“Welcome back, Major,” Reynolds said as Cooper entered his office and saluted. “I’m glad to see you’re fully recovered. I’ve been going over General Patrick’s AAR. You’ve been mentioned quite prominently in it. He’s very impressed with you right now. Bravo Zulu.”
“So he told me, Sir.”
“How was your de-brief?” Scarecrow asked as he stood and offered Cooper his seat. She smiled, but remained standing.
“Very … interesting,” she replied.
“I guess we’ll start with why I wanted to see you, Sandy.” The rear admiral motioned to his tablet display. “Security has discovered the identity of the phantom Marine.”
“Funny you should mention that wet smack, Admiral–”
“‘Wet smack?’ Scarecrow said with a chuckle. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard that one before.”
“My dad used it lot,” Cooper replied as she looked at Reynolds for the first time since entering his office. “That ‘wet smack’ and I had a little run-in during the battle.” Her eyes narrowed as they shifted back to Scarecrow. He shot a nervous glance at his fiancé.
“Oh? Do tell,” Reynolds said with surprise. Hutch sat up on the sofa, his interest piqued as well.
“No, Sir. You first. I’d like to know a bit more about him before I describe his demise.” At Sandy’s declaration, Scarecrow let out a sigh of relief.
“His name was Marine Lieutenant Derek Watson. He was the older brother of the other lieutenant who initially assaulted you. Security found what can only be described as a ‘nest’ among the conduit between decks not far from your quarters. He managed to disable the CCSS camera at the corner so he couldn’t be monitored coming and going. He was pretty skilled at avoiding all of the other cameras as well. He knew where each of them were located, and he would turn away from them so we could never get a clear view of his face. That way we weren’t able to use facial recognition to identify him.
“It’s obvious he’s done this sort of thing before. Probably both he and his brother together. We finally caught him moving around the passageways. Once we knew who to look for, we went back through the camera logs and found it strange that he would disappear at that particular corner. Security had a closer look and found his lair. What they discovered was very telling.”
“And what exactly did they find, Sir?” Scarecrow asked Reynolds the question on all three of his officer’s minds.
“He had a home-made life signs dampening device, so security couldn’t detect him while he was hiding in amongst the conduit. He also had some other homespun gadget that could temporarily disable the security cameras. That’s how he got into your cabin without being detected. And one last thing …” Reynolds stood and walked around his desk to face Scarecrow and Hutch. His hand bobbed with an indiscriminate motion for Hutch to stand. The CAG complied.
“We have images of Major Peterson speaking with one of the two surviving assailants in the brig after they were released from sick bay. Then we have him sometime later in the hangar bay, talking to the elder Watson. We can’t hear what they were saying, but it’s clear Peterson passed some kind of verbal message to him. More than just informing him of his brother’s death. The lieutenant stormed off the hangar bay, and we never saw him again.”
“That lying sack of–” Scarecrow cursed, his fists clenched. “He stood here, right in this office, and lied. Lied to the three of us. Right to our faces!”
“I know,” Reynolds said. “My initial reaction wasn’t much different from yours. I had a long talk with General Patrick yesterday about this issue. As I mentioned, Sandy, you’re his golden girl right now. When I shared with him what Peterson had been up to, he went ballistic. I’ve never seen him so livid. He contacted me this morning, no more than two hours ago. Peterson is now in custody. Under pressure, he confessed he was aware that Mike was planning to offer you the privilege of defending the left flank on the MDF defensive line.”
Reynolds turned to Cooper as he continued.
“It was a choice post and Peterson coveted it. He’d challenged the general and tried to convince Mike to offer it to him instead, but Mike wouldn’t relent. When Peterson heard of your being assaulted, he decided that he could use the elder Watson to remove you from the picture. Watson was simply his pawn, sent to do his dirty work.”
Scarecrow fumed. Hutch shook his head, incredulous.
“Steve, you’ll be especially happy to know that EDFCIS is charging Peterson as an accessory to all of the attacks by both the Watson brothers, including the initial assault against Sandy in the women’s head. He’s also being investigated for all of the previous sexual assaults on female Marines under his command. Turns out it was he, and not a subordinate, that swept all of those incidents under the rug. Mike’s going to see to it that he’s charged with all of it. He’s looking at 40 years of hard time.”
The three Solar Warden officers visibly relaxed at Reynolds last declaration.
“Now, Sandy.” Reynolds turned to Cooper, smiling with satisfaction. “Tell us what happened to Watson. ‘Wet smack’ two-point-oh.” He let out a mild chuckle. “I’m dying to hear.”
Sandy’s countenance morphed into a grim smile before she began, “He tried to shoot me in the back while we were engaging the enemy,” she said. “But he made the fatal mistake–and I do mean that literally–of bragging before pulling the trigger. It turns out my first sergeant feels it’s his duty to monitor my communications. Which reminds me–I need to have a little chat with him about his invasion of my privacy.
“Anyhow, when he heard Watson threatening me on my private comm, he rushed to my aid. Watson never got the shot off. Instead he got the first sergeant’s Ka-Bar through his traitorous heart. A most fitting end, if I do say so.”
“Yes!” Hutch exclaimed as he dropped his head and pumped his fist.
“A coward’s death,” Scarecrow said with satisfaction. “Remind me to buy the first sergeant a bottle of single malt. No. Make that a case. A year’s salary’s worth.”
“I’m familiar enough with my first sergeant to know he would like that very much, Steve,” Cooper said as she smiled. “Now, if we’re done with all of this depressing talk regarding unbedeutende würmer, permission to move on to more important issues, Admiral.”
Reynolds leaned back on his desk with his arms crossed and motioned with one hand for Cooper to present her request. “Go ahead, Major. You’re the hero of the Mars campaign. Right now, no one could deny you anything.” He smiled at his declaration.
“I want to get married,” she said with a curtness that surprised all present. “The snakeheads crashed our party, and the date you initially set for us is now passed. I formally request that you choose another date for our wedding, preferably one that is not too far in the future. The end of the week will do. Tomorrow would be even better.” Her eyes twinkled. “Sir.”
“Well tomorrow’s out of the question,” Reynolds replied as he rubbed his chin and glanced at his tablet. “We took some moderate damage during the engagement over Mars and we’ll have to FTL back to Earth for repairs. We’ll be there for several weeks, so we can schedule a day for you while we’re in orbit.”
The rear admiral spun around behind his desk, tapped the ARI display on his tablet, and peered at a calendar as it filled the wispy screen.
“How does Friday sound?” He looked up at her, a hopeful glint in his eye. “That’s only four days away. Will that work?”
“That will be perfect, Sir,” Cooper replied with an enthusiastic smile. “Now if there’s nothing else, permission to be dismissed. I have to finish planning my wedding.” She saluted and didn’t wait for a reply, but slipped out the hatch. They grinned at her hasty retreat.
“Man,” Scarecrow said. “Cooper’s lieutenant told me she burned down four snakeheads with nothing more than a Ka-Bar. Don’t get in her way over the next few days, gentlemen. She’ll mow you down just like she did them.”
“Sage advice,” Hutch said almost under his breath as he stared at the hatch while it slid secure behind the major.