Address criticisms to [xazqrten@cox.net]
******************************
Ivanova was explaining, for the second time, to the first lieutenant on her
videophone display what she wanted done with the report chit that she had
signed on Sergeant John Miller. She was losing her patience with the young man.
Her conversation was interrupted by a knock on her office door.
“Come in!” She said curtly.
A man of about thirty-five or forty, wearing a dress uniform sporting master
sergeant’s stripes stepped through the doorway.
“I’m Master Sergeant John Jenkins, General Wayne. I’m here to make a report
on what my investigation revealed about the incident concerning First
Lieutenant Ellers. I’ve already been to see Colonel Keller. She insisted that I
give you a personal briefing in addition to my written report.”
Susan held her hand up and motioned for Jenkins to wait a moment. “It’s as
simple as that, lieutenant. I want the charges against Sergeant Miller referred
to a court martial. It’s not a request; it’s an order. If you still have a
problem with that, tell your boss to call me. You’ll like what that brings even
less.”
Turning to Jenkins, she said, “I’m sorry to keep you waiting, master
sergeant, but there seems to be a problem with people following orders on this
base. What can you tell me about this weekend?”
Master Sergeant Jenkins used the next half-hour to explain what he had
learned and to alert her to the politics of the situation. He capped it off
explaining that the local district attorney didn’t even see fit to order an
autopsy of the body.
“What you have described is unsatisfactory to say the least. I suppose I’ll
have to knock heads with the locals after I relieve General Zaleski.”
“No disrespect, General Wayne, but better you than me.”
“Maybe we can use a variation on the good cop, bad cop routine, Master
Sergeant Jenkins. I’ll come down on them as hard as I can and you be the
sympathetic sap at the bottom of the heap who fights to help keep me off their
asses while ingratiating himself into their good graces.”
“You really think they’ll buy that, general?”
“You play your part and leave the rest to me. They’ll be giving you anything
you ask for to get you to try and keep me at bay. You know I’m going to have to
make it look like I’m trying to trash your ass to make it believable. Trust me,
and I promise, you’ll never regret it. I’ll even give that to you in writing in
a notarized memorandum if you want.”
“The locals haven’t made it easy on me since the day I arrived. They are
unwilling to share turf, so to speak. I’m game, general, and I’ll trust your
word on it.”
Susan stood and offered him her hand. He took it and shook it. “Here’s to
skullduggery, Master Sergeant Jenkins.”
After Jenkins had departed, Susan thought about their meeting. It promised
to be a very interesting endeavor. She didn’t particularly like politicians,
but she liked the idea of police departments playing games and endangering the
people they were supposed to be serving even less. She would clue Leftcourt in
on her plans before she started dropping rocks. After her experiences with the
many alien ambassadors and their governments she had had dealings with, these
people were rank amateurs.
Susan wasted no time calling the dispensary and instructing the doctor about
what she wanted him to do. He was a bit reluctant to call the headquarters of
Earthforce Medical Command. She promised to call ahead and smooth the way for
him. Ten minutes after finishing with the doctor, she had Stephen Franklin on
the videophone. She explained what she wanted and why. Looking out of the
display at her he replied. “This is going to be a big one you owe me.”
“Put it on my tab, Stephen. I need this information badly.”
“Consider it done, but give my people at least two weeks to finish the job.”
“No problem. I do understand the difficulty of what I’m asking. Remember, I
was there when the Markab bit the dust.”
******************************
Susan sat on the bar stool and ordered a vodka and ice. She had eaten supper
at the galley, gone back to her suite at the BOQ and changed into a pair of
blue denim pants and a dark red silk blouse. She had opted for a pair of plain
black cowboy style boots. It was 1830 hours and she hadn’t even had a chance to
take a sip of her drink when a young first lieutenant, still in uniform, sat
down on the stool next to her and made a pitch.
“Since you already have a drink, might I offer a penny for your thoughts?”
Susan didn’t even bother to look at him as she replied, “I’m not interested
in you. Leave me alone.”
“That’s no way to answer my inquiry?”
Susan turned her head slightly and replied, “I said, ‘You don’t interest
me’. Don’t make me tell you to leave me alone again. You won’t like the
results, and that’s a promise.”
“You have no manners, whoever you are.”
“Good,” replied Susan.
The young officer was miffed. He had never been rebuffed this brusquely. Not
smart enough to leave well enough alone, he began, “You have no right to behave
toward me this way.”
Susan turned to face him directly. What he saw in her eyes told him he
should have left her alone the first time she had told him to do so. She read
his name off his nametag. “Lieutenant Meyers, who is your commanding officer?”
Without thinking about it he replied, “General Zaleski. Why?”
