After I had briefed the soldiers about the whereabouts of our Imperial prisoners and had said goodbye to Ellie, the remaining soldiers guided us through the mostly empty space station. They must have emptied it prior to our arrival. The only real movement we saw were maintenance bots just scrubbing the floors clean.

As every station had a rather uniform layout, I knew that we were heading in the direction of the detention block. At least, that’s what I was thinking. Because, as we reached a Y-junction where we were supposed to be led straight on, we were led to the right instead. Towards what I think were the infirmary halls.

“Aren’t we being detained?” I decided to just flat out ask the Captain who was guiding the group along.

“You are.” The Captain replied. “But the Admiralty is of the opinion that the infirmary hall is more suited to the situation rather than the brig.” Just when he finished his sentence, we arrived at the door that led to the big infirmary hall. “We will be calling out every single one of you separately for interrogation. Inside you will find drinks and some food to keep you refreshed. If you need anything, feel free to ask us. You just need to knock on the door.”

“Thank you.” I gave the Captain a salute and entered the big infirmary hall with the rest of the officers close behind me.

For the occasion, they had moved most of the beds to the sides and had placed tables and chairs in the center of the room. The tables had a small selection of snacks displayed on top of them, together with a couple of bottles of several different drinks. When we were all inside, the soldiers closed the door behind us.

“This… feels very wrong.” Eva commented as she stood next to me.

“The fact that we are treated like this or the fact that they are using an infirmary hall for something that looks like a reception?”

“Both.” Eva nodded with confusion written all over her face.

“It is rather strange.” Luna stood on my other side and also let the sight in front of us sink in. “I had definitely not expected this.”

“You can say that twice.” I chuckled. “Maybe they are doing this to throw us off?”

“They’ve definitely succeeded if that’s the case.” Eva replied.

The other officers had cautiously made their way into the center of the infirmary. But none of them really touched any food or drink. Instead, they just one by one turned to me to look what I was doing.

“They offered us food, might as well make use of the hospitality.” I spoke over the entire room and made my way towards one of the snack bowls. They had some bread sticks with some kind of dip next to it. It didn’t look very appetizing, but it smelled pretty well.

I took a stick, dipped it in the dip and took a bite. It was indeed not the worst thing ever.

As I hadn’t dropped dead yet after eating the bread-stick, the other officers slowly started to throw themselves onto the different types of snacks, while also starting to loosen up a little and mingle a bit.

“It’s weird that they don’t have a guard in here, isn’t it?” Luna said as both her and Eva joined me at the breadstick table.

“Not really.” I replied. “This might as well be just a fancy prison. There’s not really any way to exit apart from that door.”

“Just in case patients tried to run away. These infirmaries are pretty darn secure.” Eva added. “During the war, that was somewhat of an issue with severe cases of PTSD and other psychological effects caused by advanced warfare.”

“I see.” Luna said.

“For example, those beds.” Eva pointed at the beds that had been shoved against the sides. “When they are in place, we can pretty much fix them against the floor with powerful magnets or even physical locks. To avoid patients from moving things and barricading the room. It’s also pretty useful when the artificial gravity fails. Happened rather regularly in wartime situations.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Back when I was still a nurse, it would be my job to suck up blood that started floating around using this strangely shaped vacuum cleaner. Bots didn’t really handle zero G that well so it was the nurse’s job to keep the area relatively sanitary in those events. And trust me when I say that blood was the least messy of those jobs.”

Luna’s face contracted in a grin of disgust. I could tell by that expression that she’d definitely imagined some other examples. “I don’t think I want to eat those snacks anymore…”

Eva and I started laughing pretty badly. So much so that a couple of the others started to turn around to wonder what the hell was so amusing.

Luna had finally decided that the snacks in front of her looked edible, after spending quite a bit of time trying to forget the story she’d just heard, when a knock on the door behind us made everyone in the room turn towards it.

It opened and in the doorway was the Captain from earlier who’d escorted us here. “Commander, would you please come with me for interrogation?” He asked.

I put my beret back on, which I had put on the table for a bit, and gave him a quick salute. “Of course, Sir.” After which I gave a quick reassuring nod to both Luna and Eva and then joined the Captain at the door.

When I walked out, the two guards that were still posted by the door locked it behind me. The Captain then guided me to a door that was just a bit down the hallway. He knocked on the door and then opened it. “I’ve brought Commander Davis.”

“Let her come in.” Another male voice replied, to which the Commander nodded.

The Captain looked at me and saluted. “Good luck in there, Commander.”

“Thanks.” I saluted back and proceeded past the Captain into the room. The room was a doctor's office that had barely been changed at all. Apart from the fact that there were now two people sitting behind the desk. Both a man and a woman. From their uniforms, I could tell that the guy who had called me in was a Colonel for the Military Police, while the woman sitting next to him was a Rear-Admiral of the Navy. According to her name tag, she was called Rear-Admiral Ngoie. I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting her before, though.

“Please, Commander, do sit down.” The Rear-Admiral signed towards the seat in front of her.

“Thank you.” I did as she ordered and sat down right in the middle of the desk. The seat was just far away enough from the desk to be uncomfortable, but that was probably done on purpose.

The Colonel leant forward and put his elbows on the desk. “Commander, let’s just get to business immediately and skip the pleasantries. We would like you to recount all major events after your departure from the solar system?”

“All of them?”

“Yes.” The Colonel nodded. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have asked.” That’s when I saw the Colonel glimpse at my pistol. He really didn’t look amused that I’d been allowed to keep it.

The Rear-Admiral looked at me with a slight hint of discomfort on her face. If I had to guess, I don’t think she was terribly happy that she had to do this interview together with the Colonel.

“Alright. This might take a while.” I replied. “After we left the solar system…”

What followed was a very lengthy monologue of me recounting our travels and troubles we met along the way. From the discovery of the first colonizable planet with what we now know to be the remains of the bug species. To the rescue of the Dokazuuk from their besieged position and the subsequent attack from the empire. The information we had learned from the Imperials we had captured and then the discovery of the second colonizable planet and what events transpired after that. The mysterious ‘disease’ that had struck our companions. During my entire story, the Colonel and the Rear-Admiral stayed quiet while both of them made notes on their holosticks.

“That’s everything?” The Colonel asked after I had finished.

“Yes.” I nodded.

“Understood.” He closed his holostick rather unceremoniously and stood up. “You may head back to your crew.” But before I could get up myself, the Colonel just walked out in front of me. It was quite confusing.

I looked back at Rear-Admiral Ngoie who just looked annoyed right now. “Uh… Am I allowed to leave?”

As soon as I talked to her, her mood seemed to lighten a bit. “You are, Commander.”

I gave her a friendly nod and stood up, but before I could turn around and leave, the Rear-Admiral stopped me.

“Commander, for all that it’s worth. Most of us think that the way you are treated right now is a complete and utter farce. While we managed to get some compromises from the General Assembly, it’s still outright ridiculous that you and your crew are put under this kind of scrutiny. While some of us would have acted differently, the fact that you and your crew are with us today provides plenty of proof for your entire crew’s heroism.”

“Thank you for your kind words, Rear-Admiral.” I saluted her. “But in a way, I do understand the reaction. Aggressive alien empires are a difficult sandwich to swallow.”

The Rear-Admiral nodded slightly in return, the corner of her mouth raised into a very minute smile. “Thank you for your time, Commander.”

And with that I was sent back to the infirmary hall. At least I was relieved by the knowledge that a big part of the Navy stood behind our actions, if our previous treatment was not already enough proof of that.