Duty from Ashes (7 page)

Damn him!

“What did they want?” She shifted slightly on her chair and casually looked around. Anyone curious enough to be watching would think they were discussing business – or setting up an assignation for that afternoon or evening. At least she hoped so.

“What do you think?” he demanded.

“Just tell me what they said.”

“More questions about Shaw, of course. They didn’t ask about the discrepancy in her copy of her last orders and what was entered at her trial. But they did ask about our patrol patterns and O’Brien’s service record.”

Interesting. That could mean the JAG was starting to focus on O’Brien as the one behind what happened to Shaw and her people. If that were the case, it would suit Moreau just fine. O’Brien always had been the weak link. Unlike Sorkowski, who would keep his mouth shut unless he saw no other way out, O’Brien would sell either or both of them out at the first sign of real trouble. If JAG had decided on him as the focus of their investigation, it would be easy enough to have an “accident” happen to him, closing the investigation as well as ending a danger to the rest of her mission.

But, before she thought too much about that, she needed to reassure Sorkowski.

“Sounds to me like they have decided your former Marine commander is the one responsible for what happened,” she said. “So encourage that belief. Tell them that you had concerns about him but did not have anything concrete to put your finger on. As for your patrol patterns, they were influenced by what O’Brien told you based on his intelligence sources. The discrepancy in the orders, that’s easily explained away as well.”

“How?”

She heard the desperation in Sorkowski’s voice and did her best to look and sound reassuring. “You were in command of the entire task force. The Marines onboard your ship were under O’Brien’s command. You gave him the orders and it was up to him to relay them. Even though you had concerns about him, you never expected him to be foolish enough or cocky enough to actually change your orders. Pull out your personal copy of the orders you issued regarding Shaw’s last mission.”

“But I’ve already turned them over and they were the altered ones.” Sweat now pricked out on his forehead.

“Again, easily explained. You gave the JAG officers your access codes and they pulled the orders off your command terminal. You didn’t know they were altered until the trial. Since then, you’ve been trying to find out what happened and how. You just now were able to recover the original orders. I can make sure you have the right experts to back up your claim.”

She waited, watching as he processed what she said. The fear that had been reflected in his eyes slowly disappeared as he visibly relaxed. The fact that he so quickly accepted her explanation and her offer for help proved he was getting desperate. That meant sooner, rather than later, she’d have to deal with him. But not yet. Not until she was sure she had to and especially not if she was about to offer up O’Brien as a sacrifice.

“But wait until they contact you again. Don’t offer up anything because that will make it look like you are trying to cover something up. Understand?”

“Yes.” He nodded and then tossed back the glass of wine he’d been toying with since her arrival.

“Good. Now let’s order lunch and make sure anyone watching thinks we are simply having a nice business meeting. Then go home. Don’t do anything to bring any more attention to you – or me – than you have already.”

“And O’Brien?”

She almost missed his look of expectation. No, excitement. He wanted her to deal with the Marine. Could it be that O’Brien had been pushing Sorkowski the way the admiral had been her? That was something else she needed to find out.

“Let me see what I can find out about the JAG investigation. If he is their target, good. If not, we will re-evaluate what needs to be done. But, for the moment, let me worry about him.”

Just as I’ll worry about you
.

*     *     *

Ashlyn watched as most of the others left the conference room. Once the doors slid shut behind the last of them, she shook her head, her expression troubled. But she stayed silent, making sure no one returned for something they might have left behind. The last thing she needed was the wrong person overhearing what she was about to say.

“You’re not looking any happier than I feel right now, Ash,” Ortega commented as she reached for the carafe across from her. She gave it a quick shake and then sighed. “We need to remember to have more coffee on hand for these meetings.”

“I’m not happy and that’s putting it mildly,” Ashlyn said. “But, before I explain why, I want to know what’s bothering you, all of you.” She motioned to include Adamson and Talbot who had been preparing to leave.

“You mean other than wanting to take a two particular officers who have more attitude than common sense outside to teach them a lesson or two?” Adamson’s disgust roughened her voice and Ash fought the urge to smile.

