by Sam Schall
For a moment, Pawlak didn’t say anything. Then, when he looked away from the plot, he focused on Ashlyn instead of the others. There was something in his expression, something that spoke volumes that Tremayne hoped Ashlyn understood because she didn’t. Not that there was a lot about the Marines she did understand. Why anyone would prefer fighting groundside, up close and personal to the enemy when they could be kilometers above the surface in a well-armed and armored ship was beyond her.
“Admiral, I recommend that we send three units to Target Alpha and another three to Beta. That should be enough to help the current forces on station to start the push-back. The rest of FirstDiv will drop from First Fleet just as soon as FleetCom gives the word.
“The Devil Dogs will converge on Target Delta. We’ll be supported by Lt. Tsui’s and Lt. Sanchez’s platoons. They’ll clear the surrounding buildings of any hostiles as well as protect the civilians while we deal with the main force. We’ll have to move carefully to keep from tipping our hand too soon. I don’t want to risk the enemy deciding their only option is to destroy the complex with the civilians inside.”
Tremayne nodded, watching Shaw as she did. She’d seen the way Shaw looked quickly at Pawlak before looking away when he mentioned the Devil Dogs. By all rights, it was the battalion Shaw should be assigned to. Whether Santiago had already seen to it when he’d arranged for her to be assigned to SpecOps or not, Tremayne didn’t know. Seeing the expression on Shaw’s face, she hoped he had.
But, before she found out if he had or not, there was one thing Ashlyn needed to know. Tremayne just wasn’t sure she wanted to be the one to tell her. Unfortunately, she also didn’t have a choice, at least not in her mind.
“Ash, there’s something else,” she began, her voice soft, almost hesitant. Seeing the concern in Ashlyn’s eyes didn’t help. “Target Delta is important for another reason. A number of government officials and employees live there, as well as active duty and retired military.” She paused, swallowing hard. This was so very hard, mainly because she didn’t know how Shaw would respond to what she had to say. “Ash, your parents live there.”
For what seemed like an eternity, all she could do was stare at Tremayne in shock. Then the admiral’s words penetrated her mind and Ashlyn swallowed hard. Her parents lived in the building where so much of the fighting was focused. If her parents were there, that meant her younger sister probably was as well, maybe even her brothers. God, why was Pawlak waiting to do something? Didn’t he understand how important it was to get troops there now?
She clinched her fists, ignoring the pain as her fingernails bit into her skin. She knew better than to let her emotions take control. If she’d learned nothing else at the penal colony, she’d learned that. She had to think. There had to be a reason why Pawlak hadn’t dropped his troops yet. But what?
What could be more important that protecting that building?
“Ash.” Pawlak’s voice seemed to come from a million miles away. Then she felt his gloved hand touch her arm and she forced herself to look at him, to see the understanding reflected in his dark brown eyes. “Ash, the Devil Dogs will move out just as soon as we join them. But you need to get into your battle gear first.”
“M-my battle gear?”
God, her brain didn’t seem to want to work. Not that it surprised her. She’d been more than halfway convinced she was living some sort of sick dream for the last week. She expected to wake up and find herself back in her cell on Tarsus. But the last few hours had been all too real, even if they too had been a different kind of nightmare. Maybe she’d finally reached her breaking point. Had so much happened that she could no longer think or understand?
“Ash, look at me. I need to know if you can do this,” Pawlak continued. “No one will hold it against you if you can’t.” Now he held up a hand to ward off the protests she wanted to make but couldn’t figure out how to. “Ashlyn, you’ve been through hell the last two years. This last week has seen that hell, the only world you’ve known for too long, turned upside down. You’ve been asked to trust a system that betrayed you. Then you were thrust into a battle zone without warning. I know I couldn’t process it all and certainly not as well and as quickly as you seem to have. So, if you need time, you have it. You can stay here and advise Admiral Tremayne and Major Santiago. But, if you are up to, I’d be honored to have you at my side as the Devil Dogs make sure those bastards don’t get control of that complex.”
She drew a deep breath and then exhaled. She had to do this. She just had to.
“Then I guess you’d better tell me where my gear is, Major.” She didn’t sound as calm as she’d have liked, but it was better than grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him out of pique.
“Wait a minute,” Santiago began unsurely.
Ashlyn spun toward him, her expression darkening. “Major, I’d hate to be brought up on charges of insubordination and failure to obey an order on the same day I finally received my pardon, but I will risk it if you try to keep me here.” She stepped away from the plot, both to put some distance between them and to give herself a moment to think. “Sir, that’s my family out there. Family I haven’t seen since my trial because the commandant wouldn’t let me have visitors. Hell, sir, you know he wouldn’t even let me have communication of any sort with them or anyone else. Now that I’m this close, there’s no way I can just stay here and wait for word if they’re safe or not. I can’t. Please understand.”
For a moment, he didn’t say anything. When he looked to Tremayne, she simply shrugged and nodded. Seeing it, Ashlyn relaxed some. At least her mentor understood. She might not approve – hell, there was no way Tremayne approved. Ash could see the worry reflected in her eyes. But Tremayne knew her well enough to know better than to argue. Hopefully, Santiago did as well.
