Emerald Flight: Homecoming: Buried Secrets (continued)

Hawkes found that he was forced to consult the building directory. The information that he had received appeared to be slightly out of date. The building was correct, but office location was not. His eyes scanned the flickering display, quickly locating the name he was looking for: Hofbauer. He noted the location of the office suite, assessing that the doctor seemed to have improved his status of late—or else was attempting to provide the impression that he had.

He walked to the bank of elevators, allowing a partially-filled one to proceed without him. The next one arrived and he was able to take it alone to the seventeenth floor. When he exited the elevator car, he was unsurprised to find the hallway empty. He proceeded toward the designed suite number,

Without much surprise, Hawkes found that he was allowed to immediately proceed past the reception area. He entered the office indicated and waited, standing next to one of the two guest chairs, for its occupant to make an appearance.

.

.

.

“Always a man of few words, eh, Geoffrey,” he said. He seemed both amused and discomfited by Hawkes’ presence.

Hawkes let the remark pass without comment. He merely turned his gaze toward Hofbauer.

The doctor shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He forced an expression of casual interest.

“So why are you here, Geoffrey?”

There was a moment of dead silence before Hawkes replied. “My Captain has resigned.”

It seemed to take a moment for Hofbauer to process the news. A smile crept onto his mouth and his shoulders relaxed somewhat with the realization.

“Ah,” Hofbauer said. He frowned slightly, studying Hawkes more closely now. “Was she aware of your . . . ‘situation’?”

“She was not.”

“What about your Medical Officer?”

Hawkes paused for a moment, surprised at his own hesitation, however slight, before answering. “I do not believe so.” He considered it for a moment longer. “If she was, she was . . . remarkably discreet.”

“She never mentioned anything?”

“No.”

“What about your medical records?”

This time Hawkes hesitated out of a sense of mild embarrassment rather than discretion. “I was unable to examine them,” he explained, with just a hint of annoyed frustration in his tone. “They were kept . . . most secure.”

Trying to gain access to his private medical records had been an ongoing challenge for him during his stay on the Emerald Flight. He did not know whether Hope changed the encryption codes regularly, which would have been in accordance with established security protocols, or used an encryption method unknown among the more highly cleared Fleet security personnel. The answer was possibly both, but even that knowledge did Hawkes little good, for he had never been successful in doing more than locating where the files where stored. Even then, their location was apparently changed on a regular basis as well, essentially forcing him to start over with each attempt.

Hofbauer seemed to want to both frown and chuckle at the same time. The effect might have been amusing to some. Hawkes simply waited for the doctor to compose himself.