He only wished someone could exercise one on him.

The standard holding pattern vanished, and Heathrow blinked at the face which had replaced it. It wasn’t Therret. This man also wore StateSec uniform, but he had three stars on his shoulder boards, and Heathrow swallowed hard as he realized he was looking at Citizen General Chernock himself. The Citizen General had a dark face, a strongly hooked nose, and eyes that looked as if someone had figured out a way to carve the vacuum of deep space to order.

“Citizen Lieutenant Commander,” the sector CO said flatly, and Heathrow nodded. He knew it looked jerky, despite his effort to appear calm, but all he could do was the best he could do.

“Yes, Citizen General?” he said. “How can I help you, Sir?”

“You can give me my goddamned mail, that’s how you can help me!” Chernock growled.

“Sir, I have personally checked Citizen Ensign Howard’s documentation on your message traffic—the upload logs, as well as the download logs. And every single message file logged in for you here on Danak has been delivered, Sir. We aren’t privy to the contents of those files. Couriers never are, as I’m sure you’re aware, so I can’t say unequivocally that you received every individual message you should have. But I can tell you that no message with a Danak header is still aboard this ship.”

“I would like to believe you, Citizen Commander,” Chernock said flatly. “But I find that very difficult to do.”

“Sir, if you could see your way to giving me even the smallest hint as to where this message might have originated, at least, then I might be able to shed some additional light on the situation. Without that, there is literally nothing I can do. And, Sir—” Heathrow drew a deep, anxious breath “—I must respectfully point out that State Security regulations pertaining to the safeguarding of classified traffic mean that I cannot give you access to any other addressee’s message files.” Chernock’s brow darkened thunderously, and Heathrow hurried on quickly. “I didn’t say I refused to, Sir; I said I couldn’t. It’s physically impossible for me or anyone else in this ship to open those files or even their directories without the addressee’s authorization codes.”

“I see.” Chernock regarded him with lowered eyebrows, long, tapering fingers drumming fiercely on the edge of his own com console, then twitched his shoulders in a shrug. There might even have been an edge of grudging respect in those flat, cold eyes.

“Very well, Citizen Lieutenant Commander,” he said after an endless, thoughtful moment. “I understand from certain other messages in your download to me that you were also scheduled for a stop at Cerberus.”

“Yes, Sir,” Heathrow said when Chernock paused. “We went directly there from Shilo. I realize it was irregular to use a Navy courier for Cerberus, but the State Security courier who’d been supposed to report to Shilo was late, and Citizen Major General Thornegrave insisted on commandeer—er, assigning us to the duty.”