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© 2022 by Walter Reimer
I had the distinct feeling that I was being hung out to dry.
The Director of Intelligence himself requested that I investigate one of the furs close to the Emperor himself, with possibly lethal consequences for myself if I strayed a little too far or annoyed the wrong people.
Fortunately, I have a little lupine voice in my head. “Ah, but your possible detractors did not figure on one thing,” Ivar said.
“That being?” I asked.
I could almost see Ivar draw himself up minutely. “That you are the beneficiary of sterling advice.”
I gave him a sour grin as I closed things down, sealed the file and secured it in my safe. “Well, I'm going to get some lunch. Let it be recorded that the condemned ate a hearty meal.”
“Tut, tut. Such a negative attitude. Well. Nevertheless, I think we should have the grilled steak, today.” When he was alive, my colleague would look upon food as an almost religious thing. Military rations would invariably put him in a very downcast mood.
Still, tom does not live by fish alone. “Sounds good,” I said.
“With a good, brisk red to go with it,” Ivar counseled. “You will feel like a new mel after such a repast.”
He was right, and after thinking while I was eating I decided to arrange a meeting with the Commander, and make a request through channels.
The MacRuari of That Ilk twitched his ears as I made my request. “You wish to interview the Admiral-General, Captain?”
“Yes, Sir. I’ve gone over the file’s contents, but I want to ask Admiral-General Gromov about his misgivings. He related to ‘M’ that Bustani appeared familiar to him.”
“I see.” The buck tapped a finger on his desktop, gently so as not to mar the finish. “I will send the request through the chain of command, Captain.”
“Thank you, Sir,” and with that I returned to my office. Once there, I removed the file from my safe and started going over it again, this time jotting notes on my padd.
One of my ears flicked as Ivar said, “I have my doubts as to the effectiveness of chatting up the Admiral. He, most likely, will either utter true banalities, or if he is wearing a figurative black hat, lead us down the garden path. An apt metaphor, that.”
“But you're forgetting something, Ivar.”
“Hmmmm?”
I smiled as I underlined one possible question. “One of the first rules of being a police officer - don't trust written accounts. Get it from the source wherever possible.”
“Hmm. I defer to your greater experience,” and I grinned at his slightly grumpy response.
An incoming call alerted me, and I cleared the padd as the Commander’s face appeared. “Yes, Sir?”
“Captain, I have travel orders prepared for you.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“You will proceed, by fastest available transportation, to Terra, where you will spend an hour interviewing the Admiral-General.”
I glanced to a gloss at the side of the buck’s image. Yes, things were in order, and the departure time – “I’ll get a small bag packed, and head to the spaceport, Commander.”
“I look forward to your report, Captain.”
The screen went dark, and I could almost see Ivar looking at me askance.
© 2022 by Walter Reimer
I had the distinct feeling that I was being hung out to dry.
The Director of Intelligence himself requested that I investigate one of the furs close to the Emperor himself, with possibly lethal consequences for myself if I strayed a little too far or annoyed the wrong people.
Fortunately, I have a little lupine voice in my head. “Ah, but your possible detractors did not figure on one thing,” Ivar said.
“That being?” I asked.
I could almost see Ivar draw himself up minutely. “That you are the beneficiary of sterling advice.”
I gave him a sour grin as I closed things down, sealed the file and secured it in my safe. “Well, I'm going to get some lunch. Let it be recorded that the condemned ate a hearty meal.”
“Tut, tut. Such a negative attitude. Well. Nevertheless, I think we should have the grilled steak, today.” When he was alive, my colleague would look upon food as an almost religious thing. Military rations would invariably put him in a very downcast mood.
Still, tom does not live by fish alone. “Sounds good,” I said.
“With a good, brisk red to go with it,” Ivar counseled. “You will feel like a new mel after such a repast.”
He was right, and after thinking while I was eating I decided to arrange a meeting with the Commander, and make a request through channels.
The MacRuari of That Ilk twitched his ears as I made my request. “You wish to interview the Admiral-General, Captain?”
“Yes, Sir. I’ve gone over the file’s contents, but I want to ask Admiral-General Gromov about his misgivings. He related to ‘M’ that Bustani appeared familiar to him.”
“I see.” The buck tapped a finger on his desktop, gently so as not to mar the finish. “I will send the request through the chain of command, Captain.”
“Thank you, Sir,” and with that I returned to my office. Once there, I removed the file from my safe and started going over it again, this time jotting notes on my padd.
One of my ears flicked as Ivar said, “I have my doubts as to the effectiveness of chatting up the Admiral. He, most likely, will either utter true banalities, or if he is wearing a figurative black hat, lead us down the garden path. An apt metaphor, that.”
“But you're forgetting something, Ivar.”
“Hmmmm?”
I smiled as I underlined one possible question. “One of the first rules of being a police officer - don't trust written accounts. Get it from the source wherever possible.”
“Hmm. I defer to your greater experience,” and I grinned at his slightly grumpy response.
An incoming call alerted me, and I cleared the padd as the Commander’s face appeared. “Yes, Sir?”
“Captain, I have travel orders prepared for you.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“You will proceed, by fastest available transportation, to Terra, where you will spend an hour interviewing the Admiral-General.”
I glanced to a gloss at the side of the buck’s image. Yes, things were in order, and the departure time – “I’ll get a small bag packed, and head to the spaceport, Commander.”
“I look forward to your report, Captain.”
The screen went dark, and I could almost see Ivar looking at me askance.
Category Story / General Furry Art
Species Feline (Other)
Size 120 x 77px
File Size 44.8 kB
Listed in Folders
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