In less than five minutes he was there, flashing his ID outside the door to let Ferris know it was him. His eyes flew to the Lieutenant’s face and then zeroed in on his broken arm.

“Fine?” he remarked dryly. “What else did they do to you?” His eyes were scanning him, noticing with some relief that his uniform appeared to be intact, but that he was moving slowly and painfully as he stood up.

“Stomach and kidneys,” Ferris replied briefly. “Rape was threatened but not executed. Thank god.” He looked anxiously at the other man, who had taken his arm gently in his hands, assessing the damage. “Daniel, they threatened you, too, and Hendriks can access any room on the ship! You and Lin need to be really, really careful. Don’t go anywhere alone, especially your cabins.”

“I’ve already told Lin, but I’ll tell him again,” Peters assured him. “You need to go to sick bay straight away and get this looked at, make sure Medic Torres makes a record of all your injuries.”

“Yes sir!” replied Ferris looking at him quizzically.

Peters coloured up. “Sorry, Lieutenant, I’m right though. We’ll need evidence to back our case.”

Ferris was still worried. “I’m not sure now if I can send the report through to Colonel Young. Hendriks pointed out that all communications go through Sanchez and he will be watching everything I send.”

“I’m a bit of a com link wizard. Let me have a go and see what I can do.” Peters seemed to be forgetting he was talking to his superior officer. As if he suddenly realised it, he added quickly,” If that’s okay with you, sir.”

“All right. Just be careful, this fight has the potential to get extremely ugly before it’s over. But we’ve agreed we are going to fight, haven’t we? Not give in to threats?”

Peters held his gaze, his blue eyes serious. “Yes, I’d rather kill them and face the consequences, than give in!”

He looked away. “We better get you to sick bay, sir. That arm needs attention. Can you walk?”

“I think so, if I take it slowly.”

“I’ll come with you. You can lean on me if you need to.”

Eventually they reached the sick bay and Ferris gave Medical Officer Torres a full account of what had happened. He found himself studying Torres with critical eyes as he spoke, trying to assess whether or not he was part of this conspiracy of denial. Although Torres professed shock and amazement, Ferris thought he must have had his suspicions. Had none of the men come to him for help? Or was the whole command structure rotten? Still, he didn’t want to alienate anyone unnecessarily. He needed all the help he could get to expose this abuse.

He spoke confidently to Torres as if he knew he could rely on his support. “I have reported this to Colonel Young on Capella. I expect he’ll send a team to investigate as soon as possible, he won’t let this situation last for a day longer than he must. As far as I am aware, only two men are actually committing this abuse, and one condoning it. Admittedly they are the three highest ranking officers, but by the same token they are only three men. If the rest of us stick together we should be able to keep them in check until Colonel Young arrives.”

Torres nodded slowly, but as if he wasn’t quite so certain. He set the break and covered the arm in plasfoam to keep it immobile while it healed, and gave Ferris some tablets to help his kidneys recover. The stomach ache he could do little about, except give him some anaesthetic spray for the bruising.

Peters, who had been waiting patiently outside, walked back with Ferris to his cabin. “I don’t think you should stay here, sir, not by yourself.”

The Lieutenant had been thinking much the same, although his concern was for the other two men.

“How would you and Lin feel about bunking down in my cabin for the night? We could take turns to keep an armed watch, with stunners. I may be over-reacting, but I’d rather lose a bit of sleep than get another broken arm!” He looked uncomfortable. “Does Lin know I’m an om?”