Rhodes must have fallen into some partial stupor. He woke up hours later when Dr. Osborne came back with the same soldiers.

  “You’re being called to a meeting with the brass,” Osborne informed him. “They want to question you to see if you should go before an inquiry or not.”

  “Why wouldn’t I when I did what they say I did?”

  “You should know better than to admit to something like that. Anyway, they aren’t trying to determine guilt or innocence. They just want to talk to you before they decide whether to hold a formal inquiry. Then they’ll release you to the lab and you can go through a conversion cycle. Nothing is more important than that right now.”

  “What about me, Doc?” Coulter asked.

  “You’re coming, too. They want to hold an inquiry on you, too.”

  “Why on Earth would they do that?” Rhodes demanded. “He didn’t do anything.”

  “Neither did you, but the brass wants its pound of flesh. Come on.”

  Dr. Osborne tapped on his device for a minute before the soldiers unlocked the two cells. The soldiers stood guard while Rhodes and Coulter followed Dr. Osborne outside.

  The soldiers didn’t try to restrain the two prisoners, which was strange considering how dangerous Rhodes and Coulter were supposed to be.

  The party headed off down the corridor. Everything else about the Ero looked the way Rhodes remembered it.

  “Eddie says you said the rest of the battalion is all right,” Rhodes began. “Did Dietz make a full recovery?”

  “He’s fine. I don’t know why the brass are treating you and Coulter differently from everyone who came back earlier.”

  “Maybe it had something to do with soldiers and officers on the battlefield who wanted revenge and got me and Eddie arrested in the first place.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Dr. Osborne replied. “I don’t understand any of this if you really want to know the truth. Nothing anyone is doing makes much sense. The only people in this whole thing who are thinking clearly are Colonel Kraft, Colonel Neff, and General Hyde.”

  “Remind me to thank General Brewster for coming out and showing his support,” Rhodes muttered under his breath.

  “He wanted to, but General Hyde told him to put a sock in it and make himself invisible.” Dr. Osborne bit back a sudden burst of irrepressible laughter. “She said his reputation as a raving lunatic would only make this harder for you.”

  Rhodes looked away. “She must be thinking clearly if she said all that.”

  “The three of them are your best friends in all this. If you get out of this, it will be thanks to their efforts.”

  They had to cut their conversation short when they got to the Ero’s bridge. Captain Ackerman stopped what he was doing and led Rhodes, Coulter, and Dr. Osborne into a conference room adjacent to the bridge.

  Colonel Paxton Kraft, Colonel Neff, and General Hyde were already there with half a dozen other officers Rhodes didn’t know. Dr. Trudeau stood at the table, too.

  “Welcome back, Captain,” General Hyde began. “You did an excellent job of bringing all your subordinates back to the Legion. You have our undying gratitude.”

  Rhodes glanced at the other officers. None of them looked even marginally grateful to get Rhodes back.

  He mumbled, “Yes, Ma’am,” and he and Coulter took their places at the only places left at the table—at the very far end closest to the door.

  Everyone remained standing, so Rhodes and Coulter remained standing, too.

  General Hyde waved at the other officers at the table. She introduced them one after the other even though Rhodes could read their nametags just as fast.

  “This is Admiral Wilson Stabler, Colonel Harlan Volk, General Dennis Wolcott, Captain Otis Lake, Admiral Donald Hassel, and General Albert Guzman. These are the officers who’ve been called in to decide if you should face disciplinary action for your role in the deaths of so many Legion soldiers at the Battle of Rono and the Battle of Keonus.”

  Rhodes only nodded. “I understand all that. What I don’t understand is why Corporal Coulter is facing disciplinary action for the same thing. He shouldn’t be. He’s lower-ranked than anyone else in the battalion. He should have been cleared a long time ago.”

  Admiral Stabler spoke up across the table. He was an aging man with white hair and sagging cheeks, but the rest of him still looked as strong as a man a fraction his age.

  “I can assure you, Captain,” he told Rhodes. “The outcome of this investigation will apply to the whole battalion. Whatever we decide for you will affect the entire battalion.”

