Fire from Ashes

by Sam Schall

  “Would someone please tell me what the fuck just happened?”

  Anderson dropped onto a chair in the small sitting room connected to her bedroom at the Shaw’s home. As her crutches clattered to the floor, Connery and Talbot found seats. As they did, Adamson realized they looked as stunned as she felt. At least that answered one question. They’d been as surprised by the events of the day as had she.

  “And you, Master Guns, can quit grinning in relief. You might have avoided becoming an officer this time, but Angel just proved she isn’t above offering any of us up as mustangs,” she said as she leaned back.

  An officer! How the hell had that happened?

  “Ma’am, what the hell am I supposed to do now?” Connery looked as stunned now as she had back in Okafor’s office.

  “Start by dropping the ma’am except when we’re on duty.” That was something else she’d have to get used to. Damn Ash for doing this to her. “Sorry, Faith, I didn’t mean to snap. I’m not one to like being on the receiving end of surprises.”

  “Tell me about it,” the younger woman muttered.

  “You two done pissing and moaning?” Ash asked from the doorway. Before entering, she lifted her hands to show she brought whiskey and glasses. “If you are, we can get down to business.”

  For a moment, three sets of eyes settled on her. Then Adamson jerked her head, motioning the others to leave the room. Seeing it, Ashlyn shook her head. Adamson narrowed her eyes and then huffed out a breath. She’d known Ash long enough to recognize the signs. The woman wanted to talk and nothing the rest of them said was going to stop her.

  “You have no idea how much pissing and moaning I am going to do if you don’t tell me why in the hell you saddled me with officer’s bars?” Adamson said as she watched Ash cross the room and drop onto the far end of the sofa.

  Ashlyn inhaled, her expression darkening. Then she relaxed and Adamson had an idea it wasn’t easy for her to do. Well, too bad. After the little bombshell she, not to mention Okafor and Elizabeth, had dropped on her, Ash had a lot of explaining to do.

  “All of you, shut your mouths and listen up.” The bite in her voice had them all sitting a bit straighter. She might have come as a friend but now she was their commanding officer. “The actions taken today were not done so lightly and without a great deal of thought, especially where you’re concerned, MJ. One of the things that made stepping into Hammer’s place as CO of the Devil Dogs was having you as the senior NCO. You are one of the best damned NCOs I’ve served with. But everything that makes you an excellent senior non-com will also make you an excellent XO and that is what I need right now. I need someone who knows the Devil Dogs, someone who can motivate them if I’m not around.”

  “Ash, how can I be your XO when I’m tied here? You know as well as I do the DDs, not to mention the rest of the regiment, will ship out before long.”

  “Sooner than any of you know,” she muttered. “You will do it, MJ, by working with the commandant while we are gone. Kevin and Faith here will fill in for you. While we are gone, you will also be working to find replacements for those slots in the regiment that haven’t been filled yet, especially in the Warlords. If that isn’t enough to keep you busy in between your appointments at the medical center, I want you working closely with Rico Santiago. We still need to know how badly the Midlothians have betrayed our interests and I want to know why I seem to have been targeted.”

  “Why mustang me and not Kevin?”

  “God, you sound like you’ll start whining at any moment,” Ash laughed. “For the simple reason that you had been acting as Lucinda’s XO.” She held up a hand to ward off the blonde’s protests. “MJ, Luce told me how it was with the Warlords. Her XO was good, but he didn’t have the experience she felt he needed and she knew the rest of the battalion didn’t trust him the way they did the two of you. Think about it. You were doing much of what he should have been.

