Earth Space Service Space Marines Boxed Set

by James David Victor

"Collusion with the enemy in a time of war," the woman replied, still flat. "She is being arrested and brought in for questioning under the authority of ESS Intelligence."

  Outraged sounds came from either side of her, but she held up her hand again. "Please," she said quietly. They calmed down, though the tension around them was palpable. "I assume my commanding officer will be informed of this." The battle against her adrenaline and defensiveness, made all the more difficult by the pair of drinks she'd had, was growing increasingly difficult.

  "Yes," the woman said. "Now, come with us." She nodded at one of the men behind her, who stepped forward with a pair of restraints.

  Andy arched a brow at that and pursed her lips. The outraged squawks from her squad began again, but she looked at them with a small shake of her head. Turning back to the intelligence officers, she held out her wrists. She would not be seen as weak or circumspect. She would remain stoic and prove her innocence, rather than make herself look guilty.

  They snapped on the cuffs and led her away.

  7

  0645 Hours

  Seven hours and thirty minutes.

  They had left her alone, in the dimness and the silence, for seven hours and thirty minutes.

  Andy knew it was an interrogation tactic. It wasn't her area to do interrogations, but she had been trained in them, as well in counter-interrogation tactics. But this wasn't the sort of situation that training had been for, was it? They didn't want to teach people how to resist their own kind.

  Now this little weasel of an intel officer was sitting in front of her, and she would have taken back the silence. Her sleep deficit wasn't helping her mood, of course, but that deficit was on purpose.

  "I don't suppose you'd like to make it easier on yourself, Miss Dolan, and simply confess?" he asked with a sneering sort of smile. She twitched slightly at the use of "miss" but didn't say anything.

  "I will not confess to what I didn't do, Lieutenant."

  He made another noncommittal noise and another note on his tablet. She couldn't see the screen, but she was beginning to think he wasn't really writing anything. It was just another tactic, trying to unnerve her.

  "You are half-Arkana, however," he said with certainty.

  "Apparently, yes."

  His eyebrows rose. "Apparently?"

  Did I stutter? "Yes. Apparently. I was unaware of my paternal heritage until this past year."

  "Medical never found anything?" A hint of incredulity entered his voice, but she could tell it was forced. Again, he already knew the answers to all of his own questions.

  "Correct," she said.

  He didn't like her short answers, and he frowned a little. "How is that possible?"

  She lifted her own brows and blinked. Exhaustion was seeping in deeply, but she knew she couldn't give in to it. She couldn't move her hands anywhere, but did lace her fingers together and squeezed them as she took a breath. "I think you would have to ask the medical departments of my previous postings, as well as Doctor Martin of the Star Chaser."

  "Hmm," he said. "What did they tell you to explain this oversight?"

  "That the Arkana DNA had been dormant and thus hidden from the average scans until this past year."

  "What changed?"

  She shrugged slightly. "No one is exactly sure, but it is theorized that encounters with the Colirnoid and the Kriori somehow made the DNA active in my system."

  He made another one of those annoying "hmm" noises. "Both of which you showed miraculous ability to resist," he said.

  If she chose to call this little genetic fact anything, it would certainly not be miracle, though it did come in handy to save her life in those instances. "My resistance did come from the Arkana portion of my genetic makeup," she said flatly.

  "Which you allege you knew nothing about until these little happy circumstances?"

  "I didn't know anything about them until then and even then, I didn't know what it was, just that it was."

  "Until the Arkana attacked the Star Chaser, coming for you," he said pointedly.

  Andy stifled a sigh. "Correct," she said. It had been a fantastic thing to learn about your father by way of someone attacking your ship, having boarded it with the intention of taking over and demanding that you join them. It answered a lot of questions, but sometimes she wished those questions had never been answered.

  He nodded, wrote some more. "And you refused their invitation."

  These questions were stupid. "Yes."

  "Why?"

  "I have no allegiance to the Arkana. I did not know they existed until that moment. I never knew my father and was hardly going to forsake everything because his people suddenly decided to show up. I am a Marine in the ESS. My squad is like my family. I would not forsake one family for another." She paused and took a breath. "Blood and family are not the same thing."

  "Hmm," he said and looked at his tablet, though it was several moments before he wrote something down. "And you have had no contact with your father's people, aside from that?"

  "That's not really accurate."

  His head shot up with slightly wide eyes. "Excuse me?"

  Andy almost smiled, but she kept her face straight. She knew he hadn't really been expecting her to confess to anything, and she enjoyed shocking him. After all, after the hours she had been locked her, she deserved a moment, didn't she?

  "I've killed quite a few of them," she said flatly.

  "Oh." He blinked, still clearly shocked. Was it left over from her last answer, or was he not used to dealing with Marines? Was her way of saying that so easily what shocked him this time? She couldn't know, and she didn't plan to ask. "Aside from confrontations, you haven't had any contact with them?"

  She shook her head slightly. "Only with Anath."

  He nodded now, looking like he'd gotten himself together again. "That is your brother, who defected after being captured on the Star Chaser."

  "Half-brother," she corrected. "And yes."

