Stark's Crusade (17 page)

"Sure thing, Sarge." Billings headed out of the room, already back in combat mode as she reached the hall.

Vic was on one knee, examining both guards. "Their suits are disabled. What the hell kind of bullets are you using?"

"Something special we were putting together for some guests we're expecting. They turned out to be handy for this little mess, as well." He glared at her. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

She flinched. "I'm very sorry, Ethan. I should have known you wouldn't have done that, not unless it was absolutely necessary."

"Yeah, you should have. Who're the rest of you guys?" They seemed to be mostly sergeants, with a scattering of corporals.

One strode forward. "The senior enlisted from Fifth Battalion. Most of them, anyway. We owe you an apology, too, Stark. This never should've happened. We should've seen it coming, and we should've stopped it."

"We'll figure out how it happened later. You said you're most of the senior enlisted? Where's the others? The only guy I've talked to is a corporal named Hostler."

"Hostler? Oh, man, wait'll I get my hands on that sorry little sack of—"

"Lieutenant Conroy," Stark called over the command circuit. "Anybody pick up Corporal Hostler yet?"

"Yes, Commander. One of Rosinski's people caught him trying to sneak out of the barracks. He's currently in Sergeant Yurivan's custody."

"Yurivan? How'd she get him so fast?"

"She came in with me, Commander. Showed up at the last minute and said she ought to walk along with me since she was from Fifth Battalion originally and probably knew the soldiers manning the barricade. It worked. We took the barricade without a shot. After that, things got hot, though."

"So I saw. I think I've got all the loyal senior enlisted in here. Anybody else you pick up was probably in on the mutiny." Stark scanned his Tactical display one more time, noting the lack of ongoing combat, then unsealed his own face shield and raised it so he could speak directly to the soldiers in the room with him. "You guys'll have to wait to work over Hostler, I'm afraid. Sergeant Yurivan's got him at the moment."

"Stacey?" The Fifth Battalion sergeant grinned. "Oh, man. Hostler ain't gonna enjoy that." His smile faded. "But he ain't behind this. Not enough brains and not enough guts. Nobody's told us, but we figure at least some of the sergeants who ain't in here with us were involved."

"By any chance are any of these missing sergeants friends of a guy named Kalnick?"

"You got it. We wanta talk to them, too. Unless Stacey's planning on working them over when she's done with Hostler."

"I'm sure she's looking forward to it, but I'll see what I can do. Speaking of which . . ." Lieutenant Conroy entered, along with four soldiers from First Platoon, escorting several sergeants. "Where'd you find these?"

"A couple were in battle armor. After we disabled it, we pried them out to bring them to you. The others were hiding in one of the conference rooms. I guess that was their headquarters."

"Do tell." Stark lowered his face shield long enough to check his HUD. "I read all rooms secure and no remaining resistance. You concur, Lieutenant?"

"Yessir."

"Any casualties?"

"A couple wounded and four disabled by friendly fire. The mutineers mainly fired wildly, from what I saw."

"Me, too." Stark switched circuits. "Sergeant Shwartz, Chamberlain Barracks is secured. Send in the Military Police on standby to take custody of the building and our prisoners. Oh, yeah. Nobody's hurt except a couple of our people who were wounded. Tell anybody and everybody that." Another switch, to the command center. "Sergeant Tran. Broadcast to all locations that the mutiny has been ended, order has been restored, and none of the mutineers were injured."
Not seriously, anyway. Though I'm not taking bets on what might happen when these sergeants get their hands on some of those mutineers.
"Get the word out." He turned to Lieutenant Conroy. "Turn over the building to the MPs and put your company on liberty. Turn 'em loose as fast as you can."

"Commander Stark, standard debriefing—"

"We'll do a debrief later, Lieutenant. I need your soldiers out and about boasting how they took down these mutineers without hurting any of them."

"Ah." Conroy nodded. "I understand." She moved away, passing on Stark's orders to her platoon leaders.

