Citrus Cleaners and Sabotage

[Chirakis 1]

Citrus Cleaners and Sabotage

With thanks to Nijil tr'Korjata

 

It seemed to Kirel that the words "Rihan" and "maintenance worker" did not go hand in hand, but as she thought about it, there must be some Rihan who worked in cleaning maintenance. Yet, she could not recall ever seeing one - not on the station, not in any Rihan starship, and not on ch'Rihan. It was, indeed, strange that this Raddik tr'Markov would be a maintenance worker aboard Aegis. That he had sabotaged the warbird's debris field and had almost pulled it off was alarming enough; that he was a saboteur, had left the station suddenly, and did not take what appeared to be sensitive material with him was even more alarming.

 

For the last two hours, therefore, in addition to pouring through what was left in tr'Markov's quarters, SubCommander tr'Jeth Dabi's security personnel, in conjunction with Lt Jylliene's skilled internal sensor scans, had been scouring the station looking for sabotage.

 

"I do remember him," SubCenturion tr'Korjata had said. "Did not talk much. Always talked about some citrus cleaning compound. I wish I knew more about him. Disgraceful."

 

Citrus cleaning compound? Kirel remembered overhearing Counselor Davis babbling about the use of citrus cleaners to replace the insecticides often used on starships and stations, but she had dismissed it as being the words of an overzealous naturalist. Now she wondered.

 

But scans and the work of security had turned up nothing. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing; either they had not found it yet or that there was nothing to find. Given the quality of Aegis personnel, Kirel chose to believe the latter.

 

And for some reason she couldn't shake the thought of citrus cleaner, wondering if it had anything to do with the curious smell in her office.