by Sam Schall
As the guard disappeared from sight, Ashlyn remained where she was, motionless except for the rise and fall of her chest and the slow blinking of her eyes. She listened, counting his footsteps as they slowly faded away. When she’d been escorted to the cell, she had focused on what was directly in front of her. She had not wanted to give the guards on duty the satisfaction of seeing her look around in curiosity. Now, with only silence filling the air, she allowed herself to relax a just a little.
Once convinced the guard was gone, she moved to the door, careful not to get too close to the security field. Looking to her left, she couldn’t tell how far away he might be. All she knew for certain was that her cell was located at the end of the corridor, the door situated so she couldn’t see much beyond the far edge of the cell. So there might be any number of other prisoners close by but, for all intents and purposes, she was alone – again.
That was fine. Alone meant fewer chances for anyone to figure out what she planned. But it also meant she had to keep up appearances. She couldn’t let them guess what she had in mind. So she lay on her bunk, her back to the doorway. She wouldn’t let those she knew were watching over security monitors see her curiosity or her concern.
This was as close to home as she was likely to get in a very long while. If the opportunity to escape presented itself, she’d take it and be damned with waiting on the military courts to finally get it right. Once free, she’d deal with everyone who had betrayed her and then she’d find a way to free those who had been sent to the penal colony with her. After that, she really didn’t give a damn about what happened.
The two followed the guard down the long corridor. Bare white walls intersected by six reinforced doors on each side marked their path. Silence, broken only by the sounds of their steps, enveloped them. This wing of the security complex felt deserted – which it was with one notable exception. There hadn’t been a need to use the high security cells for a long while.
As far as the tall redhead was concerned, there was still no need to – even considering just how special this particular prisoner happened to be.
Admiral Miranda Tremayne (ret.) and Admiral Richard Collins were there with one purpose. They had to find a way to convince Ashlyn Shaw to trust them enough to listen to what they had to say. That was their first hurdle. The second would be harder. Somehow, they had to persuade her to work with them again. If she agreed, they’d secure her immediate release. It was a long shot, Tremayne knew, but they had to try. Not only for the prisoner’s sake but for the sake of so many more.
Their escort stopped before the last cell and nodded. Like every other cell along the corridor, this was a high security cell. Thick, reinforced walls with one narrow opening, just wide enough for a single person to step through. That opening could be secured with a reinforced door that slid firmly into place when activated. But for now that door was open, the security field active.
Directly across from the door was a single cot. On it lay the prisoner. Her back was to them and nothing about her revealed whether she realized she was being watched. But Tremayne knew better. She’d known the prisoner for years, most of the younger woman’s life in fact. She had no doubt Ashlyn Shaw, decorated Marine captain and now convicted war criminal, was well aware of the fact someone was there, even if she might not know who.
“On your feet, prisoner!” the guard barked. “I said, on your feet!”
Tremayne watched Shaw as the guard pounded his stun baton against the cell wall once and then again. Not that it seemed to phase the young woman. Only the slight tensing of her muscles, so slight Tremayne almost missed it, betrayed the fact Shaw even heard the guard. Interesting. The young woman had always possessed great self-control. Clearly, she’d honed it to a new level during her incarceration.
“Damn it, Shaw, on your feet. Don’t make me come in there,” the guard all but growled.
Tremayne frowned. The last thing they needed was to further antagonize the young woman. Besides, were their roles reversed, she’d probably be doing her best to show as much indifference as was the young woman. Even so, she could understand the guard’s frustration. He was under enough pressure just escorting the two of them through the security wing. Collins was First Fleet’s commanding officer. Then there was Tremayne herself. So-called war hero, not that she thought of herself as such, and now a member of the Senate. To have a mere prisoner ignore his order in front of such “luminaries” had to be not only frustrating but humiliating as well.
Of course, there was nothing mere about Ashlyn Shaw and there never had been.
“Ma’am, I can go inside.”
The guard sounded unsure, not that Tremayne blamed him. She doubted there was anyone on the planet who didn’t know who Ashlyn Shaw was. Her war record had been stellar up until the time she’d been court-martialed. Whether they believed the charges that had been leveled against her or not, they’d know she wasn’t someone you wanted to cross.
Tremayne frowned and shook her head. This wasn’t the way to proceed. If the prisoner wouldn’t respond to the guard, it was time to try something else.
Carefully judging the distance, Tremayne stepped forward, coming so close to the barrier that she could feel the energy dancing across her skin.
“Out of that rack, Marine, and on your feet!” she snapped in her best command voice.
Her order met with a more pronounced physical reaction from Shaw. This time there was no mistaking the way the young woman’s muscles tensed, as if preparing to sit up. Holding her breath, Tremayne waited. Would Shaw respond or would she force herself to return to her relaxed pose on the bunk?
Several long seconds passed as they waited but to no avail. The prisoner continued to ignore them.
Damn it.
“Admiral, let me call for backup and then we can go in.” Before the guard could reach for his comm, Tremayne’s hand closed over his arm.
