Duty from Ashes

by Sam Schal

  “All right. Get back to your brother. Let me know if he says anything that might help us know when, or even if, the enemy is scheduled to send supplies or reinforcements.”

  With that, Collins turned and left. Striding across the compound, two Marines at his back, he sent word for Captain Jareau to set up a briefing with the taskforce’s senior officers.

  * * *

  Kasun paced the short length of the cell and cursed long and hard. He still didn’t understand how everything had gone so bad so quickly. When he had accepted the position of Occupation Governor, his superiors had assured him of the system’s security. Those fools on Fuercon wouldn’t try to retake the system. Not now. Not after so much time had passed. There was no way, those same superiors told him, that the system would ever come under attack. It was, in short, the closest assignment to perfection possible.

  All he had to do was run system efficiently, providing the manpower and other material needed. The powers-that-be really didn’t care what he did with the POWs as long as he continued to supply workers when needed. He had done all that and more. But it hadn’t been enough to keep those Fuerconese bastards from invading.

  And he knew exactly who the High Council would blame. He would be the one they’d point to, saying he should have had better defensive systems and procedures. But what could they expect? They had taken away most of his ships and troops. He’d had to make do with systems damaged in the invasion and not yet fully repaired and troops no other commander would take.

  None of what happened was his fault. If anyone was to blame, it was the High Council. They should have anticipated what Fuercon did. What good was this new partner in the war if they didn’t get the information needed to anticipate an attack by Fuercon or its allies?

  He was damned if he was going to take the fall for their mistakes.

  * * *

  “Ten-hut!”

  The dozen men and women sitting at the conference table quickly climbed to their feet. Before they could brace to attention, Collins waved them back to their seats. He was tired and there was just too much to do to worry about protocol just then. Even so, they waited for him to be seated before returning to their chairs.

  “Thank you, Conrad. As long as we have coffee, I think we’re fine. I’ll send for you if I need you.” He waited until his steward left the room before continuing. “All right, everyone. You know the task ahead of us. We are to hold the System until reinforcements arrive. The good news is, that should happen within the week. Word from FleetCom is that Second Fleet will be arriving in the next five to seven days. Once it arrives, we will hand over command and control and return home.”

  He nodded to see the relieved looks almost everyone at the table wore. Everyone had been working long hours, often pushing themselves and those under their commands to exhaustion, to make sure the capital as well as the system was safe.

  “However, before we start relaxing too much, let me remind you that we don’t know when, or if, the enemy will be returning to the system. The records we’ve recovered give no indication about patrol or delivery schedules and that worries me. Captain Jareau?”

  “Thank you, Sir.” His executive officer activated the holo screen over the table. A moment later, the system map appeared. “This is a real-time representation of the System. The green dots are our ships. The blue are the defense platforms and the red are mine fields. The yellow dots represent planned minefields. The green dots are sensor arrays.

  “Thanks to Chief Murozovski’s crews, the defense platforms are fully operational. The security codes have been changed so the enemy will not be able to easily hack into them should they return.”

  “Excellent, Jules. Thank you.” Collins nodded in appreciation. “Colonel Shaw?”

  “The defense station has been cleared. After the Devil Dogs made the initial breach, Colonel Johnson’s troops held it while they did search and rescue. They found no Cassians onboard. Records indicate the few staffing the station at the time of the invasion were killed in the initial attempt to take over the station. Since it is basically fully automated, the Callusians kept only a skeleton crew onboard.

  “We are still working to make sure there are no pockets of enemy resistance anywhere in the capital or any of the major cities. It is slow going but the Resistance has been a great deal of help. The good news is, the Callusians pulled out most of their troops before we arrived. The bad news is we don’t know why and we don’t have an accurate count of how many they left behind. My professional opinion is that we make sure the major cities are cleared and then leave it to the locals to check the outer areas.”

  “I happen to agree with you, Colonel. There is one thing to remember, it won’t be our decision in the long run. By the time FleetCom decides, Second Fleet will be on station and we will be on our way home.”

  “Sounds good to me, Sir.” Ashlyn grinned slightly and he understood. How could he not when part of his last briefing package from Fuercon had included a reminder from her mother that Ashlyn needed to be home in time to participate in the courts martial of O’Brien and Sorkowski.

  Now Collins turned his attention to Joss Donnelly. The lieutenant sat near the far end of the table, looking slightly discomfited to be included in the briefing. “If you’re up to it, Lt. Donnelly, I think it is time for us to hear what you can tell us about what happened to the Tarrant and after you and your crewmates abandoned ship.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Donnelly sat up a little straighter and his expression turned serious. Seeing the difficulty he appeared to be having, Collins decided to help out. “Lieutenant,” he began quietly, almost gently. “Start with that last day on the Tarrant. What happened?”

  Donnelly nodded once again and closed his eyes. A moment later, he opened them and reached for his mug. He sipped and then began. “Sir, we were on a standard courier mission. We had dispatches from home for the embassy. It had been an easy trip, nothing out of the ordinary happening. Because of that, Commander Sykes didn’t have extra crew on duty.”

