Into the Fire

by Elizabeth Moon

  “Between here and his family home? That seems most unlikely. And no trace of him found, or of his driver, or of the car, or of the two kitchen staff who disappeared a little later? Even more unlikely. I believe he was fleeing some trouble, and I have been looking for clues.”

  “In—in his desk?”

  “Yes. The forensic team was looking for indications of what might have been destroyed. I know they found evidence that the shredder and incinerator had both been used late in the evening before he left.”

  Stornaki was sweating now.

  “I found a small key in a hidden pocket of the bottom drawer on the other side,” Ky said, keeping her voice casual. “Obviously not to the safe—do you know what it was for?”

  “Perhaps a lockbox at home? His wife had some expensive jewelry. He might keep the spare here.”

  “Perhaps,” Ky said. “Though I would expect that to be in the Commandant’s quarters, not here. But no matter. I found disarray in the files, some things clearly missing, others disordered. And in this drawer—” She touched the top volume, tapped it. “Books of regulations. Did he have a particular interest in court-martial procedures? Was some cadet about to be indicted for a court-martial offense?”

  “Not that I know of, Commandant.” Stornaki jerked his head, as if his collar were suddenly too tight. “Of course, something might have come up that…uh…he had not yet told me. Or perhaps he’d been asked to serve on a court by General Molosay, out at the base.”

  Ky nodded, as if that made sense. “And this other volume, Joint Services Training Standards: are you aware of any problems here with satisfying the standards of a particular branch? Is interbranch rivalry a problem these days? I don’t remember problems with it, from my time…”

  “No…not that I know of.” Sweat rolled down his face now, darkening his high collar.

  “Um.” Ky looked down, deliberately, to see what he’d do, freed of her intent gaze. He slumped a little and took a step nearer. “There was another volume in that drawer I found somewhat…surprising.” She opened the middle drawer and with her left hand slid out the one she’d just put away, laying it flat on the desk as she pulled her pistol from the quick-draw she’d found. “Was it this you were looking for, Colonel Stornaki? This supposed text on conspiracy, treason, and sedition? With all the examples?”

  He turned even paler, and staggered. Ky had the pistol out and pointing at him. “Sit down in that chair behind you, hands on your head, Colonel.”

  “But I—but I didn’t do—but I didn’t—don’t—know—” The whites of his eyes gleamed.

  “I’m certain that you do know,” Ky said, riding the bubble of anger she felt. She tapped the desktop without taking her gaze from him, though he looked to be a shivering wreck. The menu came up, and she tapped Security.

  “Yes, Commandant?” It was Major Palnuss; she was glad she’d met him within the past hour.

  “There’s a situation in my office. I need the duty officer and two armsmen to take a prisoner into custody.”

  “Wha—Yes, Commandant.” Almost no hesitation.

  “I am armed and holding the prisoner at gunpoint. Inform your people that shooting me is not a good idea.”

  “Er…yes, Commandant.”

  In seconds Ky heard feet in the passage. Stornaki drew himself up, trying, she could tell, to look unafraid and innocent of all wrongdoing, but the patchy red and pale of his face betrayed him. A knock came first: “Commandant. This is Major Palnuss, Security duty officer.”

  “Thank you, Major. Come in. The prisoner will be to your left, seated, arms on head.” Stornaki jerked, as if to move his arms, but then held rigidly still. The door opened; Major Palnuss entered with two armsmen. His eyes widened a little when he spotted Stornaki but he said nothing.

  “It’s not me!” Stornaki said. “It’s her—she’s—she’s crazy or something—”

  “Commandant, do you have a charge to prefer?” Palnuss’s voice was calm.

  “Yes,” Ky said. “I have evidence that Colonel Stornaki has been part of a conspiracy to commit treason, in concert with former Commandant Kvannis.”

  “That’s ridiculous—you can’t possibly believe her!” Stornaki squirmed back in the chair as one of the armsmen pulled out a set of cuffs.

  Palnuss nodded to Ky. “You will be convening a court?”

