Shedding the Past, page 11
part #8 of Coalition Series
“I kinda figured it might. Nice to speak to you, Your Majesty—”
“Wooow,” a disembodied voice said from off screen.
Harmon glanced to the side, then turned back to the screen with a grin. “You’ll have to forgive Clip. Commander Kolget. He has something of a…fascination with beings we haven’t encountered before.”
“It is better than some first impressions we have made. It’s understandable. In any case, is there something Strorix can do for you, President Tomeral?”
“Actually, it’s the other way around. I think I have something you would be interested in. There’s a ship called the Ahluic, commanded by a Grand Admiral Githen, in my system.”
El’Jyiurma growled dangerously and spread her hood at the very mention of the name.
“Frost!”
Harmon glanced off screen again, then turned back to the pickup. “Sorry if I’ve upset you, Your Majesty, but let me explain. They aren’t here as guests. They dropped in with a crippled ship and don’t have the power to get through the gate.”
El’Jyiurma slowly collapsed her hood and forced herself to calm down. “My apologies. That ship is responsible for the destruction of what was, until I was appointed Queen, my flagship. And the death of its crew.”
“I see. I wasn’t aware of that; I’m sorry to hear it. It’s a feeling I know well. I am aware of other things they, and the system they represent, have done, and I can tell you they’re no friends of mine. Salvage System has no tolerance for slavers. We’re also aware they bombarded your planet.”
If Serpentes could visually express surprise, she would have, and she was grateful they couldn’t. He had certainly done his homework. “Yes, they did,” she confirmed, not trusting herself to say more.
“I seriously considered turning the Ahluic into dust, but I figured it might be more right to turn ‘em over to you, since you’re the ones they wronged most recently.”
“I’m afraid, at the moment, I do not have ships to spare to retrieve them.”
“That’s easy enough to deal with; we can bring it to you,” he said and then glanced off screen. “Ah, right. There is, of course, the cost of the gate transits.”
“Those can easily be covered. Perhaps, though, there is something I have to offer that might interest you and would be of great assistance.”
“Now, I’m interessted,” another voice said.
“Both of my systems, Strorix and Neithea, have recently seen their share of battles, and the wreckage is becoming a burden, especially in Neithea, where trade traffic will hopefully be flowing soon. We have moved it aside as best we can, but we are hardly equipped for such things.”
“If there’s one thing we know a thing or two about, it’s salvage. I’m certain we can get some folks over there to take care of that for you, and one of the salvage ships can clamp on to the Ahluic and bring it along.”
“Excellent. That is one thing less to worry about. I do appreciate your reaching out, President Tomeral.”
“Glad to help. One can never have too many friends.”
“On that, we agree.”
“We’ll get a roster of ships and a schedule to you as soon as we figure out who’s going so you know who to expect and when.”
“Thank you again.”
El’Jyiurma rested on her coils when the transmission ended. “Isn’t that convenient?”
“Which part?” El’Iroru asked.
“All of it. The Ahluic, even if the crew isn’t cooperative, will hold a wealth of intelligence data on the Gnevusin. It will probably have details on their home world and fleet dispositions.”
“To plan the attack.”
“Yes. And there will be one, but, first, we must acquire the new ships and get the crews fully trained and ready to face a fleet that is no stranger to battle.”
* * *
Grand Admiral Githen clenched his jaw as he stared at his blank screen after viewing the message he had just received from Grand Emperor Atho. It had taken days for Atho to respond, and the response was not good. He’d known the emperor wouldn’t be pleased, but he had never imagined this. He had been bred for his role. His parents had both been high-ranking officers with recognized command skills. Since he was a young child, he’d been on ships, learning every aspect of their operation. Now, his emperor had turned his back on him. He had been stripped of his rank and position in the Gnevusin Home Fleet and left to fend for himself. It wasn’t uncommon in Gnevusin culture for someone incapable of service to be outcast, banished, or sent to the arena or slave pens, but he never imagined it would happen to him.
He could not let his crew find out. The grand emperor’s message had been specifically for him; it had not included his crew. If they were to find out, there would be a mutiny, and they would attempt to return home, triumphant in having dealt with the failure. He looked around his office as he plotted his next move. The bulkheads were covered with mounted trophies from his conquests. From each planet he had conquered or ship he had defeated and captured the crew as slaves, he had kept something to remind him of his success.