  Donnelly paused and swallowed. The pain of what happened was written on his face. “As we crossed over into the system, we prepared to squawk our ID. Then scanners picked up a reading that didn’t make any sense. Commander Sykes was notified. It didn’t take long to figure out what was happening. The commander ordered our course altered and we did our best to stay out of sensor range as she began collecting data to send back to FleetCom.”

  “Did you have any confirmation at the time of who the invaders were?” Captain Jareau asked.

  “Negative. The invader’s ships weren’t squawking IDs and the configurations didn’t match anything we had in our databases.” He paused and it looked like he was trying to remember something. “No, that’s not completely correct. CIC made a possible ID but I never heard what it was. When they relayed it to the commander, she said they had to be wrong. That there was no way they would be taking part in something like this.”

  “You’re sure she didn’t say anything that could help us ID the ships?” Collins asked.

  “I don’t remember, Sir. Everything was happening so fast by then. We’d been spotted and LACs as well as several cruisers were closing on us. Commander Sykes ordered all but a skeleton crew to get to the escape pods. She waited for them to launch and then altered our course again in an attempt to draw the enemy ships away from the pods. But it wasn’t enough. The LACs opened fired and picked the pods off one by one. Then they turned their attention to the Tarrant.

  “The commander kept gathering data and preparing it for transmission home. Once she had, she ordered us to slave our consoles to hers. When we had, she ordered us to abandon ship. She knew the Tarrant was doomed. But she was going to do whatever it took to make sure FleetCom knew what was going on.

  “Admiral, none of us wanted to leave her but she insisted. She told us we had a duty to get away and make sure FleetCom knew what had happened. It was up to us to make sure the sacrifices of our crewmates was remembered and honore
d. Then she told us to get the hell off her bridge.” He drew a ragged breath and Collins felt for him. He’d never had to abandon ship before and especially not do so and leave behind someone he respected and liked as much as Donnelly clearly had Sykes.

  “None of us blames any of you for what happened, Lieutenant,” he assured the younger man. “You did not only what your CO ordered but what was necessary. Remember that.”

  “I’ll try, Sir.”

  He went on to describe his anger as he watched the Tarrant destroyed in a hail of missiles. He still didn’t know how his escape pod survived when so many others were destroyed. It was towed onto one of the Callusian ships and he was pulled out. Before he could react, he’d been beaten unconscious. The next thing he knew, he was in the infirmary dirtside and was one of only the too few survivors from the Tarrant.

  “Lieutenant, did you ever see anyone who didn’t seem to belong with the invaders?” Ashlyn asked. Before anyone else could say anything, she continued. “I’m not talking one of the prisoners. I mean someone who appeared to be working with the invaders, perhaps in a consultation role or something.” Now she paused, frustration reflected in her eyes. “What you told us about the CIC report to your commander and then her response to it worries me. It also tends to lend confirmation to something I’ve been wondering about. Is it possible the Callusians have found themselves an ally, someone we don’t know about?”

  Collins looked at her in surprise. Then he shook his head. She was right. If there was a third party they didn’t know about, a lot of what had happened the last few months made sense. God, could there be someone out there acting behind the scenes, possibly even directing the actions of the Callusians?

  If there was, they were screwed, at least as long as they didn’t know who it was.

  Damn it all to hell and back again.

  “No. Once I was on-planet, I never saw anyone but the Callusians or other POWs. Sorry, Ma’am.”

  “Don’t apologize, Lieutenant. You’ve helped us more than you know,” Collins told him. “Are there any other questions for the lieutenant?” He glanced around the table, waiting to make sure no one spoke. “Very well, Lieutenant. You are dismissed.”

  “Thank you, Sir.” He stood and braced to attention before leaving the room.

  “Thoughts?” Collins asked once the door slid shut behind Donnelly.

  “We need to finish going through the data we’ve recovered, Sir,” Jareau said thoughtfully. “And we need to have another go at the senior POWs, especially the governor.” She almost spat the word out.

  “I agree with her, Sir,” Ashlyn said and the others nodded in agreement.

  “Very well. Jules, I leave that part up to you. Everyone else, get me your reports and recommendations by morning. I wish I could tell you to stand down from alert status but I can’t. Not yet and certainly not after what Donnelly had to say. You can share our concerns with your senior staff but no one else. At least not until we know more.”

  He stood and waited for the others to follow suit. Once they had, he dismissed them. Watching as they left the room, he wondered how what had started out as a rather straightforward mission had gotten so complicated.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “WHO THE HELL do you think you are?” he demanded, slamming his bottle of beer onto the table.