Stark finally focused on the bedraggled sergeants who had been behind the mutiny. "Game over, ladies and gentlemen. You should've known better than to listen to Kalnick." A couple of them jerked in involuntary reaction. "Yeah, we know he helped start this. Now you're expecting to get the hell kicked out of you and then some firing squads, right?" Faces settled in lines of fear or determination, depending on the individual. "Well, I ain't gonna give you the satisfaction. That'd make you martyrs, wouldn't it? No, you're going to be locked up. Anybody who sings about the people behind this gets better treatment. Anybody who doesn't, gets forgotten in their cells for a while so I can deal with more important things. Forgotten by me, anyway. I'm sure Sergeant Yurivan will want some interviews to help you pass the time. Is that clear? Think about it."

Stark began turning to face the other sergeants, then pivoted back. "Oh, one more thing. If even one of my people had been killed as a result of this nonsense I'd have personally torn you all apart." A group of MPs entered, their leader saluting Stark. "Get these people out of my sight. Lock 'em down tight."

"Yessir. Uh, we're going to need a list of the charges against each individual. That's paperwork required by the stockade."

"You'll get one." He faced the other Fifth Battalion sergeants, not trying to hide his regret. "I hope you'll all understand that we've got to go through everybody in this barracks and make sure they weren't involved in the mutiny. I don't expect anyone in here to have problems proving that, but I have to keep you in the barracks until we've done the investigations. There's a sweep going through now searching for any weapons or stragglers from the guys who fought us. After that, you guys can go back to your quarters. We'll let you know when you can move about freely again. Any questions?"

None of them looked happy, but no one objected. The Fifth Battalion sergeant who'd spoken to Stark stiffened into attention and saluted. "We understand. We do ask that we be consulted on the new leadership for the battalion."

"New leadership?" Stark shook his head. "Whoever set this up was good enough to keep it hidden from everybody. You guys who didn't go along with the mutiny can expect to return to the same positions you've held, unless I get reports of anything especially negative about any particular individual."
And I know you'll be trying ten times as hard to do your jobs well to help make up for this mutiny happening under your noses.
Motivation was motivation, and Stark had no intention of throwing away people who had every reason to work hard in the future.

Relieved smiles spread across the faces before Stark. "You won't regret that, Stark. I knew that crap they were trying to tell us about you wasn't true."

Vic cleared her throat. "Am I confined to the barracks as well? You said everyone here was to be interviewed."

Stark gave her a level look. "No. Since you weren't here when the mutiny started, I guess we can assume you weren't involved. Now, I've gotta get back to the command center to make sure any fallout from this mess is handled right." He headed out without waiting for her.

Vic caught up before he left the building. "Ethan, I said I was sorry. It was unpardonable of me to berate you in front of the other noncommissioned officers, and inexcusable for me to fail to focus on your proper concern over the possible presence of additional guards."

"What about thinking I'd gun down fellow soldiers like I was taking a walk in the park? You sorry for thinking that?"

"I already said so. But you are a very hard man when you think you have to be, Ethan Stark."

Stark had never seen Vic look so contrite.
Maybe she'll feel guilty and cut me a little slack for a while.
"That's okay, I guess."

"Now what the hell were you doing leading this operation in person?"

That sure didn't last long.
"I had good reasons. But the biggest one was that I wasn't gonna send people into a fight to maintain my authority without making a last personal effort to shut the mutiny down without a fight. And if it came to a fight, I was damned if I'd let someone else run all the risks."

"Ethan. . ." Vic rubbed her forehead, looking pained. "Oh, hell. What can I say? That's how you are. It'll probably get you killed some day, and I'll be there saying damnit-I-told-you-so. and they'll build a monument to you because you died doing something so flipping noble and self-sacrificing."

"Don't you ever let them build a monument to me."

"It'll be a big one, Ethan. Fountains and towers and pillars and a huge statue of you gazing up at the heavens—"

"Don't you dare!" He gave her a smile. "How was it in there? Bad?"

"It wasn't good. They thought they had you over a barrel. I could tell by the way the guards were acting. There's something about being locked up under guard, Ethan. Something ugly."

"I bet. I'm glad you made it out in one piece."

"Me, too."