Before he could decide on a course of action, Lieutenant Shardii’s voice came over his comm. “Grand Admiral Githen, I am sorry to bother you, but President Tomeral wishes to speak to you.”
Githen raised an eyebrow. “Put him through,” he said and thought, perhaps, his problems were about to be solved.
“It’s about time, President Tomeral. I assume you are prepared to repair my ship?”
“Actually, no,” Tomeral said and smiled, though Githen saw that the smile did not reach his eyes. “Within the day, one of my ships will approach you, and you will clamp on to it. That ship will take you out of my system.”
“To where?” he demanded.
“Does it matter? You either do as you’re told, or I will turn your ship into dust without thinking twice about it. Salvage Title out.”
Githen snarled as the screen went blank, and he slammed his fist on the table so hard he winced and wondered absentmindedly if he’d broken something. He didn’t care. The pain simply fueled his anger.
He stormed onto the bridge. “Commander Sulla, what is the status of our reactors?” he asked harshly.
Sulla looked up from his station. “Grand Admiral, they are trying. Best estimate on attempting to restart reactor two is a thirty percent chance of success. Failure would lead to detonation that would likely split the ship.”
“Tell them to try harder, or I will flay them one by one until I find someone capable of doing their job!”
* * *
Yafi woke early the next morning and dressed. He was eager to get on with his training, but also ready to return home. He smiled as he read a message he’d received from Zameeh, telling him about the new city names and progress on the planet. It didn’t seem real that only months ago they had been just short of slaves, and now they were running their own planet with the help of the Serpentes and humans from Strorix. He walked over and opened the door when someone knocked, and he smiled when he saw Lieutenant Ulmer.
“Good morning, Lieutenant Ulmer. Time to go?”
Ulmer nodded. “Yep. Come on.”
Yafi glanced down at him as they walked down the corridor. Something seemed different about Ulmer this morning, but he wasn’t sure if it would be polite to ask. He tried to remember all his interactions during his time on Gieliv, then reached a decision.
“Is everything okay, Lieutenant?”
“Yeah, just tired.”
“Oh. I had some trouble sleeping when I first got here. Doctor Gibson made me some tea, I think she called it. That seemed to help. Perhaps I can find out what it was?”
“That’s okay. Thanks, Yafi.”
Yafi shrugged and remained silent until they reached the range. Colonel Brady and the others from the previous training session were already there.
“Thank you, Lieutenant Ulmer. Take your position please,” she said. “Yafi, good morning. I hope you slept well; it’s going to be a busy day.”
“Yes, I did, thank you,” he responded with a smile.
“Excellent. Today we’ll be tackling a whole different beast,” she said and picked up a human-sized version of the rifle Yafi saw on the table before him. “This is the BC-50 ballistic rifle. It’s capable of single fire, burst fire, or fully automatic fire.”
Yafi looked at her, completely confused. “I do not know what that means. Isn’t the laser rifle good enough?”
“Good question. In a word, no. There are some materials and beings lasers aren’t effective against. That’s when you have to go with a ballistic round.”
“What does ballistic mean?”
There were some chuckles from the assembled platoon leaders.
“Shut your holes!” she commanded, and silence fell quickly. She picked up a bullet from the table. “This is a ballistic round. A small explosive charge propels a solid slug of metal at the target, rather than a beam of focused light. If you’ll put on your ear protection, I’ll demonstrate.”
Yafi picked up a set of ear coverings and put them over his ears, while the humans put plugs in their ears.
“Range hot!” she yelled as she aimed and fired a few rounds on single-fire.
He jumped at each shot as he felt the concussion waves hit his chest. He looked down range and squinted at the farthest target. It had several holes in the middle black mark.
“That was single fire,” she shouted. “This is fully automatic.”
She aimed again and pulled the trigger.
Yafi took a few steps back at the barrage of sound from the rifle. When she stopped and ejected the magazine, the barrel was smoking. He looked down range again and saw that the holes were all over the target. He shuddered as he remembered what his people looked like. These were the kinds of guns the enforcers on Neithea had used, and he knew what they could do to the Gnevusin body. He shook his head and backed away further as the memories flooded his mind.
“No…I can’t,” he said.
Before he knew it, he was running away from the range. He didn’t stop until he was back in his quarters, where he curled up on his bed and hugged his pillow. When he closed his eyes, all he could see were the bodies of his friends and family, who had been executed for one reason or another by the enforcers, rather than being sent to the arena.