  “But, more to the point, at least where I’m concerned, I needed someone who didn’t need to be told what to do next. Laboe is a good officer. Miranda would never have had him as her Marine CO if he wasn’t. But he wasn’t settling into the role of the Devil Dogs’ XO as quickly as I needed. Before we shipped out as part of Taskforce Sentinel, I had to decide how to split the DD’s. Kevin and Faith here can tell you how difficult that decision was. It went beyond the fact we were still trying to get back up to full-strength after the prior mission. It was because I couldn’t trust Laboe to lead the elements sent with Sentinel because he wasn’t a Devil Dog in mentality yet. Do you really think my mother and Okafor would have agreed to me leading the mission, especially after we knew the Callusians had tried to invade such a short time before, if there had been any other option?”

  “She’s right,” Talbot said softly. “I’ve talked with others who have served with Laboe. They all said he’s a good officer, one they’d follow into battle without a second thought. But he’s been out of SpecOps for years. You know as well as I do that it takes time to get back into our sort of mindset. Time’s something the regiment doesn’t have.”

  “But—”

  “MJ, I know we sprang this on you without warning. But it isn’t as if you are being thrown right into the fire.” Ash waited until she nodded. “I wouldn’t have asked my mother, much less Okafor, to consider taking you mustang if I didn’t think it necessary. I need you as my XO. I need someone I trust not only at my back but able to take over the Devil Dogs and the regiment if something happens to me. Besides, the only real change is that you can go to the officers’ club now. You’ll still be the biggest bad ass in the regiment and I’ll still rely on you to put together obstacle courses that will turn the insides of our Marines to water.” Ashly grinned and Adamson chuckled softly.

  “What would you have done if I’d turned down the commission?”

  Ash smiled, a wicked twinkle in her eye. “I’d have asked the commandant to contact the medical center with her concerns for your mental health.”

  “Bitch,” she laughed. “And Faith here?” She nodded to where Connery sat across from her. The young woman still looked shell-shocked, not that Adamson blamed her.

  “That I didn’t know about, not that I would have objected.” Before Connery could say anything, Ashlyn continued. “Faith, they were right. I need an officer as my aide with the way Okafor realigned the division. More than that, I don’t want anyone but you in that role. We’ve made a good team and Kevin here knows he can trust you to make sure I don’t do anything too foolish.”

  “She’s right,” Talbot confirmed when Connery looked at him in question.

  “I know the three of you need to bitch and moan a bit more, so I’ll leave you to it. MJ, you have therapy in the morning, don’t forget. Faith, if you’ll make sure everything is set for it, I’d appreciate it. Tomorrow, you can pull together recommendations from within the DDs for an aide for the good captain.” She threw a cocky smile in Anderson’s direction.

  “Yes, ma’am,” the newly promoted lieutenant said.

  “Then I will leave you to it. Loco, make meet with the senior NCOs for the other battalions in the regiment tomorrow morning. Full report on the enlisted ranks tomorrow afternoon.”

  “I’ll see to it, Angel.”

  “Then I’ll take my leave.” She stood and then dropped a hand to Anderson’s shoulder. “I’ll check on you before I head to bed.”

  When the door slid shut behind her, Anderson turned to the others. To say the day had been full of surprises was putting it mildly. She knew one thing for certain, however. She was going to do whatever it took to keep their CO safe. She’d already lost Ortega. She was damned if she’d lose Ash as well and the sooner her companions realized it, the better.

  “Faith, we both got blindsided today but we’re Marines. We not only cope, we overcome.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Connery grinned as Adamson groaned.

  “Not a word, Loco, not one word or I swear I will tell Angel you should be mustanged as well.” She
glared at Talbot, daring him to see if she’d do it. “If I know our dear colonel, she will have already made arrangements to have our uniforms updated to reflect our new ranks, Faith. However, if you’d check to be sure, I’d appreciate it.”

  “Consider it done.”

  She smiled and began to relax some. “I also want you to copy me on Angel’s schedule each day. I might not be on duty yet, but I need to be kept in the loop.”

  Connery nodded.

  “Kevin, we’re going to be having some long talks about what happened with the DDs after Lucinda and I transferred out.”

  “After you get some rest,” he said. As he spoke, he subtly motioned to Connery it was time for them to leave.

