Honor Bound

the rank on his shoulder.

“You would be Captain Mohammed Al-Masri?” she asked for form’s sake… she’d known who he was since he entered the building.

“I am here to see General Kage,” he said, tossing his duffle bag to the side of her desk.

“Yes, sir, he’ll be right with you. If you would just have a seat here for a moment…” She waved at a chair beside her desk. Ari fought back a sigh. He hated this game. The General was sitting at his desk, watching him via a video feed as he made him wait, sizing up his reaction to the ordeal.

Nothing to be done about it. He sat, forced himself to wait a few minutes before he began checking the newsfeed on his ‘link. What would Mohammed Al-Masri be interested in? He brought up the financial reports, checking the investments into which his backstopped “family” had sunk their money and were swiftly losing it. After he gave them a cursory viewing, as one might that knew the figures and didn’t want to dwell on them, he switched to auditing the Senate hearings on the biomech legislation. He gave those more attention, not least because he wanted to actually be up on the latest in case General Kage brought up the topic.

“Captain,” the clerk said finally, “the General will see you now.”

Ari pocketed his ‘link and sprang to his feet, marching up to the thick, wooden double doors to General Kage’s office and knocking twice confidently but not sharply.

“Come in,” Kage’s hard-edged voice invited him.

Ari had never met the commanding general of the Colonial Guard before, but he knew everything that Fleet Intell knew about him, plus the personal observations of Colonel McKay and Major Stark. He knew that the man sitting before him in the neatly pressed grey CeeGee uniform was not your typical Guard officer, given his rank because his parents had high social or political position in their home country. Kage was the son of moderately successful Peruvian ranchers and had joined the Guard to see the stars. He’d demonstrated a ruthless competence that was rare among CeeGee officers in Ari’s experience… well, the competent part was, anyway. Ari did not intend to underestimate him.

“Captain Mohammed Al-Masri reporting for duty, General, sir!” Ari said, saluting smartly as he entered the office, letting the door swing shut behind him.

“At ease, Captain,” Kage returned the salute. He looked Ari over as the younger man stood before him, hands clasped behind his back. “So, Captain Al-Masri, you come highly recommended. Your record in the Fleet Marine Corps was exemplary… until you were court-martialed and discharged for abusing a captured insurgent. Care to share your side of the story?”

Ari made his face appear to be fighting back a sneer of disdain. “There is no side to this story, General,” he replied. “My platoon had dropped on the city of Cape Verde on El Dorado. There was a city-wide riot going on, looting, burning… savages,” he spat the word. “It was the local arm of the Chaos Front… those damned anarchist bastards wanted nothing more than to bring down the colonial government. They had no thought of establishing their own; they just wanted to bring every bit of order and civilization crashing down. The violence overwhelmed the local police and Colonial Guard armory so when the Montgomery arrived insystem for the scheduled patrol, the two platoons she carried were called in to help put down the riots.

“On the third day, we had managed to capture one of the group’s chief planners. We… myself and my platoon sergeant… were interrogating him, trying to find the location of their weapons stores, the other leaders…” He shook his head. “The man was a fanatic. He wouldn’t cooperate and things were getting worse. I did what I had to do. My actions saved lives.”

The story was a good one, Ari thought. Probably because it was true: it just hadn’t happened to him.

“The court-martial disagreed,” Kage said with a thin smile. “You were given the choice of a reduction in rank and a reprimand on your record or a discharge from the Corps. You chose discharge. Why?”

“I have to admit, General,” Ari answered, feigning thoughtfulness, “I am not without ambition. A letter of reprimand and a demotion would have kept me from advancing past Captain. My career would have been frozen. But more, I did not want to stay with a military that was not willing to do what was necessary to defeat our enemies.”

“So you believe the Colonial Guard is willing, then?”

“General, I have worked with CeeGee… your pardon, sir, with Colonial Guard troops several times. I have always been impressed with their zeal for doing what was necessary to keep order in the colonies. Aggressiveness has never been the problem with the Guard units I have known.”

“And what, in your estimation, is the problem, Captain?” Kage cocked an eyebrow and Ari debated retreating for the moment… but no. Better to risk it.

“With all respect, sir, the problem has always been lack of tactical training and experience in the junior officers.”

“And you believe this to be so because of the nature of our junior officer recruitment system,” Kage surmised.

“Sir, it has been well known for many years that Guard commissions are handed out as political favors to the sons and daughters of well-connected families in the South and Eastblocs. Those that have the capacity to learn and grow eventually become good officers, but those that do not wind up getting their men killed unnecessarily… and giving us a bad name.”

“I am the commandant of the Guard, Captain Al-Masri, but even I do not have the power to reform the system at that high a level,” Kage smiled. “So, how would you suggest this be changed?”

“I have seen reports of the changes you have made to officer training, sir and they are excellent ones,” Ari nodded. “But if I were to make a suggestion, it would be that you do two things: one, create some sort of… ceremonial positions, an honor guard for dignitaries or some such thing, and staff it with those appointees who are simply not suited to combat command; and two, use the newly-open junior officer slots to promote more competent NCOs to officers’ training.”

Kage regarded him for a long moment, before nodding with satisfaction. “Well, it is easy to see why you are so highly recommended, Captain. You are unafraid to speak your mind and you are one hundred percent right. In fact, I have already begun to expand recruitment of good NCOs to officers’ training. Your first suggestion though is a very good one, and one I had not thought of. I will sit down with my staff and give it serious consideration.”

“Thank you sir… if I may, General Kage, my orders were not very specific. They said I was to report to you here, now, but they did not say where you intended for me to be stationed, or in what capacity.”

“Captain, I considered that very carefully. There are several colonial garrisons that could use your leadership, but given your experience, I think you would best serve the Guard by training other officers. You will be stationed here; over at the Junior Officers’ Basic Course… you will be the new Executive Officer of the training cadre, under Colonel Ibrahim Gambari. He’s a very able commander and under my instructions to let you try whatever new training methods you think may be effective as long as you run them by me first. You report to him in the morning. In the meanwhile, sign out a groundcar and find yourself a room at the Officer’s Quarters.” He stood and offered a hand. “Welcome to the Colonial Guard, Captain Al Masri.”

Ari shook it. “Thank you very much, General. I will not let you down.”

It was perfect… he was in just the right place to carry out his assignment. But the funny thing was, Ari thought, part of him wished he really had the job.

Chapter Five

“Cease fire! Cease fire! Cease fire!” The loudspeaker cut through the din of shouts and the stutter of blank rounds and the thirty men and women in dark-colored body armor scattered around the forest compound stopped in their tracks, looking around in confusion.

“Recruit Manning!” Tom Crossman bellowed, stalking down from the top of the rise from which he’d been observing, hands on his hips. “Can you tell me exactly why you thought it would be a good idea to fire a grenade into a building you knew to hold a store of hyperexplosives? Particularly when you were standing in the open not ten meters from it?”

One of the armored figures safed and slung a rifle, then paused to pull off a visored helmet. Beneath it was