The mayor’s offices were in perfect order; you wouldn’t know a plasma gun battle had recently occurred here. The gel walls were pristine with the whale mural behind the secretary’s desk moving sinuously. The gel-coated floor was clean, devoid of blood splatter. All the furniture had been returned to their former positions, and the woman who greeted me wore well tailored and perfectly appropriate business attire.

Well, perfectly appropriate for back on Earth that is.

“Commander Kereama to see Mayor Cecil,” I said when the woman looked up at me expectantly.

She glanced at her datapad and frowned.

“I don’t have you on the Anderson Universal crew manifest,” she said.

“I’m newly appointed.”

The frown turned into a scowl.

“And you’re the officer in charge?”

“I am at present, yes.”

“Please take a seat,” she instructed.

I walked across the room and looked at a gel wall. Pavo wisely did not change it to a lush green scene for me. From the corner of my eye, I watched as the woman tapped her ear and then spoke in muted tones.

I turned fully to the gel wall, my back to her.

“Can you hear what she’s saying, Pavo?” I whispered.

“Speech amplifier enabled,” Pavo said in my own earpiece.

“It says here, she’s a pay-for-passage,” the secretary’s barely there voice sounded out in my ear. “Or she was. Do you want me to turn her away?”

“Scanning. Source located. Rerouting now.”

“We knew it wouldn’t be Jameson,” the mayor’s voice sounded out in my ear. “But he’s up to something. Let’s play along for the time being.”

“Yes, sir,” the woman replied.

Then she cleared her throat.

“Commander?”

I turned and offered her my attentive military face.

“Yes?”

“The mayor will see you now.”

“Thank you,” I murmured and followed her directions to the mayor’s office.

He was sitting behind a large desk; one that should not have made it onto the vessel. It looked out of place. Dark wood, leather insert. Various brass key locked drawers down both sides. It would have been completely isolated from Pavo’s systems. The AI could neither look inside it nor control it.

It was a surprisingly well thought out addition to the mayor’s domain.

“Mayor Cecil,” I said in greeting.

“Who are you?” he demanded, his fat jowls wobbling.

“Commander Ana Kereama. First Officer.”

“I don’t know you. What happened to Commander Torrence.”

“Killed, sir. By Damon Archibald’s security team.”

He studied me.

“And the captain?” he finally said.

“Injured in the crossfire. He will recover.”

I watched him closely, but he didn’t show a reaction. Which, in and of itself, was unusual. Hearing the captain of the ship had been injured, whether you suspected he was indisposed or not, should have elicited a reaction of some sort.

“Well, then,” he said in a huff. “I guess I have to deal with you. What’s your background, Kereama?”

“New Zealand Army. Four tours. Corporal. Honourable discharge.”

He laughed. “Come up in the world, haven’t you, eh?”

“If you consider we may very well no longer have a world, then yes.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re just like him. Full of your self-righteous survivor guilt. What’s gone has gone, all that matters is what we do now as a species.”

“And what do you plan to do, sir?” I asked.

“Above your pay grade, Corporal.”

“Commander,” I corrected. “First Officer. Currently the officer in charge of this ship.”

“That’s what you think. That’s what he thought, too.” He had to mean Jameson. “But from recent evidence, you’re barely in charge of your own men. Anderson Universal might have held power back on Earth, but as you’ve just pointed out, Earth is gone. Dead. If we’re to survive, we need to make changes. And the first is to appoint a new leaseholder.”

He knew Archibald was dead. No announcement had been made. None of Archibald’s mercs had escaped the encounter on the bridge. Those that were still hiding Aunt Mara would have had to come out of hiding to contact the mayor. And why? Because he was the natural replacement for Damon Archibald?

“I would assume his stepbrother is his next of kin,” I said.

“Whom you have locked in the brig, I believe.”

We had a mole. This man knew too much. Did he know Jameson was back on the bridge and this was all a sham?

“Besides,” Cecil went on, “Stefan Archibald had no part in Archibald Enterprises. Damon tolerated him. Barely. There was no love lost there. I have the correct Archibald Enterprises command structure here.”

He pushed a datapad across the desk toward me.