“All right. Major Pawlak, I don’t need to remind you that we need Captain Shaw alive and well.” Now it was Santiago’s turn to shake his head so she wouldn’t interrupt. “Like it or not, Ash, but you are a symbol. Not only to the Marines but to everyone. So don’t do anything foolish. Please.”
“Yes, sir.” She meant it. After so long wondering if it might not be easier to just kill herself and stopping only because she wouldn’t be able to help her people if she were dead, she had no desire to die now. Tremayne had been right when she’d talked about what it would do to those who’d been so quick to betray her to see her back in uniform and taking the fight to the enemy. Besides, there were a few people she planned to have a discussion with when the fight was finally done.
“Don’t worry, Major. I’m sure Ash understands that if she is suddenly possessed by the urge to do something foolish, I’ll stun her myself and throw her on the first transport back here.” The look Pawlak gave Shaw spoke volumes. No one present doubted he’d do exactly what he said. “Gunny, I believe you know where to go to get the captain outfitted. Once you have, we’ll head out. I’ll get the other units on their way while you do.”
“Aye, Major.” Talbot shot Shaw a quick grin and then braced to attention. “Ma’am?”
Shaw took one last look at the plot display and then turned to leave. One thing at a time. Get outfitted for the assault on the residential complex. Then do whatever it took to make sure her family was safe. After that, she could worry about what her next move should be.
« Chapter 6 »
Half an hour later, Ashlyn stood beside Major Pawlak in a makeshift command center approximately one kilometer from Target Delta. The six-story building usually housed a variety of shops and restaurants. Within minutes of the first explosion, the Marines moved in. They’d evacuated employees and customers to a safer location. Then they set up the FOB. The fact the building lay barely more than a kilometer from them Devil Dog’s target made it the perfect location for one last briefing.
Ashlyn did her best to ignore the sounds of fighting just down the street. Those sounds brought back memories of her last mission, memories she couldn’t allow to distract her. Worse, they
reminded her that she didn’t know if her parents were in the building or somewhere else. Instead of dwelling on what she didn’t know, she forced herself to focus on the portable plot that displayed the target area. For several long moments, she studied the different approaches. Then she looked from the plot to the plans displayed on her datapad and back, a frown playing at the corners of her mouth.
“This doesn’t make sense, sir. They’re focusing their efforts on the front of the building. That puts their forces in a pincer if we manage to get troops into the building across from them. They have sent a smaller squad to the rear of the building, but is it to simply prevent anyone from escaping or are they going to try to make entry there? If it’s the latter, why? The front of the building is must less secure. Either way, it doesn’t look like they are doing much more than digging in. Do we have any idea as to why?”
Pawlak chuckled almost evilly before answering. “Seems the folks inside figured the enemy might try to come in that way and set up defensive positions. They’ve managed to hold the bastards off with what look to be nothing more than hunting rifles, small arms and homemade boomers. For now, at least, it appears that the enemy is satisfied with just making sure no one tries to come out that way.”
Ashlyn nodded and entered a quick command into her datapad. A moment later, the list of tenants for the complex began to scroll across the small screen. Another command and things began to make more sense, at least in one way. Whether by intention or not, the enemy had chosen to attack a building with a higher than average number of military-trained occupants. At least one quarter of those living there were either active duty or retired military. A number of them had been career military. It wouldn’t surprise Ash one bit if those retirees, not to mention those still on active duty, had at least light armor and service weapons on hand. It was no wonder the enemy had been unable to make easy entry.
But would an enemy organized well enough to quick hop into the system and off-load troops and stingers make such a serious mistake? Or was there someone or something in the building worth the risk? If so, who? Or what?
“Sir, nothing about this feels right. Either this whole thing has been an exercise to see how we react or it’s some sort of botched snatch and grab. If it’s the latter, then something went wrong and now they’re trying to mask their original target so they can try again later. If it’s the former, FleetCom has a very tough job ahead of it.”
Either that or these were the most inexperienced, ineffective soldiers she’d ever seen. Unfortunately, that didn’t make them any less deadly. Quite the contrary, in fact. It made them unpredictable and that made them harder to anticipate and defend against.
“Talk it out, Ash. Let’s see if we’re on the same page,” Pawlak said.
“While they haven’t withdrawn their ground troops from the security and government complexes or the presidential palace after their air support was neutralized, they haven’t really pressed their cause in any of those locations either. They have dug in. It’s as if they are either waiting for reinforcements or orders to withdraw. Hell, sir, for all we know, they are waiting for us to kill them. They sure don’t have a way off-planet now.
“And let’s face it, despite the fact they took us completely by surprise and have used a variety of attack methods, they haven’t been very effective. None of the buildings have been taken. Yes, there have been casualties and even deaths, not to mention the property damage they’ve caused, but it’s nothing like what either of us have seen in battle before.
