The guard approached cautiously. He gave the man on the ground a quick glance before checking the other man for weapons.

Finding him unarmed, he relaxed and lowered his stunner. “Right, sir. Can you tell me what happened?”

“I was just walking along, on my way home, when three men came out of nowhere. They didn’t even say anything to me, just started to attack. I managed to knock one of them out but I would have been in real trouble if you hadn’t come along!” He smiled gratefully at the guard.

“No point chasing after the other two, they’ll be long gone now,” stated the guard, looking down the empty street. “Did you get a look at them? Can you give me a description?”

The short man was shaking his head. “Sorry, it all happened so fast.”

“Well, at least we’ve got this one,” announced the guard with satisfaction. “Can you give me a hand with him to the station? It’s only a couple of blocks, then I’ll take your statement and you can be on your way.”

Both men turned to look at Ferris who was still unconscious.

“Of course,” agreed the assailant. He could hardly say anything else. The guard hoisted Ferris up off the ground and draped one arm over his shoulders. The assailant took the other side and together they carried him to the station, the assailant taking the opportunity to discreetly drop the items he had stolen along the way. Unfortunately someone else would be bound to find them before he could retrace his steps, but it couldn’t be helped.

Eventually they reached the small station and Ferris was put into a cell.

“Now sir, I’ll just take your statement. Your full name?”

“Tomas Wiatt,” said the other man, giving a false identity. As soon as he had finished here, he planned on disappearing and never coming back.

By this time Ferris was starting to wake up and he struggled for a few moments to work out what was going on. “Hey!” he called out. “You’ve made a mistake. I’m the one who was attacked! That man was one of the assailants!”

The guard shook his head, the stories some people tried on. “Be quiet! I’ll get to you in a minute,” he replied.

Ferris hunted feverishly through his clothes, “I’m a Patrol Officer. My name is Matthew Ferris and I’m First Lieutenant on the Jerez. Let me show you my ID.” It was missing. No doubt his accuser or one of his friends had taken it, along with his wristcom.

The guard had started to look a little concerned when Ferris started speaking, but was now looking disbelieving again as he failed to produce his ID.

“Send someone to ask for Lieutenant King at the Blue Nova, he’ll come and vouch for me,” Ferris demanded. “Or is Colonel Young still stationed here? He knows me. Meanwhile,” he glared at Wiatt, “Can I request you search that man to see if he still has my belongings on him?”

“What a liar!” Wiatt lifted his arms for the search, pretending to be angry. “Go right ahead, you won’t find anything.”

The guard looked apologetically at Wiatt and quickly searched him, but found nothing out of place.

“He probably slipped it to one of his accomplices,” guessed Ferris. “Please, can you contact Colonel Young for me? You’d take his word for my identity, I imagine?”

The guard was beginning to frown uncertainly. “It’s very late. I’m certainly not going to disturb the Colonel tonight. I’ll send a message to him tomorrow, see if he’s heard of you.”

“Tomorrow’s my last day of leave, I’m due to be back on my ship at 09:00 on Monday,” said Ferris, starting to worry about how long all this was going to take. “Please, if you don’t want to disturb the Colonel, can you at least contact Lieutenant King? He’ll do it for you.”

“All right,” said the guard, impressed despite himself. He threw a quick glance at Wiatt who was beginning to stir restlessly. “I’ll send someone to the Blue Nova and we’ll all wait here until he gets back. I’d like to settle this tonight if we can.”

Lieutenant King was very unhappy to be disturbed by someone at his door, but not as unhappy as he would have been twenty minutes earlier. “I have to go,” he told his companion reluctantly. “Can I see you again tomorrow?”

“Perhaps,” the young man answered teasingly. “I’ll be at the Stars again, but I won’t wait around for long.” He reached up and pulled King down for a quick kiss. “I hope your friend appreciates what you’re giving up for him.”

“I’m sorry, I’ll make it up to you tomorrow,” promised King. He dressed quickly in his uniform and went outside to speak to the man waiting in the passage. “What’s happened to Ferris?” he queried.

“He’s being held at the guardhouse in Second Quarter. He asked us to ask you if you could contact Colonel Young and see if he’ll vouch for him.”

“I’ll try,” answered King a bit doubtfully. Would a Colonel really come out in the middle of the night to help out a Lieutenant? Still, even if he were prepared to go there in the morning that would help. They reached the building which housed patrol headquarters and King asked the Corporal on Reception if he could see Colonel Young.

The Corporal smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, Lieutenant, he’s on leave at present. Would you like to speak to the acting officer in charge?”

King shook his head, there was no point in seeing a stranger. Then he remembered Agent Peters had an office there as well, perhaps he could see him and ask his advice. He wasn’t quite sure how high an Agent ranked in the hierarchy but maybe he would carry sufficient weight to vouch for Ferris himself.

He turned to back to the Corporal at the Reception desk. “Would I be able to see Agent Peters?”

The Corporal gave him a funny look but said, “I’ll check, sir,” and spoke into his com unit.

“He’s on his way down.” He seemed surprised.

A minute or two later, Peters came into view, a questioning look on his face. “Lieutenant King? How can I help you?” He couldn’t help adding, “Did Matthew send you?”

“Not exactly,” said King and explained what had happened. “I asked for Colonel Young, but he is on leave, then I thought of you. Do you know who is replacing the Colonel?”

“Ah that would be me.” He looked at King a little guiltily. “I’m too used to being undercover. I find Agent is much more comfortable, nobody talks to me if they know I’m a Colonel.” He turned to the Corporal, leaving King with his mouth open. “I’ll be at the Guardhouse in Second Quarter if anyone needs me.”

“Yessir.”

“Let’s go,” he told King. He walked next to him, leaving the guard to follow along behind. “Has Matthew told you anything about me?” he asked in a low voice.

“No sir,” King paused for a minute then asked evenly, “Should he have?”

“Oh. Well I don’t want to invade his privacy but I think maybe I should tell you I was the undercover agent involved in breaking up the Hendriks and Sanchez affair.”

“Ah.” King stared at him. So this was the man they said Ferris had made a pass at when he thought he was a private, the one that had caused him to swear never to approach a man on his own ship again. The other Daniel. “That explains... ”

There was a long silence.

“I know I have no right to ask this, but are you and he... ?” Peters forced the words out.

King looked measuringly at him. “No, we’re not. I would have, but Matthew won’t. He’s still bound to that oath he made; he won’t have a relationship with anyone under his command. We’re friends though.” He added, “Am I missing something here? I thought you, that is, the undercover agent involved, was supposed to be straight?”

Peters gave a painful laugh. “Yeah, so did I.”