  “Indeed,” Ky said. “In the meantime, I want him confined, and interrogated by another officer with the skill set, to whom I will transfer the evidence I have.”

  Palnuss nodded again, then turned to the passage. “Everts, Matsuko, take Colonel Stornaki into custody and confine him in an empty cell for the time being.”

  “You can’t—!”

  Palnuss interrupted him. “Former Commandant Kvannis arrested a colonel, as I’m sure you recall, Colonel Stornaki. Held him three nights in the Academy lockup before letting him contact his family. Inasmuch as Commandant Vatta is the Commandant, I’m certain she has just as much authority.”

  Stornaki clamped his jaw, glared at Ky and Palnuss alternately, then, shaking his head, stood and allowed himself to be cuffed and led away.

  Everts and Matsuko handled Stornaki efficiently, warily. Ky holstered her pistol as they took him away. Palnuss stayed behind. “For your information, Commandant, our facilities are not really suited for long-term confinement of senior officers. They’re fine for the drunk enlisted who needs to sleep it off, but—”

  “What other facilities are available to us?” Ky asked. “This is only my second day and I’m just learning my way around.”

  He smiled. “Yes, Commandant, I know that. May I ask how much threat you think Stornaki poses? Flight risk? Violent attacks?”

  “Flight risk, definitely. A risk to any investigation, as well. Likely to communicate with others in the conspiracy if he gets a chance.” She pushed the book toward him. “This is what he came to the office for this morning—he was surprised to find me here, and more surprised when I confronted him with what I’d learned. I’d assumed Kvannis would have taken anything incriminating with him—”

  “He destroyed documents the night he left,” Palnuss said, walking up to the desk. “Documents Destruction was locked up as usual when one of my people left at 1800, but Kvannis had a master key. Like all the master keys, it was numbered and recorded, so when he used it after 2030 to open the room, the automatic surveillance recorded his visit. I don’t know what he shredded and then burned, but I know it was about a tenth of a cubic meter.”

  “This book contains names, contact information, and timetables: some handwritten, some printed off a device.” Ky opened it to show the pages. “You will notice it’s bound like other books printed by Legal Services…that suggests to me that someone in the printing office is involved in this, too. I found it in the top drawer, right-hand side, of this desk, along with two other similarly bound books I haven’t yet examined fully. I had already found a key carefully hidden in the bottom drawer on the left-hand side.” Ky paused while Palnuss picked up the book, opened it, and looked at several of the pages. “I’m surprised Stornaki didn’t take it yesterday, before I arrived.”

  “I had a team in here all day, drilling out the safe and trying to understand what Kvannis was up to,” Palnuss said. “Then after you arrived I imagine the colonel had other worries.” He cocked his head. “You were looking because you thought you’d find something incriminating?” he asked, setting the book back down and pushing it toward her.

  “Kvannis fled in the night, after—” Ky paused. “You do know about the fate of the other survivors of the shuttle crash?”

  He shook his head. “Not all the details, but we got a bulletin from the base yesterday evening. They’d been illegally detained, mistreated, and were being freed and transported to the Joint Services Headquarters. There’s supposed to be a big press conference today, I heard.”

  “Going on about now,” Ky said. “I would be there if this weren’t my second day as Commandant. I didn’t get back f
rom the rescue until early yesterday morning.”

  “You were out there? I guess you would be, but—how dangerous was it?”

  “Moderately,” Ky said. “Shots were fired. Our side had more people and more firepower.” Some of which—Rodney’s militia and reserve friends with their “borrowed” armaments—would not ever be publicized. “A few nonfatal injuries on our side; a mix of fatal and nonfatal on the other.”

  “And you think Kvannis directed attacks on the rescue—”

  “Yes. There’s evidence that he specifically called out an AirDefense interceptor flight to attack the civilian aircraft in which personnel were being transported back to Port Major. I think he directed the entire operation. And when that was unsuccessful, he fled; he hasn’t been found yet. Since he was destroying documents before he left, I wonder why he didn’t destroy this.” She patted the book. “Unless he meant it to be found and rescued by his assistant. Stornaki caught my attention yesterday by what he said about Kvannis. When he appeared this morning, was surprised to find me, and then showed such interest in the open drawer and what I’d found…I knew.”