“I’ll be putting you on report for harassing me after I told you to go away.
I expect your advancement to captain will be a very long time in coming.”
“You can’t do that, whoever you are.”
“I’m going to be your new boss, and yes, I can do it. Now go away and bother
someone else.”
Meyers went back to the table his drinking buddies occupied. He took a seat
and grumbled, “She’s going to put me on report for harassing her. She even says
she is going to be my new boss. What in hell is happening to this place?”
“I’m surprised you didn’t recognize her, Paul. She was in and out of the
headquarters building all day today.”
“How was I supposed to see her. I was gone today. I took leave and made this
a three-day weekend. Who is she?”
“Unless I’m mistaken, she’s the general who is going to relieve General
Zaleski. They set up conference room four as a temporary office for her. Man,
even if she doesn’t put you on report for harassment, you can kiss your career
goodbye.”
“How do you propose to keep her from doing that?” Asked another of his
drinking buddies.
Meyers didn’t respond immediately. He just looked into his drink and tried
to think. The answer to his buddy’s question was very simple. Short of killing
her, there wasn’t anything he could do to prevent the woman from following
through on her promise. The idea of killing her didn’t really bother him. His
male ego had been badly bruised; and like many of his age, he thought no
further than his own wants, without regard to how they might affect others.
“Are you just going to do nothing and let her destroy your career?” Asked a
civilian who was a guest of one of the other young officers at the table.
At the bar, Lon the bartender, was speaking to Susan. “Don’t let him get you
too bent out of shape, General Wayne. The young ones seem think they’re the
answer to every woman’s dreams.”
Susan considered what Lon said before replying. “I don’t seem to remember it
being this bad when I was young and just starting my career.” Then she thought
to herself, [That’s because in my younger days, I’d have wiped the floor with
him. What the hell, I still can, but Leftcourt would have my skinny ass.]
“Why don’t you entertain yourself and us, General?” Asked Lon.
“How do you propose that I do that?”
“Your business partner left some sound equipment and musical instruments set
up on the stage. All you have to do is turn it on. It’s even set up to record
your efforts.”
“This music thing is starting to get out of hand.”
“Anything you play will be better than this canned crap we’re playing now,
Sir.”
Susan spent the next two hours playing the synthesizer and the guitars. She
once again played a wide variety of music styles. At Lieutenant Meyers’ table,
the civilian commented, “I’ll give her her due, she is a damned good musician,
but I have something planned for her when she heads back to her quarters, and
it has nothing to do with music. It’ll solve your problem, Paul.”
“I’m not sure I want to know about this,” responded Meyers.
“You’re going to help us because it’s your problem we’re going to solve,”
replied the civilian.
As Susan buttoned up the instruments and secured the sound equipment,
Meyers, the civilian and two of his friends left the club. His friend, Mark
Todd, who knew who Susan was, didn’t go with them. Instead he walked over to
the bar and bought himself another drink, and proceeded to talk to the
bartender.
Susan walked up to the bar and put her empty glass on it. “I think I’ll call
it a night, Lon. Thanks for the free drinks.”
“They weren’t free, general. You entertained the house, and the house
responded appropriately,” laughed the bartender.
“Well, a walk back to the ‘Q’ will help clear my head before I go to bed
tonight.”
“General, the fellow at the other end of the bar has something to tell you
that you should hear. It concerns your safety, if it’s true. He’s had a few
tonight, but he seems to be fairly lucid.”
Lon was gay, so Susan as a sex object was a null quantity, but he considered
how she exuded an aura of confidence and power. Most men found those qualities
attractive and seductive. Couple that with her mature appearance, the odor of
her perfume and the sweat from her performance and she would be classified as a
sex machine, at least from a certain perspective.
She walked the length of the bar and took the empty stool next to First
Lieutenant Mark Todd. Susan remembered seeing him earlier in the day in the
headquarters building. “What’s on your mind, lt.?”
Todd turned to face her and froze. He really didn’t quite know how to
proceed. He was one of those who found women like Susan very sexy.
“The bartender said you had something to tell me, lt.”
Todd shook his head then spoke, “Sir, I think the guys who were with me
earlier are planning to do you grievous bodily harm.”
“Would you care to explain and expound on that statement?”
Todd told her about the conversation at his table. Susan motioned for Lon to
come to her end of the bar. “Call security. Tell them they are needed in the
club. We have a problem.” Looking back at Todd, Susan asked, “Did you know
First Lt. Gordon Ellers?”
“Yes sir, but not personally. I believe the guys I was with tonight palled
around with him on occasion.”
“Your pals, do they use anything besides alcohol?”
“I’m not sure, sir. On more than one occasion they seemed more affected by
the liquor than one would expect, but other than that, I have no idea.”
