Honey : The Empire's Treasure 16 Eject 11

Lila paced back and forth in her room. It's been two days since they locked her in her room. She hasn't been allowed to leave until the investigation was over.

All her daily meals were bought to her via a crew member. Even her bathroom visits were under the watchful eyes of the female soldiers.

Lila felt like a prisoner; things weren't look good.

_____

Two Days before

Lila walked out of the conference room under the escort of two soldiers. She couldn't explain anything that happen today aside from the plan she told the Commander about.

Since her interrogation gave no further details, the Commander ordered her to be under 'house arrest' until the investigation is completed.

Escorted to her room, Lila across paths with Kara. Lead by one soldier and a medic lending his arm for support. Head bandaged, Kara struggled to walk. When she saw Lila she instinctively hid her body behind the medic. Making it seem as if she afraid of Lila.

Lila stared at the ridiculous victim act Kara was putting on. "When has Kara ever been afraid of me?"

The medic sensing Kara unwieldiness to continue walking the same path. Putting up his guard against Lila's presence, he shouted.

"Keep walking!"

Lila looked at the medic and the soldiers near by. Their eyes held suppressed outraged. Listening to the medic orders as he protects Kara, she walks pass them.

Lila felt dread settle in the pit of her stomach. 'Will no one believe me?'

As Lila walked pass Kara's eyes lit up with gee, while face said pitiful white flower.

_____

Inside the conference room Kara heart was steady as a rock.

"Explain what lead up to your injury?"

Kara knew the Commander held suspicion about her. So in order to move his attention away from her and onto Lila she needed more than the Commander's sympathy.

"For sometime now, I have felt Lila's attitude towards me change. She has become more and more hostile. At first I wasn't able to understand why? So I didn't put any thought into."

A tear escaped Kara's eye. Followed by another and another. Until she was full blown crying. The soldiers and medic in the room couldn't help themselves, but to comfort Kara until she was able to calm down.

"I'm sorry, I'll continue." Patting her eyes, Kara peeked at the room. The majority of the people were softening to her story. All except the Commander and Secretary Jun.

"Continue." The Commander's voice bought her back into action.

"Yes...I really didn't think Lila would do anything wrong. It wasn't until Pace told me about the engine room being empty yesterday that I had a weird feeling. So, I immediately jumped up to check. When I got there, indeed the engine room was empty."

Kara put her hand on her chest almost as if she was short of breath. The medic officer quickly came over to calm her down once more.

Over stepping his boundaries, the medic officer thought to shield Kara from the interrogation.

"Sir, shouldn't we continue this line of questioning tomorrow when she better rested."

When all he gain from his heroism was the Commander irked stare. The medic officer rapidly pulled back his hands from around Kara's shoulders, stood up straight and walked behind the Secretary Jun. Like a good soldier.

Seeing the medic officer getting reprimanded. The rest of the soldiers swiftly regained their soldier mentality and stood at attention waiting from the Commander's orders.

Kara saw her plan losing to the Commander's control. She decided to go to plan B.

"I can continue on. I would like to get everything off my chest." Sitting up straight she looked the Commander in the eye.

"Pace and I checked the dialogistic readings. We found discrepancies. Realizing that Lila has been sabotaging all the work I've been doing. I felt betrayed. I know I had to notify you of what was going on, but I wanted to give Lila a chance to explain herself. So, I waited until the next day to speak with her. "

"Why did you wait until the next day?"

"I couldn't find her, after fixing the problems she caused in all the engine rooms."

The Commander nodded his head for her to continue on.

"So, the next day I woke to confront Lila. But first I went to find Pace."

"Why?"

"I felt I might need extra support when confronting Lila. But he wasn't in his room. So I left a letter. Hoping he could let you know about the situation, if anything happens."

"What does that mean 'if anything happens'?"

"Like I said Lila had been getting more hostile towards me. She slapped me in the face when I approached her on another matter."

"What matter would this be?"

Kara knew she had the Commander and crowd right where she wanted them. It was like taking candy from and baby.

Making it seem she was being put into a difficult situation, Kara paused before continuing on.

"When I first met Lila on our ship, I was surprise she was on it. The reason being is because Lila didn't receive a ticket from what I remember."

The unspoken implications of Kara statement, if true, had the room unnerved. They had been out at space for years now. No one bothered to check the tickets again after launching.

"What happen after you entered the engine room?" It seemed like the Commander was glossing over the last statement Kara said but in fact Kara saw the disturbance in his eyes.

"When Lila entered I told her I longer needed her assistance and she will have to answer to the Commander for what she had done. She begged me not to tell the Commander, that she would tell you herself. I agreed."

Kara took grasped her head as if she was in pain.

"Lila left. I assumed she went to talk to you. So I went about finishing the core testing, when I heard something from behind me. I looked and saw Lila swung it at me, I was too slow to avoid it.... I don't remember what happen after that."

Chapter end