by Sam Schall
He ran a hand through his hair and she saw how it shook. Interesting. There was more to his unexpected appearance than she’d thought.
“Let me ask you this: has anyone approached you to discuss Shaw or any of her people? Have they come to ask what sort of business you might have had with Sorkowski or O’Brien?”
For a moment, he didn’t say anything. Then he shook his head.
“Have you heard tales of FleetCom doing anything more than trying to figure out how the capital was attacked without them having some warning ahead of time?”
“N-no.”
“In fact, the attack has everyone focusing on the war again and not on what you and your partners have been up to,” she continued. “As for Shaw, consider that there has only been one press release about her and the others and that came after the attack. What did it say? That it has been determined that Shaw and her people weren’t guilty of the charges against them and had been pardoned. My sources confirm that all charges against them have been dropped and their records expunged. But there has been nothing – I repeat, nothing – said or done to indicate FleetCom suspects they were set up. What happened is being written off as a general cluster fuck that they are now correcting.”
“But—”
“There are no buts to it, Kannedy.” Now she made no attempt to conceal her derision. “I’ve done what I said I would. I’ve made sure certain events happened to protect you and your partners. More than that, I’ve advanced your interests.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” He started to stand but hesitated when she rested her hand, with the knife, on the desktop.
“Everything the government and military is doing right now is focused on reassuring the public that the enemy will not be able to get through the system’s defenses again. It won’t be long before the president announces that the truce is over and we are once more at war.” She watched as he relaxed and leaned back. Maybe the danger was passing. Not that she would drop her guard. “And that is exactly what you and your partners want, whether you admit it to yourselves, much less anyone else. War is much more profitable for people like you and me than peace could ever be. So quit acting the fool and start thinking.”
There was more she wanted to say but didn’t dare. Not yet, at any rate.
The silence stretched between them. Moreau sat there, her gaze on the man who still thought himself her employer. Well, in a way he was. She’d still accept any money he wanted to give her and do most any job. But she didn’t fool herself. He was merely a means to an end. It was his so-called partners she really worked for, partners he didn’t even know existed. They were the ones who stood in the shadows, pulling the strings. They were the ones who would make her even richer than she was now and, by the time someone else figured out what was going on, the war would be in full-swing and the balance of power would have finally shifted.
She could hardly wait.
“And what if they start looking at Sorkowski and O’Brien?” Kannedy asked.
Well, she had to admit that was a valid concern and one she’d already considered.
“O’Brien is the weak point, but not one we have to worry too much about. Sorkowski knows what will happen if FleetCom starts looking too closely and he isn’t about to let that happen. I assure you he has enough evidence—” She made quote marks in the air with her fingers— “to put the entire blame on O’Brien. That will serve two purposes, both good for you and your partners. It will offer FleetCom a sacrificial lamb and it will make them think that what happened was nothing more than sour grapes and jealousy aimed at Shaw. They’ll never find out about the rest of it.”
She waited, watching to see if he accepted what she said. When he nodded, she relaxed a little. Let him think Sorkowski wouldn’t talk as long as it bought her a little more time. All that mattered was she knew the truth. Sorkowski was as much of a liability as O’Brien. At least he’d do everything he could to place all the blame on O’Brien should eyes start looking too closely at what happened.
“You make sure of it, Moreau. It’s your head that will roll before mine.”
With that, Kannedy got to his feet. She watched as he left her office without a backward glance. Once the door shut behind him, she leaned back and frowned. So, the battle lines had been drawn. He’d betray her the moment he got scared. Not that she hadn’t expected it. Still, she was surprised he’d shown his hand.
Well, two could play that game. He just hadn’t realized she’d be the winner. But first things first, she needed to let her real employers know what just happened. How long Kannedy remained among the living was up to them – for the moment at least. Then she’d reach out to her sources inside FleetCom to see just what was going on with regards to Shaw and her people.
