speed of execution

Commander Erhard was raising her hand to knock on Suzanne Devereaux's door when Aggie opened it to leave for work with Rails.

Aggie's smile never got a chance to form.

"My office, now." Erhard was quiet, and she wasn't smiling.

Margie Youngman was sitting in one of the chairs opposite Erhard's desk.

Erhard motioned to Rails to close the door after her. "Lori Railsback, Aggie Brooks this is my special friend Margie Youngman. Margie's from the Intel side of things, ex-Navy ONI."

Aggie and Rails nervously exchanged handshakes as the woman stood.

The only word that came from either of them was "Hi."

Erhard sat behind her desk as Aggie and Margie sat and Lori stood with a hand on Aggie's shoulder.

Erhard was unrecogizable as the woman who had enjoyed a sexual flirtation with Suzanne Devereaux. "You need to tell your boss Devereaux's suite is no place to have a conversation of that importance."

Lori's hand went to her mouth, and Aggie had to ask the question."It's bugged?"

Lori was thinking of other things as well. "They heard us all this time?"

Margie Youngman stood back up and walked over to Rails. "Listen, little girl, nobody in the whole ship cares about your sexual pecadillos. What we care about is L.C. Lovasso is dead along with a civilian named Dan Sprague, Boyette has the surveillance card, as does Chief Of Staff Melf and President Richardson. All the things you and Stormer were worried about started in motion as soon as Stormer left the room."

Erhard rose out of her own seat as well. "You need to get down the hall, and get your hands on Leon Freedman."

Lori looked at the women. "Who knows now?"

Margie looked at her. "Melf, Richardson, Boyette, Commander Erhard and myself."

Erhard completed the laundry list of disaster. "The other two people who knew are dead already and it's not even midday. One of them was my friend and colleague and I have no doubt Mr. Sprague was an innocent civilian."

Aggie had it all in her head, full force."We need to talk to Dr. Stormer."

Youngman sounded positively ice cold. "Stay away from him for the moment, he's being dealt with."

Lori looked worried. "'Dealt with'? What does that mean?"

Erhard defused that problem. "Not that you need to know, but it means he is being told."

Aggie was worried and now tired of having people be angry with them. "That had better be exactly what it means. The average nurse knows about 17 ways to kill a healthy human being without a trace."

Erhard stared at her. "Did you just threaten the lives of a senior intel officer and an Air Force commander?"

Rails answered so Aggie wouldn't stand alone. "It's not a threat, it's a statement of truth."

Erhard nodded her head. "Fair enough. You want to be tough guys, fine, here's the short version of what that little challenge just cost you. As of right now, you two - like Margie and me, mind you - are in a covert State Of War against what used to be the core government of the United States of America."

Aggie locked her arm around Rail's waist. "Fine, where do we sign up?"

Margie exchanged a look with Hillary Erhard. After a moment, she nodded.

Erhard turned back to the two MedTechs. "You report to her. My role has to remain unofficial."

Margie turned back to them then. "Congratulations, you're now part of the intelligence community. Leon Freedman is now a significant pawn in this war, so here's your first assignment. Get down the hall, get all eyes on him and on Suzanne Devereaux, and I'll contact you for updates. If I don't hear from you in 20 minutes, I'll come down and despatch you myself. Clear?"

"Clear."

Aggie and Rails didn't even wait to be dismissed.

credits

Camille Theriault: cello, double bass, viola, violins
Lani Osterman: Korg Triton Synth, Korg R3, Korg padKontrol
Kat Currie: engineering
Chuck Oldman: composeer, sound designer