“No.” Most definitely not. But they had to get through to Shaw somehow. Maybe it was time to put aside rank and go to the personal. “I know you can hear me, Captain Shaw, so I’m just going to talk. I hope you’ll listen.”
God how I wish the last two years had never happened. Everything would be so much easier.
“Things have changed since you were brought up on charges. Those responsible are no longer in power, either in the government or in the military chain of command. That includes those who found you and the others guilty at your court-martial.” She paused, watching, hoping for some reaction. Was there a hint of tension easing in the prisoner’s body? She wasn’t sure. All she could do was continue and hope for the best. “Some things haven’t changed however. We are still at war. It doesn’t matter that we’ve technically been sharing a truce with the enemy. All it did was slow hostilities. The fact is things are about to get bad again and you know what that means.”
Surely that would get through to the young woman. In all the years she’d known Ashlyn Shaw, there’d been one thing she could rely upon – Shaw’s sense of duty. She just hoped the last two years hadn’t destroyed it.
“Shaw – Ashlyn.” She reached out, the palm of her right hand almost touching the security field separating them. As she did, she sensed the guard tensing, ready to pull her back before she made contact with the field. “We need you. Please.”
Finally, a reaction. A slight tremor ran down the prisoner’s back. Then a bitter laugh filled the cell. Tremayne bit her lower lip to hear it.
“You seem to forget, Admiral, not only that I’ve been stripped of all rank but that I still have three years to serve on my sentence. There’s not much I can do for you while I’m a prisoner. So, unless you’ve brought a pardon – for not only me but for my people as well – you can go straight to Hell.”
“That’s enough, Shaw!” Collins snapped. “You may be a prisoner but you’re still a Marine and you’ll respect the rank, if nothing else, and listen to what we have to say.”
“Respect the rank!” Fury filled the young woman’s voice as she roll
ed over and surged to her feet.
Tremayne gasped in shock. Gone was the promising young officer she’d known. In her place was a hard, scarred woman, a veteran of battles that had killed so many on both sides. But there was more. Her face showed scars that hadn’t been there when she’d been sentenced to the Tarsus military prison. Worse, Tremayne saw the unmistakable signs that Shaw had been beaten, and badly, in the not too distant past. Anger flared and the redhead forced it down as she continued to take in the young woman’s appearance.
A band of white ran from her left temple back, stark against the otherwise dark hair. Thin, not quite gaunt, Shaw had lost a great deal of weight over the last two years. Her once healthy tan looked wan and Tremayne wondered how long it had been since she’d seen the light of day. What in the hell had happened to her in the last two years to bring her to this?
And would it prevent her from helping them, even if they managed to arrange for everyone to be pardoned?
“Ashlyn, please, just listen,” Tremayne said softly.
“I listened once before, Admiral, and it cost most of my people their lives. Those that survived found themselves brought up on phony charges, just like me, and sent to that hellhole of a military prison. But maybe you’ve forgotten that.”
Tremayne closed her eyes and breathed deeply, struggling for calm. She hadn’t forgotten. She’d kept the memory of that betrayal close to her. It had been why she’d resigned her commission to run for office. She’d known she needed to work the system to get those brave souls freed and their names cleared. Unfortunately, she hadn’t expected it to take this long.
She still remembered all too clearly the events that had led up to Shaw’s court-martial. Shaw had done nothing wrong. She’d done her duty. She’d followed orders despite her misgivings – misgivings she’d voiced not only to her immediate commanding officer but to the sector commander and to Tremayne as well. And what had it gotten her? Her company decimated in an ambush and the rest of them, Shaw included, court-martialed and imprisoned and all in the name of face-saving by some damn-fool politicians and senior officers.
Worse, Shaw’s family – and the families of the other survivors – had also paid the price. Those in government service who hadn’t been willing to condemn their relatives had seen their jobs disappear. There had been other pressures brought to bear on those in the private sector. That could no more be forgiven than what happened to Shaw and her people, as the next round of elections had proven.
“Ashlyn, I can’t undo what happened. I wish to God I could.” Tremayne waved Collins back as he stepped forward. The last thing they needed was him losing his temper. She understood why he’d reacted as he had. It was his fleet about to head to the front lines. His people would be the first to die. Even more would die if they couldn’t convince Shaw to work with them. “All I can tell you is that things have changed since then. Fleet leadership has undergone a turnover the likes of which you wouldn’t believe. What happened to you and your company became a rallying cry at the last elections and those politicians responsible were voted out of office. There is no chance of a repeat of what you went through ever happening again.”
“At least until the next election.” Shaw shook her head and ran a hand through her short cropped dark hair. “Sorry, Admiral, unless and until you can tell me my people have been pardoned and are safely away from Tarsus, I’ve got nothing more to say to you.”
“Ashlyn, at least listen. Please.”
“Not until I know my people are free.”
With that, she returned to her bunk and once more turned her back to them. There’d be no getting through to her. Between past betrayals and whatever Hell she’d been forced to endure the last two years, she’d changed. But she’d given them a lever they could use, one Tremayne had already considered.