“How about this civilian. What do you know about him?”
“Nothing really, sir. I only know his name is Ralph Gordon because of the
other guys referring to him.”
“Thank you, lieutenant. Don’t go anywhere, I think security will want to
interview you.”
Todd replied, “Yes, sir.” Then he went back to privately drooling over Susan.
It took security ten minutes to get to the club. In the interim, Susan used
the club phone and called the private number she had for Master Sergeant
Jenkins.
******************************
At a point one hundred meters from the BOQ:
Sitting on a bench partially hidden from view from the passing road and
sidewalk by chest high shrubbery, the civilian was speaking. “Lt. Berry, you
walk up the way about forty meters or so and keep an eye for our quarry. When
you see her, silently signal me.”
The young man, so identified, proceeded to do as ordered.
“I want you two to go about twenty meters up the street and keep out of
sight. After she passes you, wait until she is ten meters ahead and then fall
in behind her. Be quiet because I don’t want her to know she is cornered.”
“What’re you really going to do to her?”
“We’re going to kill her, Lt. Dall. What did you think we were going to do,
or weren’t you paying attention in the club? You thought we were going to smack
her around and let her go? Not hardly. I gave you guys knives for a reason.
They work very well and they don’t make any noise. Now get to your places.”
******************************
In the Officers’ Club:
“I can’t let you walk back to the ‘Q’ alone, General Wayne,” stated the
security officer, Second Lieutenant Fred Herd.
“My plan will work, Mr. Herd. Besides, you aren’t in any position to give me
orders, even if you are the security officer.”
Herd had read the pass down logs and knew very well who and what he was
dealing with. “At least let me put some men at the ‘Q’ and alert the gates.”
“Do it then, Mr. Herd. I’m waiting for Master Sergeant Jenkins, anyway.”
“Why did you call him, sir?”
“I want him to help me interview our guests when we get our hands on them.”
“They won’t talk without having counsel present, General Wayne.”
“Let me worry about that, lieutenant. I promise to not abuse them or their
rights.”
“If they surprise you, sir, you could be hurt very badly, before we can get
to you,” Herd insisted even more strongly than he had the first few times.
“I’ll be okay. I’ll know where they are and what they intend to do before
they get a chance to act on their plans. Trust me, lieutenant.”
About that time, Master Sergeant Jenkins arrived. “Trust her, Mr. Herd.
She’s a telepath. She’ll know what they’re going to try before they have a
chance to execute whatever it is.”
“Oh,” replied Herd.
Susan explained to Jenkins what she needed from him and why. He nodded his
head at several places in her explanation. Then he looked her in the face and
smiled. It was a smile that said he was looking forward to what she was
planning.
“Mr. Herd, are your people ready?” asked Susan.
“We’re ready, General. We’ll follow your lead.”
Susan walked out of the club.
*******************************
Susan was less than two hundred meters from the BOQ when she detected the
thoughts of the young officers who were going to attack her. She spoke softly
and the small transceiver in her ear alerted the security personnel to the
situation. Second Lieutenant Herd had insisted that she wear the small device
to insure that everything was coordinated properly, and it kept her in contact
with her back-up. As she continued beyond the position of the two young
officers whose job it was to cut off her retreat, she informed Lt. Herd.
Susan was a hundred meters from the BOQ when a very large individual blocked
her way. She noted that he was very large, but not nearly as large as Sergeant
Major Leroy Phillips, who had worked out with her aboard the Ares. As she
approached him, he took several steps toward her. He never said a word as he
made a move to cut her across the abdomen with a knife that had a long blade
serrated on both cutting edges.
As soon as Susan reported the attack, base security moved in to arrest the
young officers who were supposed to cut off her escape. Susan jumped back
quickly, causing the knife blade to miss her abdomen by a scant three
centimeters. Without hesitation, she extended the denn’bok she was carrying in
her hand.
“You can surrender, or I can kill you with this thing,” said Susan in a dead
calm voice.
The civilian was surprised by her actions, but he made another effort to cut
her and was rewarded with intense pain as the denn’bok struck his left leg on
the side of its thigh. As a result of the strike, the civilian found he could
only hobble in great pain. As he spent the next few seconds considering his
options, Susan smacked him in the left temple and knocked him unconscious.
Retrieving the knife her would be assailant had dropped, Susan looked at the
blade with interest. As the security officer approached her, Susan passed the
knife to him, and commented, “I don’t think its intended use is to fillet fish.”
Herd chuckled and replied, “At least not any fish that I’m familiar with,
general. I suppose you want these men taken to a comfortable cell?”
“Yes, and make sure that they can’t communicate with one another.”
The security personnel, military police (MP), escorted their prisoners away.
