by Susan Kelley
“Sentinel,” Becker said, frowning at Edow. “Our queen says she’s ready to speak with the captain.”
“Thank you. Dismissed.” Joe waited until Becker left the building. “Captain Edow, my men and I would like to keep the queen and her ladies out of this mess. Our trial can only bring them unsavory speculation.”
“I can’t order them not to appear in court. They may be requested to give testimony to your character.”
“Not if our legal counsel doesn’t call them to witness.”
“Who is representing you?”
“We wanted to talk to you about that, sir.”
* * * *
Nothing in Callie’s imagination could have concocted the events of the last few days so she knew it hadn’t all been a dream. It was too horrible even for a nightmare.
Riba leaned across the table and wrapped her hands around Callie’s. “She was so happy. These last few weeks with Vin opened a world to her she had never thought to find.”
Callie nodded, finding Riba’s assurance bittersweet. Yalo had found love but only had a short time to enjoy it.
“Do you think Vin will be all right?”
“I don’t know.” Callie wondered if Vin had ever told Yalo he loved her. “Joe thinks he escaped undetected by the Galactic Military ship.”
“What now?”
Callie looked around at the little bits of luggage the women had put together. “We can’t help Vin, and we’ve said our goodbyes to Yalo. It’s time to save the ones we can.”
* * * *
Captain Edow offered his condolences and apologies. “I feel my premature departure from Giroux and a terrible underestimation of Hadrason’s intentions contributed to this horrible situation, your highness.”
“How could any of us have known? I’m glad to hand him over to you.”
“It will be my pleasure to see he meets his justice.”
“That brings me to my marines, captain. Let’s speak justice.”
Edow’s posture stiffened. “I’m afraid they’re not your marines. They must return with me.”
“Return and face the justice meted out to them by a corrupt court?”
“I don’t intend to let that happen.”
“How can you prevent it?”
“Joe asked me to be their counselor if we can get a new hearing.”
“Why you?”
A wry smile curved Edow’s lips, and he shrugged. “I guess somewhere between here and Giroux, Joe decided to trust me.”
“Can you get a new trial?”
“Perhaps. With what we know about Smeltz working with Hadrason, we know where to look for evidence of a frame.”
“Captain, if Joe trusts you, I must do the same. Before returning to Giroux, I had asked General Drant to investigate the court-martial.”
“You really believe in them, don’t you, your highness?”
“Don’t you, Captain? How can anyone spend time with them and not know what kind of men they are?”
“If you’d ever seen them fight, you would know why people question their humanity,” Edow warned.
Callie smiled. “I’ve seen them fight, sir. Let me testify.”
* * * *
“I’m warm enough, Mak.” Joe lifted his face to the heat coils in the ceiling of his cell.
“How about you, Kam?” Mak called.
“I’m fine, but I’m pretty hungry.”
“The kitchens are on the floor about us. Take the north stairwell,” Roz advised.
“Stop tapping into their systems,” Joe ordered. He knew the confinement bored his men. Their restlessness grew as the hour approached for their new hearing. Less than a day to go. “If they find out how easily we could escape this place, they might think we’re dangerous.”
“They already think that.” Roz wandered into Joe’s cell. “I bet they have a whole platoon standing guard on the floor above us.”
“If you guys would stop unlocking all the cell doors and using their electronics to reverse their sensors, they might not think they needed to guard us so tightly.”
“We haven’t tried to escape, have we?” Mak walked into Joe’s cell too, apparently done playing with the climate controls.
Joe sighed and sat up. He’d thought about a nap, but his men were too restless. “Edow told us to sit tight and draw as little attention as possible.”
Kam joined them, folding his strong legs and sitting on the floor. “I don’t like this place.”
“We’ve been in worse places.” Joe felt closed in too. “Rest easy. Edow seems a clever man, and he understands how these courts work.”
“At least the women are safe.” Mak said. “Sontu should have them back on Giroux by now.”
Joe listened while the men talked about the children and what they might be doing. His thoughts kept returning to Callie’s ill-fated attempt to follow him when Hadrason caught her. At least that bastard was no longer a danger to her. But the taint of associating herself with the marines at this trial was.
“Do you think Callie will send more soldiers to guard Crevan Four?” Kam asked.
Joe only hoped his queen had returned home.
* * * *
“Everyone wait here. Jak and I will get in touch if we need you.” Callie straightened the thin band of crystallized iron serving as her crown. More precious than gold, the iron represented the power and integrity of her position.
“I think at least one more of us should go with you,” Riba insisted with Grace and Acacia voicing their agreement.
“Stay here with the children and the guards. Captain Edow believes my word should be enough.” Callie didn’t want to tell them the captain feared the judges might speculate about personal relationships between the marines and the women inspired their support.
“What will we do if they uphold their convictions?” Acacia asked.
“I don’t know.” But Callie knew she would do anything, even break the law, to keep Joe from the living hell of the Nye Moon. “We’ll deal with that if we must.”
“It’s time, your highness,” Jak said as he entered the salon. They’d taken a massive suite in a stylish inn. Ten guards had joined them in the city of Banok while Becker and his men stayed behind on Crevan Four.
