A Security Emergency

Month 11, Day 3

0833 Hours

Abdulla

It was not at all unusual that Abdullah had a song stuck in her head this morning. She thought she had heard this particular song at the New Year’s Eve dance, because it seemed to be a waltz, not the kind of music she usually listened to at all. But all thoughts of music were swept away when she heard, “Security to deck 4 for an unknown problem.”

“Captain, security is sending a team to deck 4,” she reported, oblivious that she had interrupted a conversation between the captain and Takor. “No indication what the problem is yet.”

“Very well. Keep me apprised of their progress, lieutenant.”

She knew that deck 4 was not a huge deck. There was a briefing room and a few junior officer quarters. Abdulla started listening to various microphones scattered around the deck, whether they were turned on or not.

Silence.

Silence.

“She’ll come to her senses. It’s only a matter of...”

Silence. Snoring. Silence. Footsteps. Silence.

“I thought maybe the blue scarf...”

Silence. Silence. Silence.

“Get out!” A frantic cry, followed by a loud thud. Mac’s voice, frantic and panicky.

“You bitch, you’ve wanted this for a long time.”

Startled, Abdulla made note of the quarters with that altercation, then quickly checked all the rest of the microphones, which were devoid of any sounds that might require security. She opened the security channel. “Security, check quarters 42 on deck 4.”

“We’re there,” someone answered, and she heard a door sliding open and a crash before the channel went dead.

“42? That’s Mac’s quarters,” Capac stated.

“Any idea what the problem is, Abdulla?” the captain asked.

“It sounded like a fight, captain,” she stated reluctantly, not wanting to spread unsubstantiated rumors.

Capac shook his head. “Bugalu should know better than to push her when she’s irritable.”

“No, it didn’t sound like an argument with Bug- uh, Bugalu.” Not just an argument. And definitely not with Bugsy!

The lights suddenly brightened 3 times in rapid succession, followed by 3 quick blares of the alarm. “All security hands, Deck 4, quarters 42. All security personnel, Deck 4, quarters 42!”

The captain turned in her seat and frowned. “That sounds like more than just a simple argument,” she stated.

Any fight somebody stupidly started with Mac should have been ended almost before it started. She is a heavy worlder, and has the muscles to show for it. Abdullah tried to listen to the microphone in quarters 42, but it wasn’t responding. There was another in the hallway a few feet away from quarters 42, and from there, she could hear grunting, thuds and even some furniture breaking. It sounded like a bar brawl. And Mac’s voice, yelling at someone to leave her alone, to keep their hands off her. And then another voice saying, “Man Down!”

Tall Bear’s voice loudly said: “Everybody stop!” When the noise quieted down, he went on. “Hernandez, Zhang, get Mac a blanket so she can cover herself, and then stand guard on her. All the men, stand on the other side of the room.”

“Bear, you’ve seen what she’s done to Winthrop!” someone objected.

Winthrop! That’s the voice I heard speaking so ugly to Mac! If he wasn’t afraid of hurting her - and it didn’t sound like he cared - his combat skills might have negated Mac’s strength.

“I saw that the 2 of them were in an all-out fight. And none of us could make either of them stop until Winthrop was knocked out. From what Mac was screaming, she was in a panic, thought she had to protect herself from rape. That’s why I’ve assigned her female guards and given her a blanket to cover herself. Now, we have to figure out exactly what happened.”

“Lieutenant, do you have any idea who MacDowell might be... arguing with?” The captain was as curious as anyone.

“I’m afraid it was--“ She stopped to listen to security channel chatter for a moment. “They’ve called for a medical team.”

More concerned now, the captain nodded in acknowledgement. “Who did it sound like? When you heard what was happening?”

“It was Commander Winthrop. The medical team was for him.”

Captain sighed. “Okay.”

“Just a moment.” She caught a brief exchange between Tall Bear and sick bay. “Now they’ve called for Nurse Temple. Apparently, Mac- MacDowell is in some kind of panicked frenzy and won’t let anyone but women get close to her. Tall Bear’s making arrangements for them to take her to a holding cell.”

“And Winthrop?”

“I assume he’ll be taken to sick bay. She seems to have knocked him out.”

“Very well. Takor, you have the bridge. I’ll be in sick bay, and then the brig.” Abdulla wished she could go with her, to find out exactly what had happened. Instead, she was stuck on the bridge, listening to any security channel chatter than might happen, but that didn’t seem likely.

Since this was Bugalu’s day off, maybe he’d know what had happened and all the juicy details by the end of shift. Or, if she was lucky, by lunch time.

And this stupid waltz kept playing in her head, completely out of touch with the world around her. She knew Winthrop’s reputation, had heard stories about young women on the ship and the way he’d treated them. She’d even been subjected to his leering and lewd suggestions. But nobody - that she knew of - had ever tried to fight him off before.