I stepped forward and peered down at the list of upper management outlined for Archibald Enterprises. It did not surprise me to see Samuel Cecil’s name directly below that of Damon Archibald.

I looked up at the mayor. “I will need to confirm this with Anderson Universal Incorporated.”

“Do it now.”

I really didn’t like this man.

“Pavo,” I said.

“Confirming, Commander. Stand by.”

“You trust it?” the mayor asked with a scoff.

“The AI? Yes.”

“You’re a fool, then. Once it gets rebooted, it might be able to do what it was designed for. But until then, it’s a loose cannon.”

Rather like this man, I thought.

Time to test the waters.

“Pavo will not be rebooted," I said.

“Says who?”

“Anderson Universal.”

“Don’t bullshit me, Corporal. You don’t have the authority for that.”

“I am the first…”

“I know what you think you are. But according to my information, you are nothing more than a pay-for-passage. And as per the lease agreement, liaisons to Archibald Enterprises must be approved by the leaseholder. We approved Captain John Jameson, and in his stead, Commander Mark Torrence, with the failsafe of a Lieutenant Commander George Maxwell as back up. Jameson is out of action. Torrence is dead. Where’s Maxwell? I want to deal with him. He’d see sense.”

Would he now? And why was that? I wanted to ask. Cecil seemed very sure of himself.

“You’ve got me,” I said instead, working hard to keep my impassive military facade in place.

“Confirmation completed,” Pavo suddenly announced over the gel ceiling speakers. “Mayor Samuel Cecil is the second in command of Archibald Enterprises.”

I had not seen that coming.

“That’s not right,” Jameson said quietly in my ear. “I was familiar with that command structure back on Earth, and Cecil was a low-level employee, nothing else.”

“Now,” the mayor said, pushing his great bulk up from his chair, “I expect you to stand down, Corporal, and allow the correct command structure to be reinstated.”

He walked around his desk to face me. He was slow and obese; I could take him easily.

“Movement on the main deck,” Pavo suddenly said in my earpiece. “They were masked, but my decryption algorithms have found the correct frequency. It took sixteen million, seven hundred thousand, four hundred and twenty-three computations to achieve this.”

“Ana, get out of there,” Jameson ordered. “Archibald mercs approaching the mayor’s offices. This was planned.”

“Is there a reason why you won’t work with me, sir?” I asked the mayor.

“Get out of there, Ana!” Jameson shouted in my ear. I tried not to wince. “They’re armed, weapons hot. It’s a trap.”

“Security is on standby,” Pavo said almost on top of him. “They can intercept on your order, Captain. I have forwarded the masking frequency to the crewman in charge.”

Don’t give the order, I thought, but could not voice aloud in front of the mayor.

“You are inexperienced and ill-prepared for this style of command,” Cecil was saying. Keeping abreast of three conversations at once was becoming difficult. “Don’t take this personally, Corporal; I’m sure Jameson saw something in your conduct to recommend you to the position, but it is not necessary; we have a fallback in Maxwell.”

“And when the captain is back in command?” I pressed, aware time was running out.

“We must not expect too much of the captain; I believe his injuries were rather severe.”

I shook my head.

“Mercenaries in the mayoral hub,” Pavo announced over the earpiece channel. “Orders, Captain?”

Don’t do it. We didn’t have enough to convict the mayor. We still had no idea where Aunt Mara was. I could only hope Childs had trapped a rat or two while this was all happening, but considering the mercs approaching were masked, we couldn’t count on that. We needed more from the mayor. He knew where Aunt Mara was. He knew everything, I was pretty damn sure.

“Send in security,” Jameson said.

I allowed a little irritation to show through on my facade. The mayor smiled smugly.

“Stand down, Corporal. You are not in charge here,” he said.

Plasma shots sounded out down the hallway. The secretary screamed. The gel walls turned red. The mayor lunged for a drawer on this side of the desk and pulled out a gun. His hands were steady.

And then Pavo said, “Shots fired on the bridge. Shots fired on the bridge. Security alert.”

Maxwell, I thought, cursing our stupidity, just as the mayor lifted his weapon and fired.