“Sergeant Major, can I see you for a moment?” Agent Wolf’s message came over Rev’s wristcomp.
“No time,” Rev said, but before he hit send, he paused, then canceled it. “I’m a little busy at the moment. Maybe this afternoon?” he said before sending it.
Rev was cautiously neutral around Wolf now, and he thought they were OK with each other, but there was no reason to be abrupt with the man.
The response was almost immediate. “It’s important. I really need to see you.”
Rev sighed. He hadn’t been lying about being busy. The boredom during the maintenance stand down was just a faded memory now. And when you threw on all the problems that the maintenance and inspections had uncovered, he was up to his ass in alligators.
He checked the time. Maybe he could give the man five minutes.
“OK. Can you meet me in the Chiefs’ mess?”
“I’d really prefer if you’d come to my stateroom, Sergeant Major.”
That was it. No explanation for why they couldn’t meet in the mess. No hint of what this was about. For a moment, Rev bristled at what was essentially a summons. He didn’t have time for this, and the disdain he’d once held for the Omega Division agent—the man who’s accused him of treason—came flooding back.
Rev was tempted to tell him to get lost, but he fought that back down. It was probably nothing, but he should find out what the agent wanted. He might have the innocuous billet of security for the civilian side, but Rev was under no illusion that his work for Omega had ceased.
“I’ll be there in a few,” he said, then hit the send.
Rev had to query where Wolf’s stateroom was. In all their time aboard the Galaxy Explorer, he’d never had reason to go there. It wasn’t far, and three minutes later, he pressed the chime.
The door opened, and Wolf invited him in, then motioned to a seat. Rev warily took it.
The stateroom was small and unreasonably bare for Wolf occupying it for over two years. A single icon of the Green Mother hung over his rack—Rev wouldn’t have picked Wolf for being a particularly religious man—and a holo of a young-looking Wolf, along with an equally young-looking woman holding an infant, was over his desk.
Rev might not have guessed the religious aspect, but it was much harder to picture Wolf as a husband and father.
If he’s got a kid, what’s he doing on this mission?
Wolf had hinted once before of a falling out with Omega, but that shouldn’t result in exile.
That mystery was neither here nor there, though. “I can give you five minutes. I wasn’t lying in that I’m busy.”
Instead of replying, Wolf reached out to him with a tiny cylinder in his hand. He swept it up and down Rev’s body, then pocketed the cylinder.
“Did you just scan me for some sort of listening device?” Rev asked incredulously.
Wolf didn’t respond to that. Instead, he picked up a thin piece of plastisheet that was on his desk.
“This just came in. I thought you should see it.”
Rev stared at the sheet in the agent’s hand as if it were a rattlesnake. “What do you mean, this just came in? Why do you have it here?”
Wolf didn’t bat an eye when he said, “I have my own means of communication.”
Of course, you do, you Omega bastard! I should have suspected it.
“So, while we’ve got the devil’s own problem keeping comms up, you’ve got your own private network?
Once again, without a smidgen of shame, he said, “It’s not foolproof, and it’s limited to text. But yes, I do.”
Wolf was slightly slouched in his chair, and he acted like he was discussing the lunch menu instead of admitting to what had to breach a thousand regulations if not being downright illegal.
Rev looked around the room, but he didn’t see anything that could be a comms suite.
“The official comms have been down for more than seventeen hours. And yet you say that ‘just came in.’ How are you getting through?”
“The problem isn’t in the science. It’s in the manufacture of the repeaters.”
Which was exactly what Rev had suspected.
“But by adopting certain alien techniques, we’re cloning the repeaters with much tighter tolerances.”
Rev let that sink in before asking, “Clicker?”
“Tin Ass.”
Rev wasn’t expecting that. The Centaurs had been humankind’s first alien enemy, but after their defeat, they’d largely faded from the public discord.
The fact that Wolf had comms, and evidently better comms than the ship had, was important, but at the moment, Rev was staring at the plastisheet still in the agent’s hands. And that Wolf had volunteered his possession of an advanced repeater meant that what was written there was serious.
And probably bad.
With a sigh, Rev reached out and took the sheet. There wasn’t a heading or salutation, only three short paragraphs. It was the second paragraph that caught Rev’s attention.
Eliminate all Manifest Destiny military personnel. Non-military personnel are to be dealt with at your discretion.
Rev felt his face go white.
He looked up at Wolf and shook the plastisheet. “What the fuck is this?” he asked, his voice sharp enough to cut steel.
Wolf never changed his expression, and Rev could read nothing behind those dull eyes. He was worse than a Genesian.
“We’re at war,” he said.
“They are at war back there. We’re not out here. And those Mad Dogs are our brothers in arms.”
Wolf said nothing.