“What’s wrong, Jak?”
The old soldier’s face looked grim even accounting for the recent sorrow of Yalo’s death. “Bad news, I fear. I’ve heard that Hadrason will testify.”
“Surely his testimony will easily be refuted by me, Joe and even Captain Edow and his men.”
Jak shook his head. “We’re in his territory now, your highness. Who knows what kind of influence he might have in the court. I’m also worried he has planted agents among the population to seek vengeance on you.”
“How could he arrange that from his prison cell?”
“Worse news.” Jak looked even more miserable. “He’s been allowed out on a bond insurance.”
“Spirit Father! Will it never end? He murdered Yalo!”
“You understand my fears now, your highness. If a man can be permitted to roam free after committing murder, what chance do our marines have against them?”
* * * *
Spectators! Joe kept his gaze forward, looking only at the judge and the panel of six civilians.
“Are you all right?” Captain Edow whispered.
“Yes, sir.” Joe set aside the smells and sounds of the audience. He’d been trained to ignore distractions.
The prosecutor gave a fiery speech, accusing Joe of many crimes, not the least of which was being of unnatural origins.
The crowd murmured as the flamboyant man horrified them with tales of pitiless slaughter of innocents perpetrated by the Recon Marines.
Edow stood when the prosecutor ended his rant. The calm, professional soldier contrasted with the other man as steel did to bread dough. “This man would have you believe stories told to frighten children are fact. I shall reveal the truth to this court. Joe is a professional soldier the same as I am.
As are all members of the Galactic Army that guard your homes. He can’t help his genetic background. What child has a choice of who his parents are?”
The captain paused and looked at the panel. “The service this man has given to the Galactic Alliance will likely never be made public. The sacrifices he has made will remain unsung ballets of heroism. But this much will be proven to you, when he had to make the choice between killer and duty-bound soldier, he always made the right choice. He didn’t murder Feamus Smeltz or any other civilian.”
The first witness hobbled into the courtroom, leaning on an ornate cane. Geoff Hadrason hauled himself up the two steps to the stand. His pretty hair hung dull and lifeless, and his skin matched the gray of the judge’s robes. He’d aged, but his eyes still gleamed with arrogance and hate when he stared at Joe.
“Tell us about the events on Giroux that put you in contact with this soldier, Mr. Hadrason.” The prosecutor curled his lip at Joe as Hadrason wove his fabrication.
“I arrived a day behind Minister Smeltz. I’d hoped to offer Queen Callie Adell a mining agreement. But the queen had fallen under the power of this renegade and fled the castle with him when Smeltz attempted to arrest him. They returned sometime after I arrived. Using secret passages, this creature killed Smeltz while the queen distracted me. When I realized what had occurred, I ordered my men to detain the queen and the murderer.”
Hadrason shifted, his face scrunching up as if in pain. “They tried to kill me also, but the quick actions of my bodyguards saved me.”
“What motive did these people have in this unwarranted attack on you?” the prosecutor asked.
“Objection,” Edow said mildly.
“Withdrawn.” The prosecutor smiled at Hadrason. “Sir, did you do anything that would have mislead the queen of Giroux or the defendant into thinking you meant them harm?”
“I believe this soldier sought only to protect himself and used the easily influenced queen while he hid behind her skirts.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Edow stood and faced the mine owner. “Isn’t it true that your actual intent was to force the queen into marriage?”
“Of course not.”
“Didn’t you have her personal guards locked away so she was at your mercy?”
“No.” Beads of sweat sprouted on Hadrason’s brow.
“Isn’t the queen still recovering from the drug you gave her to force her compliance?”
“I gave her no drug. Do I look like a man who has to force a woman?”
“Did you bring her under your control by threatening the members of her court if she didn’t give herself over to you?”
“That is ridiculous!”
“Didn’t Minister Smeltz set the stage for you so you could take over Giroux?”
“He….”
Edow interrupted. “Didn’t you kill him yourself to rid you of an increasingly expensive hireling?”
“Objection!” The prosecutor stood. “Minister Smeltz is not on trial. He’s the victim here. He’s dead and can’t answer these baseless attacks on his reputation.”
“Overruled. The witness will answer.”
“The question is too absurd to answer.”
Edow stepped toward Hadrason, his expression sterner. “Isn’t it true a few days ago, you attacked Queen Callie Adell’s ship and kidnapped her? In the course of the crime, did you not murder one of her personal entourage, Yalo Pangol?”
“This is outrageous,” the prosecutor roared. “No such crime has been reported. How dare you paint this witness, a valued member of the intergalactic community, as a vicious criminal with these blatant lies? You seek to depict him as a monster when it is your client who is guilty of these things.”
Edow answered before the judge made a ruling. “Sirs. I can call three hundred witnesses from my crew as well as the queen of Giroux herself. I also have a dozen soldiers of Giroux who will verify everything I’ve said. A Galactic Military Marshal is already on his way to arrest Hadrason for interstellar piracy.”
Joe couldn’t tell if Edow raised doubts in the minds of the panel, but he knew when a man was frightened. He could smell Hadrason’s fear.
