"Only enough to be sure the original allegation was founded on fact, admiral. There's more to do-"

"Well, let's just hear her side of it-" Hornan touched his comunit. "Lieutenant Ferradi, would you come in, please?"

"Right away, Admiral." The slightest pause, then, "Should I bring the latest information from that database search the admiral asked about?"

"Uh-not right now, Lieutenant." A flush crept up Hornan's neck. Barin dared a sidelong glance at Escovar and saw that he had not missed it. So . . . just how deep into this was Hornan?

In only a few moments, Casea Ferradi came into the admiral's office, wide-eyed and smiling, a smile that widened into a quick grin meant to be complicit when she saw Barin, and sobered when no one smiled back.

"Admiral?"

"Casea-Lieutenant-these officers have made some serious charges against you. I want to know what you have to say."

"Against me?" For just an instant, in profile, Barin saw a flicker that might have been panic, but her calm returned. "Why-what am I supposed to have done?" She looked at Barin. "Did I bother poor Ensign Serrano? I didn't mean to . . ."

Hornan cleared his throat. "No . . . Lieutenant, I must ask: have you accessed any Fleet records which you are not cleared to access?"

"Of course not," Ferradi said. "Not without specific orders to do so."

"Which would give you authorization, yes. Are you sure of that?"

"Yes, Admiral," Ferradi said. Barin watched the pulse in her neck beat a little faster.

"Have you altered any data in any records whatsoever?"

"You mean like-watch records or something? No, sir."

"Or in a database? Have you ever intruded into a database and altered records?"

"Not without specific orders to do so, no, Admiral." But that telltale pulse was faster now.

"Then if I told you that you were alleged to have intruded into the records of the investigations surrounding the mutiny on Despite, and alleged to have changed certain files containing interview data on Lieutenant Esmay Suiza, you would deny it."

"I would, Admiral." Ferradi flushed suddenly. "I deny it absolutely, and moreover I would consider the source." She rounded on Barin. "Ensign Serrano, Admiral, has a grudge against me . . . he thought his family position gave him a right to . . . to take liberties beyond his rank. I had to be quite firm with him and he knows I could have reported him for harrassment. He probably made up this nonsense just to get back at me-"

Barin felt the blood rushing to his head, but a stern look from Escovar kept him silent. Admiral Hornan gave a short nod in Barin's direction, and cocked his head at Escovar.

"Well, Commander? I find the foolish behavior of a hot-blooded young man of a high-status family more likely than illegal acts by someone like Lieutenant Ferradi . . ."

"Admiral, with all due respect, that won't do. Lieutenant Ferradi was pursuing Ensign Serrano, not the other way around. I knew it, and so did everyone else on the ship. You will find references to Lieutenant Ferradi's behavior in her previous fitness reports; her present position in the last promotion cohort of her class reflects that behavior."

"That's not true!" Ferradi said. Her high color was patchy now, flushing and fading on those perfect cheekbones.

"And while her sexual proclivities would not, in themselves, be cause for disciplinary action as long as she did not interfere with anyone's fitness for duty, her intrusion into secured databases, her altering of the data, and her lies about other officers-including Ensign Serrano-would be."

"And you think you have proof of this?" Hornan asked. Barin watched Ferradi pale, as the change in his tone and expression got through to her. He could almost feel sympathy, because in that moment Hornan was changing sides, preparing to divest himself of an embarrassment.

"Yes. We have the records of such intrusion, from a datawand initialized for Lieutenant Ferradi, along with vid records of her using it that are contemporaneous with the intrusion and alteration."

"I didn't . . ." Ferradi breathed. But the admiral did not look at her now.

"How detailed are these records?"

"Extremely, Admiral. They include all the authorization codes she used to complete her intrusion, and to fake-I presume-the orders for the alterations."

Now the admiral did look at Ferradi, and Barin hoped very much no such look would ever be turned on him. "I would have to see such proof," he said slowly, with almost no expression. "But if you have it-"

"We do, Admiral."

"Then Lieutenant Ferradi is, as you say, facing serious charges. Lieutenant, your datawand, if you please."

Ferradi pulled it out slowly, and laid it on the admiral's desk.

"And that report you were working on is-where, Lieutenant?"

"On my desk, Admiral. But the admiral knows who-"

"You will consider yourself confined to quarters, Lieutenant. You will speak to no one except the investigating officer, when such has been appointed."

"But Admiral-it's a plot-it's-"

"Dismissed, Lieutenant."

Barin shivered as she turned and passed him. He had disliked her; he had come to despise her; for what she had almost done to Esmay, he could have hated her. But he would have wished on no one the devastation he saw deep in those violet eyes.

When the door had closed, Escovar said, "Admiral-she used your access codes. I'm afraid there's no way to keep that out of the records."

"Well-she would, wouldn't she, if she wanted to alter data? She'd have to have someone with enough authority."

"Did you give her those codes?"

Hornan pulled himself up. "Commander, I may have been an idiot, but you are not the person who will handle the investigation of this matter. It goes to internal security, as you very well know.

And I will answer their questions, to the best of my ability, but not yours." He paused, then went on. "I suppose you're going to tell me I now have to revise my opinion of Lieutenant Suiza?"

"No, Admiral, I'm not. What the admiral thinks of Lieutenant Suiza is the admiral's business; she's not my officer. But if the data are tainted-"

"Oh yes, oh yes." Hornan waved a hand. "First things first. We have to inform internal security, and then Grand Admiral Savanche. He's going to be so pleased about this! Just what he needs, something else to worry about-" He hit the comunit control so hard it double-buzzed. "Get me internal security-"

"Admiral Serrano's going to have a clear run with the task force," Escovar commented on the way back to Gyrfalcon.

"Why, sir?"

"Because Hornan's not going to risk what you might say if he tries for it. Don't play stupid, Ensign-you know as well as I do that he must have been involved at some level. For one thing Ferradi isn't smart enough to get his codes without his help. And Pell couldn't help her-he couldn't remember his own codes, let alone the admiral's. Now if that civilian-Lady Marta whatshername-can put a collar on Lord Thornbuckle, we might finally get this rescue attempt off the ground."

"Sir."

"It's been a mess," Escovar went on, lengthening his stride. "It wouldn't have been easy anyway,

but Thornbuckle's been more hindrance than help, and Hornan has kept putting obstacles in the way-and I would never have suspected that nailing Ferradi would get rid of the other problems, too."