  “Commandant, I hope you’re right about this, because I’m going to cooperate without reservation. May I speak freely?”

  “Go ahead.”

  “I would like to transfer Colonel Stornaki immediately to the Joint Services Headquarters, but I do not know if all the security staff there are reliable. Do you?”

  “I know some of it is not. Sergeant Major Morrison is aware, and has officers she is sure are loyal—”

  “Morrison was involved in this?”

  “Yes. She arranged specialist troops for the rescue. It’s too long a story for now, but she found out what was going on, and helped us on the rescue. General Molosay is fully briefed on this issue as well. Would you like me to contact the general?”

  “Yes, I would. And I would advise that this book be copied immediately, with witnesses to swear to its provenance and the methods of copying, then sent to the forensic division at the headquarters.”

  “All good ideas,” Ky said. “I’ll call the general now; would you like to be on the call?”

  “Yes, as a witness.”

  “Take a seat, then. If you have orders to give your staff, do that now; we may be busy awhile.” She looked at the time. “Right in the middle of the media event out there…General Molosay may be unavailable, and so may the sergeant major and the Rector.” She touched her control screen. “Let’s see. It’s on open voice now.”

  “General Molosay’s office, Captain Gunsey speaking.”

  “This is Commandant Vatta at the Academy, Captain. Is the general available for an urgent matter?”

  “Commandant, he is still in the press conference. Can I be of assistance?”

  “I need to speak with the general at his earliest convenience,” Ky said. “In fact, the matter concerns the Rector and the sergeant major as well. I have discovered documents in the former Commandant Kvannis’s desk that bear on military security; we have a prisoner, Colonel Stornaki, who was involved in the conspiracy, in custody as well. I will be presenting a charge of treason.”

  “I see. Let me just check—”

  Ky raised her brows at Palnuss. Gunsey was speaking again before she could say anything.

  “Commandant, General Molosay can speak with you in five minutes; I have not yet ascertained if the Rector and sergeant major are available but I’m sure they will be. That gives time to set up a secured link for a conference call.”

  “Excellent,” Ky said. “I will be waiting.”

  She closed the connection, picked up the book on the desk, and stood. “I suggest, Major, that you check on Stornaki—make sure he has nothing on him for suicide. This is telling you your business, but I lost a prisoner that way once.”

  “Yes, Commandant. I will be back within five minutes.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  DAY 12

  When the signal came, Ky and Palnuss were both in her office. “Commandant Vatta,” Ky said. “Major Palnuss, the Security duty officer, is also present.”

  “General Molosay,” he said. “At your request, Rector Vatta and Sergeant Major Morrison are also present, along with Major Hong of Base Security, and Captain Gunsey, my aide, who will be recording this discussion. What’s happened?”

  “Colonel Stornaki, Kvannis’s second in command, is in custody, on my orders, for evidence of conspiracy. I found an intentionally mislabeled bound book in Kvannis’s desk containing information of operational significance: names, contact lists, dates, and at least one outlined plan of action for a mutiny within the military.”

  “Is it the only copy?”

  “I don’t know, General, but I doubt it. I believe Kvannis left this one for Colonel Stornaki to retrieve. We are concerned that this facility is not ideal for holding Colonel Stornaki; nor do we have the forensic and interrogation expertise.”

  “You want to send him here?”

  “Yes, General, if you have the facilities.”

  A pause. “We have the facilities, technically, but we, too, have discovered disturbing problems in personnel. Major Hong?”

  “Yes, General. Commandant, we also have identified a few individuals who appear to be involved with the same conspiracy to mutiny, but we are by no means certain we have found all of them. We’ve been working on this problem, as it regards this base, since the sergeant major returned from TDY—”

  “I know about that,” Ky said.