  "And you trust him?"

  "Yes."

  Her dark eyes felt sharp on him, knowing Anath could be used against her more than her absentee father, but she did trust him. He had fought and nearly died for her and her people, and that was a fast way to secure her confidence. And the captain agreed with her, although she didn't imagine this guy cared all that much about that.

  He peered across the table at her for a few moments, then opened his mouth to ask his next ridiculous question.

  But he was interrupted by the chime of the door.

  8

  0715 Hours

  "Hours. It's been hours!" Dan all but shouted, punching his fist into the wall of Roxanna's quarters.

  The four of them had gathered there because they wanted privacy, and as a sergeant, she had a private room. It wasn't big, but it was just enough space—with Roxanna and Jade sitting on the bunk, Anallin at the desk, and Dan pacing what little room was left of the floor space.

  The Selerid sighed, closing her eyes as she tried to focus on her empathic shields—to block out his seething fury and Jade's fear. Fortunately, Hanarans didn't emote as much as humans, but she could still sense Anallin's concern.

  "We all understand your feelings, Dan," she said, opening her eyes again. "But breaking my bedroom will not help anyone, especially Major Dolan."

  He growled like a trapped animal and threw himself back against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest as his shoulders rose and fell with his deep breathing. Jade pushed herself off the bed and went to lean against the wall next to him. They didn't touch, but the closeness was obvious. Roxanna would bet it was obvious to even a non-empath.

  "We know she's innocent," Anallin said levelly. "So they can't possibly have any evidence and will let her go very soon."

  Dan scoffed. "If they cared about having a lot of evidence, then they wouldn't have arrested her in the first place.” His nostrils flared with agitation he was working hard to control. "I guess it shouldn't really surprise any of us. Any time we've dealt with s
omeone who was not from the Star Chaser, they've given her grief. And I'm sure those rats at intel don't like Anath either because they've spent so much time with him."

  Roxanna just listened and let him vent because she knew he needed to.

  "Should we just wait until they release her?" Jade asked, far more timid in her approach than her new boyfriend.

  "We need to know more about what's going on," Roxanna said, "but we're not going to do anything rash." This was said with a pointed look in Dan's direction, which he avoided being caught by. "We'll do it by the book, the way the major would want. That doesn't mean we can't find out more, though. I'm going to go speak with the captain and see what he can tell me. Those goons said they'd at least notify him."

  Dan's grinding teeth were almost audible, but he nodded. The others agreed too, and Roxanna got to her feet.

  "Feel free to hang out here if you want, but don't go through my stuff," she said with a faint smirk.

  No one laughed.

  Roxanna was granted permission to the captain's office, and she immediately came to attention and saluted.

  "Sit," Wallace said, waving a hand.

  He looked as tired as she could sense from him. She imagined he had been awake all night just like the rest of them, but wasn't trained for it or accustomed to it. He was also older than most of them.

  "Obviously, I know why you're here."

  "Yes, sir," she said as she sat down, although she didn't relax. She wasn't used to speaking with the ship's captain. Or even the first officer. Major Dolan handled all of that, and Roxanna just dealt with the squad or sometimes the other squads.

  Wallace had his elbow on the table, pressing his hand to his temple. "They informed me shortly after the arrest but told me little else. I've been contacting the officers on the station and intel headquarters every half-hour, demanding more. I have total faith in Major Dolan. She did not help the Arkana."

  Roxanna nodded. "Absolutely, sir," she said. "She didn't. She wouldn't."

  "Yes," he agreed with a weary smile. "Somewhere around oh-three-hundred, I woke up an intel officer who decided to give me an extra sixty seconds to get me off his back. He told me she was being held on base and interrogated this morning to gather further information."

  "That was considerate of him," Roxanna deadpanned, then blinked and remembered where she was. "Captain."

  He waved his hand again. "It's fine, Sergeant. I don't want you to hurt something because I need you to keep the thirty-third from rioting."

  "They are well-trained, sir. Major Dolan has seen to that. They'll keep it together and follow orders." Well, Dan might not...but she kept that part to herself. "You have my assurances, sir."

  "I was only joking." He paused. "Sort of. I know how tight-knit all of you are. I'm sure everyone will be very worried, but I will keep on them until they tell me something real or send her back."

  She nodded, thoughtful for a moment. "Do you know how they were able to get clearance to arrest her in the first place, sir? They can't possibly have any evidence."

  Sighing deeply, Captain Wallace leaned back in his seat and folded his hands over his stomach while contemplating his answer. "Unfortunately, the intelligence division of the ESS has been given a little more latitude than most other departments. It's not official policy, but it's been that way over the years. Now that we are at a state of war, the safety of the ESS, its worlds and allies, has granted them even more freedoms. It's not fair. Most would say it's not right. But it's the reality of it all. They have a much lower burden of proof than they used to."

  Her purple brows drew together, and she felt the surface level tingling in her skin that said her tones had begun to swirl as she grew agitated. "This is a downside to a non-empathic society," she commented before she could stop herself. "On Selerid, it's easy to tell when someone is guilty of something."