* * *
Ulmer watched Yafi while Colonel Brady fired, and the look on Yafi’s face hurt. Panic and fear overtook the Gnevusin, and he ran away as though she were about to turn the rifle on him.
Brady sighed and pulled out her earplugs. “Ulmer, go see if you can calm him down.”
“Actually, Colonel…I need to speak to you privately about something.”
“Can’t it wait?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Fine. Bailey, you go.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Bailey, Ulmer’s friend, said and jogged off after Yafi.
“Alright. Everyone else, dismissed. We’ll try again later. Ulmer, with me.”
He walked with her to her office, still not quite sure what he was going to say.
She dropped her earplugs on her desk and sat heavily in her chair while Ulmer stood at attention. “Never expected that…” she said and shook her head. “Have a seat, Lieutenant. What’s so urgent?”
Ulmer sat and looked at the ground while he tried to figure out where to start.
“I doubt the answer to my question is on the ground, Lieutenant.”
He took a deep breath and nodded to himself before he looked up at her, but he couldn’t meet her eyes. “Ma’am, it started when the Serpentes first attacked us. I lost my little sister in that attack.”
After that start, the words came flowing out. He told her how he was recruited by Representative Manning’s people to be a part of a resistance when the first Serpentes came to the planet. He explained his role in the attack on Spencer Green’s property and admitted that he’d fired the shot that killed Cora Green. Without stopping, he explained what he knew of the organization of the resistance, but there wasn’t much he could tell since it was so compartmentalized.
“The only other thing I know is that it appears to be run, at least locally, by Bobby Merritt, who I know as Steve. He’s the one who organized the attack on the Green property. I think they may have more people inside the military, but I swear, I don’t know who.”
When he finished, he expected her to yell, or scream, or shoot him. Something. But she never said a word or made a move.
“I know I can’t undo what I’ve done. But…I’m sorry,” he whispered.
She shook her head. “Son, do you realize how deep the shit you’re in is?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said and stared down at his hands.
“I don’t know whether to feel sorry for you or beat you to within an inch of your life. Fortunately for you, the law is clear. You’re under arrest for murder and conspiracy against allies of Gieliv. I’m sure the intel folks will want to have lots of talks with you, and any information you can provide might just save your life, but that’s not my decision.”
After a quick call from Brady, two soldiers showed up and took him to the brig where he would be kept, probably for what little time remained of his life. He went along without argument or comment.
* * *
President Frazier leaned back in his chair, though he was anything but relaxed. When he received a call from General Stevens asking to see him immediately, he knew it wouldn’t be good news. Stevens had also brought Colonel Brady, who he had not met before. They’d turned down any refreshment and wanted to get straight to business.
“General Stevens, Colonel Brady, you have my attention.”
“Thank you for seeing us so quickly. I’m afraid this couldn’t wait. Colonel, you talked to him, please summarize the situation.”
Brady explained the events of the morning and went into full detail about Ulmer’s confession and the information he had provided.
“You see why I wanted to discuss this in person,” Stevens said after Brady finished.
“I certainly do. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I had a feeling Manning wasn’t done, but…” He shook his head and sighed.
“Yes, sir.”
“You believe him? This…what was his name? Ulmer?”
“Yes, sir. This isn’t the sort of thing someone would lie about. He’s pretty much signed up to die. I’ve already got our intelligence teams tearing apart his life to try to find contacts. We’re also tracking down Bobby Merritt and doing the same with him.”
Frazier nodded. Stevens was good at his job, but this went beyond the purview of the military. “You’ll need to loop in civilian intelligence. I’m guessing Merritt isn’t military?”
“No, he’s not. Never has been.”
“Do you realize how complicated life just got?”
“I believe I have an idea, sir.”
“We’re going to have to tell the Serpentes about this, not to mention breaking it to Spencer Green that a member of our own military killed his wife. People are going to be out for blood.”
“I’m more concerned there’s another mole somewhere. I’d like to request we delay the training mission to Neithea. I know you promised it, and I agreed, but Ulmer was supposed to be on that team.”
“And he could have done a lot of damage,” Frazier said, finishing Stevens’ thought. “I get it, Bryan. No offense, Colonel, but I’m afraid some of the discussions we’re going to have are above your pay grade, so to speak. Can you think of anything else to add?”
