he had left packed in the bottom of his locker, too embarrassed to use it on his bunk with 3 other guys in his enlisted cabin. Shutting the hatch behind him as he stepped in and patted the comforter on his bunk to make sure it really was there and swallowed. His bunk's reading light's pool of radiance shining down onto his bunk had just enough spillage for Jack to see the Ensign across the narrow space between bunks.

Sitting down on his bunk he stared at the Ensign and her boob
with a big bright red nipple hanging out over the side of her bunk, wondering why she was not falling out onto the deck. To stunned to wonder why she had unpacked all his things and was sleeping naked against navy regulations after almost beating him to death.

Worried
about her falling, he got up taking a step toward her to push her back up onto her bunk before she fell out but froze jerking his hand back at the last instant. Sitting back down on his bunk. "Sorry missy; (using a term his grandfather used) you can just fall flat on your face." He said bitterly then smiled. "With that much padding on your chest you won't hurt yourself." But frowned as he got up to get ready for bed. Looking at his folded up terminal he thought about checking to make sure that he had not missed anything when he had checked the programs and written up the reports for the Captain. But he would worry about that tomorrow after he had some sleep. Besides he still could not believe what had happened on the elevator platform as he laid down. His mind could not make up its mind as it went to the transport boat's test that morning and his feelings of pride when it did not end in a black hole explosion killing another crew and how the researchers and crewmen filling the engineering control room had started pounding his back and congratulating him on a job well done.  They had fired up the ship's converted engine shortly after the successful boat test. The ship had been running on it at low power with the old engine shut down since filling him with growing pride. That he had done it. And then his mind jumped without warning to him killing those men in the pipe and elevator chase of the ship.

In his bunk he found himself opening his eyes to stare at the Ensi
gn's face and boob in the glow from his bunk light. Sleep evading him as the attack on him kept flashing back into his mind. Finally she turned over onto her back and Jack sighed. He found he had been using her boob as a distraction and now that it was gone out of sight the vision of the men disappearing over the side and out of sight as the worst terrorized scream he would ever hear still echoed in his ears as soon as he closed his eyes. Then she pull her blanket down off her breasts as she rubbed them for a few seconds leaving them jutting half way to the overhead. Starring at them for a few seconds as the memory of killing the men started to fad his eyes wondered up to her face and said without knowing why. "Godstar I miss you." he turned out his reading light and through the pitch black he could still see her face grow an even more angelic glow that had to be in his mind, as he gazed and in time finally found asleep.

Jack went flying over the platform's rail as
the Ensign grabbed Jack's arm shaking him. "Up and at them Turner. It is a beautiful day. Get your butt up and let's go."

Jack turned over opening his eyes as the Ensign pulled a sports bra out of a draw
er and over her breasts that hid little and did not try to flatten or shape them but lifted them slightly. Covered in sweat, Jack tried not to stare even after they were covered trying to forget his waking nightmare.

"I want to thank you for taking care of me the night be
fore last. Sorry I over reacted." She talked with her back to him as she made up her bunk with her almost bare butt sticking out at him as she bent over. "I have not had very good experiences with men when it comes to my breasts. I hope you can forgive me. I went to sickbay yesterday and the Doctor was impressed with what you did and told me I could not strap down my breasts for a while. I hope you don't mind if I use you for a shield to hide behind for a while. I am a little self-conscious about these." She turned to profile them before facing him. Then held them out for Jack to inspect using her hands to move them back and forth, up and down in front of him.

Jack pulled his blanket
bunching it up in front of him to hide the erection he woke up with and was trying to get bigger, painfully.

Sh
e looked down at his blanket and smiled, licking her lips, then bit her lower lip as she turned around and grabbed a towel and her shower kit. "I am headed for the showers. Think about me naked in the shower for a few minutes and then get your own shower. I couldn't hardly eat yesterday I was so upset with myself and I am starving, so be quick about it." Stopping at the hatch, she threw a washcloth from the rack over the sink at him as she went through the hatch smiling at him as she wiggled her butt.

Grabbing
the washcloth in midair he stared after her and then down at the cloth perplexed.

The cabin's com
m sounded. Turning around Jack pulled the screen down from over his bunk and slapped at the on button without thinking. "Turner here." He said as he stared down at the washcloth.