Susan looked at Jenkins. “Are you ready, Master Sergeant Jenkins?”
“Yes, sir. The sooner the better.”
“Lt. Herd, the civilian isn’t hurt badly. I just tapped him hard enough to
discourage further attempts at hurting me. Have the duty medic look at him in
his cell.”
Herd replied, “Yes, sir.” Then he saluted and left Susan and Jenkins alone.
“Like I said Master Sergeant, you take them, one-at-a-time, into the
interrogation room and ask them all kinds of questions. I’ll lower my mental
barriers and listen to their projected thoughts. That way I won’t be scanning
them, but I’ll know if they are telling the truth.”
“I’ll endeavor to be very broad based with my questions, general.”
Both of them knew what they wanted, and by working together they stood an
excellent chance of getting it, if the men they had just captured had the
information.
******************************
It was 2230 hours when the duty JAG officer arrived at the
detention/interrogation section of base security headquarters. The young
captain wasn’t at all happy. She was even less happy when Susan outlined what
she and Master Sergeant Jenkins were planning to do.
“You can’t be serious, General Wayne.”
“Captain Ellison, I didn’t have you called in here at this time of night for
a practical joke. My sense of humor doesn’t usually extend that far. I believe
what we are going to do is legal. What I need from you is a legal
determination. If you can’t handle that just say so, and I’ll call JAG
headquarters and find someone who can. Am I making myself clear.”
Ellison had not hidden her anger at being called in from her home at this
hour of the night. She had snapped at several of the enlisted personnel and
Susan had heard her. She was still thinking about what Susan had just said when
Susan continued, “I see it was a mistake to call you in on this, Captain
Ellison. You go on home, I’ll call JAG headquarters. They should have someone
qualified to make a legal determination.”
Ellison smarted as Susan curtly and summarily dismissed her. She knew that a
call by this woman to her headquarters would amount to her being put on report
for failure to properly perform her duties. She was realizing she shouldn’t
have taken her ire out on the junior personnel.
“Give me a few minutes, General Wayne.”
“You go on home, Captain Ellison. That’s not a request or suggestion,
captain. It’s an order.”
“Yes sir,” answered Ellison.
Susan stepped into Herd’s duty office. “Lt. Herd, get me JAG headquarters
duty officer on the phone.”
“Yes sir!” Responded Herd. He wanted to feel sorry for Ellison, but she had
treated his duty personnel like pieces of crap, abusing them in public, almost
in front of a flag officer. She had been very arrogant. It was becoming
apparent that the pass down log write-ups didn’t do justice to the good
general. When she said jump, she expected you to be on the way up when you
asked how high.
“Also, Lt. Herd, what have you found out about our civilian guest, Ralph
Gordon?”
“We ran his name through the system and except for a few misdemeanor
convictions for getting into bar fights, he is as clean as the newly fallen
snow.”
“Try the local police. Maybe they know something that’s not in the database.”
“Yes, sir.”
Susan walked into one of the security office interrogation rooms. Jenkins
was interviewing First Lieutenant Mark Todd. She sat down in an empty chair at
one end of the table, essentially between Jenkins and Todd. Susan looked at
Jenkins.
“We’ve been talking about Mr. Todd’s relationships with the fellows in the
holding cells. I thought it would be better if I had as much information about
them as possible.”
“I agree. Mr. Todd, please continue.”
Todd spent the next half hour telling Jenkins and Susan all he could and
answered a number of seemingly random questions.
Jenkins looked at Susan and his expression told her he was satisfied with
what they had learned.
“Lieutenant Todd, you may go. If we need anything else, I’ll have security
notify you. Thank you for your cooperation,” said Susan.
After Todd departed, Susan looked at Jenkins. “What do you think, Master
Sergeant?”
“I think I’m getting the beginnings of a picture that I don’t like at all.”
“I agree with you. Maybe this idiotic attack can be turned into something
worthwhile.”
“I’ll give that more thought when we finish with the others. How long can we
keep them locked up?”
“Because the attack was on a flag officer, we can keep the military
prisoners locked up until their court-martial. I’m not sure about the civilian,
but he committed the offense on a military reserve, so I imagine his ass is
ours for a couple days at least until a bail hearing can be held. If I have
anything to say about it, the judge will not let him out on bail. He is a
danger to the public, so to speak.”
Shortly after Lt. Todd was released, Susan was informed that the JAG duty
officer was on the videophone.
“Good morning Commander Jennings,” said Susan to the officer on the display
screen.
“What can I do for you, General Wayne?”
Susan proceeded to explain what she wanted and why.
“No offense, General Wayne, but why didn’t you have this handled by the
local senior JAG representative, a Captain Ellison, I believe?”