“But there’s more to it. Attacking the residential complex doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t follow what we – well, what I – know of Callusian tactics.” God, those two years in prison meant her knowledge of the enemy’s tactics were out of date. “When they attacked our outposts and allies during the war, they focused first on government and military targets. Take out the leadership and the ability to defend the planet. Then they moved in against soft targets. Has that changed?” She tried to keep the anger and bitterness out of her voice but it was hard.
“No. Not that they’ve done many direct attacks since the truce.” Pawlak spat out the word. Obviously, he felt about the so-called truce the same way Tremayne and Santiago did. “Most of their tactics have been masked as pirate attacks on commerce and remote trading posts.”
“Then this really doesn’t fit.” She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. “If I didn’t know better – and I don’t – it’s almost as if they came with specific targets in mind. Targets that are either human, tech or code. Targets worth risking a direct attack on the capital. More than that, whatever it is they’re after, they can’t risk destroying it. Otherwise, they’d be more aggressive in getting into their target building or buildings.”
“Agreed.”
Once more she studied the tenant list for the residential complex. So many of the names were familiar and any of them could be a target. How were they supposed to narrow it down? And what if they were wrong?
What if her parents were there instead of at their house outside of the capital?
“Sir, would you happen to know my mother’s current assignment?”
That would tell her a lot. Growing up, she’d learned quickly that they stayed at the house whenever her mother was on leave or when she was stationed off-planet. But if she had a duty station in the capital, they stayed in town. After she and her siblings were grown and out of the house, their parents sold the townhouse they’d owned and settled on the first of several apartments in town.
When Pawlak didn’t reply right away, Ashlyn looked at him in concern. His expression was enough to tell her she wasn’t going to like what he had to say.
“Ash, I’m sorry. I thought you knew.” He ran a hand over his face. “Ash, your mother’s been beached since shortly after your court-martial.”
For a moment Ashlyn stared at the man. Surely she’d misunderstood. Then, seeing the truth reflected in his eyes, her lips pulled back in an almost feral sneer as anger, cold and hard, filled her. Wasn’t it bad enough they’d tried to ruin her and her unit? Hell, they had almost killed them all. Those they hadn’t, they’d sent to Tarsus and all to cover the corruption and ineptitude of a couple of political appointees and a few officers who never should have made it out of the Academy.
“Who?” she ground out. Forgotten was the battle going on around them. Now she was simply a daughter wanting to avenge the wrong done her mother and who knew how many others. “Who, damn it?”
“No one who is still in the Corps, our chain of command, or even in the military,” Pawlak said softly. “And no one who won’t feel the full force of our vengeance once we are done here and we have the rest of our people home from Tarsus. You have my word on that.”
She believed him, or at least she wanted to. In all the years she had known him, Pawlak had never broken his word to her or lied to her. If he told her he’d do something, he did it. She had to be satisfied, for the moment at least, with his assurance that the wrongs done to her mother and others would be atoned for. She could trust him on that. Couldn’t she?
Breathing deeply, she fought for control. She couldn’t let her anger take away her focus. Not when enemy troops were just down the block. That not only could but would be disastrous. And that brought her back to the question of why they seemed so interested in the residential complex. There had to be someone in it they wanted. Someone or something. But who? Or what?
Or she could be completely wrong. Two years ago, she never would have doubted her instincts. But that was before she’d been betrayed and before so many of her unit had been killed. She’d been on her own, not in a combat situation since then. Did she – did Pawlak – dare risk even considering her concerns?
“Let it go for now, Ash. I promise those responsible will pay,” Pawlak said softly. “But right now we have more immediate concerns and, as you said earlier, all this could be a feint to see how we respond and how long it takes us to do so.”
“A feint or a decoy.”
>
She looked again at her datapad. Nothing in the reports coming in from across the system seemed to indicate another attack was about to take place. Fortunately.
Of course, looking at the datapad reminded her of yet another major disadvantage she operated under. When she’d been brought up on charges, her combat implants had been taken off-line. That meant she was no different from those civilians holding out against the enemy. There’d be no medical implants to control pain or enhance muscles and reaction times. No ocular implants to aid in sighting on the enemy. No communication or HUD implants to have instant access to data coming in real time. It was a handicap but one soldiers had lived with for centuries before the implants had been invented. She would do her duty with or without them.
Hopefully.
“I know, but we can’t worry about that right now.” Pawlak paused and listened to the latest report from Captain Wilkinson. Wilkinson and his company were in place and ready to reinforce the troops at the security complex. Pawlak told him to stand ready. As soon as the Devil Dogs were at Target Delta, he’d give the word. “Your recommendations?”
“I’d take a small squad to the back, pick off the enemy stationed there before they can give the alert to their cohorts out front. Then that exit can be used to evacuate the civilians. Lieutenant Tsui’s people could oversee the evacuation while the DD’s clear the building of hostiles before making their way to strategic points near the front of the building to support the rest of our people as they commence the frontal assault.”
“Agreed.” Now Pawlak smiled. “Pick yourself six members of the DDs to accompany you, Captain. I figure you’ve more than earned the right to lead the infiltration team.”