And Rev realized why he’d been told. The MDS karnans were tough customers, and no matter what bag of tricks Wolf had up his sleeve, trying to kill them would be a difficult task.
“You want me to do your wet work.”
The Omega agent didn’t flinch. In an annoyingly calm voice, he said, “And would you?”
Rev had a sudden desire to reach over and grab Wolf by the neck and squeeze. If this was the only copy of the order, and the man was no longer among the living, who would know?
He didn’t want to admit that the Union command might decide to go through official channels with that command. Titan was running the expedition, but this was a Perseus Union ship with a primarily Union crew. They could send the order, and then what?
The smart thing to do would be to say he would. That would buy him time. But if he refused, he’d have to take Wolf out of the equation. If he left the man alive, Rev and the rest would be at risk. His family would be at risk.
Just do it, Reverent. You can’t afford to leave him alive and take the chance.
But even his warrior self balked. This wasn’t how a Marine took care of business.
“No, I won’t. As I said, the mad dogs are our brothers in arms, and I won’t turn on them. I don’t care what’s going on back home.”
Rev was watching Wolf closely, and he swore the man gave the tiniest of nods. But what did that mean? Had Rev just sealed his own fate?
“And I won’t let anyone else eliminate them, either.”
“If you won’t, you won’t. And where does that leave me? I’m just an old man. What could I do with combat karnans?” Wolf said. “Especially when the Marines are protecting them.”
Rev had to cut off a laugh. Wolf might be old, but Rev was sure the man had a bag of tricks up his sleeve. All of the MDS soldiers could be dead by taps.
Not if I can help it.
Wolf reached out and took the sheet from Rev’s hands. He squeezed the top of it and ran his fingers along the length. A moment later, the sheet started to crumple, then flake into dust. After fifteen seconds, there was nothing left of the message.
“I guess that’s that,” Wolf said as he blew his fingers clean.
“That doesn’t eliminate the orders,” Rev said. “You can’t act like they never existed.”
“No, but I also can’t take on the mad dogs and the Marines. It’s out of my hands.”
Wolf was an actor by nature, but he wasn’t that good of one.
You never intended to act on the orders.
“Why are you here, Wolf?”
“I needed to show you that message, Sergeant Major.”
“No. Why are you here?”
“I told you before. I burned some bridges. This is how they stashed me. Out of sight, out of mind.”
“Bullshit.”
Wolf raised a single eyebrow.
“It doesn’t add up. You’re an Omega Agent. And I’m thinking one fairly high in the food chain. Now you’re getting orders to kill all of the Mad Dogs. You’ve got some super-duper comms. No, you’re still in the game.”
The Omega Agent shook his head. “I am here because of mistakes I’ve made and the bridges I’ve burned. That’s true. But I’m still a patriot, and I serve the Union. So, if the powers that be want me to watch a bunch of exiles, well, I’ll answer the call.”
That answer was too pat.
“And the orders you received? You had no intention of obeying them.”
Finally, a grudging smile.
“I’m loyal to the Union. I’m not loyal to any one person. Whoever drafted those orders was breaking the law. Yes, I know that sometimes the law needs to be bent, if not broken. But this time, there is no reason for the order. Killing the Mad Dogs serves no purpose. The current war will be over sometime, and when word filters back that we murdered them, well, it will make the peace that much harder.”
Rev listened hard to the words, trying to discern if there was any hidden meaning there.
“Besides, we’re the good guys. It just wouldn’t be right, and all while providing no benefit.”
Rev hadn’t expected a nuanced response. He still thought of Omega Division as a vast monolith of like-minded people.
Wolf stood and said, “Thank you for coming. I know you’re busy, so I’ll let you get back to your work.”
He held out a hand.
Rev stood. This had been an interesting meeting. That was for sure. But he didn’t feel it was over. There was more to be discussed, but he wasn’t clear on what.
In the end, Rev just shook the Omega Agent’s hand and walked out.
* * *
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Tomiko asked, her arms around Rev’s waist.
“I don’t want to do this at all. But I have to.”
Tomiko shook her head. “Always the hero. I just don’t see why you have to do it alone.”
“I don’t want anyone else involved. You can understand that, right?”
“Not really.”
“What are they gonna do?” Rev said with a forced chuckle.
“We don’t call them Mad Dogs for nothing.”
Which was exactly right. But that didn’t change anything.
Rev gently extracted Tomiko’s hands from around his waist, leaned over, and kissed her forehead.
“I’ve got to go.”
“Are you going to say goodbye to the girls?”
He looked to where Willow and Aspen were asleep.
“No. Don’t wake them.”
Tomiko was silent as he left her and headed for the meeting. He stumbled once as his balance failed him. He didn’t know whether that was because of the rot or because he had neither his IBHU nor social arm attached. It didn’t really matter in the long run, but it was a reminder that Rev was rushing toward his destiny.