  “Not yet.” Adamson smiled as Talbot sighed slightly before nodding. “Like it or not, I’m tied dirtside until the docs release me. That means the two of you are going to have to be my eyes and ears. It also means I will have your asses if you left anything happen to Angel. I am not going to lose another friend, another CO to those bastard Callusians. Understand?” She pinned both of them with a firm look.

  “We understand,” Talbot assured her. “But you have to understand something. We are going to make sure you do as you are supposed to as well. We need you back to duty as soon as possible. More than that, Angel needs you.”

  “Which means I will be doing everything I can to find you an aide who you’ll be able to work well with but who will also have enough of a spine to keep you from doing anything foolish,” Connery told her.

  Adamson narrowed her eyes and then chuckled. Ash had been right. She’d chosen well when she picked “Artemis” as the young woman’s new call sign.

  “We’ll discuss it tomorrow.” She yawned, suddenly tired. “Go on. The next few days are going to be busy for all of us, especially for the two of you.”

  “Go on, Loco,” Connery said as she got to her feet. “C’mon, Captain, you need to get some rest.” She handed Adamson her crutches and watched, ready to help, as the blonde got to her feet.

  Later, lying in bed, Adamson blew out a long, exhausted breath. She’d done more that day than she had since being injured. Exhausted physically, her mind refused to relax. It was going to take time for her to wrap her mind around the fact she was now an officer. And officer, damn it! But it was more than that. In very short order, her Marines, her friends and family, were shipping out and she should be with them. She couldn’t be so she would, by God, do all she could from there to help make their mission a success.

  Battle Stations

  18

  Phoenix Rising, Flagship

  First Fleet

  Fuerconese Navy

  “Ten-hut!”

  Connery’s order cut through the conversations taking place. Instantly, chairs were shoved back and boots scraped across the decksole as the men and women gathered climbed to their feet. By the time the hatch slid shut behind Admiral Tremayne and Brigadier General Shaw, everyone had braced to attention. Though silence now filled the room, Ashlyn felt the sense of expectation as the others waited, wondering if they were finally going to learn what their orders were.

  “Be seated,” Tremayne said once she and Elizabeth had taken their places at the head of the table.

  As they did, enlisted personnel poured coffee and tea for those gathered. Once everyone was served, they left the admiral’s ready room. The hatch slid shut behind them and Elizabeth engaged full security. No one would be able to get in or out without her permission. That, by itself, was enough to put everyone one edge.

  From her place at the opposite end of the table, Ashlyn took a moment to study the others. Each unit of their improvised fleet as represented. It would be up to them to make sure those under them knew their orders as well as the need to maintain OPSEC. Hopefully, the steps they had taken so far had kept their mission parameters secret not only from the Callusians but from the Midlothians as well. If not. . . she didn’t want to think of the potential problems that could happen if the Midlothians knew their plans and decided to take advantage of them.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to read you in on our mission,” Tremayne said as she activated the holo screen over the table. “In ten days we will rendezvous with fleets from the Drakkana, Cassius, Nystrom, Bennington and Braxis systems. From there, we will transit to the Alpha Rhogana System where we will deliver a message to the Callusians. Our orders are simple. We are to destroy system defenses and all military and military-related installations in the system. We will then deliver our final message to them. They are to immediately cease hostilities or we will move on to the Callusian home system with an even larger force and end this war once and for all.”

  “Admiral, a question?” Rear Admiral Korin Atsma said.

  “Go ahead.”

  “Why aren’t the Callusians taking part in the mission?”

  “If I may?” Captain Jocelyn Farnham said before Tremayne could answer. Ash frowned and glanced at her mother. Farnham, CO of one of the non-SpecOps units to take part in the mission, fell under her mother’s command. “Why are there no Midlothians assigned to our own ships, for that matter.”

  Elizabeth’s jaw firmed and Ash winced slightly to see the anger flash in her mother’s eyes. Before she could respond, Tremayne did.