  The sound of glass striking the table’s surface cut through the noise of the nearby conversations. Voices hushed and heads turned in their direction to see what was going on. Even as they did, Evan Moreau cursed silently. She knew she should have chosen a more secure location for this meeting but time had been of the essence, especially since Kannady had insisted they meet somewhere public. The seedy tavern was far off the beaten path of the politically active and the media hounds that it might as well not exist. But that didn’t rule out the underbelly of society and Moreau knew it. In fact, she counted on it. That seedy element would have a role to play in the night’s agenda that her companion had no idea about and she planned to keep it that way.

  “Keep your voice down!” she snapped as several heads turned in their direction continued to watch and wait for what was to come next. There were too many people around, too many ears to overhear what he might say. Did he always have to act such a fool? “You should know by now not to question me. So quit acting the fool and start thinking of how to turn the situation to our advantage.”

  “Our advantage!” Outrage warred with disbelief as he looked at her. “There is no advantage to this situation.”

  Sighing heavily, fighting to keep her calm, she reached out and tapped his hand with one expertly manicured fingernail. When he turned bleak eyes on her, she gave him a quelling look.

  “There is always an advantage to be found if you look hard enough,” she corrected softly, willing him to believe it.

  “But—“

  “No buts, Kannady. Think about it. Your stocks are going to rise now that we are at war. The news that we have moved to retake the Cassius System from the Callusians will ease some of the fears investors have had recently. This is a win-win situation for you – as long as you keep your head and don’t blow it.”

  She spoke firmly, doing her best to make him understand that this was certainly not the time to try to strike at their common enemy. How in the world had he lasted so long in the business world without understanding its basic working of politics? Pure, dumb luck didn’t seem to be answer enough.

  “Right now, Harper’s popularity is higher that it’s been since he was elected as president.” She continued softly, leaning into him so no one beyond the table could hear her. “He responded quickly and decisively to the attack on Ahlstrom’s Landing. He sent the taskforce to the Cassius System and retook it from the Callusians. He even gave the public the hero they wanted in the form of that bitch Shaw. But his star will fall. Just give it time.

  “Dammit, I know that!” he exploded. “What you don’t seem to understand is that time is the one thing neither of us has.”

  “There you are wrong. We have all the time in the world, as long as we keep our heads,” she said simply and he stared at her in disbelief. “Your constant need for reassurance, your panicked responses to news items is a threat to all of us, not just you and not just me. Our friends do not like the attention your actions could call to their work.”

  “We have to back off for a while before the authorities figure out what’s happening!”

  “I’ll tell you what. If you want to call off our arrangement, fine. Just don’t think about marching yourself down and telling the authorities what we’ve been up to. That’s the sort of thing that will sign your own warrant of imprisonment but that of the rest of your family as well.”

  “You bitch!” he rasped, eyes hard with hate.

  “You knew that going into all this,” she countered. “Now put your emotions behind you and do what needs to be done. And don’t contact me again. I’ll let you know when – and if – we need to meet.”

  With that, she climbed to her feet and all but glided across the room and outside. If she had to stay one more minute in his presence, she would kill him. Not that she had to. That was already taken care of.

  As she stepped outside, she nodded to a man all but hidden in the shadows. He nodded in return and slipped away. Grinning, relieved to know at least one problem was about to disappear, she continued down the street. She’d go home and wash off the stink of this place. Then she might just go out to celebrate.

  Things were starting to look up again.

  * * *

  Kasun jerked awake as a hand closed about his throat and roughly hauled him to his feet. Gurgling as he tried to breathe, his hands clawed frantically at the fingers crushing his larynx. Despite it all, he struggled futilely against the merciless grasp. Then, as he felt himself losing consciousness, he was flying through the air. He smashed into the far wall, breath exploding from his lungs. Without realizing it, he slid down the wall to the floor as if he didn’t have a bone in his body.

&n
bsp; Then the hand closed about his arm, hauling him upright once more. Cold, hard eyes that he knew would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life locked on his. Hatred deeper than any he had ever known stared out at him and he knew in that moment what it was like to look Death in the face.

  “No!” he screamed, insides turning to water. “Please. What do you want?” Tears filled his eyes and he pulled helplessly against that implacable grip. Even with the benefit of her battle armor, how could she be so strong?

  “You have one chance only to tell me what I want or you’re dead and no one here will do a thing to stop me,” the woman rasped, nodding to the half dozen Marines standing behind her.

  The sight of them scared Kasun almost as much as the woman did. They looked at him with impassive eyes, cold and dead. Even as Shaw lifted him so his toes barely touched the ground, they simply stood there, for all the world as if they were simply watching her toy with an annoying pest before killing it.

  “What? Tell me what you want to know,” he pleaded.

  “There are other databanks. Where? And where are the backups?”

  For a moment he stared at her in disbelief. Then he swallowed hard to see the way her muscles gathered once more to toss him about like so much unwanted baggage. His one moment of triumph, the one thing he knew could keep him alive once High Command learned he had lost the system, fled. Somehow she had found out about those damned data chips he had recovered from the office safe before the first wave of Marines landed. But how?

  Peltier.