Ashlyn sat hunched on the edge of her bed, her head bent, her heart racing. In less than an hour, the Magellan would enter Tarsus space. Until now, she had managed to keep busy enough that her demons hadn’t haunted her. Pawlak understood and made sure she worked until exhausted. But now, knowing how close they were, all the fears and all the nightmares washed over her. She knew circumstances were far different from the last time she had approached Tarsus but the fear remained. How long until she finally allowed herself to believe the nightmare was over?
A soft ping sounded, a welcome interruption. She reached out and activated the comm next to her bed. “Shaw.”
“Comms,” came the reply. “You have a message, Captain.”
“Understood.”
She stood and crossed her quarters to the small desk against the far wall. As she did, she felt some of her tension ease. She had no doubt who the message was from or that it had been recorded and downloaded into the ship’s comm-bank before they left orbit around Fuercon. A moment later, she leaned against the edge of the desk and watched as the holo display came to life.
Standing before her were her parents. Jake stood between them, his hands holding theirs. Elizabeth bent and lifted her grandson, cradling him on her hip. Then she turned so they faced the camera, making it seem as if they were facing Ashlyn.
“Say hi to mommy, Jake,” Elizabeth urged.
“Hi, Mommy!”
He lifted one small hand to his mouth and threw her a kiss. Tears burned in her eyes as Ashlyn reached out, as if to catch it. In that moment, it didn’t matter he had done that days earlier. All that did was that he remembered her and thought about her and wanted her to know it. She sniffled once and dragged the back of her hand under her nose.
“Hi, baby,” she whispered.
“Ash, we won’t keep you. But we wanted you to know how proud we are of you and how much we love you,” Abe said as he slid an arm around Elizabeth’s waist and pulled her, and Jake, close. “Come home as soon as you can.”
“I will, Dad. I promise.”
Abe took Jake from Elizabeth and whispered something in the boy’s ear.
“Love you, Mommy. Come home soon.”
Ashlyn dashed away a single tear as it rolled down her cheek. Then she waited until only her mother stood before her.
“Ash, I want you to remember something. We love you and we are so proud of you, more than you will ever know. But I need you to do something for me. For all of us. I need you to come home safely. So, no matter what you find when you get dirtside, don’t do anything foolish. Your life isn’t worth it. Promise me that.” Elizabeth paused, almost as if she was waiting for Ash to do as she said. “I gave something to Gunny Talbot for you, Ash. He should have put it in her desk last night. See if it’s there.”
Ashlyn’s brow furrowed as she looked on the desk, seeing nothing that shouldn’t be there. Then she opened the lap drawer. Resting inside was a small black box. Her fingers shook slightly as she lifted it out. A moment later, she lifted the lid and stared down at a set of dog tags.
“Those belonged to my father, your grandfather,” Elizabeth continued. “He asked me before he died to give them to you when I thought the time was right. I know he would be as proud of yo
u as I am. Remember he survived more than four years as a POW. It left him feeling in many ways as you do now. I know that you, like he, can push through this and that you will be stronger, as a woman and as a mother and as a Marine, for it. Now go get your people and come home to us.” Tears glistened in Elizabeth’s eyes. “I love you, Ash, and am so very proud of you. Come home and I promise we will give Jake the best birthday party any little boy has ever had.”
The holo display wavered slightly and then faded away. For a long moment, Ashlyn stayed where she was. Then she removed her dog tags. Carefully, she added her grandfather’s tags to her own. As she did, she drew a deep, bracing breath. She would and could do this. She wouldn’t let those responsible for what happened on Arterus and afterwards win.
“Comms?” Captain Stefan Carlisle prompted.
“Hail is away, Captain,” the young comms officer replied.
Standing behind and to the right of the captain’s chair, Ashlyn studied the nav-plot before them. Icons representing each of the orbital defense platforms shone red. As she absently counted each icon, her brows knitted in concern. She wanted to believe the knot of worry forming in the pit of her stomach was due to their close proximity to the Tarsus military prison. One small part of her mind, that treacherous doubting part, still wondered if everything leading up to this moment had been some sort of elaborate hoax and that, at any moment, guards would appear to take her back into custody.