“Her first response to my request was to ask if I was serious. I’d have
thought calling her into the security office at 2230 hours would’ve had a ring
of seriousness to it. Since she couldn’t or didn’t seem to want to accept the
task, I sent her back home.”
“I see. It may take me a few hours to get you a definitive answer. On the
surface, I don’t see any major problem, but you never can assume to know what’s
hidden in the fine print.”
“That will be just fine, commander. We can hold these men for a couple of
days. Off topic, but just a heads-up, I’ll be wanting a replacement for Captain
Ellison after I relieve General Zaleski.”
“I assume you know what that will do to her career future.”
“Of course, I do, commander. Maybe if she took her job a bit more seriously,
but she doesn’t.”
“I’ll be contacting you later today my time, General Wayne.”
“Thank you for your efforts, Commander Jennings.”
******************************
Susan sent Jenkins home and informed Lt. Herd of her room phone number. “If
they call back before you get relieved in the morning, lt., call me
immediately.”
“Yes, sir!” He responded.
After Susan was well on her back to the BOQ, Herd came into the front office
and looked at his watch standers. “Do any of you know what just transpired in
my office?”
No one answered.
“Captain Ellison blazed in here and jumped on some of you. She told the
general that she couldn’t be serious when the general told her what she wanted.”
“Did the general chew on her?” asked one of the female corporals on duty.
“Not exactly. As you saw, she sent the captain home. She told a commander at
JAG that she wanted Captain Ellison replaced after she relieved General
Zaleski. You might let the word get around that General Wayne is the new
sheriff in town and she is deadly serious.”
******************************
Just before she left the BOQ for her temporary office, she called the
officer personnel office and requisitioned Captain Ellison’s personnel record.
Susan made coffee and looked at her inbox. Captain Ellison’s service record
was already there. She sat down, took the record and began to peruse it as she
waited for her coffee to make. The coffee maker beeped, Susan poured herself a
cup and went back to reading Ellison’s record. She paid close attention to the
fitness reports, particularly the comments sections. At a quick glance,
everything appeared on the up and up, but some of the comments said something
else, if one read them carefully, and paid particular attention to the words
used and the punctuation. As a Centauri security specialist had once told her,
the details are everything. Her experience with the good captain was apparently
not the first time Ellison had been at odds with a superior officer about her
attitude and her treatment of junior personnel. Every officer in Earthforce
could almost be guaranteed advancement to the O-3 rank, if he or she kept their
nose clean and didn’t piss off their senior officers. It appeared that this was
how Captain Ellison had made it as far as she had. It occurred to Susan that
Captain Ellison almost had to have someone in a position of power and authority
watching her back. A couple of the comments in her fitness reports were
bordering on scathing. They were very close to being scathing enough for even
one to scotch a career. Any two of them together should have done the job
efficiently.
She was on her second cup of coffee when Colonel Mark Pearson knocked on the
door and came in when invited.
“Good morning, General Wayne. We’ve had two calls from JAG headquarters for
you within the last hour.”
“Did they say what they wanted?”
“I’m not sure, but it seems to concern a Captain Ellison.”
“I’m not surprised. When they call again put it through to me in here. You
can come in and listen if you wish. You may find it enlightening.”
Almost on cue, Susan’s videophone rang. Accepting the call, she found
herself looking at the image of an Earthforce colonel. Recognizing the JAG
emblem on the colonel’s uniform, Susan selected the record function on the
phone.
“What can I do for you, colonel.”
“That remains to be seen, General Wayne. I’ve been informed that you want to
replace Captain Ellison who presently is the senior JAG officer on the base
there.”
“Just what is your name, colonel?”
“I’m Colonel Jun Sonn Lee.”
“Before you start taking someone apart, colonel, it is customary to identify
yourself. As to your inquiry, Captain Ellison is going to be replaced after I
assume command here. Do you have a problem with that?”
“That’s what this call is about, General Wayne. It is felt that you are
overreacting to the situation.”
Smiling, Susan inquired, “Exactly who feels that I’m overreacting, Colonel
Lee.”
Lee looked a bit miffed. “I’d rather not say at this time, General Wayne.”
“Are you accustomed to threatening senior officers, Colonel Lee?”
“I didn’t threaten you, General Wayne.”
“Unless you tell me who put you up to this, I’m going to assume you are
acting on your accord. You have threatened me in the presence of a witness, and
this entire conversation is being recorded in living color and stereophonic
sound. Now, tell me for whom who you are making this call, or by the time you
finish your next cup of coffee, I’ll prefer charges against you. Is there any
part of this you don’t understand?”
“You misunderstand, General Wayne. I was just trying to be helpful.”
“Colonel Lee, consider yourself on report for threatening a superior officer
by means of innuendo.”