  “To answer Admiral Atsma’s question, the Midlothians are not involved in this mission because we have received and confirmed intel that there are members of their government working against the best interests of not only Fuercon but of our true allies as well. Colonel Shaw?” She looked to where Ash sat and nodded, giving her permission to tell the others what she knew.

  “During an earlier mission, the Devil Dogs helped secure intel that began explaining not only how the Callusians suddenly came to possess ships and weaponry that came close to the level of our own but also why their tactics changed so dramatically. While Fleet Intel worked to confirm the information we obtained, we stumbled across irrefutable evidence of a Midlothian conspiracy. What we don’t know yet is whether we have been betrayed by the Midlothian government or only by certain people within it. So, FleetCom, along with President Harper and his closest advisors, decided that the Midlothian government would not learn of this mission until after the fact. How they respond should say a great deal about how deep the cancer runs.”

  For a moment, no one spoke. Then a low murmur of anger began. It quickly rose in volume. Tremayne allowed it to continue and Ashlyn waited. She’d known the admiral long enough to recognize what she was doing. Tremayne understood the others needed time to accept what she’d said. Unfortunately, that time was limited and, accept it or not, they needed to move on.

  “Are you sure?” Farnham asked.

  Instead of answering immediately, Ash glanced first to her mother and then to Tremayne. Both women gave quick nods. That was enough. She’d answer Farnham’s question but she would almost make sure the captain understood this was not the time to question a senior officer with more knowledge of the situation than she.

  “Lieutenant Connery, display File 114-799A,” she said.

  A moment later, the contents of the file appeared on the holo screen. Even though the name of the interviewee had been blacked out, the import of his statement was obvious. He was a member of the Midlothian Navy, one of many who had been assigned to work with the Callusians, advising them on tactics and helping train them on the new equipment their Midlothian benefactors provided.

  “That is the small portion of the information provided to us by the man. He was captured several months ago during the Callusians’ failed attempt to invade our home system. So, to answer your question, Captain, we are most definitely sure of the information.” The scathing tone of her voice was enough to cause several of those present, Farnham included, to wince. “Ma’am?” She inclined her head to both her mother and Tremayne as she returned to her seat.

  “You are cleared to inform your crews of our mission goal. The information about the Midlothians is need-to-know only and they do not need to know. If you f
eel differently, you will bring the matter up with either General Shaw or myself in private. Understood?”

  “Ma’am, yes, ma’am!”

  “If someone does ask why the Callusians aren’t sending ships,” Elizabeth said, “simply remind them that they were not active combatants in the last war nor are they ones in this war. Because of the urgency of this mission and the need for seasoned troops, it was decided not to include them.”

  At least that explanation had the benefit of being the truth. Hopefully, no one would try to press the issue. Although, if they did, it would be of interest to know why. With that thought in mind, Ashlyn made a mental note to discuss it with her mother and Tremayne later.

  “Over the next week, we will be conducting a number of training exercises. Some will involve the entire fleet and others only parts of it. The training schedule has been sent to your comms. You will note when you review it there are several that are not to be announced to your staff and crews. Others you will see don’t have more than basic parameters set out. That is because General Shaw and I have some twists up our sleeves and we want to see how you and your people respond.”

  Ashlyn didn’t – quite – groan at that one. She knew all too well what those “twists” could be like and didn’t look forward to them.

  “Admiral Tremayne is correct. There is something else you will find noted in the information the Admiral sent. Our Marines are to be working with their naval counterparts whenever they are on duty. The only exceptions are if they are taking part in a training exercise or if they have other duties assigned them by Colonel Shaw or myself. Understood?”

  “Ma’am, yes, ma’am!” the Marines responded.

  “Good. Then let’s review the day’s schedule and get to work.” Tremayne entered a command using her virtual keyboard and the holo display once again changed, this time showing the fleet’s current position relative to the Fuercon System. “We’ll begin with status reports.”