Repatriation part 4 of.., p.27
Repatriation - Part 4 of The Vixen War Bride Series, page 27
Ben quickly gave Ling a summary of their evening, ending with Toll’s conversation with the Va’Shen bureaucrat.
“I’m pretty sure you’re right about something being up,” Ling told them when they were finished.
“How so?” Ben asked.
“Once the alarms stopped, your friend, Azarin, walked up to the fenceline and asked for you,” Ling told him. “We have him in an interrogation room now. We tried to talk to him ourselves, but he keeps asking for you.” Ling gave Ben a hard look. “Do you know what’s going on?” he asked.
“I think I might,” Ben said. “Can I talk to him?”
Ling held out a hand, gesturing the captain to precede him. “Let’s go talk.”
The three walked down the hall and out the back of the building that housed the admin areas. Although it was dark outside, the Batting Cage was brightly illuminated with lights from the guard towers. Ben got an odd feeling as he looked through the fence. It was night, so of course no one was out and about, and yet things seemed... tense.
They continued walking toward the building that housed the medical and interrogation facilities and entered. As soon as they started down the hall, Ben saw a group of uniformed personnel huddled near a door, talking. One of them saw Ling and gestured to the others.
“Any change?” Ling asked as they approached.
“Nothing,” one of the men told him. “He’s just sitting there like he’s waiting for a food order to arrive.”
Ling turned to Ben. “We’ll be in the observation room.”
Ben nodded and turned to Patricia as they both removed their holstered weapons and gave them to Ling’s people to hold onto. “You ready for this?” he asked.
She nodded. “Sure.”
The Ranger nodded to the guard at the door, who unlocked it and opened it for him. Ben and Patricia stepped through and found Azarin sitting behind the table. He saw them and looked up. His ears twitched just the tiniest bit, perhaps relieved at finally seeing Ben arrive.
The Va’Shen captain took a breath.
Ben nodded.
He needed Patricia’s translation for the question and let her know he wanted her to translate totally from now on. “The base was attacked,” he said. “By a team of Va’Shen. I’m sure you heard the glassers from here.”
Azarin listened, but his ears, tail and expression remained unreadable.
“Why do you want to know?” Ben asked.
Azarin replied.
Ben gave the question some thought. The attack was over. If there were more attacks coming, he might be able to suss it out by Azarin’s reaction. “One team,” he said. “Three Va’Shen with glassers.”
Azarin said nothing for several moments.
“You expecting more?”
Ben listened to Patricia’s translation, and his eyes narrowed. “Is he being vague on purpose?” he asked her.
“Hard to say,” Patricia replied. “He doesn’t sound like he’s trying to be coy or kidding around with us. The way he said it made him sound... sad.”
“Who told you to expect an attack?” Ben asked.
Ben arched an eyebrow. “You’re sure he added a ‘yet’ to that? Specifically meaning he will tell us at some point?”
Patricia nodded. “That’s the word he used.”
Patricia was so surprised she didn’t translate the tod’s words immediately. It wasn’t until Ben called her name, that she did so.
Ben was just as surprised.
“Um... Just... Just hold on a sec,” Ben said, rising to his feet and going to the door. He knocked twice, and the guard let him out.
Ling was coming out of the room next door at the same time. “How the hell did he know we were going to be attacked?” he demanded.
“The attack was for them,” Ben told him as the pieces fell into place. “They were supposed to break out in the confusion, but they didn’t.”
“Which means they must have contact with someone on the outside,” Ling concluded.
“No one’s ever escaped from your facility, Colonel,” Ben told him. “But someone’s been breaking in. We went through all the trouble to make sure the other commandos in there didn’t find out Azarin’s been talking to us, but then we went and sent a memo to the Va’Shen government, telling them ourselves!”
“So, they wanted to try to break them out before we could let them out?” Ling asked. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I think Azarin figured that out and somehow shut it down from his end,” Ben said. “That’s why he wants to take these oaths now. Him and his guys are trapped in there with a bunch of commandos who think he’s stabbed them in the back. He’s got no other way out now.”
“Those oaths haven’t been approved yet,” Ling told him.
“Well, the commander needs to approve them now,” Ben replied. “This guy is sitting on the fence. One more push and he’ll fall right off it into our arms, but if we can’t get him and his guys out of there soon, they’re dead.”
“Let me make a call,” Ling said, turning and rushing down the hall away from him.
Ben turned and reentered the interrogation room, sitting down in his chair and folding his hands together on the table.
