Lunar Affair (LGBT - Sci-Fi - Romance)

Chapter 3

Chapter Three 

Colonel Young from Capella Space Station had sent one of his brightest officers to assist local forces with the identification and capture of the man who had organised the theft of hundreds of laser guns. Major Pattisson had been stationed in the principal city of Beledi on the planet Mayia, for some weeks now, co-ordinating the investigation. His appearance was ideal for an investigating officer, black hair (the most common colour in the galaxy), medium height and an easily forgettable face.  

He spent painstaking hours, tracking the source of the thefts and soon reached the uncomfortable conclusion that it had been an inside job. Someone in the Beledian security forces was the instigator or at least a key informant. It took two weeks to narrow down his identity to one of two men, Sergeant Crosby in Supply or Captain Fraser, one of the Patrol team leaders. Rather unfairly, Pattisson hoped it was Crosby. 

Because the evidence was inconclusive, Pattisson decided to pick up both men at the same time. He didn't like the fact that he had to depend on local officers to organize the raids. The chance of a leak, deliberate or otherwise to the two men under suspicion was too high in his estimation but he had not been given a choice. Colonel Young had used all his influence to get him put in charge of the investigation but that was as far as he could go. One thing which helped, was his authorisation to use the Lunar to communicate with the Colonel, instead of directing his calls through the local com unit, he had to hope that would be enough. He took one more small precaution. 

"We'll send two teams to their workplaces on Monday morning, the 17th of March," he advised his local liaison, Captain Tazi.  

Only the Lunar and Colonel Young knew he planned to bring the raid forward to Friday the 14th. 

Friday the 14th arrived and Pattisson rapidly appropriated the training exercise he had arranged for his two teams and gave them their new orders. The first team picked up an alarmed and outraged Sergeant Crosby with minimal difficulty. Pattisson had his first inkling that all was not well when the second team reported that Captain Fraser had not yet turned up to work or made contact to explain his absence. When they broke into his house, Pattisson was already suspecting the bad news. Captain Fraser had disappeared, unfortunately taking the time to destroy all his records. Pattisson was livid.  

Further investigations revealed that Fraser had left the previous evening. His neighbour reported that Fraser had left his house carrying a small bag at around 19:00 hours. He had been accompanied by a young blond man with a large backpack and DNA found in the house identified the young man as Billy Ryan, a former employee of the local brothel. Pattisson realized, with a mixture of anger and dismay, that the leak must have come from the Lunar, he had been working with Colonel Young far too long to even consider that the disclosure had come from his end. 

XXX 

Duran woke up on Saturday with mixed feelings, his leave was scheduled for that afternoon. Part of him was looking forward to another date with Ryan, but his instinct was on high alert that it had all been a little too good to be true.  

Later that morning Captain Ivanov called him into his quarters.  

"Good news, Duran," he smiled. "You've got your Captain's interview scheduled for Monday, the Academy is sending out a couple of officers all the way from Capella." Ivanov was genuinely pleased to be able to reward one of his best officers. True, occasionally he had doubts as to whether Duran had had too easy a run up the promotion ladder, in his experience an officer didn't reveal their true calibre until they were under extreme pressure, but that was something only time and experience could fix.  

"Thank you sir!" Duran took it too seriously to return the smile. This was his chance to achieve the goal he had set himself years ago, before he had even started at the Academy. A chance to be someone powerful and respected. The Lieutenant had lost both parents in a mining accident on Burra when he was six years old, and spent the next twelve years being handed from one reluctant relative to another. The only one he had got on with, had been ironically his uncle Gareth, a rather flamboyant homosexual.