  His attention seemed diverted for a moment with a curious expression. "So is there still crime, if you know you'll be caught?"

  "Oh yes, sir. We are also an impassioned people, for better and worse. Crimes are still committed, and the perpetrators usually run. If they can get off the planet before someone can identify the source of their guilt, they can get away. It's just that if someone is questioned, we know at that instant."

  "Interesting." He glanced up and sat up again. "It's time for my half-hour harrassing. They are going to …"

  Before he had a chance to finish, a call came in. He looked at his console, and his brows rose. "Or they'll call me." He answered it, and a male voice came over the speakers. She couldn't use her senses without being in physical proximity, but she could pick up on vocal tones and cues. The voice sounded...disoriented and upset.

  "We lost her," the male voice said. "No...not lost. She...Major Dolan. She's been taken from our custody. Dolan has been kidnapped."

  9

  0700 Hours

  Fitzwallace frowned, looking annoyed with the chime and whoever was behind it. Andy guessed he had not been expecting company, which made her particularly curious to know who was on the other side of the door.

  She watched as the lieutenant stood up and went to the door, hitting the panel. The door slid open, and the first thing she saw was a dull glint off something metal. It took a moment and the sound of it crunching against the side of Fitzwallace's head for the Marine in her to recognize it as a gun. Her eyes widened, and the sleepiness she'd been fighting vanished in an instant.

  The intel officer crumbled to the ground, and the man walking in pushed him aside with his boot.

  Andy pushed herself to her feet and back-kicked her chair away, but she couldn't get any farther because of the cuffs. She growled and cursed, yanking at the restraints, but all she managed to do was make her wrists hurt. She jerked her head back up to watch the man coming toward her. The gun remained in his hand, although he didn't have it aimed at her.

  "You're going to come with me," he said.

  Gritting her teeth, she took quick stock of him. Human, by the looks of him. Average height and build. He wore an ESS uniform, but it was clear the collar and insignia had been removed. Did that mean he stole it, or he just didn't want anyone to recognize it? He was unremarkable in pretty much every way, except for the weapon and the look in his eyes.

  "I've already been arrested once today. I think I'm good," she said, wiggling her hands and trying to find some weakness in the restraints.

  "This isn't an arrest," he said. "You're going to come with me and not give me any trouble. I won't kill you, but I'll make you wish I had."

  She stood perfectly still as he began to walk around the table, training the gun on her as he did. Her head and eyes moved, tracking him like a hawk might a rabbit. As he reached her side, she twisted her body slightly. Andy felt the strain in her outer arm since it was pinned in place, but she didn't care.

  He began to reach into his pocket to remove something, but he was close enough now so she took the moment he was distracted to lean back, balancing against her hands and the table as she kicked out with her right leg. It caught him both by surprise and in the stomach, making him stumble back a few steps and cough harshly.

  As he was hacking, she tried putting that same foot against the table edge to try to give herself more leverage and she pulled against the restraints.

  "I'm finding an ESS engineer and killing them!" she shouted in frustration, words pouring out fast, as she couldn't break free. "Couldn't they be incompetent just this once!"

  As she shouted the last part, the man was already back and swinging something in a big arc toward her head. She flattened herself against the table, and his hand passed over her. His momentum pulled him forward, and he almost landed on her. She tried to push herself out of the way, but didn't get very far. He pushed himself back up, coming for her again. She again threw her weight to get herself as far away as possible.

  What actually happened was the table fell onto its side with Andy still attached. She had found the engineering incompetence in the room.r />
  She landed on her side with a grunt, not having seen that one coming. Whipping her head around, she looked to see where the man would be coming from. It took a moment, and she imagined the flipping table surprised him as much as her.

  Eventually he did come around and she could now see what was in his hand: a syringe. It didn't take a genius to figure out she was about to be drugged if she couldn't keep him away from her.

  Of course, she had no clue how she was going to do that, but she was going to try her damnedest. She did not want to learn what was in that syringe.

  Pressing her weight to her back, she kicked out with one foot, aiming for his knee. He moved in time so it was a glancing blow to his thigh, and she was already kicking again before he had a chance to recoup. With the table on its side and the cuffs impervious, she was stuck on the floor but she had strong legs and good aim.

  The gun was gone somewhere, but he had somehow kept a hold of the syringe.

  With his free hand, he tried to grab her leg. She pulled it back and then kicked out again, trying to catch him from the side. She did hit his wrist with the side of her boot and that sent the syringe flying over the table, where she could hear it sliding across the floor. He cursed and hurried around the table.

  The cuffs still weren't moving, so she had to try another tactic.

  Taking a deep breath and opening her mouth, she shouted at the absolute top of her lungs for help and calling an intruder alert. Anything she thought might get some attention, but no one appeared. She shouted again and again, feeling herself go hoarse from the volume she was reaching. She even tried shouting "fire" just for the hell of it, but it didn't do any better.

  "Shut up!" he shouted, finally coming back around. He had the syringe again and to her lament, it hadn't broken on impact. She cursed whoever had designed and manufactured that thing as well.

  "Go to hell!" she shouted back.

  "You first, Arkana witch," he declared.