Peters shrugged. “I don’t know, sir. I’ll tell him if you like.” He gave a wry smile, “Do you realise how ironic this is? You’re the only officer who is an om, and you’re the only one we can trust!”

Ferris winced and glanced at Peters apologetically. “You can tell Lin that I made an oath to myself that I’ll never get involved with another crew member again, if that helps to reassure him.” And you, he thought silently.

“Isn’t that a bit drastic, sir?” Peters looked a bit taken aback.

“I don’t think so. It’s the only ethical thing I can do. This whole affair has brought that home to me, strikingly!”

Peters left him at the door to his cabin. “I’ll go and talk to Lin and then I’ll have a look at sending that report. Perhaps you should go and sit in the common room, sir,” he added, tactfully.

The three men met again that evening in the Lieutenant’s cabin, Lin looking sideways at Ferris’ broken arm. He appeared a bit uncomfortable but determined, and he and Peters had both brought their stunners.

“Good news, sir,” Peters reported. “I’ve sent the report off to Colonel Young and he is sending a team to investigate. They should be here in a day, or two at the most.”

“Excellent! I did wonder whether we should tell everyone what’s going on, but then I thought we should leave that to Young and his team. You’ve warned all the other men mentioned in the report?” he asked the other two and they nodded. “I’ll take the last watch if you don’t mind. Wake me up at 04.00.” He lay down, still in his uniform, on his bed, leaving the two crew men to talk softly between themselves.

An ear splitting screech brought him to his feet, heart pounding, instantly awake. His cabin door was wide open and Hendriks was already inside, swivelling his head to see what had triggered the brief alarm. Seeing no obvious threat, he turned back toward Ferris and squirted a tranquilizer spray directly into his face.

Hendriks smiled unpleasantly, “Don’t worry, you’ll still know what’s happening to you, you just won’t be able to fight back this time.”

The Lieutenant slumped back onto the bed, the spray already taking effect despite his attempts to draw his weapon. Where were Peters and Lin? What had happened to them?

Before Hendriks could touch the man on the bed, he doubled up and collapsed onto the floor. Peters came out from his hiding spot under the desk, stunner in hand, and looked apologetically at Ferris. “I’m sorry I wasn’t quick enough, sir. Are you all right?”

Ferris managed to nod. “Lin?” he croaked.

“In the cabin opposite, keeping watch,” answered Peters, with some satisfaction. “He’s the one who made that god awful noise. We thought we’d be safer if we weren’t all in here together, just in case they used gas or something similar.”

“Good thinking,” Ferris applauded. “What are you planning to do with Hendriks?”

“I thought I’d ask a couple of the crew over there with Lin to carry him back to his quarters. We should have that last little incident on record,” he gestured with the camcorder in his left hand. “But he doesn’t know that. Let him wake up in the morning and worry about what happened. If that meets with your approval, sir?”

“Fine by me.” he yawned. “Do you think it’s safe for me to go back to sleep? I’m struggling to stay awake here, that tranquillizer spray is knocking me out.” Ferris was wondering why they had even bothered to include him in the plan, the other men evidently had things well in hand. Oh well, he supposed someone had to be the bait.

“We’ll keep watch for the rest of the night, just in case.” Peters stepped over Hendriks, and called Khan and Jaffrey across from the small group of men gathered in the passage, to take him away.

Lin was smiling grimly. “Are you sure we can’t just toss him out an airlock?” he asked, looking down at the unconscious figure, only half joking.