“Only that I never suspected Lieutenant Ulmer, sir. He’s always been a stand-up soldier. A little off sometimes, but he always got the job done.”
“Are you defending him, Colonel?”
“No, sir! I’m saying that if he had me fooled…”
Frazier nodded. “Understood. If he had you fooled, there might be another member of the resistance in your unit. Is there anything else you need her here for, Bryan?”
“No, sir. Dismissed, Colonel. Thank you for bringing this to my attention immediately. For now, proceed as if the mission is still on. We don’t want to tip our hand. Let’s also make an excuse for Ulmer’s absence and keep his arrest under wraps if it isn’t already out.”
“I’ll see to it, sir,” Brady said as she stood, saluted, and turned on her heel to march out of the office.
Frazier relaxed a bit and ran his hand over his close-cropped hair. “This is a real shit-show, Bryan.”
“I believe that may be the understatement of the century.”
* * * * *
Chapter 11
Yafi sat on the floor with his back to the corner of the room, his knees pulled up to his chest, with his arms wrapped around them. He had his head down on his knees and his eyes clenched shut. The sound wouldn’t go away. His ears rang, and he wept for the Gnevusin he had seen die over his lifetime.
There was a light tap-tap-tap on the door, and he jerked his head up, shivering. In his mind, it wasn’t a tap; it was the booming of a fist hitting the door of his hovel. His eyes wide, he tried to say ‘come in’ but no sound emerged. He did his best to calm his breathing, wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, and looked around the room to remind himself of where he was.
Finally, after he cleared his throat a few times, he could speak. “Come in.”
The door opened slowly, and his guide around the city, Tony Puch, stuck his head in. “Hey Yafi. Can I come in?”
Yafi nodded, not yet fully trusting his voice.
Tony walked in and closed the door softly behind him. “Colonel Brady gave me a call and told me what happened. She sent Lieutenant Bailey to check on you, but you didn’t answer. She thought you might want to see a familiar face.”
He smiled weakly and sniffled. “Thank you. I didn’t hear anyone else. I…”
“May I sit?” Tony asked as he gestured to the lone chair in the room.
Yafi nodded.
“Thanks,” Tony said, and moved slowly to the chair. “So, I heard you had a rough time out there today. You want to talk about it?”
“Wooow,” a disembodied voice said from off screen.
Harmon glanced to the side, then turned back to the screen with a grin. “You’ll have to forgive Clip. Commander Kolget. He has something of a…fascination with beings we haven’t encountered before.”
“It is better than some first impressions we have made. It’s understandable. In any case, is there something Strorix can do for you, President Tomeral?”
“Actually, it’s the other way around. I think I have something you would be interested in. There’s a ship called the Ahluic, commanded by a Grand Admiral Githen, in my system.”
El’Jyiurma growled dangerously and spread her hood at the very mention of the name.
“Frost!”
Harmon glanced off screen again, then turned back to the pickup. “Sorry if I’ve upset you, Your Majesty, but let me explain. They aren’t here as guests. They dropped in with a crippled ship and don’t have the power to get through the gate.”
El’Jyiurma slowly collapsed her hood and forced herself to calm down. “My apologies. That ship is responsible for the destruction of what was, until I was appointed Queen, my flagship. And the death of its crew.”
“I see. I wasn’t aware of that; I’m sorry to hear it. It’s a feeling I know well. I am aware of other things they, and the system they represent, have done, and I can tell you they’re no friends of mine. Salvage System has no tolerance for slavers. We’re also aware they bombarded your planet.”
If Serpentes could visually express surprise, she would have, and she was grateful they couldn’t. He had certainly done his homework. “Yes, they did,” she confirmed, not trusting herself to say more.
“I seriously considered turning the Ahluic into dust, but I figured it might be more right to turn ‘em over to you, since you’re the ones they wronged most recently.”
“I’m afraid, at the moment, I do not have ships to spare to retrieve them.”
“That’s easy enough to deal with; we can bring it to you,” he said and then glanced off screen. “Ah, right. There is, of course, the cost of the gate transits.”
“Those can easily be covered. Perhaps, though, there is something I have to offer that might interest you and would be of great assistance.”
“Now, I’m interessted,” another voice said.
“Both of my systems, Strorix and Neithea, have recently seen their share of battles, and the wreckage is becoming a burden, especially in Neithea, where trade traffic will hopefully be flowing soon. We have moved it aside as best we can, but we are hardly equipped for such things.”