But there was more to it. She knew that. The icons should be glowing green, not red. Something was wrong. But what?
Her sharp intake of breath came at almost the same time as Carlisle’s. It was bad enough that the icons shone red, indicating the platforms were offline. Worse was that she counted only nine of them instead of the even dozen there should have been.
Ashlyn’s right hand fisted at her side as she fought to remain silent and not demand the comms officer repeat the hail broadcast to the prison. Instead, she stepped closer to the nav-plot. She counted the icons again, praying she had miscounted earlier. But she hadn’t. Worse, when she glanced at the comms officer, she could see his concern. He didn’t have to tell her no one was answering his hails. For the penal colony to go silent and the defense platforms to be offline . . . .
“No response, Captain,” Comms reported.
“Are you picking up any chatter?” Carlisle’s voice was even, almost relaxed, but one look at him was all Ashlyn needed to know he was just as concerned about what might be happening planetside as was she.
“Negative, Captain.”
Carlisle sat there. The drumming of the fingers of his right hand on the arm of his chair broke the silence of the bridge. Then, with the sudden explosion of movement Ashlyn had quickly come to expect from him when he made his mind up about something, he pushed to his feet. He gave her a nod and moved to stand behind the comms officer.
“Send messages to the XO, Major Pawlak and Lieutenants Marshall and Hrabek to join Captain Shaw and myself in my ready room. Lieutenant Montenegro, you have the conn.”
“Aye, sir,” the two lieutenants replied in unison as Carlisle moved toward the ready room.
Ashlyn quickly fell into step behind the captain. In the short time she’d worked with him, she found herself surprised on more than one occasion. He’d accepted the Devil Dogs’ temporary assignment to his ship with an aplomb many in the Navy wouldn’t have. More importantly, he’d smoothed things over with his own Marine CO, Lieutenant Marshall, before they’d come onboard, assuring him the DDs weren’t there to take over. Fortunately for all involved, Lieutenant Marshall was confident enough in himself and in his command that he hadn’t tried to make things difficult. Either that or he’d realized that the week or so Ashlyn and the other Devil Dogs would be onboard the Magellen wouldn’t be long enough to cause him any trouble.
“As you know by now, it appears that we have a situation,” Carlisle began a few minutes later as the last of those he’d sent for arrived. “Our scanners show the defense platforms are offline. Worse, at least three platforms aren’t registering on scanners at all. It is possible they were removed from service for some reason and not replaced but, considering the importance of Tarsus, I doubt that’s the case. Add to that the fact we have received no response to our hails and there is no comms chatter being picked up and I think you can see why I’ve brought the ship to general quarters.”
“Captain.” Lt. Commander Nicole Underwood’s long, slender fingers stroked the rim of her coffee cup. Her dark brown eyes flicked from the tactical display at her elbow to him and back again. “Have we picked up any signs of debris or damage groundside?”
“That’s a negative, XO.” He shook his head. “I’ve ordered Tactical to use passive scans only. Since we don’t know what’s going on, we used one of the drones to hopefully make it appear that we left the system when we didn’t receive a response to our hails. It won’t work for long, especially not if there’s another ship in the system. But it will give us a little more time to try to figure out what’s going on. If this is a trap, I don’t want to walk into it blindly. Hell, I don’t want to walk into it at all.”
That was something Ashlyn could agree with completely. She hated the delay, especially when her people were so close, but she knew she couldn’t ask Carlisle to endanger the lives of his crew without having at least some idea of what they might be up against. But knowing it didn’t make it any easier.
Damn it.
“What are your orders, Captain?” the XO asked.
“I’d like to hear what each of you think. Randy?” He looked to Lt. Randy Hrabek, senior flight officer for the Magellan.
