Imperial Recruit (Book 2 of The Imperial Marines Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  He stepped into the office, closed the door behind him, and locked it. He then looked around at the utterly bare room.

  “I love what you’ve done with the place. It absolutely screams minimalism. Don’t you think you should at least have something on the walls and shelves?”

  She ignored his attempt at humor and gestured toward the chair in front of her desk. “I’d offer you something to drink, but as you can see, I don’t have anything in stock. When did you get to New Dallas?”

  The noble sat and grimaced. The seats weren’t designed to encourage people to linger, so she wasn’t surprised. That suited her fine, as she rarely wanted to meet in her office anyway.

  “I’ve been here a few days, but I didn’t think it needful to contact you until I’d nailed down a few things. I can now confirm that Countess Dayton did arrive on the same ship that brought you and Andrea here.

  “She didn’t come down to the surface via the usual cutters but had a private charter pick her up in orbit. It took her to a private spaceport that my people have now identified, and I have confirmation of her arrival via their surveillance feeds.

  “I’d have come on an earlier flight, but until a short time ago, I wasn’t confident that she’d taken the liner, and I needed to make sure before I committed. That woman is far more resourceful than I’d have given her credit for.

  “Since she’s here, I’m actually surprised that nothing has happened yet. She doesn’t seem to be a patient sort.”

  Fei nodded, having resumed her seat. “I was thinking the exact same thing. It’s kind of creepy how she’s just waiting. I figure she’s acting through local intermediaries. Perhaps that’s what’s holding her up.

  “I’ve got a couple of people keeping an eye on Andrea during the day. People from battalion masquerading as support personnel. They’re never far from where she is. I worked with Major Martelle to get them assigned.

  “I’ve also used Riggio to get everything monitored on our own private network so that we can be certain that no one is slipping into the barracks or creeping around the battalion area.”

  She sighed and scrubbed at her face. “Honestly, that was all I could think of to do. Until they show their faces, we’re not going to be able to strike at them.

  “What about you? Are you able to use any of your super-secret spy stuff to find out where she’s hiding? I assume she’s not too far away. If you can find her, perhaps you can take her into custody before she makes her play.”

  He shook his head. “As suspicious as her activities are, they don’t violate the law. I’ve got nothing with which to charge her. I have people searching for her, and once they locate where she’s hiding, we’ll begin monitoring those that come into contact with her. Perhaps she’ll incriminate herself.

  “As for why she hasn’t acted, that’s an interesting question. I don’t see that staying true for much longer, though. Andrea is a quarter of the way through the training regimen, and from everything I’ve heard, she’s doing quite well.

  “When she makes it past the halfway point, her chances of washing out will be relatively low. If there’s not an attempt made in the next week or two, I’ll have to reassess whether or not Countess Dayton is actually still here.

  “Perhaps she wasn’t aware that Andrea was on the liner and was only taking it to get out from under my thumb. If so, it’s possible that she took another transport and isn’t here at all.”

  “No,” Fei said with a shake of her head. “She’s somewhere around here. I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. It’s not going to be very much longer before she strikes. I’m doing everything that I can to be ready for it, but it’s nerve-wracking.”

  He nodded. “I’ve informed the Imperial Intelligence personnel on the base to more actively monitor people coming in and out to determine if we have any unexpected visitors. They have your contact information and will let you know at once if they detect anything unusual.

  “I trust Riggio will be able to monitor everything in the battalion area for you and provide every assistance you need. He’s a very resourceful man, as you well know.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “He thinks it’s a coincidence that you hired him and then stationed him here two years ago, but that isn’t true. You knew back then that you were going to send Andrea here, didn’t you?”

  The man smiled slightly. “I believe in planning as far in advance as I can when an operation is in the offing. Yes, I approached your former subordinate specifically with this operation in mind, but I’m glad that I did so because his services have been extremely helpful in a number of other matters. He’s a credit to your training.”

  She considered the noble for a few seconds and then shook her head. “I still don’t know what to think about you. Imperial Intelligence has been a blight on so many operations that I hesitate to trust anything you say, yet you really seem to care about this.

  “Why can’t the run-of-the-mill Imperial Intelligence operatives be this straightforward?”

  “Just like every other organization, we have our share of bad apples,” the earl said with a sigh. “We try to weed them out but, unfortunately, the way they reveal themselves is usually in a manner that costs lives.

  “I wish we didn’t have the reputation that we do, but I’m trying to see that things change. Hopefully, over the next ten years or so, I’ll have cleaned this particular sector of its worst offenders.

  “Middle management is usually the problem, you know. The people you dealt with on a day-to-day basis as an Imperial Marine weren’t usually the problem. It was the people that they reported to. Getting rid of those bad apples is significantly more challenging.

  “Some of them are so stupid and self-centered that you wonder how they could possibly have managed to rise to the level of incompetence that they’ve reached. I really wish that someone had come along to take care of this problem years ago, but it’s fallen into my lap, so I’ll see it through.

