The Marine's Queen (36 page)

The small clearing heated with the rising of the sun. Vin blocked Joe’s first three jabs, but he couldn’t block the kick to his thigh. Vin stumbled, and Joe moved in to land a chest strike and an open palm slap to the ear. Vin went to his knees, and Joe finished him with a restrained fist to his temple.

Joe straddled his second-in-command, sitting on Vin’s chest and putting his knees on the unconscious man’s arms. As he struggled to bring his breathing back to normal the sounds around him intruded.

Hadrason whimpered from where lay curled up. The other marines formed a half circle around Joe, and the women watched from behind them. One of those warm emotions filled Callie’s eyes. Joe thought it was sorrow. “Could you give us some privacy, my queen?”

“
Sergeant Becker, take Hadrason to the doctor’s house,” Sontu ordered. “Four guards at all times. The rest of you, return to your duties.”

Callie ushered the women and children back into the common building.

The other marines edged in and knelt around Joe and Vin. Joe cautiously let Vin rise to a sitting position.

“
You should have let me kill him, sir.” Vin looked weary and bitter.

“
To satisfy your revenge?” Joe made his tone hard. “When have we ever killed for revenge? What honor is there in killing a beaten man?”

“
Honor!” Vin snarled. “What do I care of honor?”

“
Obviously you care nothing of your own. But what about us? Your cowardly attack reflects on all of us. We still have hopes for a life among these civilians. Did you consider us at all? Did you consider the men who fought at your side for years? Did you think of the men who bled defending your back? Did any thought of your brothers float to the surface of the ocean of self-pity you’re swimming in?”

Vin blinked and then dropped his stare to the ground.

Joe let the silence stretch. It was up to Vin now.

“
I’m ashamed,” Vin said. “I’ve dishonored myself and you. My actions were selfish and thoughtless. I’m sorry, sir.”

Joe nodded. “Apology accepted. Now let’s get out of the dirt.”

They all stood. Joe winced inwardly at the stiffness already spreading through his muscles. Vin had to feel worse.

“
Sir, I….” Vin glanced at the hilltop where Yalo’s ashes still smoldered. “Sir, I can’t stay here. I can’t….”

“
I understand, Vin.” Joe wondered if the losses would ever end. “That military ship will be here soon. Take whatever you need and go. Don’t tell us where you’re going, but I recommend even further away from the Galactic Alliance’s control.”

The rest of the men stood silently around them. Joe looked at each in turn. “Any of the rest of you want to go? To stay is to risk life imprisonment.”

They all shook their heads.

“
It’s best if I’m alone.” Vin looked again at the thread of smoke snaking into the blue sky. “I don’t want to be around anyone.”

Joe found this farewell different than losing one of his men to battle. It hung as an incomplete goodbye with no belief that Vin moved toward a better place. Kam, Roz and Mak muttered words of little sense. They walked away to give Vin and Joe time alone for words only the two of them could share.

What could one say to a man, a brother, who until a few weeks ago was the person closest to him? A strange lump grew in Joe’s throat and words failed him.

“
Sir … Joe,” Vin managed, his voice rough. He extended his hand.

“
I know, Vin.” Joe gripped Vin’s hand with both of his.

Sontu ran from the control center. “Sentinel, the Galactic Warship has entered orbit. They’re bound to pick up the smoke on their sensors.”

Chapter Eighteen

“
How long until they get here?” Callie couldn’t shake the lethargy weighing her down. Yalo dead, Vin gone. All her fault.

Joe sank down on the doctor’s bed. Webb had volunteered to sleep with the Giroux soldiers in the barracks. More guilt racked Callie as she remembered Joe hadn’t slept the previous night. She blinked back tears, not wanting Joe to see her crying.

He didn’t look at her when he finally answered. “They’ll wait until morning. Sontu sent them a message saying everything was under control.” Joe pulled his shirt over his head and kicked off his dusty boots. He stretched out on his back and closed his eyes.

The results of his frightening fight with Vin colored his chest and ribs with red and purple bruises. He sighed, a long, deep sound. Grief? Exhaustion?

Callie sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her hand lightly over his battered ribs. He opened his eyes to half-mast.

“
It’s my fault, Callie. I shouldn’t have let you and the other women in the room with Hadrason. Now we’ve lost Vin too.”

“
Oh, Joe, you’re wrong. I’m queen. I’m ultimately responsible. If I hadn’t harried off after you without better protection, none of this would have happened.”

“
Hadrason would have found a way to take you. Don’t try to assuage my guilt by saying it’s your fault. I let you down too. I’m the Sentinel.” Joe leaned up on one elbow, his powerful will radiating from his blue eyes.

“
How about if we share the guilt.” Callie reached for him and he welcomed her, pulling her down on top of him.

She worried about his bruises, but he didn’t flinch or act in any way discomforted. She gave herself up to his kisses and eager hands. After they made love, Callie clung to him with hands desperate to memorize the feel of him. Neither slept except for short naps. Twice more they turned to each other and spoke with their bodies.

