[Snip]

A reply finally came back =/\= Captain, Bradbury served mostly planet side on Mars, and Earth for most of his career minus a stint as Captain on the USS Venus for 5 years before returning to Earth at the Academy where till recently he was a part of internal investigations before taking over at the Academy. Notes are made it is where he met his wife of almost 9 years now too. She’s a bit younger than him though from the looks of it, quite a looker really! =/\= The Lieutenant replied.

Approaching the hall where red squad bunked things were mostly quiet, evidently the cadets off to whatever classes they had to take care of at the moment.

“It appears we do have the element of surprise that I was looking for,” said Glen. “They have no idea we are coming.”

Nkosenye looked around and said “Captain. I recommend we ‘set the tone’ early. As the Cadets are not here, it is an opportune time to make sure they are off-balance when they arrive. I recommend that we conduct a preliminary search until we find something… anything… that they will be concerned that we found. We then set the contraband in full display of the entrance and allow them to draw their own conclusions about how much trouble they are in. I have found suspects typically imagine far worse punishments than what is actually in store.”

“I like the idea,” replied Glen. “Let’s get to work!”

Cross looked around the room,then at the ceiling and last the floor ‘’Well no boogeyman ..yet .So were do we start?If I had something to hide I sure would not leave it in my locker’’ the doctor commented....for once waiting for orders.

Maybe she wanted to impress the CoS or else had no idea where to commence .

“Where did you hide things when you were a student doctor?” asked Glen. “You had enough secrets for all of us put together. Think back and then look there! …First, we’ll start with lockers in any case, then we’ll move on to the ceiling tiles and mattresses …and wherever else we can think of.”

Searching through the lockers found surprisingly little contraband. A few small one shooters of booze were here and there but mostly all were still sealed. Another thing found was two examples of test answers on a PADD but an interesting find in one of the senior red squad cadets bunk was a scandalous picture of Bradbury’s wife and the cadet! The signing on the back read ‘To the real man who puts the fire in my bed’. Could it be that Bradbury’s younger wife was having an affair behind his back with a red squad cadet?

Cross was still thinking about what Glen had said to her when she saw the men looking at a picture they seem to have found and curiosity took the better of her as the doctor walked over for a peek ‘’Well,well how about that!’’ she exclaimed ‘’Tks,tks.....all this for an affair and for the heat he’s providing gets the answers to exams?’‘.

Still Cross knew that things seldom are what they seem ‘’Maybe this locker belongs to a female Cadet and the heat is being provided by the Admiral’’ she ended up with a giggle at the very thought.

She took a closer look at the open locker ‘’Now if I wanted to hide something it would be behind what one would assume is the back,sides ,up and down ‘’ and with that she tried to check if what seemed to be a solid locker would cause it to shift or cause the slightest movement and then reposition itself.

“Captain, we need to tread very carefully here. This is not only a personal matter, but the ramifications are… severe… to say the least.” and he stood up straight. “I suggest we leave that particular locker open and continue the search. When the Cadet returns, we should pay very close attention to his reaction when he sees it that way. He could be a pawn in a larger situation.” He then looked at Cross. “Let’s pile the rest of the contraband on a central table. We can address it in front of all the squad.”

“I agree,” replied Glen. “We’ll put the shooters of booze and contraband on the central table as we planned, but the PADD and photo we’ll keep to ourselves and leave the locker open. I do think something of that magnitude was a little too easy to find though, almost as if someone wanted it found? And would she be so reckless as to sign a photo in that way when anyone could get sight of it?”

The Zulu nodded in silent agreement.

‘’Don’t get me wrong but its not illegal having an affair there must be more to this then meets the eye’‘ Cross responded ‘’Perhaps they want the Admiral out of the way ‘’ the female doctor mused while still trying to see if anything shifted with the darn locker.

“But it is against regulations for Cadets to fraternize with officers and their spouses. ‘Conduct unbecoming’ and all.” Nkosenye deep voice rumbled to Cross as he opened another locker. He then looked up at the ventilation covers and reached up and tested to see if any had been tampered with. “During my time at the Academy, my classmates would hide things here. They thought it was too much trouble for the Instructors to look at. Typically, they were wrong.” he mused.

‘’If someone hid anything in the ventilation covers then they’re not quite bright or ingenious ,since someone could be send from Engineering at any time to check them out’’ the doctor replied ‘’I hope we haven’t been send on a wild goose chase of something unattainable’’ then she thought about the map Cross had stolen years ago ,she couldn’t remember where she had hid it ‘’But back then I had the whole ship ‘’ the female doctor murmured.

“Trash can liners, sinks, toilets and the showers next,” said Glen. “Common communal areas! It might mean we need to get dirty, and I’m not sure this is worth getting dirty over?”

Looking briefly at the place the incriminating photo now resided, Nkosenye said “I believe we already are, Captain.” The picture was problematic. It, coupled with the Admiral’s strange behavior as reported by Glen, was a hornet’s nest of protocol and conflicts.

Under other circumstances Glen would have belly-laughed, but this was serious. Surely, the Admiral cannot have known about this photo, Glen thought. Why would he send me here to discover it if he knew? I cannot keep it a secret. I am duty-bound to hand it to FedSec. I owe the Admiral nothing, even if he is the innocent party in all of this. Even if this has been planted, and he is being set up by someone. Or else, he did know, but he was unable bring himself to report it, knowing, full well, the repercussions and consequences.

“I’ve been thinking,” said Glen. “We have no choice but to report it to FedSec.”

• Glen, CO