  “Is that supposed to be a threat?” Rhodes heard himself stepping out of line, but he didn’t care about anything except getting Coulter out of the brig. “If I’m facing disciplinary action on behalf of the whole battalion, then Coulter should be back with the rest of them where he can get the medical treatment he deserves.”

  “We haven’t decided whether you’ll face disciplinary action or not,” Colonel Volk replied.

  “All the more reason Coulter should be released,” Rhodes returned. “You have two choices. Hold me in the brig and charge me on behalf of the whole battalion or charge the whole battalion and throw everyone in the brig. You have no reason to hold one man.”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  Admiral Stabler sighed and looked away. “You make a good point, Captain. Corporal Coulter will be released.”

  “Yes!” Fisher blurted out and immediately shut his mouth. He retreated into the corner of Rhodes’s vision.

  Rhodes pretended not to notice. “Was there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?”

  “We were hoping you could give us some insight into the Masks’ movements,” General Hyde replied. “Captain Vernick seems to be under the impression that you had advanced knowledge of an ambush the Masks planned to pull on the platoons. Is that true?”

  “I knew about the ambush, but I can’t tell you anything about the Masks’ movements. The connection only lasted a split second. It hasn’t happened before or since. I’ve been the brig the whole time, so I haven’t been near them.”

  “We were actually more concerned with your actions while you were in the Masks’ custody,” Captain Lake interjected. “Multiple officers witnessed you and your battalion attack Legion platoons on Rono and again on Keonus. You killed dozens or even hundreds of Legion soldiers.”

  Rhodes did his best to keep his head straight and hold eye contact with everyone at once. “Yes, that’s true. We did.”

  “What explanation can you offer for this?” Captain Lake demanded. “You’ve been charged with treason and multiple counts of murder.”

  “We’ve already gone over this a dozen times, Otis,” General Hyde interrupted. “We have all the evidence that suggests the Masks controlled the battalion and forced them to kill those soldiers.”

  “I want to hear it from Rhodes,” Lake returned and faced Rhodes across the table. “Is that your defense—that the Masks controlled you and forced you to kill those soldiers? I would remind you that you’re speaking on behalf of the whole battalion.”

  “The Grid evidence already proves the battalion was interfacing with each other during the assault,” Colonel Neff added. “Captain Rhodes would have known which of his subordinates attacked the platoons under the Masks’ control and which didn’t.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Captain Lake countered. “Captain Rhodes can tell us which if any of his subordinates was under the Masks’ control and which weren’t.” He turned and leveled Rhodes with a drilling stare. “Were all of your subordinates under the Masks’ control at the time? Did any of them act of their own volition?”

  Rhodes hesitated. Was he really about to rat out Fuentes—and maybe Lauer and Thackery, too?

  Admitting that any of them acted of their own volition would be a death sentence. Was Rhodes really prepared to go that far?

  “If you were under the Masks’ control, you would be exonerated,” General Hyde reminded him. “The people who were actually responsible for this atrocity would get what they deserve. You and the other innocent members of the battalion would be released and returned to duty where you belong.”

  Rhodes still didn’t answer. Returned to duty—so they could do it all again?

  When Rhodes still didn’t answer, Colonel Volk turned to Coulter. “What about you, Corporal? Do you know if any of your comrades acted of their own volition when it came to killing those soldiers?”

  “I…..” Coulter cast a sidelong glance at Rhodes. Rhodes couldn’t meet his gaze. “I think you better take this to an inquiry, Sir. I don’t think I’m in any position to answer that question.”

  “Is that because you don’t know or because you want to protect your friends?” Captain Lake asked.

  Coulter shrugged. “Does it matter?”

  “I’m disappointed in you, son,” Admiral Stabler blustered. “You’re dismissed to the battalion’s capsule hold. You stay here, Captain.”

  Coulter saluted the table, said, “Yes, Sir,” and let himself out of the room as quickly and quietly as he could.

  That left Rhodes to face the firing squad.

  “I just want to assure you, Captain, that we have all the evidence on The Grid feed,” General Hyde told him.

  “Then why are you even questioning me about it? You should already know.”

