the Grand Duchess shared. If they valued their own lives, they had best assure that their contribution to the meal remained free of tampering.
The admiral was taking no chances. Vicky was delighted at his newfound concern for her safety.
She broached the topic of her interest in the specifics of the world she would be returning to. The admiral seemed understanding and ordered his chief of intelligence to join them at the table. The man was a young and alert commander. He quickly joined in the conversation, giving Vicky a quick rundown of which planets had fallen into rioting and how the disorder was being suppressed.
Vicky found his report factual and free of opinion.
It was also just the bare bones of what she needed. She hoped when he joined her tomorrow that she would not have to pry all the extra details, the ones that might determine if she lived or died, out of him.
When Mr. Smith commented that the Grand Duchess’s computer had been recently upgraded and could help in collating and correlating the data, the commander seemed impressed and offered to begin a data dump to the Grand Duchess’s computer as soon as they were sure the U.S. had not slipped any eavesdropping capability aboard while they were tied up to their station.
Vicky offered to drop by the secure intelligence facilities after dinner and have her computer given a direct, secure line into the database.
The admiral seemed impressed by Vicky’s willingness to accommodate Navy security requirements. “But then you were trained by Admiral Krätz, the best of the best.”
“I am open to the graduate course, Admiral. Indeed, I am looking forward to it.”
The dinner broke up on that happy note.
Vicky accompanied the commander back to his workspaces. His chief easily connected Vicky’s computer to their main system and data began to flow into it. It took a bit longer than the chief said it would.
“But then, bringing a strange computer into the net often requires a bit of extra time,” he admitted.
Even as Vicky walked back to her quarters with the lieutenant and the chief, she could feel her computer running through the data. She offered priorities for her information tree and discovered that her computer, in its private conversation with her, was asking more questions than she expected.
In her quarters, she left the men behind and headed straight for her bedroom. There, sitting at the desk, was Mr. Smith.
He had several gadgets out of his pocket, which he only glanced at before saying, “I’ve disabled several bugs. They are still reporting, but reporting a rerun of our earlier tryst. Now, shall we see what your intel haul is?”
“I take it that my download was much more than they realized?” Vicky said as she took a seat on her bed. “The download took a bit longer than the chief expected.”
“It shouldn’t have. You were downloading at triple the speed they thought. If it took a tad longer, then we really did make a haul.”
“For whom?” Vicky asked, her voice going hard.
“For you, ma’am, for you. We’ll go through it tonight, and if you don’t think it’s something you need or should have, you can delete it, and it will be gone.”
“You sure your computer isn’t getting a copy of my download as we speak?”
Mr. Smith dramatically placed his right hand on his heart. “Ma’am, you wound me greatly.”
“I notice that you didn’t lie to me. I appreciate that. Shall we begin our examination of my homeland? Be aware, Mr. Smith. It is
my
homeland, and I love it. Likely more than you love yours, assuming you can call anywhere home.”
“Sadly, I don’t, ma’am.”
“Then be warned. You are on a ship of my fleet. If you ever hope to leave it alive, don’t make me doubt your commitment to me and my ends.”
“Says the black widow to the vampire bat,” Mr. Smith replied with a confident smile. “I think we understand each other very well. Shall we start with the two-thirds of the database they didn’t
The admiral was taking no chances. Vicky was delighted at his newfound concern for her safety.
She broached the topic of her interest in the specifics of the world she would be returning to. The admiral seemed understanding and ordered his chief of intelligence to join them at the table. The man was a young and alert commander. He quickly joined in the conversation, giving Vicky a quick rundown of which planets had fallen into rioting and how the disorder was being suppressed.
Vicky found his report factual and free of opinion.
It was also just the bare bones of what she needed. She hoped when he joined her tomorrow that she would not have to pry all the extra details, the ones that might determine if she lived or died, out of him.
When Mr. Smith commented that the Grand Duchess’s computer had been recently upgraded and could help in collating and correlating the data, the commander seemed impressed and offered to begin a data dump to the Grand Duchess’s computer as soon as they were sure the U.S. had not slipped any eavesdropping capability aboard while they were tied up to their station.
Vicky offered to drop by the secure intelligence facilities after dinner and have her computer given a direct, secure line into the database.
The admiral seemed impressed by Vicky’s willingness to accommodate Navy security requirements. “But then you were trained by Admiral Krätz, the best of the best.”
“I am open to the graduate course, Admiral. Indeed, I am looking forward to it.”
The dinner broke up on that happy note.
Vicky accompanied the commander back to his workspaces. His chief easily connected Vicky’s computer to their main system and data began to flow into it. It took a bit longer than the chief said it would.
“But then, bringing a strange computer into the net often requires a bit of extra time,” he admitted.
Even as Vicky walked back to her quarters with the lieutenant and the chief, she could feel her computer running through the data. She offered priorities for her information tree and discovered that her computer, in its private conversation with her, was asking more questions than she expected.
In her quarters, she left the men behind and headed straight for her bedroom. There, sitting at the desk, was Mr. Smith.
He had several gadgets out of his pocket, which he only glanced at before saying, “I’ve disabled several bugs. They are still reporting, but reporting a rerun of our earlier tryst. Now, shall we see what your intel haul is?”
“I take it that my download was much more than they realized?” Vicky said as she took a seat on her bed. “The download took a bit longer than the chief expected.”
“It shouldn’t have. You were downloading at triple the speed they thought. If it took a tad longer, then we really did make a haul.”
“For whom?” Vicky asked, her voice going hard.
“For you, ma’am, for you. We’ll go through it tonight, and if you don’t think it’s something you need or should have, you can delete it, and it will be gone.”
“You sure your computer isn’t getting a copy of my download as we speak?”
Mr. Smith dramatically placed his right hand on his heart. “Ma’am, you wound me greatly.”
“I notice that you didn’t lie to me. I appreciate that. Shall we begin our examination of my homeland? Be aware, Mr. Smith. It is
my
homeland, and I love it. Likely more than you love yours, assuming you can call anywhere home.”
“Sadly, I don’t, ma’am.”
“Then be warned. You are on a ship of my fleet. If you ever hope to leave it alive, don’t make me doubt your commitment to me and my ends.”
“Says the black widow to the vampire bat,” Mr. Smith replied with a confident smile. “I think we understand each other very well. Shall we start with the two-thirds of the database they didn’t
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