When the first brightness of dawn touched the windows, Joe rose and began dressing. He stared at her for a moment after he finished. “Callie, I….?”

She held her breath, waiting for his words of love.

“
Callie, don’t involve yourself in this. I’ll never forget you. Please do as I ask if you have any care for me. It will be easier for me if you’re not present at the hearings.” He turned and left, his back straight from habit and pride.

Callie lay in the quickly cooling bed, alone with her love.

* * * *

Joe and Sontu greeted Edow and his small entourage of twelve well-armed soldiers.

“
I dispatched a unit to capture Hadrason’s ship,” Edow said as Joe led them down from the hilltop where they’d landed.

“
I doubt they’ll put up much resistance after more than two days and nights with minimal power for heat and cooling.” Joe spoke absently, his mind still turning around the expression on Callie’s face when he left her at daybreak. She’d wanted something from him. What hadn’t he given her? His loyalty, his blood, his very life had been hers since the day he’d climbed into her wrecked ship.

“
How did you build all this in such a short time?” Edow asked as they entered the central clearing and he saw all the cottages.

“
You’ll understand in a moment.” Joe led them toward the barracks. “Captain, could you have your men wait outside. This if for your eyes only.”

Edow gave the order and followed Sontu into the building. He stumbled when he saw who stood before him.

Joe closed the door and stood beside Edow. “These are the last of my men, Captain. Mak, Roz, Kam.”

“
I thought they were all dead except you.”

“
I apologize for letting you believe that, sir. They were needed here to guard the other women. Now that Captain Sontu and some of his soldiers are here, my men will surrender to you and go back to challenge the charges against us.”

Edow shook his head. “You could have kept them hidden or let them escape before I arrived.”

One of them had escaped. Joe sent a silent prayer to Unon for Vin. “We’re confident in our innocence, sir. We want to live as free men, not fugitives.”

Edow snorted. “You amaze me, and you’re very strange. Where’s Queen Callie and Hadrason?”

“
Hadrason is in the supply shed, and the queen is packing,” Sontu answered.

“
I’d like to see the layout of your camp before I speak with the prisoner and the queen,” Edow said. “Where’s your command center?”

“
I’m sorry, sir. Unless you tell me a good reason why you need to see anything but us and your other prisoner, the rest of the facilities are off limits to you and your men.”

“
Come now, I’m not your enemy.”

“
The security of the queen is my primary concern. I know enough military law to know you have no jurisdiction to search this camp.”

Edow gave a stiff nod. “I was only curious. Let’s get underway then.”

Sergeant Becker appeared in the doorway. “Sentinel, the crew of the mining ship has surrendered to the military.”

Edow spun back toward Joe. “How do you know that? My own men haven’t contacted me yet.”

“
I’m sorry, sir. You don’t need to know our methods.”

“
Hell’s fire,” Edow swore, and then he grinned. “I can’t believe my superiors didn’t try to hold onto you guys.”

“
Sentinel,” Becker said, frowning at Edow. “Our queen says she’s ready to speak with the captain.”

“
Thank you. Dismissed.” Joe waited until Becker left the building. “Captain Edow, my men and I would like to keep the queen and her ladies out of this mess. Our trial can only bring them unsavory speculation.”

“
I can’t order them not to appear in court. They may be requested to give testimony to your character.”

“
Not if our legal counsel doesn’t call them to witness.”

“
Who is representing you?”

“
We wanted to talk to you about that, sir.”

* * * *

Nothing in Callie’s imagination could have concocted the events of the last few days so she knew it hadn’t all been a dream. It was too horrible even for a nightmare.

Riba leaned across the table and wrapped her hands around Callie’s. “She was so happy. These last few weeks with Vin opened a world to her she had never thought to find.”

Callie nodded, finding Riba’s assurance bittersweet. Yalo had found love but only had a short time to enjoy it.

“
Do you think Vin will be all right?”

“
I don’t know.” Callie wondered if Vin had ever told Yalo he loved her. “Joe thinks he escaped undetected by the Galactic Military ship.”

“
What now?”

Callie looked around at the little bits of luggage the women had put together. “We can’t help Vin, and we’ve said our goodbyes to Yalo. It’s time to save the ones we can.”

* * * *

Captain Edow offered his condolences and apologies. “I feel my premature departure from Giroux and a terrible underestimation of Hadrason’s intentions contributed to this horrible situation, your highness.”

“
How could any of us have known? I’m glad to hand him over to you.”

“
It will be my pleasure to see he meets his justice.”

“
That brings me to my marines, captain. Let’s speak justice.”

Edow’s posture stiffened. “I’m afraid they’re not your marines. They must return with me.”

“
Return and face the justice meted out to them by a corrupt court?”

“
I don’t intend to let that happen.”

“
How can you prevent it?”

“
Joe asked me to be their counselor if we can get a new hearing.”

“
Why you?”

A wry smile curved Edow’s lips, and he shrugged. “I guess somewhere between here and Giroux, Joe decided to trust me.”

“
Can you get a new trial?”

“
Perhaps. With what we know about Smeltz working with Hadrason, we know where to look for evidence of a frame.”