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know. If you say he's lying, you'll have to convince us that a veteran of five campaign seasons, a man with a good reputation in the Company, would be so stupid in the first place, and lie about it in the second. Why should we believe you? I've known you — what? Nine weeks? Ten? I've known him nearly six years. Now if your story is true, and if you can prove it some way, tell me. I'll tell the captain tomorrow, and we'll see. If not, just be quiet, and pray the captain will count your bruises into your punishment."
    "Yes, sir." Paks glanced up at Stammel's stern face. It was even worse than she'd thought, if Stammel thought she could be lying.
    "Well? Which is it to be?"
    Paks looked down at her bruised hands. "Sir, he asked me to come to the back of the room — he didn't say why, but he was a corporal, so I went. And then he took my arm — " she faltered and her right arm quivered. "And tried to get me to bed him. And I said no, and he wouldn't let go, but went on — " She glanced at Stammel again. His expression did not change; her eyes dropped. "He said he was sure I wasn't a virgin, not with my looks, and that I must've bedded — someone — to be a file leader — "
    "Say that again! He said what?"
    "That I must have — earned that position — on my back, he said."
    "Did he say with whom?" asked Stammel, his voice grimmer than before.
    "No, sir."
    Stammel grunted. "Go on, then."
    "I — I was angry — about that — "
    "So you hit him."
    "No, sir." Paks shook her head for emphasis, but the nausea took her again, and she heaved repeatedly into the bucket. Finally she looked up, trembling with the aftermath. "I didn't hit him, but I did get angry because that's not how I got it, and I started to - to say bad things — " She heaved again." — that I learned from my cousin," she finished.
    "Drink this," said Stammel, handing her a flask. "If you're going to heave so much, you need something down, ban or no."
    Paks swallowed the cold water gratefully. "Then, sir, he was angry for what I said — "
    "It couldn't have been
that
bad — what did you say?"
    "Pargsli spakin i tokko — "
    "D'you know what that means, girl?"
    "No - my cousin said it was bad."
    A flicker of amusement relaxed Stammel's face for a moment. "It is. I suggest you learn what curses mean before you say them. Then what?"
    "He clapped a hand over my mouth, and tried to push me down on the bunk." She took another swallow of water.
    "Yes?"
    "So I bit his hand, to make him let go, and he did and I got free. But he was between me and the door, and he took off his belt — "
    "Did he say anything?"
    "Yes, sir. He threatened to beat me, to tame me, and then he swung the belt, and I ran at him, trying to get away. I thought I could push past him, maybe, the way I did with my father. But he grabbed my throat — " her hand rose, unconsciously, " — and hit my face, and - and I couldn't breathe. I thought he would kill me, and I
had
to fight. I had to breathe — "
    "Hmmph. That sounds more like the recruit I thought I had. Tell the rest of it."
    "I - it's hard to remember. I broke the throat hold, but I couldn't get away, he was so fast and strong. We were on the floor, mostly, and he was yelling at me — hitting — I remember feeling weaker, and then someone was holding my arms, and someone was hitting me. I suppose that was after you came, though wasn't it?"
    Stammel's face wore a puzzled frown. "No one hit you after I got there. When I came in Korryn was hanging onto you, Stephi was lying on the floor, and Korryn said he'd just then been able to pull you off. Captain Sejek wanted to hit you, all right, but he didn't." Stammel sighed. "If you're telling the truth, girl, I can see why you fought. But Korryn was there, or says he was, and his story is against yours, as well as Stephi."
    "He was there, at the beginning, but he just laughed. I - I am telling the truth, sir, really I am." Paks swallowed noisily. "But I can see why you wouldn't believe me,