“Ashlyn–”
“Admiral, all I want is to finish serving my sentence. Then, maybe, I can finally bury my dead.”
“Please just think about what I’ve said.”
Tremayne turned and retraced her steps down the corridor. She’d known it would be difficult to convince the young woman to trust them. As far as Shaw knew, they had accepted the way she and her people were offered up as political sacrifices just as most of the military leadership had. She didn’t know everything Tremayne and so many others done to clear their names and win their freedom.
What she hadn’t anticipated was the change in Shaw. Something had happened to her during her incarceration. The physical scars were proof of that. Those visible scars were bad enough but how deep did the psychological scars run? Obviously, she had a great deal of homework to do before she next tried to talk with Ashlyn Shaw.
“Miranda,” Collins began as the lift doors closed behind them, his frustration clear.
“Later.” She needed to think before discussing what happened even with him.
The sounds of footsteps grew fainter. Part of her wanted to call Tremayne and Collins back, to ask all the questions she’d had no answers to for so long. But the other part, the part that had learned how to survive in the military prison, held her back. She’d trusted once and that trust had cost her and her command dearly. It would take more than Tremayne’s assurances that things had changed for her to trust again.
Despite that, it was so very difficult to stay where she was, to stay quiet. Swallowing hard, she squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself not to react. Just because the admirals were gone didn’t mean she wasn’t being watched and she’d be damned if she’d let anyone see how badly their visit had shaken her. She might not have known what to expect when she’d been brought back to the capital but this certainly wasn’t it.
A moment later she drew a shaky breath and held it. When she slowly exhaled, she forced herself to relax. So many emotions raged within her, too many. Among them was hope, something she hadn’t felt in a very long while. But she couldn’t allow herself the luxury of experiencing any of them and especially not the latter. Emotions were a weakness to be exploited. She might not be at the penal colony any longer, but she was still a prisoner. She’d give her jailers nothing they could use against her. Indifference was her best defense just then.
But it was hard. When she’d heard Admiral Tremayne’s voice, she’d thought for one moment she’d finally lost her mind. Tremayne had been the one person in the military she’d always been able to count on. She knew Tremayne had tried to speak on her behalf at that farce of a trial but the military judges hadn’t let her. Tremayne had been on her side then, just as she’d always been.
But now the admiral was asking her to help them despite how she and the remainder of her unit had been betrayed. Had she been wrong all this time in believing in Tremayne? Or had the admiral really been telling her the truth when she’d said things had changed?
She couldn’t think about that, couldn’t hold out hope. Not when her people were still on Tarsus. At least she’d been able to warn the admirals – if they understood. They had to understand. Or they had to at least wonder enough about what she’d said to start digging.
Dear God, let me be careful though.
Otherwise, she’d be joining those dead she’d talked about and, despite everything, she wasn’t ready to die. Not yet. She still had vengeance to mete out first.
« Chapter 2 »
Major Rico Santiago stared at the image on his screen. He couldn’t believe it. There was no way she could be on-planet, much less be just three floors below his office. But, as the ancient adage went, a picture was worth a thousand words. In this case, it was worth a hell of a lot much more and it raised just as many questions.
He leaned back and shook his head. Even after watching the scene in the cell for approximately five minutes, his mind refused to accept what his eyes saw. The prisoner, dressed in the standard issue black jumpsuit that the JAG euphemistically called “persons of interest”, was moving through an increasingly more difficult set of push-ups. First had been five standard push-ups. Then five knuckle push-ups followed
by five fingertip push-ups. He’d continued to watch, even after catching the line of her jaw and the tilt of her head. That had been enough to confirm her identity. Even so, he still wondered if it wasn’t all a dream. No other explanation made sense.
His fingers moved over the virtual keyboard as he typed in a series of commands. He paged through the readouts, moving them into order, his eyes quickly scanning the results. Then he leaned back and blew out a breath. There was no doubt about it. Not only was she on-planet but someone had managed to get her there and into the security complex without him getting wind of it.
And that most definitely was not good.
As one of FleetCom’s top intelligence officers, it was his job to know everything before it happened. The fact this had almost slipped by him spoke volumes about who had issued the orders to bring her back to New Kilrain. He had no doubt those orders had come from well above his pay grade. No one else had the pull to not only send a ship for the woman but to get her released to local confinement. Who and why he didn’t know – but he would.
Frowning, he drummed his fingers against the synth-wood of his desktop. Could it be there were others besides himself looking into the circumstances surrounding Ashlyn Shaw’s court-martial and conviction? If so, what was their motivation and why had they brought her back? More important in some ways, who were they and why had they acted on their own instead of through his office?
He hated not having the answers. Any intelligence officer would. Unanswered questions could easily mean death, if not for the “spook” then for others, usually innocents.
Damn it, what the hell was going on?
First things first. He needed to identify the ship that had returned Shaw to Fuercon. That would tell him a great deal. It would also give him an idea of how she had been slipped into the security complex without fanfare. But would that information be something he could work with or would it be one more thing to investigate and pray did not present yet another potential danger for Fuercon and her allies?