  “Yes, Commandant. That’s why I’m not at all certain we’ve found all the conspirators—we still don’t know how many there are, and we’re having to rely on self-reporting far more than is safe. Some of those we’ve detained have managed to suicide.”

  “Do you have another suggestion for Colonel Stornaki?” Ky asked.

  “No, Commandant. Just giving you the latest facts. I can arrange transportation by a team I trust, if that is your decision. What about the book? Do you want the forensic team here to go over it?”

  “Yes. We will make plain copies here, then send the original to you. The Academy does not have multiband scanners and other forensic tools.”

  “Understood. We don’t actually have much in the way of documentary evidence here, so it can go to the top of the stack at once. From your brief examination, is there immediate threat status in it?”

  “I’m not sure,” Ky said. “I’ve looked at only a few of the pages. Though the header is in clear, dates appear to be encrypted.”

  “Definitely an urgent concern. It will take me about an hour and a half to arrange for the prisoner transport.”

  “We will make copies of the book—”

  “Two witnesses, if you can, from separate organizations—”

  “Understood, Major. If there’s nothing else—?”

  “Not from me, Commandant. Sir?” Hong turned to General Molosay.

  “We have a plan,” Molosay said, with a tight smile. “Rector?”

  “I will contact the Commandant later,” Grace said.

  “Then I’ll get my people busy on those copies and continue a detailed search of this room,” Ky said. “And of course Stornaki’s quarters.”

  When she disconnected, Major Palnuss said, “There’s a copier on this floor, Commandant, just down the hall. We can snag a Student Services clerk on the way.”

  The copying went smoothly and the clerk prepared affidavits for them all to sign and thumb-stamp. Back in the Commandant’s office, Major Palnuss did a quick search of the desk, finding another hidden compartment in the bottom drawer on the right. Both, when opened, held slim folders full of more information. The right-hand drawer’s compartment also held the little book Ky had last seen in Miksland, Colonel Greyhaus’s logbook.

  “We won’t have time to copy all that,” Palnuss said when she showed it to him. “We could send it along—”

  “I turned it in to the military once,” Ky said, “and it disappeared, along with the other evidence I’d brought.”

>   “What other evidence?”

  “IDs from the pilots of the shuttle and everyone who died. Bio samples from those poisoned—”

  “Poisoned! I didn’t hear anything about that.”

  “No. Well, the pilots’ emergency suits—and the Commandant’s and his aide’s—were all sabotaged to inject poison when they closed the faceplate. I collected samples of foam—saliva—from their lips. And the shuttle’s black box. Carried all that everywhere we went, handed it over to the military on my return to Port Major.”

  “So we should be looking for that, too?”

  “If you see something like a flight recorder—it was in an orange case, by the way—it could prove that the shuttle itself was also sabotaged.”

  “Right. And ID packets?”

  “Yes. I imagine the samples taken from the dead were simply incinerated, but then here’s Greyhaus’s logbook.”

  “And he’s dead, too…”

  “Yes, so I was told.”

  “I think I should go along and make sure that Colonel Stornaki and the other items reach someone reliable.”

  “I was about to ask you to do just that, Major. I should not leave the Academy until things have settled out.”

  “Agreed.”

  After he left, Ky opened the door to her secretary’s office. “Sera, that disturbance you heard was Colonel Stornaki showing himself to be a conspirator; he is now under arrest.”

  She looked frightened. “Am I—”

  “You are not under arrest, Sera, but I do need some answers. Did you ever suspect Kvannis or Stornaki of wrongdoing?”

  “N-no. Commandant—former Commandant—Kvannis hired me; he is—was—such a nice man. I was actually his wife’s social secretary for years. I thought they had only military personnel out here, but he knew I needed a job and said the military pay plus a little more from him would be better. And he said he’d be more comfortable with me than with the former Commandant’s secretary, who was—well, I gather they did not get along. Of course he would prefer someone who didn’t argue all the time.”

  Ky nodded, to keep her going.