Another faint scent drifted to Joe as the spectators shifted and mumbled among themselves. Callie!
Why was she here? He’d told her to stay away. He concentrated on the source of the familiar scent. She sat behind him but slightly to the left.
Joe shifted enough in his seat so he could turn his head slightly and see her. Her warm brown eyes stared into his. She smiled.
He looked away, but his chest felt full and tight. Had she come just for him, or because she might be implicated also?
* * * *
Callie hid her disappointment when Joe turned from her without even a flicker of welcome in his eyes. She turned her attention back to Edow’s questioning of Hadrason. The rich mine owner lied with every answer.
“May I play this security video loop, your honor?” Edow held up the palm-sized disc.
After receiving the judge’s approval, Edow started the video. It showed on a screen the entire room could watch.
“I slipped that to the captain before he left Giroux,” Sontu whispered.
The video started with scenes of Smeltz and Hadrason plotting together to force Callie into marriage. When Smeltz objected to his share of the spoils from Giroux, Hadrason shot him with a tiny laser gun he’d hidden behind his belt. The last shot was of Hadrason drugging Callie.
Edow smiled at Hadrason. “Now, sir, would you like to change your answers to some of my earlier questions?”
The panel whispered among themselves, and the spectators buzzed like a giant hive of bees. The judge slammed her old fashioned gavel, quieting the worst of the noise. “I suspend this hearing pending further investigation. I advise the prosecution to reexamine their charges.”
“May my client be released until such review is completed?” Edow asked.
“Your client is an escaped felon convicted by a military court. He needs to be returned to their custody regardless of the outcome of this hearing,” the judge answered.
“Then I request that as a representative of that military, I take responsibility for his confinement.”
The judge took a moment and then gave Edow permission to keep Joe on his ship rather than the civilian jail.
Callie caught up to Joe and Edow in the hall.
Edow greeted her. “I thought you would stay on Giroux.”
“And I thought you needed me to testify for Joe.”
“I told you there was no need for you to come, but you’re here now. Would you care to join us for dinner on my ship?”
“Thank you.”
“And you, Captain Sontu?”
Jak shook his head. “I’ll entrust my queen to your care, captain. I have a number of things I should attend to while here.”
Sontu bowed to Callie and nodded to the two men before taking his leave. The things he needed to attend to was the security of the other women. Callie didn’t want Joe and Edow to know all of them had followed their marines to Banok.
Callie walked between Joe and Edow, aware of Joe’s presence like a flame at her side. How long since she’d laid in peaceful, untroubled sleep in his arms? Would she ever do so again? Would he ever have the chance to understand the finer points of the strange society of humans?
Edow’s crew expected him. They went directly to a small dining area. Joe hadn’t looked at Callie or spoken at all. But he broke his silence when they sat down.
“Thank you, Captain Edow.”
“You’re welcome, Joe. It’s simple to defend an innocent man.” The captain’s communication unit beeped. He spoke into a mike on his collar and then rose. “Excuse me for a moment. I need to answer a special alert coming in.”
After the captain left, Joe started eating.
“Are you angry at me, Joe?”
He looked up, taking his time before answering. “No. Why would you think so?”
“I th
ought you would be happy to see me.” Callie could have kicked herself for admitting that, but she couldn’t call it back.
Joe looked astonished. “I am.”
Callie laughed. Had she expected Joe to pick her up and spin circles? Her worry melted away. “Joe, you’ve barely looked at me. Even smile.”
He frowned. “I’m not sure of my place with you, Callie.”
No ready answer for his confusion existed. “You’re my marine, my friend, my lover.”
“Which is first? I don’t even know how to greet you when others are about. The captain might think I’m being disrespectful if I call you by your given name.”
Callie didn’t want to discuss this now. She wanted Joe to hold her. She wanted to run her hands over his strong shoulders and back to assure herself he was fine.
Joe set his fork and knife by his plate as if someone might judge the precise alignment of the utensils. “I’m not even sure I can be any of those things you name. I must face the military charges against me. I won’t be a free man no matter the outcome. I’ll either be sent to prison or returned to duty. I can’t be your marine or … anything else.”
Callie’s jubilation burst. She reached across the table toward him. Her fingertips touched his for only a moment before he jerked his away. The door hissed open and Edow stepped inside.
“I’m afraid we’ll have to cut our evening short. General Drant sent word I’m to bring Joe and the others with all haste to Galactic Central Station. I contacted the court and told them we had to leave. I hope I didn’t overstep myself, your highness, but I ask if you could give a statement against Hadrason to seal his guilt.”
Callie agreed, falling on years of training to respond in a regal fashion while her true emotions went numb.
“Joe, we’ll lift off as soon as I arrange proper escort for the queen back to her rooms.”
“May I have a word with her in private, captain?”
“Of course. I must see to the escort.” Edow left again.
“Callie, be careful. I don’t trust that this thing with Hadrason is over. He has influence in too many places.”
“What about you?”
Joe stood, staring down at her with fierce intensity. “It would be best if no one ever finds out I shared your bed. It would lessen you in the eyes of some. I thank you for my time with you. I can die now, knowing what I fight for and with the memory that for a short time I was able to live it.”