Stark reviewed the last of the paperwork relating to the mutiny. Yurivan's interrogations had produced plenty of results, but all of them had ultimately led nowhere. Contacts who had encouraged the mutiny turned out to be people who apparently didn't exist in any record system and couldn't be found. Kalnick's name had been used freely, but actual evidence against him simply didn't exist.
Well, we knew the people working against us were professionals.
The mutineers had been promised many things, most notably amnesty for themselves for any acts relating to the original rebellion led by Stark, and extensive external support once the mutiny was under way. The external support hadn't materialized, either because the mutiny had been so limited or because the support had never actually been planned.

The mutineers had been carefully screened, with many of the privates given administrative punishment if their participation had been minimal. That left maybe thirty soldiers in the stockade for charges ranging from leading the mutiny to firing on the force Stark and Conroy had led into the building.
What am I going to do with them? I don't want to hold that many court-martials, but I don't want them all locked up indefinitely. That wouldn't be right or legal. Hmmm. I bet there's still plenty of family members of soldiers up here that we can swap them for, if the authorities back home are still willing to deal That'll get them off my hands and get us some more people we do want, which won't hurt morale any.

His comm unit buzzed. Stark closed out the mutiny records with a sense of relief then keyed his display to receive the incoming call. The screen cleared to show the face of Colony Manager Campbell, looking more than a little bemused. "Sergeant Stark, I assume you're aware that one of the official shuttles has just arrived for the continuation of our talks, not that we're expecting any results."

"Yes, sir. I knew one was coming in. The last I heard it didn't have any military representatives so I didn't need any presence at the meeting. But there is something we need to raise."

"Oh? What's that?"

"That mutiny I dealt with. I've got thirty soldiers who were too heavily involved to just let off easy, and I don't want them stuck in cells up here. Can you guys work another swap like we did with the officers?"

"Certainly, Sergeant Stark. It's not too late for me to raise that during our talks. Thirty, you said? I'm sure we can get something worked out. But I called you because the official shuttle brought a visitor along. An unexpected visitor."

Stark raised his eyebrows. "Somebody I need to know about?"

"I assume so, Sergeant. He says he's your father."

Thirty minutes later, Stark stood fidgeting at Sentry Post One at the main entrance to the military complex. He'd put on a clean uniform, and Vic had gone over it to make sure he looked decent. "It's not every day you meet your dad," she remarked.

"Vic, I haven't seen my dad since I enlisted in the mil. He was mad as hell at me, told me I was an idiot to join, and we hadn't even talked after that until about a year ago. Since then it's only been a couple of pieces of mail."

"I know, Ethan. So what's he doing here, on the official shuttle with the latest batch of non-negotiators?"

"I guess I'll find out in a few minutes."

"Do you need me along? Never mind. You wouldn't know until you meet him. I'll be in the command center if you want me."

"Thanks." Now Stark was waiting for a man he hadn't seen in person since Stark had been barely out of his teens. A small group of figures appeared down the hallway leading to the sentry post. Stark recognized Cheryl Sarafina first, leading the group. In the back, he saw two Colony security guards who had accompanied Campbell in the past. Finally, as the group got closer, Stark recognized the man they were escorting, holding onto an arm or shoulder whenever he wobbled in the low gravity. The group came to a halt before him, and Stark stood tongue-tied, having completely failed to think up in advance some way of saying hello in person to his long-estranged father.

The silence stretched for a long moment, then Sarafina smiled politely, as if she recognized what was going on. "Sergeant Stark. This is your father."

The innocuous words broke the ice. Stark reached to shake his father's hand. "Dad. Good to see you."

His father took his hand, moving with the exaggerated care of someone new to lunar gravity who mistrusts his every move. "Good to see you, son."

"You have a good trip?"

"Not bad. I've had worse."

Sarafina seemed to be fighting down another smile. "I can tell this is a very emotional moment for you both. We'll wait here for your father, Sergeant Stark."

"Okay. Thanks. I appreciate you bringing him in." He held out his hand to his father again. "Do you, um, need a hand with balance or anything?"