word. “His idiot daughter is nearly killed by peasant scum on Aphrodite and does it bring him to his senses? No, he’s just as big of a fool now that he’s president.”
Colonel Lee, Ari thought, reminded him of one of his college drinking buddies commenting on politics… if that drinking buddy had been a high-ranking military officer responsible for training and deploying men and women to other star systems. When Alida had come to him after the end of training Friday and suggested that it was the time to meet the people who thought like him, he had expected someone lower on the food chain. Lee was Kage’s XO, his second in command. They were ensconced in Lee’s private room in the base Officers’ Club, lounging on real leather couches and sipping well-aged bourbon: Lee, Alida, Lee’s aid Captain Hassan Ali and himself. It had taken an hour of pleasantries and feeling out and several glasses of bourbon before Lee had warmed up to him; now he was worried about how to get the Korean officer to cut to the chase without encouraging another hour of political bluster.
“He is indeed a fool,” Ari nodded. “But he is indeed the president and we but soldiers. And alas stuck here on Earth when the problems are months-long journeys away. What can we possibly do, other than train our troops to the best of our ability?”
“There are things that can be done, Mohammed Al Masri,” Hassan spoke, hiding his words behind a sip of bourbon. He was a young man with a dark, narrow face and close-cropped hair. “The question is, are you the man to help us do them?”
Ari considered his reply, staring at the drink in his glass for a long moment.
“Hassan Ali,” he finally said, “there are words and there are words. Some words are empty bluster, while some are made of solid steel. I respect you, Colonel Lee, and I respect your authority, but if these are empty words, if this is more of the talk I have heard of a strike or a political campaign, I am not your man. I am a direct man, not a politician.”
“We are all politicians, my friend,” Hassan smiled. “For is not the end move in politics always to pick up a gun?”
“And have we come to the end move?” Ari asked, fixing Hassan’s stare with his own, unwavering.
“We have indeed,” Lee answered him as if he had been speaking instead of his XO. “It will be very soon, and it will happen all across the colonies… as well as here. We need someone like you, a proven leader in combat, a man who is not unwilling to get his hands dirty. But I will also tell you that if things go wrong, it could cost you not just your career this time, but your freedom and possibly your life. Is this a risk you are willing to take?”
“If I were unwilling to risk my life,” Ari responded, “I would never have become a Marine. What I am not willing to do, Colonel Lee, is throw it away. There must be a chance of success, a plan worth carrying out. Noble gestures and martyrdom are fine for stories to tell children, but not something to which I aspire.”
“Ha!” Lee barked, smiling thinly. “You did not lie when you said you were a direct man. I cannot tell you all you wish to know yet, Captain. I am sure you understand the concept of operational security. But I will tell you that we are not interested in martyrdom either. I and the others involved have every expectation of success.”
“You know me,” Alida interjected.
“No, you do not,” Ari answered truthfully. Which was worrisome. Whatever the plot was, it would have been much easier to defeat if the plotters were resigned to martyrs’ deaths and a glorious failure. “But I would feel more comfortable if I knew what my role was to be.”
“Eventually, your role will be to do what you do best,” Colonel Lee informed him. “You will lead men in combat. But for now, what we need you to do is to recruit others, from among your trainees. Those who show skill and promise and recognize the dangers we all face.”
“Sir,” he said slowly and firmly, his own dark eyes locked with Lee’s, “I am willing to be part of your cause, for I certainly agree that we have to act. But I cannot in good conscience persuade young men and women who trust me to become involved in this unless I know we can succeed. I know you can’t share everything with me… but if we have some edge, something that I have not thought of, that will give us the victory, I must know before I can convince others to follow me.”
Lee steepled his fingers thoughtfully, considering Ari carefully. Then he glanced at Alida with a question in his eyes, and she nodded. “I can tell you this, Captain,” he said. “What keeps us isolated and unable to coordinate with our brothers and sisters who share our cause is communications lag. It takes months for messages to be passed back and forth to the colonies from Earth and back, secreted on Eysselink Drive starships. That is no longer the case… for us.”
Ari felt a tingling up his spine as the repercussions of what the Colonel had just said echoed through his mind.
“I see,” he replied very carefully. “Very well, sir. You can count on me.”
“Good,” Lee smiled broadly, satisfied that he had made the right decision. He leaned forward and extended his hand and Ari shook it firmly. “Start feeling out the students you wish to recruit. But don’t take too long… by the time their class ends, we need to know which ones are with us.”
“If you need to contact us,” Hassan put in, “go through me. Leave me a message about morale issues and I will find you.”
Ari and Alida rose as the Colonel came to his feet.
“It has been a pleasure, Captain,” Lee returned Ari’s salute.
“Sir, the pleasure and the honor have been mine,” Ari told him.
As the Colonel and his aide exited the suite, Ari exhaled a sigh and sagged against Alida.
“Were you worried, Mo?” she asked, seemingly amused. He felt a stirring of desire as he stared at her smile, feeling her warmth against him.
“Alida my sweet,” he eyed her balefully, struggling to remain in character, “I was just conspiring with the second-highest ranking Guard officer here to commit treason against our government. I was worried then and I am still worried now… perhaps more worried.”
“Do not be troubled,” she patted his arm affectionately. “I would not have involved you if I did not think you could handle it.”
“And you know so much about me, eh?” He snorted doubtfully.
She turned his head toward her with a gentle finger on his cheek and kissed him passionately. Ari felt his breath catch in his chest. “Everything.
As he followed her out of the club, Ari couldn’t shake the feeling that he was in way over his head. He knew one thing for sure, though… it was time to call the boss.
Slowly, carefully, Ari disentangled himself from a sleeping Alida and slipped silently out bed. As he slipped into his running shorts and T-shirt, he couldn’t help but spare another glance to the curving landscape of milky skin visible where the sheet had slipped down. He frowned thoughtfully. He had cultivated their relationship these past few weeks because it had made it easier for him to infiltrate, but he had to force himself not to think about the endgame… about having to arrest her, or God forbid, kill her. This was getting too complicated.
Sighing, he slipped into his shoes, then clipped his ‘link to the waistband of his shorts and eased out the door. He waved to the guards at the entrance of the Officers’ Quarters; nothing more natural than an officer going out for a pre-dawn run before duty hours. He broke into a slow, warm-up jog down the main path and then when he reached the perimeter trail that circled the whole complex, he began to run. No telling if there were any security cameras watching him, so he had to make it look real… he did one full loop around the complex, a full ten kilometers, then began another and kept it up until the track again wound through an arboretum at least three kilometers away from the main training complex.
Grabbing his right hamstring, Ari pretended to have a cramp, limping over to a bench and propping his heel on the top of it, trying to stretch out his leg. While he did so, he pulled his ‘link off his belt and surreptitiously held it close to his mouth.
“Record message protocol Eldest Son,” he commanded quietly. “Colonel Lee, the XO here is involved and so is his aid, Major Ali. Don’t have evidence that General Kage is in on it, but I’d be surprised if Lee were the mastermind; he doesn’t have the temperament. We had a face-to-face and I’ve been asked to recruit officer candidates for the mutiny. The mutiny is sounding a lot more like a coup to me.”
Ari switched legs on the bench, stretching out the other one. “The kicker is,” he continued with the message,