  “The emperor is making certain that the other sectors are getting similar treatment, so I anticipate that Imperial Intelligence’s reputation will improve over the next few decades.”

  He rose to his feet and brushed his pants as if brushing off some dust. “Well, I’d best be going. I’ve got transport to take back to the city, and I have that woman to find.

  “Keep an eye on your girl. I expect trouble will come knocking before very much longer, and you’ll need to act with dispatch and discretion.

  “In addition to the people that you have working for you from battalion, don’t forget that Riggio can call on others. If someone makes an unexpected appearance, I’d rather not see them dealt with through normal channels. Those kinds of people demand lawyers, and then we’ll never get anything out of them.

  “Since this is an Imperial Intelligence matter, I’m claiming priority for our organization. All of the Imperial statutes support this, but I’d rather not make a big deal about it. So, when they make their move, I want to be able to make mine as quietly and quickly as we can.”

  Fei rose to her feet and smiled coldly. “I’ll be happy to turn whatever’s left over to you. It really depends on how much resistance they’re prepared to give me when the time comes.”

  Personally, she hoped they fought like hell because she wanted to hurt the bastards. Particularly Dayton.

  Who knew? Maybe the gods would smile on her just this one time.

  23

  In the process of helping to guide her fellow recruits through hand-to-hand training, Andrea quickly discovered that they weren’t a very appreciative bunch. They barely trusted her to begin with, though they’d been neutral over the last several weeks.

  Drill Instructor Gomez would delegate groups of the recruits for Andrea to keep an eye on as they practiced what they’d been taught, issuing any minor corrections that she could to their form or technique.

  It hadn’t taken her very long to learn that a friendly tone and being apologetic about any corrections earned a much better
response than telling them what they’d done wrong.

  She wasn’t quite sure why. Even after living inside the Empire for six years, she still really didn’t understand how to interact with people. Her background made it difficult to really understand how to be friendly. The crèche never developed anything like that in her that she could build upon now.

  That had occasionally led to some unexpected situations. Growing up, she’d sometimes done something wrong and couldn’t figure out what, even when it had been explained to her. At other times, she’d found people’s behavior incomprehensible.

  Why did everyone have to be so different? Growing up, her line sibs had been almost identical to herself in how they’d behaved and thought. Even though she’d been an outlier in the crèche, she’d still been much more like them than she’d been to anyone since.

  Yet if she graduated, she’d have to be a sister in arms to these people. She’d be assigned to a platoon, and her squad mates would have to become even closer to her than she’d ever imagined possible.

  She wasn’t certain how that would take place, particularly when so many people still viewed her with suspicion and distrust.

  Well, that was a problem for later. For now, she needed to focus on the details of her current assignment. Fortunately, correcting most of the issues that she saw and adding additional words of encouragement wasn’t all that difficult a process.

  She really enjoyed helping Diana. The girl was nice, but she didn’t know how to fight. Her personality wasn’t very confrontational, which was odd in a marine recruit.

  On the other end of the spectrum, there was Claudio. Andrea had expected the boy to confront her physically at some point over the last three weeks, but he’d shown surprising restraint.

  After the obstacle course, he’d seemed willing to hold his peace, even though he hadn’t taken his victory very well. The way that Drill Instructor Page had flipped things around had pissed him off, and it was evident that he was still looking for a way to even things up.

  Honestly, she was surprised that he hadn’t tried to push her around. Maybe he was more worried about her than he’d wanted to let on.

  The lesson that Page had given them all about being marines had been instructive and illuminating. It was possible to win at something and still feel as if one had failed. Conversely, one could technically lose and think that they got the better end of the deal.

  Sometimes the process was more important than the outcome. If one came into something with the right mindset and tried their very best, they might not win, but they wouldn’t embarrass themselves.

  Four days had passed since Page had tapped her for this extra duty. The recruits didn’t study hand-to-hand combat all day long, but they did devote several hours a day to the process. The rest of their time was spent learning other tasks that a basic marine needed to know, and she was grateful that she didn’t have to play instructor for them as well.

  She’d been thinking about that while running Diana and some others through throwing drills. She probably shouldn’t have allowed the situation to distract her, but she couldn’t help herself.

  The downside of that became apparent when Gomez spoke from right behind her. She hadn’t even heard the woman approach.

  “Stop chatting with your friends and go help the others,” the surly drill instructor ordered. “I’ll take these recruits, and you can work with the half that you don’t seem to be inclined to associate with.”

  Andrea opened her mouth to argue but snapped it closed when she saw the drill instructor’s expression.

  “Yes, Drill Instructor,” she said as she moved to the other side of the fighting field, shooting Diana an apologetic glance.

  On the other side of the field was her least favorite person in the entire platoon: Claudio. He looked even less pleased to see her headed his way than she was to be going toward him. This promised to be less than pleasant.

  “I know that you don’t want me over here any more than I want to be here,” she said before he could open his mouth, “but we’ll just have to make the best of it. Why don’t you show me what you’re doing, and if I can suggest any improvements, I will. Let’s keep this professional, shall we?”

