Chapter 8

“Ensign,” Wexler said the moment Innes walked into the control room for his next shift. “We’re implementing a new procedure. Starting this rotation, I want a list of all planned inspections for the day submitted to me at the start of each shift for my approval.”

“Sir, we won’t know every ship that arrives during the rotation until they actually enter system space. Traffic is unpredictable.”

“I’m aware of how traffic works, Ensign. Of course, any vessels that arrive after you’ve submitted the schedule will be reviewed at shift changeover, but we have enough of a backlog that at least half your inspections will be vessels already waiting in system. We can start there. Is that a problem?”

“No, sir.”

“Good. Have the list on my desk within the next half hour. I’m ready to call it a night.”

Innes spent the next twenty minutes at his console, pulling together the inspection priorities from the vessels currently in station space. Fourteen ships waited, sorted by length of stay and cargo profile exactly as regulations prescribed. The Distant Horizon sat at the top of the list, a large Meryd cargo hauler out of Vesta that had been holding position at one of the long-term anchorages for a week, coming in just as the last detachment was being pulled when the task force left, leaving them no one to inspect it, although it was apparently in no hurry to go anywhere else.

After triple-checking everything, he submitted the schedule with three minutes to spare.

Wexler scrolled through it without comment at first, until his finger stopped on one name.

“The Distant Horizon,” Wexler said, not quite a question.

“Yes, sir. Meryd cargo hauler, registry out of Vesta. She’s been holding at Anchorage Seven for eight days now.”

“I’m aware of how long she’s been here, Ensign.”

Innes waited. When Wexler didn’t continue, he pressed forward. “The manifest lists farm equipment bound for Hokkaido’s agricultural settlements. They were cleared to continue on for inspection on Hokkaido itself, but they say they’re waiting for an additional transshipment before they do.”

Wexler’s stylus hovered over the datapad. “Your point?”

“Cargo ships lose money every day they sit idle, sir. No commercial operator lets a vessel hold position for this long without a compelling reason, and I just find the idea that they’re waiting for an additional shipment questionable. Why can’t they have the transshipment meet them on Hokkaido? Or go there and come back. In another five days, they could have made the complete round trip.”

Swiping the name and removing it from the list, Wexler said, “Trade Counsel Tan mentioned this ship and has assured me that it won’t be here much longer and has pointed out that they have only sat there peacefully since arriving, which isn’t against the law, even if you find reasons to question it. I’ve decided to grant his request to leave the ship unmolested until the transshipment arrives, which is when we will inspect it. The Distant Horizon will not be inspected.”

“Sir, with respect, that doesn’t make sense with our mandate, and the ship raises several red flags that make an inspection warranted.”

“I command this detachment, Ensign Kingsford, not you. The Distant Horizon will not be inspected, and that’s an order.” He picked up the datapad and signed off on the modified schedule. “Continue with the remaining vessels on the list. Is there anything else?”

There were a dozen other things Innes could say, but he’d pushed as far as he could push without crossing a line that would cost him more than it gained.

“No, sir,” Innes said.

“Good.” Wexler handed back the datapad. “Dismissed.”

About twenty minutes after Wexler left, Commander Jun contacted him about a meeting he wanted to set up with Innes, himself, and his senior controllers.

Innes couldn’t help but notice the request had come in during his shift and not just a few hours earlier when Lieutenant Wexler had the command, but he tried not to read anything into that.

The meeting itself was productive and lasted just about two hours, as they worked out the confusion over who was doing what. Once Jun laid out the initial request for the “detachment commander,” meaning Wexler, Innes could see where the problem had come from.

Wexler had wanted complete ‘separation’ of their activities, and the station had demanded that the station completely step away once ‘the detachment had taken responsibility for a ship in transit.’ The wording had been poor, and ‘taking responsibility’ could have meant a lot of things. He knew Wexler intended for it to mean when the ship was parked and waiting for them in a holding position and not the moment the detachment asked for them to take it, but it was easy to see how station control had come to that conclusion.

The meeting also clarified a question he’d had, which was why Wexler hadn’t run into the same problem when it had been a constant occurrence during his own shift. While going through the logs to see where each problem had happened, Innes quickly noticed that Wexler had taken no new ships for inspection during his shifts, only cleared ones Innes had flagged and stacked to wait.

It explained why their queue was still so light, but since cargo ships continued to come in during those times, it must have meant he was getting system flags and just waving them away, letting the ships continue on without inspection.

He’d have to poke around the detachment logs to know, but that was a serious dereliction of duty if true. He was sure Wexler would have reasonable explanations for all of it, and it wasn’t like Innes could question him, since his duty if he saw that kind of dereliction was to report it to his immediate supervisor, which was Wexler in this case.