Blood Impulse

Part 3.1

Homebound Sector, Haven System, Ariea, Valkar, Eagle's Talon

Alise Cortana had known that she would be reassigned following Secretary Gives' assassination, but it came as a surprise when she was ordered to report to General Clarke's office. It was rare for the General to see anyone personally these days. Rumor in the fleet was that his health was failing him in his old age, and he'd been trying to select a successor for months. He refused to hand the position over to Admiral Reeter and Admiral Gives had already refused such a promotion twice, so his options were surprisingly few.

Still, it seemed odd to Cortana. Why should the highest-ranking officer in the fleet care about such a small matter as a Marine Corporal's reassignment? True, Clarke was more accessible to the personnel in Eagle's Talon than he was to the rest of the fleet, but it still made her nervous.

It was probably nothing more than a formal commemoration of her service to Secretary Gives. Yes, that would be all, even as the thought rendered her squeamish. She hadn't done her job, and the Secretary was dead because of it. She was lucky that she would be meeting with Clarke and the damned Fleet Admiral was nowhere to be found. So, she supposed it could have been worse... a lot worse.

She began recklessly pacing at the thought, becoming more nervous as she tried not to trip over the set of wooden chairs in front of the desk. Picking at her carefully ironed dress uniform, the quaint surroundings of General Clarke's office did nothing to calm her nerves. What if this was nothing more than a trick? Maybe the Fleet Admiral was just borrowing the General's office.

No, that was paranoia talking. She would have heard if Admiral Gives had made landfall. The whole town went rigid when he was in-system, because there was nothing that escaped his notice. But she had no cause to worry about him... Right?

Her restlessness churned up the dust from the antiquated bookshelves and display cases. Ariea's autumn sun filtered warmly into the room, its rays catching the dust as it danced through the air. In another situation, this would have been a cozy space, but now she only felt trapped.

The door creaked open, and she involuntarily breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the sterling haired General Clarke step into the room, leaning steadily on his cane. Dark rings circled his wrinkled eyes. He closed the door gently behind him and hardly spared Cortana a glance as she reverted to attention. "I had a feeling you'd be early, Corporal." He shuffled slowly to his desk and sat down, leaning the ivory cane up beside him. He gestured for the Marine to take one of the seats on the other side of the carefully arranged desk.

Planetary gravity was doing him no favors. Clarke knew how old, how weak he must look hobbling on that cane, and he absolutely despised it. People accused him of getting soft, but that was not the case. It was merely easy to look preferable to the alternatives when one of them was the Steel Prince.

He picked up the glass data pad on the desk and tapped in his credentials. "Corporal Cortana, your record is quite impressive." He'd gone through the file himself, "A logged three thousand hours on away missions, and you commanded a security unit in the military capital for ten months. You have never missed a shift and came out of training with near-perfect scores. There isn't a single black mark on your record." She was a talented, and more importantly, dedicated Marine. She was exactly what he'd been looking for. "I called you here today to discuss your reassignment."

Her palms suddenly started to sweat. She wiped them nervously onto her black dress pants. This was not how this was supposed to work. Something was wrong. With her qualifications, she should have been handed her papers and been on her way. "General, may I ask why you thought that necessary? Is there something wrong?" Was she being held accountable for the Secretary's death?