  The boy glowered at her and then gestured for his bunkmate to come at him. His technique wasn’t terrible, but there were several things that could be improved on.

  She tried explaining it to him a couple of times and even had JR throw her to make a point, yet the boy seemed unable to grasp what she was saying.

  “I can’t understand why you don’t seem to get this,” she grumbled. “This is a basic throw. Come on, Claudio. I thought you were a fighter.”

  Her comment only deepened his scowl, and he dropped into the stance that they’d been practicing. “Why don’t you see what I’m doing wrong for yourself?”

  She dropped into her own stance with a shake of the head and made a slow-motion pass with her fist at his head. The speed at which she’d struck was insulting, but she wasn’t exactly in a great mood.

  That was where things went sideways.

  With more speed than she’d expected and far better technique than he’d demonstrated thus far, Claudio grabbed her arm, twisted his body, and hurled her just like he’d been supposed to all along.

  She squawked in surprise as she flipped through the air and tried to land in a way that wasn’t going to hurt. His skillful attack was so unexpected that she failed and ended up slamming into the ground on her back. The sawdust puffed up around her as though there’d been a miniature explosion, and she felt every eye on the fighting field swivel toward her.

  Blinking in shock, she narrowed her eyes at Claudio as she sat up. “You suckered me! You son of a bitch.”

  He grinned down at her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Maybe you’re just a better instructor than you thought. Nah. That can’t be right. I must just be that good.”

  “Stop playing around and up the ante,” Gomez called from the other side of the fighting field. “Since Baker seems to understand the basic throw, show him how it’s countered.”

  Andrea rose, brushing sawdust off and shooting a dark look toward the drill instructor. All that did was make the other woman grin wolfishly.

  “You were playing dumb this entire time, weren’t you?” she asked as she walked in a slow circle around him. “You’ve received some kind of training that you didn’t tell Drill Instructor Page about. What was it?”

  “Nothing official,” he said smugly. “Just some stuff that I picked up here and there. If you really want to know how good I am, there’s only one way to find out, isn’t there? If you can avoid cheating, that is.”

  She stopped dead in her tracks. “Cheating? You mean that thing you do when you influence events in a competition that fall outside the rules? Like, say, using your head to knock someone off? Or kicking somebody’s feet out from under them? That kind of thing?”

  “Don’t be such a baby. If you don’t like playing rough, you shouldn’t be a marine. If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.

  “But speaking of cheating, what about using those perversions inside your body? That’s sure as hell cheating. Nobody else here has that kind of tinkering, so you shouldn’t be able to use all that extra speed and strength. If you want to fight me, you’ve got to tone it down to what a real human can do. Otherwise, it doesn’t mean anything.”

  “I am a real human, moron,” she said as she glared at him. “Just because the Singularity refined the human genome to the point where it could do things better and faster than you personally can doesn’t mean that I’m not human. I still have the same DNA that you do.”

  “Tolliver!” Gomez said as she stomped up. “Stop flirting and start fighting.”

  “Here’s how we’re going to do it,” she said flatly. “I’ll tone my strength and speed back until I think it’s fair. I’m not going to be as weak as the average female, and you’re just going to have to accept that.”

  “If I think you�
��re cheating, I’ll call you out. And I can hit you as hard as I want?”

  “Can I?”

  “Just bring it.”

  She looked over at JR. “You get to play referee. If you say stop, we stop. I expect you to keep this fight clean.”

  The boy glanced at Claudio uncertainly but nodded. He gestured for them to separate.

  Andrea backed up a couple of steps and dropped into a fighting crouch. She knew that Claudio would probably try to fool her again, and she wasn’t going to leave him the opportunity to win by default. If he wanted to take her down, he was going to have to work for it.

  When JR told them to begin, she started circling to the left, but Claudio drove in like a bull. She waited for him, feinting a punch toward his face and then kicking at his knee.

  To her shock, he hopped over her kick and lashed out with a side kick of his own, connecting solidly with her midsection.

  Andrea staggered back, her breath partly knocked out of her as he charged in. He wasn’t playing around, and she needed to get her act together.

  He pressed his advantage and discovered that she had a few tricks of her own. She’d used a retreat to make him think that she wasn’t ready to fight. Instead, he’d overextended himself, and she used his lapse to strike back.

  She grabbed his arm even as she fell backward, planting her feet on his midsection and drawing her knees in. When he was directly over her and moving as fast as she could get him, she extended her legs explosively and hurled him through the air behind her.

  It turned out that she might have used just a little bit more strength than she probably should have because he went a good distance before he came crashing down. Unlike her, he landed well, rolled, and popped up on his feet, facing her.

  “Son of bitch,” she grumbled as she jumped up and turned to face him.

  “I’ve been called worse,” he said as he charged back in, his fist swinging at her head.

  The situation was rapidly devolving into a brawl. She was supposed to be teaching him something about throws, but this was obviously a play for dominance. One that Drill Instructor Gomez seemed disinclined to stop.