  “We’re questioning you and considering conducting an inquiry into this matter because the families and loved ones of the slain soldiers want answers.”

  “Don’t you already have that?”

  “Why do you think the Masks protected you on the battlefield?” Captain Lake asked. “They attacked Lieutenant Scofield’s squad when they were about to shoot you.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe the Masks wanted to recapture me. How should I know why they did it?”

  “What do you think of the SAMs’ assessment that the Masks and the SAMs are the same?” Admiral Stabler asked.

  Rhodes spun around. He shouldn’t have been surprised by this. These people had access to every nuance of The Grid the battalion had been going through from day one.

  Rhodes pulled himself together with an effort. “It makes sense, doesn’t it? Almost all the Masks’ technology is the same as the Legion’s……”

  “The Masks aren’t SAMs no matter what the SAMs say,” Colonel Volk growled.

  It was the first time he’d spoken. He was a young man of thirty with jet-black hair and black eyes, but he gave the impression of sagging old age even more than Admiral Stabler did.

  “The Masks say they’re the same as the SAMs, too,” Rhodes pointed out. “That’s what the Masks say—that they captured us to fill in the gaps in their programming that the SAMs have and the Masks don’t.”

  “What do you think that means?” General Hyde asked. “What gaps do you think they need to fill? The cityscape they showed you seemed complete.”

  Rhodes didn’t tell her about the heavy air of despair and hopelessness infecting that cityscape. He might have made a mistake about that. Maybe the cityscape was as perfect as B said it was.

  “If you can’t give us the answers we need, we’ll have no choice but to hold an inquiry into your loyalty to the Treaty of Aemon Cluster,” Captain Lake told Rhodes.

  “If I can’t give you the answer you need here, I won’t be able to give them at the inquiry, either,” Rhodes pointed out.

  “You and the battalion are the only people who can help us understand the Masks,” Colonel Neff replied.

  “I don’t understand the Masks,” Rhodes told him. “I would tell you if I did.”

  “So you actually think the Masks and the SAMs are the same technology?” Colonel Volk asked. “You actually think the Masks came from failed and discarded SAMs from the Battalion 1 project?”

  “Where else could the Masks have come from?” Rhodes asked. “The Masks used The Grid the same way we do. It doesn’t seem reasonable to assume they developed The Grid independently from us, does it?”

  Some of the officers exchanged glances.

  Others didn’t. “I’m afraid we have no choice but to hold an inquiry into this matter,” Colonel Volk went on. “We can’t risk the battalion causing another bloodbath like the last one.”

  Rhodes only nodded again. “I’m only surprised you haven’t held an inquiry before now. I thought you would have held one right away.”

  “You’ll go back to the brig until….”

  “This is outrageous!” Dr. Trudeau interrupted. “You’ve denied him critical medical care for days! This is as much a violation of the Treaty of Aemon as anything he’s done. You have to send him to the lab immediately! This is cruel and inhumane punishment when he hasn’t even been charged with a crime!”

  Colonel Kraft spoke up for the first time. He hardly ever spoke at these meetings. When he did, his words carried the weight of worlds.

  “Captain Rhodes will be released to Dr. Osborne’s custody and returned to the lab for medical treatment,” Colonel Kraft murmured under his breath. “He’s already agreed to face the inquiry. We don’t have to consider him a flight risk or a threat to any Legion personnel.” He nodded to Rhodes. “You’re dismissed, Captain.”

  Rhodes muttered, “Thank you, Sir,” and left the conference room. The officers remained standing in tense silence until Rhodes, Osborne, and Trudeau shut the door behind them.

  “Those bastards!” Trudeau hissed. “They were really going to send you back to the brig—and they’re the ones acting all high and mighty like they’re the arbiters of justice in the Treaty of Aemon Cluster! The cocksuckers!”

  “Settle down, Felix,” Osborne told him. “We got what we wanted. Now come on, Captain. You need to spend the rest of your time before the inquiry in a conversion cycle.”

  End of Chapter 7.

  https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B0D9R31GNZ

  https://dl.bookfunnel.com/x81h99kylj

  www.theomann.com.