“We are asking our commander,” he said. “If he approves, we will give you the oaths.”
Azarin said nothing to this. Ben decided to see if he could get anything else out of him.
“The Va’Shen government said they do not approve of the new oaths,” Ben shared. “Are you sure you want to take them?”
He listened as Patricia translated and saw the tod’s tail sweep back and forth for a moment.
“Why didn’t you escape?” Ben asked.
His alien brother-in-law looked at him for several hard moments, as if weighing a great decision. He had just said he couldn’t talk until the deal was done, but at this point, what real choice did he have? There were details he had to hold onto for now, but given the betrayal just attempted against him, he felt there were some things he could share with a clear conscience.
“The attack was the signal, wasn’t it?”
Ben listened to Patricia’s translation and nodded. “They set you up,” he said. “They wanted your people to try to break out alone so we would kill you.”
And now they know that you know, Ben thought. He thought about the bureaucrat offering to hunt the escapees for the humans. He was willing to bet the plan they gave to Azarin had included rally points for his tods to flee to, rally points with Va’Shen soldiers waiting to kill the escapees the moment they arrived. Ling’s response teams would have killed probably most of them, and the Va’Shen security forces would have killed those lucky enough to actually make it out. Everything would have been wrapped up nice and neat, murder in the name of interstellar cooperation.
Two loud knocks on the door echoed within the room, and Ben stood up again, going to the door and stepping outside. Ling stood there, waiting for him.
“I talked to the commander,” Ling said. “He said he hadn’t received any read-aheads for the new oaths yet, so he asked me to read them to him.”
“And?”
Ling looked like he wanted to roll his eyes. “He said ‘these make perfect sense. Why didn’t we use these before?’”
“So... approved?” Ben asked.
The colonel nodded.
“You got a picture of the Emperor I can borrow?” he asked.
“We’re getting one from Dr. Sinclair,” Ling said. “It should be here soon.”
“All right. I’ll go tell him,” Ben said. “What do we do about his commandos?”
Ling took a deep breath and ran his hand through his graying hair. Ben and Patricia weren’t the only ones who had been up since five the previous morning.
“If we have to separate them, there’s no other good place to hold them. We don’t have a detention area offset from the batting cage large enough to keep them in.”
“That shouldn’t matter, though, right?” Ben asked. “Once they take their oaths, they’re supposed to be released.”
“Technically, yes, but it’s still going to take time to outprocess them.”
“What’s to outprocess?” Ben asked, careful not to let his irritation show to a superior officer. “What? They need to wash and turn in their blankets and pillows?”
Ling said nothing, probably thinking about how much outprocessing was actually necessary and how much was just the Army being the Army.
“Look, Sir, we know who they are and where they’re going,” Ben reasoned. “If you need anything else from them, I’m only a phone call away.”
“All right, let’s say I get on the phone and convince the commander to kick these guys out tonight,” Ling said. “Where are they going to go? They sure as hell can’t stay on the base.”
“Let’s just go ahead and move them to Pelle today,” Ben suggested. “I just need the base to loan me a few trucks and some boxed lunches, and we will be out of your hair forever.”
“I don’t think the commander is going to like that,” Ling grunted.
“Let him know that it’s thanks to Azarin that we didn’t have a harder night,” Ben said. “He trusted us enough to go against his fellow commandos. Now we need to help him by getting his people out of here.”
“Alright, I’ll go make the call,” Ling relented. “What do we tell Va’Sh-Gov?”
“I’d say tell them we released their guys,” Ben replied. “But maybe give us a few hours’ start first.”
* * *
Ben stepped into the interrogation room long enough to give Azarin a quick update and let him know they were waiting on a few more things to get approved. The tod only said, before going completely silent again.
Patricia and Ben left him alone in the interrogation room and went to get some coffee and pre-packaged donuts from the break room. Minutes dragged into hours as the wheels of Army bureaucracy slowly turned.
“Alacea’s gonna freak,” Patricia told him as she downed another cup of coffee.
“Yeah, I’m a shoe-in for Husband of the Year,” Ben quipped.
They looked up as Colonel Ling entered the room. “You ready?” he asked.
“Me?” Ben replied stupidly.
“They’re from your AO,” Ling said. “And the guy trusts you. I think you’re the guy who should be giving these oaths.”
“Are you sure that’s okay, Sir?” Ben asked. “Isn’t there some kind of protocol or something?”