“If there’s one thing we know a thing or two about, it’s salvage. I’m certain we can get some folks over there to take care of that for you, and one of the salvage ships can clamp on to the Ahluic and bring it along.”
“Excellent. That is one thing less to worry about. I do appreciate your reaching out, President Tomeral.”
“Glad to help. One can never have too many friends.”
“On that, we agree.”
“We’ll get a roster of ships and a schedule to you as soon as we figure out who’s going so you know who to expect and when.”
“Thank you again.”
El’Jyiurma rested on her coils when the transmission ended. “Isn’t that convenient?”
“Which part?” El’Iroru asked.
“All of it. The Ahluic, even if the crew isn’t cooperative, will hold a wealth of intelligence data on the Gnevusin. It will probably have details on their home world and fleet dispositions.”
“To plan the attack.”
“Yes. And there will be one, but, first, we must acquire the new ships and get the crews fully trained and ready to face a fleet that is no stranger to battle.”
* * *
Grand Admiral Githen clenched his jaw as he stared at his blank screen after viewing the message he had just received from Grand Emperor Atho. It had taken days for Atho to respond, and the response was not good. He’d known the emperor wouldn’t be pleased, but he had never imagined this. He had been bred for his role. His parents had both been high-ranking officers with recognized command skills. Since he was a young child, he’d been on ships, learning every aspect of their operation. Now, his emperor had turned his back on him. He had been stripped of his rank and position in the Gnevusin Home Fleet and left to fend for himself. It wasn’t uncommon in Gnevusin culture for someone incapable of service to be outcast, banished, or sent to the arena or slave pens, but he never imagined it would happen to him.
He could not let his crew find out. The grand emperor’s message had been specifically for him; it had not included his crew. If they were to find out, there would be a mutiny, and they would attempt to return home, triumphant in having dealt with the failure. He looked around his office as he plotted his next move. The bulkheads were covered with mounted trophies from his conquests. From each planet he had conquered or ship he had defeated and captured the crew as slaves, he had kept something to remind him of his success.
Before he could decide on a course of action, Lieutenant Shardii’s voice came over his comm. “Grand Admiral Githen, I am sorry to bother you, but President Tomeral wishes to speak to you.”
Githen raised an eyebrow. “Put him through,” he said and thought, perhaps, his problems were about to be solved.
“It’s about time, President Tomeral. I assume you are prepared to repair my ship?”
“Actually, no,” Tomeral said and smiled, though Githen saw that the smile did not reach his eyes. “Within the day, one of my ships will approach you, and you will clamp on to it. That ship will take you out of my system.”
“To where?” he demanded.
“Does it matter? You either do as you’re told, or I will turn your ship into dust without thinking twice about it. Salvage Title out.”
Githen snarled as the screen went blank, and he slammed his fist on the table so hard he winced and wondered absentmindedly if he’d broken something. He didn’t care. The pain simply fueled his anger.
He stormed onto the bridge. “Commander Sulla, what is the status of our reactors?” he asked harshly.
Sulla looked up from his station. “Grand Admiral, they are trying. Best estimate on attempting to restart reactor two is a thirty percent chance of success. Failure would lead to detonation that would likely split the ship.”
“Tell them to try harder, or I will flay them one by one until I find someone capable of doing their job!”
* * *
Yafi woke early the next morning and dressed. He was eager to get on with his training, but also ready to return home. He smiled as he read a message he’d received from Zameeh, telling him about the new city names and progress on the planet. It didn’t seem real that only months ago they had been just short of slaves, and now they were running their own planet with the help of the Serpentes and humans from Strorix. He walked over and opened the door when someone knocked, and he smiled when he saw Lieutenant Ulmer.
“Good morning, Lieutenant Ulmer. Time to go?”
Ulmer nodded. “Yep. Come on.”
Yafi glanced down at him as they walked down the corridor. Something seemed different about Ulmer this morning, but he wasn’t sure if it would be polite to ask. He tried to remember all his interactions during his time on Gieliv, then reached a decision.
“Is everything okay, Lieutenant?”
“Yeah, just tired.”
“Oh. I had some trouble sleeping when I first got here. Doctor Gibson made me some tea, I think she called it. That seemed to help. Perhaps I can find out what it was?”
“That’s okay. Thanks, Yafi.”
