by Sam Schall
“And when you return?”
“I have no idea beyond knowing I’ve been ordered to report back to the doctors. I need to have my implants updated and, while they do that, they’ll deal with the rest of my scars. They’ll also run me through all the psych evals. From what I’ve been told, those of us sent to Tarsus are being treated like former POWs where that’s concerned.” She still didn’t like the idea of having to put herself in the hands of the shrinks but she knew it was necessary, at least if she wanted to return to active duty. “General Okafor has already told me that, between the time I’ll be spending with the medics and the time I’ll need to bring my training back up to where it needs to be, I’ll be planetside for several months at least. After that’s done, we’ll see what FleetCom wants to do with me.”
Chapter Ten
“Ms. Moreau, I’m sorry to disturb you but there’s a gentleman here who insists on seeing you.”
Evan Moreau quickly typed in a command and watched as the vid-feed from the reception area of her office was activated. A frown touched her lips followed almost instantly by a mix of fear and anger. Why was he here? He’d never come to her office before. They had agreed at the beginning of their working relationship that the less direct contact they had, the better. She’d overlooked the way he’d appeared unannounced at her apartment. But this, this was pushing it because there were too many potential witnesses to his being there.
“All right, Keisha. Give me five minutes and then show him in.”
Almost before she ended the comm, Moreau was on her feet. She moved quickly to the safe hidden behind one of the several paintings adorning her office walls. The biometric and genetic sensors released the lock and the safe door swung open. It didn’t take long to claim the weapons inside.
Next, she input the proper commands into her terminal to block any recording of what might be said, both from inside the room as well as from outside. Then, just moments before the five minutes was up, she returned to her desk, making sure nothing about her or her surroundings betrayed her concern.
“Mr. Kannedy,” her secretary said before leaving the office, closing the door behind her.
“I’m surprised to see you here,” Moreau said and motioned for him to have a seat in one of the two chairs before her desk.
As he did, she nodded slightly in satisfaction. He’d just confirmed her suspicions. He wasn’t nearly as versed in how to control a room as he wanted her to think. If he were, he never would have sat where she’d indicated. He’d have chosen one of the chairs to the side of the office, one that wouldn’t have him looking into the light from the window lining the wall behind her. Instead, he’d put himself at a disadvantage. She could see his expression and how he reacted to anything said while the bright light behind her obscured his view of her face.
Fool.
“You screwed up, Moreau.” He leaned forward, jabbing a finger in her direction.
She bit down the anger that bubbled up at his accusation. She’d been expecting it. She just hadn’t expected him to be foolish enough to come here. God, what if he’d let himself be followed?
“I’m not sure what you mean.” She leaned back, doing her best to look relaxed and just a bit concerned.
“You were supposed to take care of Shaw.”
“No, I was supposed to make sure no attention was levelled at you or your partners and I’ve done that.”
“You’ve done everything but that!” he countered.
His hands tightened on the arms of his chair. As they did, Moreau let her right hand drop to her waist where one of her knives rested. If he made a move, he was a dead man.
“Sit still and keep your voice down.” She didn’t raise her voice. Quite the contrary. She lowered it, speaking softer so he had to lean forward some to hear her. As he did, she noted the way he paled and knew he recognized the warning in her words. Good.
“The only one to put any of us in danger right now is you. First by going to my apartment without giving me a chance to take certain precautions and now by showing up unannounced here. Think about that for a moment and then tell me why you think I screwed up.”
She waited, giving him a moment to process what she said.
“You assured me you would take care of everything when we learned Shaw was back on the planet. Instead of having someone slit her throat, you’ve sat back and watched as she’s been cleared of all charges and sent off to retrieve the rest of her people from Tarsus.”
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 with you? Have the come to ask what sort of business you might have had with Sorkowski?”
For a moment, he didn’t say anything. Then he shook his head.
“In fact, have you heard of anything more than how FleetCom is doing everything it can 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 might be 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 do. 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 system 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 was going to 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 than peace is. 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 everyone else figured out what was going on, the war would be in full-swing and the balance of power would finally shift.
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 question 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.
***
“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 simply 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 it intellectually. 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’d miscounted before. 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’d 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, 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 are showing 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. 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 Fuercone
se 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 sitting 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 the 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’d 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.”