“Captain, I don’t care who they take the oaths from as long as they take them,” Ling said. “And if you giving them make them even one percent more likely to stick, then it’s worth it.”
“You are the overlord, Sir,” Patricia told him quietly. “And technically family...”
Ben groaned. “Okay, I get it.” He turned back to Ling. “Copy all, Sir.”
They followed Ling down the hall back to the interrogation room and stepped inside. Azarin was still there, but the table had been removed and placed up against the wall was a painted portrait of a silver-haired tod in a dark green robe holding a sword. To the left of the painting someone had placed a U.S. flag and to the right, as if to give the set-up some balance, was an Army flag.
Ben took a look at the set-up and turned to Azarin.
Azarin stood up and walked to about six feet from the portrait. He knelt down and sat on his knees before leaning over and putting his head on the ground, both his hands on either side of his head.
Azarin told him.
“Okay,” Ben said and looked down at the card with the Romanized version of the three oaths. The last thing he wanted to do was screw up the pronunciation during such a solemn and important moment. He cleared his throat and began.
Azarin said.
Ben read the second oath on the card and began slowly once again.
Two down, one to go.
Azarin said.
Ben held his hand out. Azarin slowly looked up and saw it, tentatively reaching out to take it. Grasping his hand, Ben pulled the commando leader to his feet.
“I feel like I want to say ‘congratulations,’” Ben noted. “Somehow, though, it just doesn’t feel appropriate.”
Azarin bowed back to her, and Ben looked at her. “That sounded a lot better. Thanks.”
Patricia shrugged.
Ben faced his brother-in-law and spoke directly to him.
The Ranger shook his head, confused, before he realized that despite everything, the commando was still at least half-sure that he would remain their prisoner indefinitely.
Azarin looked at him, his ears straight up in the air, and his tail whipping about behind him.
He needed Patricia to understand that last part, but Ben understood Azarin’s concern. As long as the Emperor was beholden to Earth, Azarin’s oaths made him subject to Earth’s commands.
* * *
“Son of a bitch!” Ling cried, his eyes wide as he searched Ben’s face in vain for some hint that the Ranger was playing some kind of cruel joke on him. “Since the second day?!”
Ben and Patricia were in the colonel’s office, debriefing him on everything Azarin had told them. For the man in command of a detention center, it was a gut punch to hear.
“That’s what he says,” Ben replied. “Second day they were here an ‘unknown commando’ suddenly showed up, claiming to be from the outside and said he would coordinate with them, provide them information on us, debrief them, the works.”
“And he told you how this guy has been getting in?” Ling demanded.
Ben winced. “Apparently, the guy has his pick of infiltration points,” Ben told him. “I asked for examples, and after the third one I told him to stop because I didn’t have anything to write on.”
The colonel put his face in his hands. “Oh my god,” he muttered.
“The good news is Azarin is talking to your guys right now and giving them everything, including which commandos are actually here and where they’re from,” Ben told him. “With that information, you can go to their villages, get someone like their Na’Sha to come here and talk some sense into them. It’s worked before.”
Ben was sure something like that would work. It was only when the Na’Sha of Kar’El village intervened on their behalf that Captain Turan and his Windsabers were willing to discuss surrender.
“So, this guy has been feeding them bullshit for the last six months,” Ling summed up, “Telling them that their homes were rubble and that we’ve been raping and pillaging our way around their planet, keeping them good and mean.”
The Ranger nodded.
“For what purpose?” Ling asked.
“I wish I knew,” Ben said. “But these guys, this ‘Dara Tang’ he talked about, don’t sound like the kind of people who are out there pushing peace and tranquility. The way Azarin described them, they’re somewhere between the Nazi Gestapo and the Spanish Inquisition.”
“They sound like charming people,” Ling deadpanned.
“Maybe they planned to use them as a sacrifice,” Patricia ventured. “The Va’Shen government never said anything about these prisoners to their people. Maybe they were waiting for an opportune time to reveal it and then use their captivity as a rallying point.”
“That’s possible,” Ben said. “Continuous detainment tends to be an open sore when it comes to insurgencies. If things really kicked off, you might really have seen a big attack.”
“Beautiful,” Ling said.
“But if you can cut off their influence, show these guys their homes are still there, and bring in someone they can actually trust, it might turn things around.”
There was a knock on the door, and they all turned to see an Army NCO stick his head into the office.
“Sir, interrogators say they’re done.”
“I thought you weren’t supposed to interrogate prisoners without Va’Shen representation present?” Patricia asked.