“You’re making a mistake, General Wayne. You don’t understand the
circumstances surrounding this Ellison issue.”
“You made the mistake, Colonel Lee, thinking you can threaten me and get
away with it. Now do something useful and put me through to General Marsh.
That’s not a request.”
“Give me a minute, sir.”
Susan killed her audio microphone and looked over at Pearson. He motioned
with his head, and then said, “That was about blatant as you could get, without
making an outright threat.”
Susan smiled back at him. “Tell me about it.”
It was almost two minutes before General Marsh came on the line. When he did
his first question was, “What are you and Lee knocking heads about, Susan?”
“He obliquely threatened me because I’m getting rid of the present senior
JAG officer from the office here.”
“How well do you know her?”
“Last night I didn’t know her at all, but I don’t need her attitude in my
new command. You can put it down to personality conflict and transfer her
without prejudice. However, if you fight me, I’ll see to it that she is out of
Earthforce so fast it’ll make your head swim, General Marsh, and with all due
respect, before you get testy on me, take a look at her fitness reports,
particularly the comments sections, sir. I’m faxing the appropriate parts now.”
Marsh took a few minutes to read the marked comments in the reports and then
looked at the numbers in the rating sections. It was apparent that they didn’t
match. Either the reporting officer had given her good numbers and then wrote
comments that didn’t support the numbers or the reports had been altered after
they had been written and submitted for inclusion in her permanent record.
Looking into his phone’s video camera, he said, “I’m sure you are familiar with
Pontious Pilot, Susan. I’m sure you understand when I say that I feel this a
problem best resolved at the proper level.”
“Of course, sir, and I appreciate your consideration in the matter. Thank
you for your timely response to the situation.”
The video display went blank as Marsh terminated the connection. “Well,
Mark, any thoughts?”
“He handed it back to you. Colonel Lee is going to be really pissed.”
“Not nearly as pissed as he’s going to be when I get through with him. He
threatened me, and I want to know why. Then I’m going to make him go away, even
if it’s only forced retirement.
“You seem to find the deepest end of the swamp with the most and biggest
alligators to go skinny dipping in, sir.”
“I’m beginning to wonder just how far General Leftcourt, President Luchenko
and their cronies want me to go. I can’t clean house on the entire Earthforce.”
“I’m sure that given enough time, Susan, you can do exactly that,” commented
General Zaleski from the doorway.
“How much of that did you hear, sir?” asked Pearson.
“More than enough to realize that my relief has carte blanche in how she
does things.”
“How so, sir?” asked Pearson.
“Mark, you just heard a three star general, the JAG to be exact, tell Susan
to do it however she wishes, implying that headquarters will accept whatever
action that might entail, regardless of who’s tit gets caught in the wringer. I
suspect that Colonel Lee has many enemies in JAG HQ and quite likely in other
commands as well.”
“Am I missing something, sir?” asked Pearson.
“Susan told him, Marsh, that Lee had threatened her. General Marsh as much
as gave her a hunting license with all the blanks left empty for her to fill
out however she desires. He expects her to make the good captain and the good
colonel go away in the near future. I suspect it’ll be much sooner than later.”
“Gentlemen, I’m still in the room,” noted Susan.
Zaleski studied Susan for almost a minute before replying, “You most
certainly are. I take it you and Marsh have some history?”
“Yes we do. He headed up the board of inquiry on Babylon 5, which was
assigned to find something that could be used to court-martial me. He lost.”
“Really?” asked Pearson.
“Really, Mark. Sometime when you have a lot of free time and a wallet full
of credits, I’ll let you take me and your wife out for dinner and drinks at the
most expensive restaurant in the city, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
“I’m going to hold you to that, General Wayne.”
“I don’t suppose I could come along, could I?” Asked Zaleski.
“As long as you guys pay, I don’t have any problems with it.”
******************************
In her office, Captain Freda Ellison was listening to the image of Colonel
Lee speak to her from the video display on her desk. “I’m sorry, Freda, but
this General Wayne is a buzzsaw.”
“You and I have an understanding, Colonel Lee.”
“You don’t understand, Freda. Because of my attempt at intervening on your
behalf, I’m on report for threatening her. I don’t think she is going to let it
go at that.”
“If you can’t or won’t keep your part of our bargain, you leave me no
choice. I won’t go down alone.”
“Jesus Christ, Freda, Wayne has been given carte blanche to handle this
situation any way she sees fit. She has a hunting license and our names are on
it. If she starts an in-depth investigation… You and I may end up in adjacent
cells somewhere out on the rim. You talking out of turn will only make matters
worse.”
“I think you are overreacting Jun. We haven’t committed any felonies.”