Yafi shrugged and remained silent until they reached the range. Colonel Brady and the others from the previous training session were already there.
“Thank you, Lieutenant Ulmer. Take your position please,” she said. “Yafi, good morning. I hope you slept well; it’s going to be a busy day.”
“Yes, I did, thank you,” he responded with a smile.
“Excellent. Today we’ll be tackling a whole different beast,” she said and picked up a human-sized version of the rifle Yafi saw on the table before him. “This is the BC-50 ballistic rifle. It’s capable of single fire, burst fire, or fully automatic fire.”
Yafi looked at her, completely confused. “I do not know what that means. Isn’t the laser rifle good enough?”
“Good question. In a word, no. There are some materials and beings lasers aren’t effective against. That’s when you have to go with a ballistic round.”
“What does ballistic mean?”
There were some chuckles from the assembled platoon leaders.
“Shut your holes!” she commanded, and silence fell quickly. She picked up a bullet from the table. “This is a ballistic round. A small explosive charge propels a solid slug of metal at the target, rather than a beam of focused light. If you’ll put on your ear protection, I’ll demonstrate.”
Yafi picked up a set of ear coverings and put them over his ears, while the humans put plugs in their ears.
“Range hot!” she yelled as she aimed and fired a few rounds on single-fire.
He jumped at each shot as he felt the concussion waves hit his chest. He looked down range and squinted at the farthest target. It had several holes in the middle black mark.
“That was single fire,” she shouted. “This is fully automatic.”
She aimed again and pulled the trigger.
Yafi took a few steps back at the barrage of sound from the rifle. When she stopped and ejected the magazine, the barrel was smoking. He looked down range again and saw that the holes were all over the target. He shuddered as he remembered what his people looked like. These were the kinds of guns the enforcers on Neithea had used, and he knew what they could do to the Gnevusin body. He shook his head and backed away further as the memories flooded his mind.
“No…I can’t,” he said.
Before he knew it, he was running away from the range. He didn’t stop until he was back in his quarters, where he curled up on his bed and hugged his pillow. When he closed his eyes, all he could see were the bodies of his friends and family, who had been executed for one reason or another by the enforcers, rather than being sent to the arena.
* * *
Ulmer watched Yafi while Colonel Brady fired, and the look on Yafi’s face hurt. Panic and fear overtook the Gnevusin, and he ran away as though she were about to turn the rifle on him.
Brady sighed and pulled out her earplugs. “Ulmer, go see if you can calm him down.”
“Actually, Colonel…I need to speak to you privately about something.”
“Can’t it wait?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Fine. Bailey, you go.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Bailey, Ulmer’s friend, said and jogged off after Yafi.
“Alright. Everyone else, dismissed. We’ll try again later. Ulmer, with me.”
He walked with her to her office, still not quite sure what he was going to say.
She dropped her earplugs on her desk and sat heavily in her chair while Ulmer stood at attention. “Never expected that…” she said and shook her head. “Have a seat, Lieutenant. What’s so urgent?”
Ulmer sat and looked at the ground while he tried to figure out where to start.
“I doubt the answer to my question is on the ground, Lieutenant.”
He took a deep breath and nodded to himself before he looked up at her, but he couldn’t meet her eyes. “Ma’am, it started when the Serpentes first attacked us. I lost my little sister in that attack.”
After that start, the words came flowing out. He told her how he was recruited by Representative Manning’s people to be a part of a resistance when the first Serpentes came to the planet. He explained his role in the attack on Spencer Green’s property and admitted that he’d fired the shot that killed Cora Green. Without stopping, he explained what he knew of the organization of the resistance, but there wasn’t much he could tell since it was so compartmentalized.
“The only other thing I know is that it appears to be run, at least locally, by Bobby Merritt, who I know as Steve. He’s the one who organized the attack on the Green property. I think they may have more people inside the military, but I swear, I don’t know who.”
When he finished, he expected her to yell, or scream, or shoot him. Something. But she never said a word or made a move.
“I know I can’t undo what I’ve done. But…I’m sorry,” he whispered.
She shook her head. “Son, do you realize how deep the shit you’re in is?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said and stared down at his hands.
“I don’t know whether to feel sorry for you or beat you to within an inch of your life. Fortunately for you, the law is clear. You’re under arrest for murder and conspiracy against allies of Gieliv. I’m sure the intel folks will want to have lots of talks with you, and any information you can provide might just save your life, but that’s not my decision.”