“Not to mention a certain sergeant who ought to know better,” Talbot added.

“Luce?” Now she looked at her XO.

“I’ll admit that Sergeant Tutola surprised me. He’s been with the battalion for the last eighteen months. I’ve not served directly with him, but I haven’t heard anything to raise any red flags where he’s concerned. But I promise I will be taking a very close look at his record before the day is out.” As she spoke, her fingers flew across the virtual keyboard, typing in a series of commands.

“He’s a paper pusher and pretty damned good at it,” Talbot said. “But that’s about it. I’m not sure he knows the butt from the barrel of his weapon.”

Ashlyn ducked her head to hide her smile. It was clear Talbot approved of the sergeant’s organizational skills but it was just as clear he had little use for the sergeant as a Devil Dog. That, in and of itself, spoke volumes.

“Recommendation?”

“I wouldn’t want him on the front line, ma’am, but he’d be good as part of the HQ Company.”

The hint of humor in Talbot’s eyes didn’t fool Ashlyn one bit. She could read in his expression what he really meant. His unspoken recommendation was to transfer the sergeant out of the battalion, if not the division. But Talbot wasn’t above teasing her a little by suggesting the man be assigned to her staff. Well, two could play that game.

“Very well, Loco.” She let a slow smile touch her lips as his eyes narrowed at her use of his call sign. “I’ll leave it to you to explain to both our division CO as well as General Okafor why I’m on the front lines and you are in command of HQ Company.”

Both Ortega and Adamson burst out laughing as the master gunnery sergeant paled and held his hands up in surrender.

“Not a chance, ma’am.”

“Then, Luce, it looks like you need to find a reason to transfer the good sergeant out of the battalion. Talk to my mother’s aide to see if the transfer should be out of the division as well. I don’t want to put a black mark on the man’s record if we don’t need to. But I will not have our people endangered by having him on the line. Of course, that means you’ll need to find us a replacement and quickly.”

“I should have it done by morning,” she promised.

“Good. Now, what can you tell me about the two officers in question?”

“Both are new to the battalion. They were transferred in not long before you returned to us. I know Pawlak had at least vague concerns about them. But, as long as we weren’t having to go in force into battle, he didn’t have reason to transfer them out,” Ortega replied.

Ashlyn frowned, wishing she’d had more time to discuss battalion personnel with Pawlak before he’d shipped out to his new assignment.

“All right. Here’s what we’re going to do. Put Gamma and Delta Companies through their paces this afternoon, Luce. I have no doubt that you’ll get objections, especially after what we heard in the briefing. I don’t care. I want you to push them, especially the COs and XOs. Put them through advanced boarding and ground assault sims. Add in that sim we worked on last week. Let’s see how they respond when the ship’s CO and senior officers are taken out of the mix and the ship is still in the middle of a battle. Then I want their companies, led by the officers and non-coms, to do the O-Course at the Academy. Let’s see what their individual and group scores are. I want you supervising it all. Brief me on the results in the morning over breakfast.”

“I understand, Ash, but that’s not going to give me much time to deal with the other personnel matters.”

Ashlyn nodded and thought for a moment before speaking. “MJ, you’re with her on this assignment. In fact, I want you to be one of the onsite referees. I need to know if there is any breach in protocol or any attempt to bypass the rules. You know what I’m looking for.”

“I do.”

A devilish gleam lit Adamson’s eyes and Ash smiled slightly. The master sergeant would miss nothing as the sims progressed and then she’d probably run the O-Course herself, beating all of them in the process.

“Kevin, you get to deal with getting the sergeant transferred out. Write up your recommendation and reasoning. I’ll approve it. Then you can take it to Personnel Command. If needed, I’ll tag my mother’s aide to expedite it all. I’ll let him know while I’m there for the briefing she’s called.”

“Briefing?” Curiosity tinged Ortega’s voice. Ashlyn understood. Ortega knew her schedule better than she did and the briefing had not been on it earlier. “Do you think it’s about our orders or what happened yesterday?”