The look on Lee’s face on her display seemed to contradict her statement.
******************************
“I know you didn’t plan on starting until this afternoon, but I’m expecting
to be busy after I get my reply from JAG, so, if you’re ready, you may start
briefing me on my new toys, Colonel Pearson?”
“Just as soon as I get myself a fresh cup of coffee, General Wayne.”
With a fresh cup of coffee in hand, Pearson set up a small projector and
pointed it at the white dry marking board on the wall opposite her desk.
Without any hesitation he selected a data crystal and projected an
organizational chart that displayed all of the subordinate commands under her
immediate cognizance. It also had the commands and departments subordinate to
each of those commands. It was so crowded with lines, boxes and small print
that she couldn’t read it.
“This is an overall view of everything you will own after you relieve
General Zaleski, sir.”
“There are just the two of us in here, Mark. You can dispense with calling
me general and sir for the duration of these private briefings. Just cut to the
chase and give me what I’m going to need to keep things running smoothly. After
that, you can help me get what I’m going to need to turn this place upside
down.”
Pearson immediately began explaining what was on the first display.
******************************
In JAG headquarters, General Marsh was mulling over his conversation with
Susan. He was beginning to wonder exactly what Leftcourt and friends had really
had in mind when they assigned the young woman to what amounted to an overgrown
supply department, allowing for the non-supply commands that came under its
umbrella. She was a very fine line officer. She was a good leader, an excellent
tactician, honest, and she seemed to have a knack for finding trouble. The case
of Captain Ellison and Colonel Lee was an example of that. He wondered just
what would result from Susan’s prosecution of those two. He had been made aware
of the results of the investigation triggered by the uniform incident with Lt.
Colonel King. Something that should have never happened, had, so far, resulted
in secret indictments of at least a dozen officers and senior enlisted
personnel all of whom had been members of Clark’s Nightwatch organization, and
there were still more secrets being unearthed in that mess every day.
Marsh’s secretary called Leftcourt’s secretary and made an appointment for
them to have lunch the next day.
It was almost knock-off time when Commander Jennings knocked and entered
Marsh’s office. “I’ve worked up the assignments for the prosecution and defense
in the General Wayne attempted murder case. For prosecution, I assigned Lcdr.
Strikler. For defense, I assigned Lt. Eggleston, Lt. Brookman, and Lt. Roe.”
“Get their orders cut ASAP. I’d like to get this one handled.”
“If you have no objections, I’d like to go along as an observer.”
“You can go, but if you do, Lcdr. Strikler is going to have to stay here.
She can cover your duties for that time.”
“You’re the boss, General Marsh.”
“Just why do you want to do this one? It looks like a slam-dunk for the
prosecution. Any first year law student could get a conviction.”
“I want to meet General Wayne. The woman intrigues me. I read her ‘bio’ on
my computer. She’s only a year older than me, but she is already wearing one
star, and in less than two weeks, she’ll be putting on a second one. To say the
least, this is unprecedented. And before you ask, she wears a very large off-
limits sign complete with skull and crossbones on it on her left hand. It’s
called a wedding ring.”
“What’s your wife think about your interest in General Wayne?”
“She understands it, and she’ll be going with me. She wants to meet her too.”
“Don’t enjoy yourself too much, Earl. I’m sure there’s a regulation
somewhere that outlaws it.”
******************************
Commander Earl Jennings had no sooner arrived back at his desk than Staff
Sergeant Ben Davis knocked on his door and delivered a folder to
him. “Commander, this is the determination that you were requesting. Ltjg.
Vernon delivered it on his way to a doctor’s appointment. He said to tell you
that he ran it by three of our judges and two members of the judicial review
board. He also said that everything was annotated as to what each person
thought about each item.”
“Thanks, Ben. Tell Brad that I appreciate this very much. I’ll be going out
to Stockton tomorrow with the team tasked with the trial of the officers who
tried to kill General Wayne.”
“Yes, Sir.”
******************************
It was almost time to stop for lunch when the call from JAG headquarters
interrupted Colonel Pearson’s briefing. Susan answered the call.
“Hello. Commander Jennings, I assume you have something for me, one way or
the other.”
“Yes, sir. I do. We have determined that what you want to do doesn’t intrude
upon the rights of the accused. I also want to make you aware that a legal team
will be arriving sometime tomorrow. We will be handling the officers who were
involved in the attack on you.”
“Colonel Pearson is here with me. He’ll have his people make arrangements
for your people at the BOQ, unless you have a compelling reason to stay out in
town.”
“We’ll use the ‘Q’, General Wayne. JAG doesn’t have an unlimited budget.
Will our people be met?”
“We can do that, commander. Just let Colonel Pearson know what you need.”