After a quick call from Brady, two soldiers showed up and took him to the brig where he would be kept, probably for what little time remained of his life. He went along without argument or comment.
* * *
President Frazier leaned back in his chair, though he was anything but relaxed. When he received a call from General Stevens asking to see him immediately, he knew it wouldn’t be good news. Stevens had also brought Colonel Brady, who he had not met before. They’d turned down any refreshment and wanted to get straight to business.
“General Stevens, Colonel Brady, you have my attention.”
“Thank you for seeing us so quickly. I’m afraid this couldn’t wait. Colonel, you talked to him, please summarize the situation.”
Brady explained the events of the morning and went into full detail about Ulmer’s confession and the information he had provided.
“You see why I wanted to discuss this in person,” Stevens said after Brady finished.
“I certainly do. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I had a feeling Manning wasn’t done, but…” He shook his head and sighed.
“Yes, sir.”
“You believe him? This…what was his name? Ulmer?”
“Yes, sir. This isn’t the sort of thing someone would lie about. He’s pretty much signed up to die. I’ve already got our intelligence teams tearing apart his life to try to find contacts. We’re also tracking down Bobby Merritt and doing the same with him.”
Frazier nodded. Stevens was good at his job, but this went beyond the purview of the military. “You’ll need to loop in civilian intelligence. I’m guessing Merritt isn’t military?”
“No, he’s not. Never has been.”
“Do you realize how complicated life just got?”
“I believe I have an idea, sir.”
“We’re going to have to tell the Serpentes about this, not to mention breaking it to Spencer Green that a member of our own military killed his wife. People are going to be out for blood.”
“I’m more concerned there’s another mole somewhere. I’d like to request we delay the training mission to Neithea. I know you promised it, and I agreed, but Ulmer was supposed to be on that team.”
“And he could have done a lot of damage,” Frazier said, finishing Stevens’ thought. “I get it, Bryan. No offense, Colonel, but I’m afraid some of the discussions we’re going to have are above your pay grade, so to speak. Can you think of anything else to add?”
“Only that I never suspected Lieutenant Ulmer, sir. He’s always been a stand-up soldier. A little off sometimes, but he always got the job done.”
“Are you defending him, Colonel?”
“No, sir! I’m saying that if he had me fooled…”
Frazier nodded. “Understood. If he had you fooled, there might be another member of the resistance in your unit. Is there anything else you need her here for, Bryan?”
“No, sir. Dismissed, Colonel. Thank you for bringing this to my attention immediately. For now, proceed as if the mission is still on. We don’t want to tip our hand. Let’s also make an excuse for Ulmer’s absence and keep his arrest under wraps if it isn’t already out.”
“I’ll see to it, sir,” Brady said as she stood, saluted, and turned on her heel to march out of the office.
Frazier relaxed a bit and ran his hand over his close-cropped hair. “This is a real shit-show, Bryan.”
“I believe that may be the understatement of the century.”
* * * * *
Chapter 11
Yafi sat on the floor with his back to the corner of the room, his knees pulled up to his chest, with his arms wrapped around them. He had his head down on his knees and his eyes clenched shut. The sound wouldn’t go away. His ears rang, and he wept for the Gnevusin he had seen die over his lifetime.
There was a light tap-tap-tap on the door, and he jerked his head up, shivering. In his mind, it wasn’t a tap; it was the booming of a fist hitting the door of his hovel. His eyes wide, he tried to say ‘come in’ but no sound emerged. He did his best to calm his breathing, wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, and looked around the room to remind himself of where he was.
Finally, after he cleared his throat a few times, he could speak. “Come in.”
The door opened slowly, and his guide around the city, Tony Puch, stuck his head in. “Hey Yafi. Can I come in?”
Yafi nodded, not yet fully trusting his voice.
Tony walked in and closed the door softly behind him. “Colonel Brady gave me a call and told me what happened. She sent Lieutenant Bailey to check on you, but you didn’t answer. She thought you might want to see a familiar face.”
He smiled weakly and sniffled. “Thank you. I didn’t hear anyone else. I…”
“May I sit?” Tony asked as he gestured to the lone chair in the room.
Yafi nodded.
“Thanks,” Tony said, and moved slowly to the chair. “So, I heard you had a rough time out there today. You want to talk about it?”
