Vengeance from Ashes (Honor and Duty) by Sam Schall

Author:Sam Schall [Schall, Sam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Hunter's Moon Press
Published: 2014-04-17T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

“You’re sure?”

Even as he asked, he felt the color drain from his face. He had to have heard wrong. Or the information was wrong. Or he was having a nightmare, a very bad nightmare. That had to be it. That was the only thing that made sense.

“Do you think I’d be here if I was mistaken?” Major Thomas O’Brien demanded before tossing back his whiskey. “You may be retired and out of the loop, Admiral, but I was escorting a bunch of brats through the security complex when the attack hit. I saw her.” He shook his head, as if by doing so he could erase the memory. “Damn it, I saw her. She was with Tremayne and Talbot and she most definitely wasn’t being treated like a prisoner. If anything, she acted like she’d returned to duty. She was armed, for God’s sake.”

Alec Sorkowski forced himself not to react. He couldn’t let his former Marine CO see how much of a shock his news was. Unfortunately, O’Brien was right about one thing. He was out of the loop. Like so many, he’d been given two choices after the last election. He could retire and accept limited benefits and pay or he could face a full investigation into his command and the probable loss of his commission. Because he didn’t dare risk an investigation, he’d accepted the chance to retire. Since then, he’d become persona non grata. Oh, whenever he was forced to deal with anyone on active duty, they treated him with the respect his rank deserved, but that didn’t fool him. He knew they laughed at him. At least they did it behind his back instead of to his face. Damn them all.

And damn Shaw. It was all her fault. She’d been a thorn in his side from the moment she stepped foot onto his flagship two and a half years ago. She hadn’t fooled him one bit with her false respect and smug attitude. He’d been able to ignore her, thinking her O’Brien’s problem, until she began questioning their every order. She never let anything go, no matter how mine.

The fiasco of that last mission had been her fault. Everything had been so carefully set up. It had taken time and more than a little money had passed hands to make sure everything was the way he wanted in the sector. Then she’d come onboard and had started asking questions. Worse, she’d insisted on following their orders from FleetCom to the letter, no matter what he or O’Brien said.

If she’d just done as she’d been told, if she hadn’t questioned him and then tried to send her objections further up the ladder, none of them would be in the mess they were now. More importantly, he’d still be where he belonged, on the flag bridge of a destroyer. But no, she had to be a royal pain in his ass and the downfall of his career.

Well, he’d shown her. Fortunately, O’Brien had had no more love for the woman than had he.

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