These were not 7- or 800,000 year old armed patrol ships from before the Confederacy was even created. These were modern ships, no more than a few ten... of thousands of years old, and they came with all the modern developments already installed when they were built.As we got them, they already had the Confederacy's Nav Shield and acceleration compensators. They had no acceleration couches, because they didn't need them. On the other hand, that meant that these things were restricted to the same. April had been beaten badly and raped anally and vaginally. (Actually, thebeating she had taken had not been unlike what Hugh had done to me.)Before Hugh told me the truth, I thought that I, as Elvis, had done that toher, that I was at heart a brutal rapist who not only would take advantageof a woman's weakness to make myself feel good but would enjoy her pain anddegradation. Now I knew I had not done that, and that knowledge lifted ablack cloud that surrounded my soul.After a week of healing. Clear.His throat worked and he blinked. When he focused again, the vision was gone. His pounding heart started to slow and he turned and walked from the kitchen. The only time he'd been free of these ... hallucinations, was when he was around Ken. Interestingly, when he'd asked Cordoba if she'd been seeing anything strange, she looked at him like he was a nut. As he walked into the living room, he heard a loud scream.Pete loved search warrants. He loved going through people's stuff. But this. The general public would have a way…some hope. That was weeks ago…2 weeks and 3 days to be exact when she had gotten word of the true plan behind the work she had plunged herself into and walked away from the company with a disk hidden in the safety of her bra. Her bra! Anger had bubbled over and then panic. She’d only copied her data in hopes of finding out the big picture of the corporations plan. Then she would have to find the cure…ironically, a cure in which she had been working on to.