I hope my destiny doesn’t end tonight.
Rev stopped in front of the briefing room and took three deep breaths before he opened the door.
All of the military MDS personnel were waiting for him: five karnans and six regular soldiers. The expedition had started out with well over 2,000 karnans alone, and these were all that remained.
Eleven sets of eyes were locked onto him as he moved to the front of the space. There had been a degree of wariness among the MDS soldiers after word of the war had been promulgated. There hadn’t been any conflicts with the other humans, as if everyone was taking pains not to let the war reach them. But the soldiers had to realize they were significantly outnumbered.
If they’d gotten wind of the kill order, Rev knew that all hell would break loose, which was why he’d agonized over what he should do. In the end, though, there really was only one answer. They deserved that, at least.
Over-sergeant Nunt was in the front, leaning too casually back, his large arms draped over the backs of the two adjoining chairs. Rev was very aware that the karnan could reach him in a fraction of a second with murderous intent. And in Rev’s current condition, much less being one-armed, there was little doubt as to how that would turn out.
“Thank you for coming,” Rev said, his heart pounding in his chest.
“You’re our commander,” Nunt said.
Shit. Just act normal. Thanking them isn’t normal.
“True enough,” he said, trying to force a casual smile on his face.
“Um . . .”
Just do it.
“This is difficult. But I’ve got something to tell you. As of ninety minutes ago, I received some disquieting news. We’ve received orders to kill all of you.”
Not “eliminate.” Rev wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.
Every soldier went still for a moment, then a few gave the door into the space a wary glance as if expecting Marines to pour in.
Nunt still had his arms draped over the back of the chairs, but he tensed.
Then in a quiet voice, he asked, “And are you going to attempt to do that?”
Rev put more emotion into his voice as he said, “No. That’s an illegal order, and we won’t be obeying it.”
The karnan relaxed only slightly, and the tension in the space remained high.
“It isn’t just a matter of the order being illegal. You’re our brothers in arms. We’ve fought together, and that’s a bond that can’t be broken.”
“With all due respect, Sergeant Major, you fought with us when you were in the Home Guard, yet you also fought against us in the War for Freedom. And now, it seems like we’re back to fighting each other at home again.”
Which was the flaw in logic Tomiko had pointed out when he told her what he was going to say.
“This is a different situation. We’re not at war, not out here. We’re exiles, kicked to the curb by the rest of humanity. We don’t have a spot in the fighting. Our job is to serve humanity as a whole.”
“Yet the orders came from . . . Titan?” Sergeant Tonvin asked.
“Union,” Rev admitted.
He’d been tempted to say Titan, but if they found out that he’d lied, then his little house of cards he was trying to erect would collapse.
“So, the orders came from New Mars. They think you’re working for them.”
“They think wrong. Not when it comes to this.”
Rev tried to gauge how this was being accepted. At least they hadn’t killed him and barricaded themselves in the room, and that was a start.
“The orders have been destroyed.”
Nunt rolled his eyes. “And they can be re-sent. What happens when Nyad gets them? That asshole has a Persie flag stuck up his ass so far he can gargle it. I’d really hate to kill all the squids. Who’d sail the ship, then?”
And that was the million-credit question. If Rev answered it as he knew he needed to assure the soldiers, then he was stepping over the line. It was one thing to disobey an order. It was another to resist fellow Union personnel.
“If the sailors try to act on any such orders, we will defend you.”
Nunt finally brought down his arms and placed his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward, his eyes piercing into Rev’s.
“Do your Marines know that? Will they agree?”
“They don’t know it yet. But they will, and I’ll do everything in my power to make it so.”
The karnan turned to look at the rest of his comrades before coming back to Rev.
“Sergeant Major, ever since I’ve known you, you’ve been a standup guy. It’s been an honor to serve with you, and I believe you’re being sincere.
“I’m just not sure that every jarhead on the ship will agree with you—”
Rev started to protest, but Nunt cut him off. “If anyone can get those reprobates to agree, though, it’s you. I didn’t know . . . we didn’t know what this meeting was about. We suspected, though. It’s what our command would do if the situation was reversed, so that was on our minds. But like you said, those bastards exiled us, and if we’d gotten those orders, I hope we’d have the honor to refuse them just like you did.”
He put his hand behind him, and Tonvin placed a small gold flask in it, like a relay runner passing the baton.
Over-sergeant Nunt stood, raised the flask to the gods of war, and then took a swallow.
“We’re putting our trust in you, Sergeant Major, and remember that no matter what happens, we’ve got your back.”
He held out the flask to Rev.
“And I’ve got yours. All of yours.”
Rev took the flask, raised it high, then took a swallow. The smooth fire of Donat poured down his throat and sealed the vow.