“I’d recommend putting our LACs on standby. I’d like to put First Squad in the air, Captain. Let them take a look around, see what they can find. We need to see what’s going on groundside.”
“I agree with the lieutenant, sir,” the XO said, her mouth pulling down in a frown. “I could buy comms going offline at one location but not planet-wide.”
“Lieutenant Marshall?” The captain turned to his Marine CO. As he did, Ashlyn had to give him credit. He was according the young lieutenant, who had only been out of the Academy a few years, all the respect he would a seasoned veteran. Not that she’d expected any different after being onboard the last few days.
“I agree with Randy, sir. I’ve already ordered our Marines to prepare for a drop. Sergeants Hayes and Broussard will hold their units back as possible boarding parties in case we need them. Squads One and Two are prepping now and will bunk in their shuttles until the emergency is over.”
Ashlyn nodded slightly in approval. That was exactly what she’d have done in the lieutenant’s place. By having the squads bunking in the shuttles, they would be ready to drop at a moment’s notice. Good. Maybe the kid wasn’t as green as she’d feared.
“Captain Shaw, your thoughts?”
“Sir, you know the Devil Dogs’ mission. We’re to secure the release of those sent to the military prison on Tarsus with me. However, much as I hate to say it, our priority has to be on discovering why those platforms are off-line. I’m sure Major Pawlak will agree with me when I say the Devil Dogs are at your service and will do as you order.”
Her heart broke as she said it but she what else could she do? She wanted nothing more than to free her people. But the safety of the ship and its crew had to come first. Like it or not, she had to accept the possibility that the enemy was in-system. If so, it was the Magellan’s duty to make sure the Callusians couldn’t advance any further into Fuerconese space. If that meant her people were injured, or worse, that was the price she’d have to pay. Of course, it was also a price she’d exact a hundred-fold from those responsible, not only for whatever happened to her people but from those who originally sent them to Tarsus in the first place.
For a moment, Carlisle didn’t say anything. Instead, he looked from Ashlyn to Pawlak where the major sat at her side, his expression serious. Then, as if seeing what he needed to, Carlisle nodded slightly before si
tting up straighter in his chair.
“Lieutenant Marshall, no disrespect to you or to your abilities, but I’m going to ask Major Pawlak and the Devil Dogs to take lead for this mission. My grandfather and I might not agree on a lot of things, but there is one thing he taught me that I wholeheartedly agree with: you always put your most experienced Marine CO in charge of your ground forces.”
Ashlyn bit back a smile. She noticed the captain didn’t mention his father. She’d had the extreme displeasure of serving on a ship then Commander Josiah Carlisle was the CO on. The elder Carlisle was one of those who felt the only things Marines should be used for was cannon fodder for enemy ground troops until the Navy could swoop in and win the day. He’d refused to allow a Marine to do anything more than stand guard on his ships. When the Navy began allowing Marines to pilot shuttles and attack ships, he had been one of those to argue that it would diminish the quality of the Navy.
In short, as far as Ashlyn was concerned, he’d been an idiot. Fortunately, his son didn’t show the same tendencies.
“Captain, I agree with you and with your grandfather. I know my limitations and, if we are walking into an ambush, Major Pawlak, Captain Shaw and the rest of the Devil Dogs have much more experience than I do. I’d be a fool to object to their taking point. Besides, there’s not a Marine in my command who wouldn’t give his right arm to watch the Devil Dogs in action up close and personal.” The young man gave a cheeky grin that left no doubts about his willingness to step aside in their favor.
“Thank you, Captain, LT, but I’d like to make a slight alteration,” Pawlak said, waving aside Marshall’s objections before he could voice them. “The LT knows his men. He knows who is best to send into any given situation. I’d be a fool to forget that. I suggest we drop the DDs in the first shuttle. We’ll secure the landing area and make first entry. The LT can choose the squads to back us up. I’d also like at least two attack shuttles and Lieutenant Hrabek’s LACs in the air for support.”