“Yes, sir. I’m bringing my wife with me, General Wayne, so I’ll be staying
at a local hotel at my expense.”
“I look forward to meeting you, Commander Jennings.”
She broke the connection. “Can we continue this after lunch, Mark?”
“Yes, sir. I need to get my secretary on this ASAP. She’ll see to getting
personnel to handle the JAG requirements.”
Susan made a call to Master Sergeant Jenkins and informed him of the
finding. He let her know that none of the prisoners would talk without counsel
and that the civilian had already arranged for counsel. Susan informed the
master sergeant that the JAG team would be arriving sometime Wednesday and that
there would be defense counsels for the three officers amongst the team.
“Isn’t delegating wonderful, colonel?” asked Susan, rhetorically, with a
smirk on her face.
“You didn’t delegate someone else to be the bait for the men who wanted to
kill you last night.”
“I didn’t have to. The men I was going to face were most certainly not
trained in hand-to-hand combat, besides, I had my denn’bok, and with it, I can
take down a half-dozen trained men armed with knives.”
“What if they had been armed with PPGs or regular guns?”
“Then, they would have died where they stood. I’m a very powerful telepath,
Colonel Pearson. I can incapacitate a roomful of non-telepaths with one
powerful mind blast, and then while they are so incapacitated, I simply use my
denn’bok to crush their skulls. Make no mistake, colonel, I was never in any
real danger.”
“Oh.”
“Did you bring your lunch today?”
“No, sir. I was going to grab a burger at the club.”
“Take me to lunch at the galley and I’ll buy. It’s free food.”
“Lead the way, General Wayne.”
Zaleski watched Pearson and Wayne leave. She surely didn’t act like any
other brand new flag officer he’d ever met before. Instead, she acted like she
had been wearing stars for a decade or more. She had power, she knew how to use
it, and she didn’t have anything to prove to anyone.
******************************
Susan and Mark walked to the galley. On the way, they passed numerous other
personnel. Mark watched as Susan returned a snappy salute to every one of the
personnel they encountered. On the walk, Susan had started a conversation about
music and Mark found himself in a conversation about music types, instruments,
and a dozen other facets of the subject. Knowing Susan’s career as a ‘warrior’
he found her enthusiasm and knowledge of the subject surprising. He realized
that he had formed an opinion of her without having enough information.
“Have you ever studied any of the other races that make up any of the
various alliances?”
Embarrassed at his lack of knowledge in the area, Mark responded with a
hesitant, “No.”
“That’s the problem with most of the human population, Mark. They’re so
wrapped up in themselves that they only know anything about the other races
from what they hear from the various news services. Take my word for it, what
they spew can be as far from the truth as black is from white.”
Remembering how the news media was controlled and manipulated by Clark’s
regime, he knew she was speaking the truth.
Lunch turned out to be excellent. Mark admitted to being a closet saxophone
player. Although he insisted that he was rather good at it.
“Does our command, or any of the subordinate commands have either a band or
orchestra?”
“No, sir.”
“We should look into remedying that deficiency.”
“Yes, sir.” He had never even thought of the subject before, much less that
it might be considered a deficiency.
The lunch conversation was taking paths that Mark had never considered in
his tenure as Zaleski’s chief of staff. The more they talked, the more Mark was
surprised by the breadth and depth of his soon to be boss.
******************************
Mark, continuing with his briefings, filled the remainder of the afternoon.
Just before Susan left her office for the day, Master Sergeant Jenkins stuck
his into her office and asked, “Do you have a few minutes, General Wayne?”
“Have a cup of coffee and take a seat Master Sergeant Jenkins. I’m all ears.”
“I’d like you to review the questions I have developed for our interview
with our prisoners.” He handed her a large data pad. “I worked with the base
psychologist to arrange the questions in a manner that will cause the
interviewees to think about the information we want in spite of themselves,
assuming that they know anything at all about it. With you sitting behind the
observation mirror, using another data pad that will be networked with this
one, your inputs when the questions are asked will affect which question gets
displayed as next up on my data pad. If effect, General Wayne, we will have an
adaptive system for molding our questions to what each man is actually thinking
about as a result of the question asked. With the determination that what we
are going to do is legal, we have a decent change of getting a better handle on
what actually caused First Lt. Gordon Ellers death. Hell, we might even get
some leads on the drug situation on the base and amongst our personnel.”
******************************
Susan spent the evening reading the questions on the data pad provided by
Jenkins. She kept reviewing them in different sequences and considered her own
thoughts when she read them. Even though she was alone, she could see the
differences in response that was elicited by the sequence of the questions. It
promised to be an interesting day tomorrow, starting with her flight physical.
******************************
END PART 25
26
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