Stark's War by John G. Hemry Read Free Book Online Page B

everything his superiors ordered, to the letter. With everything they do recorded in the Tactical systems that's the only way for officers to get promoted, right? And he wanted to make Captain something awful."
    "Bad enough to die for it, anyway. Since all this happened before I transferred to this unit, maybe you can tell me why you weren't court-martialed?"
    "Heck, Vic, we won. That meant some General was a flippin' genius, right? The senior officers were too busy taking credit for their brilliant plans to blame me for some comm problem. I mean, how could they give themselves medals for winning the damn battle if what I'd done hadn't been what they wanted?"
    "I see. You're a lot more devious than I've given you credit for, Sergeant Stark."
    "I am not devious." Stark glared at her. "I do what I have to do when I have to do it. I don't sneak around planning things behind people's backs."
    Vic held up her hands in a calming gesture. "True. Sorry if I implied otherwise, Ethan. But you take some major risks doing things without orders, or different than orders. Why?"
    "Let's just say I owe somebody." He nodded grimly, as if to himself or unseen comrades. "Yeah. I owe somebody."
    Vic peered at Stark as if she'd never seen him before. "I sometimes wonder. It's like you're fighting some other war the rest of us aren't."
    "Maybe I am."
    "You want to talk about it?"
    "No, I don't want to talk about it."
    "Why don't you want to talk about it?"
    Stark glared at her. "How the hell do I talk about why I don't want to talk about it without talking about it?"
    "Now you're being unreasonable."
    "And now you're being a woman."
    Vic pretended to be aghast. "You know I'm a woman? And here I thought the uniform had hid it all these years."
    "Ah, hell, Vic." Stark started laughing despite himself. "Why do you care what happens to me anyway?"
    "I don't want to talk about it."
    Stark laughed again. "How much trouble can I get into with you looking out for me?"
    "I shudder to think." She grinned maliciously. "Speaking of trouble, Ethan, you ever hear what happens when you cross a Special Operations Sergeant with an ape?"
    Stark rolled his eyes with exaggerated disinterest. "I guess you heard I went on a date with a Sergeant from Ranger Company. Okay, Vic, I give. What do you get?"
    Vic smiled wider. "A dumb ape."
    Stark ducked his head quickly to hide an involuntary smile, then looked back up, face impassive. "I hadn't heard that one for, oh, a coupla years now."
    Vic nodded back innocently. "Just wondering if it tracked with your experience, Ethan."
    "Nah. There aren't any apes dumb enough to mate with the Spec Ops Sergeants I know."
    "Oh, come now, Ethan. She's such a sweet little thing. Nice body, too."
    "How do you know? Anyway, she also knows about twelve ways to kill a man with her bare hands without breaking a sweat. Speaking of breaking, she can do that to bones pretty easy, too."
    Vic smiled again, this time pityingly. "Didn't get lucky, huh?"
    "I'm still in one piece. I call that lucky. Besides, turns out she's just looking for a friend."
    "Ouch." Vic winced. "Don't worry, Ethan, I'll be your friend."
    "Gee, thanks. Will you go to the Moon with me?"
    "Let me think about it. Mother always told me to avoid men in uniform."
    "Your mother wore a uniform," Stark pointed out. "You told me she was a Sergeant. And, if I remember right, you told me your father wore a uniform, too."
    "So? That just means Mom spoke from experience." The levity vanished from Vic's face as she leaned close, scanning their surroundings to ensure that no one stood close enough to listen in. "It's going down. We onload tomorrow."
    "Damn. Where do you find out all this stuff?"
    "A girl's entitled to a few secrets, Ethan. But if you've got anybody you need to say good-bye to, you better do it tonight."
    Stark thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Nah. Everybody I'd want to say good-bye to is coming along, right?"
    "Ethan, you need a life."
    "Vic, I'm a Sergeant, and I've