“My guess is both.”

She would certainly feel better if that were the case.

“When do you leave?” Talbot wanted to know.

She glanced at the time. “Right now unless I want to be late. Luce, I’ll touch base with you later today. MJ, set up the use of the O Course for this afternoon. If any of you need me for anything, comm.” She paused, making sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. “Let’s hope we are wrong to be concerned.”

Not that she expected them to be. If she’d learned anything since taking over as CO of the Devil Dogs, it was that very little went as expected. Not that it surprised her. She’d learned a long time ago never to take anything for granted. If that meant trying to anticipate everything that could go wrong, so be it.

“Will do,” Adamson promised.

“One thing before you go, Ash,” Ortega said. “How hard do you want me to push on these exercises?”

“Luce, I’ll leave that to you.” And how Ortega handled it would tell Ashlyn a great deal about how her friend would do as the battalion’s XO. “But, from what little I know of the three we have concerns about, they have been with the DDs long enough that they should be able to handle anything you throw at them. I need to know how they react in situations where they are out of their comfort zones. For at least part of one of the exercises, have the senior non-coms taken out of the mix. Let’s see how the officers, and not just the captains, respond to having the backbone of their companies removed. Then, take out the COs. Let’s see how the rest of their people react without them at the lead.”

“Understood. I’ll keep you posted.”

Ashlyn thanked her and reached for her datapad. Unless she missed her guess, the next few days were going to be interesting and not necessarily in a good way.

C
HAPTER
F
IVE

“H
AVE
A
SEAT
, M
AJOR
,” Brigadier General Elizabeth Shaw said as her daughter entered the office.

Ashlyn nodded and did as she was told. As she did, she smiled slightly. It was still difficult at times to remember that her mother was also her commanding officer. That meant she had to be careful to avoid the sort of response anyone else who might be present would see as insubordinate. At least when they were alone, her mother didn’t usually require her to stand on formality. Not after the first few moments, anyway.

Like her daughter, Elizabeth was dressed in BDUs. That was just one of the many changes General Okafor had put into place when she took over as Commandant of the Marine Corps. Until she had, those assigned to the HQ staff and all members of the Corps stationed planetside wore their ”service” uniforms, complete with coats and covers, most days. But at least once a week, mess dress was the uniform of the day. Most Marines,
real
Marines as far as Ashlyn was concerned, had hated it. Neither uniform was as comfortable as their BDUs. The other uniforms might look fancier but Marines weren’t supposed to be fancy. They were supposed to get the job done. Nothing else mattered. Fortunately, General Helen Okafor happened to share that belief and she’d quickly made that clear once assuming her post as Commandant of the Corps.

Elizabeth made her way around the desk to her own chair. Then she waited until her aide served coffee and withdrew. “Ash, let me start by apologizing for not being able to meet with you yesterday. Right now my schedule is even more hectic than your own. And, from what I heard of your conversation with Lt. Hawther, it sounds as if you had an
interesting
start to the day.”

Ash didn’t know whether to smile or groan. The last thing she wanted was for her mother to think she’d come running to tell tales out of school. That was the only real problem about being in Elizabeth’s direct chain of command. There were times when it was difficult to separate the daughter from the Marine. Then, seeing the way her mother nodded in understanding, she smiled slightly. A moment later, as she thought about why she had told the lieutenant to expect a comm from Talbot, her smile faded.

“That’s one way to put it, ma’am.”

“Relax, Ash. It’s just the two of us. There’s no need to rest on niceties and protocol.” As if to prove her point, Elizabeth leaned back and lifted her feet onto the corner of her desk. “I will say that it is important for me to know what happened and I promise to explain shortly. So, tell me about the briefing and what you plan to do about it. Then we will discuss yesterday’s sim.”

For a moment, Ashlyn didn’t respond. Then she leaned forward, elbows on her knees, her expression serious. Since her mother had said they weren’t standing on protocol, she’d take advantage of the opportunity to speak freely.