“Is it really wise to stop?” Stanton asked. “They could still be following us.”
“Maybe,” Stacia said. “I would even say probably. But we’ve got a big day ahead of us tomorrow, so we all need to be rested. Especially me. Kendara was right. You two aren’t as light as you look.”
“Actually, I think she was referring to you,” Skin said.
“We’ll take turns keeping watch for several hours while the other two sleep,” Stacia said. “We’ll get going long before dawn.”
This particular camp was even more uncomfortable than the ones they’d been forced to make do with on the plains. The ground here was rocky and jagged with occasional quartz outcroppings jutting out like the planet itself was looking for an opportunity to stab someone. The landscape had turned into the most inhospitable one Stacia had seen on the planet yet, with nothing more than an occasional purple barbed plant growing from the cracks in the stone. On a couple of occasions, they had passed large crater-like structures that Stanton advised them to stay well away from. When Stacia asked him why, he replied that he had been told something carnivorous lived in the bottoms, although he hadn’t had a chance to see one himself. Given what Stacia had seen of Leviathan so far, she was inclined to believe the rumor.
These details also made it less likely that they would be followed here, although Stacia assumed she couldn’t count on that for too long. At this point, Lexton probably had her reputation riding on taking Stacia out. Stacia needed to be ready for any possibility.
Finally, they all sat down in a circle. Skin spoke first. “You lied to me.” Stacia was surprised at the hurt accusation in her voice. She was also surprised at how much of a heel it made her feel.
“Yes, I did. I’m sorry.”
“Why? Didn’t you trust me?”
“I’d barely met you. I still haven’t known you for more than three days.”
“So you don’t think I’m trustworthy?”
“It’s not that. I had no idea if you might somehow have been planted with me by Lexton, or if you had some belief or value that might cause you to turn on me. You have to remember, you’re an alien to me.”
“And you’re the mysterious alien invader to me. I thought I saw the chance in you to live differently, to not be certain that one day I would be skinned and draped over someone else. That’s why I followed you, why I’ve been trying to help you. I thought… I thought maybe I wouldn’t be so alone anymore.”
“I’m sorry, Skin. I’m so, so sorry. Even with only another two days of knowing you, if I had to do it all over again, I would have told you the truth about what I was doing here from the beginning.”
“You two are starting to lose me,” Stanton said. “Could you maybe start from the beginning? Wherever the hell the beginning is.”
Skin sat up straighter as a thought occurred to her. “All that stuff about your childhood. Was that all a lie, too?”
“No. It wasn’t a lie. Everything I told you about my family and when I was a little girl is all true.” Stacia paused, suddenly unable to make herself look Skin in the eye. “But there was one very important detail I changed.”
“General Borealis?” Skin asked.
Stacia nodded. “I told you about the destruction of my home, and the fact that it is believed by many that it was caused either by someone’s corruption or incompetence within the higher rankings of the Galactic Marines. But I know it wasn’t General Borealis who was responsible. I know, because she was having dinner with us when it happened.”
Stanton looked appraisingly at Stacia. “It’s tough to guess your age with the armor, but I’d say you look a good five to ten years older than me. Would this have been before I was born?”
“Yes. I don’t think your mother had even met your father yet. At the very least, he wasn’t at dinner with us. As I’d said, all three of my parents were more or less retired at that point. General Borealis wasn’t a general yet, but I remember my mothers jokingly calling her that, saying that she was trying to get their former positions. She was on a day’s leave and had come to visit, but she still had her com equipment with her. That’s how we heard the first news that there was an attack. Before anyone could do anything, the shells were raining down.”
“My memories are a little hazy for a while after that, but I do clearly recall that she was the one who pulled me out of the building in time. She was also the one that rushed back in and tried to save my parents. She managed to get two out. Mama Linny only had minor injuries but was out cold. Mama Gertrude, however, almost died. Borealis had to make a choice between running back in one last time to try to find Papa, or quickly applying a medkit that would keep Mama Gertrude from bleeding out at her throat. I hold no grudge at all for the choice she made. For all I know, I could have lost two of my three parents that day instead of just one.”
Stacia looked right at Stanton, both of them making unwavering eye contact. “And that was the moment where I decided that not only would I grow up to be a Galactic Marine, but that I would do everything in my power to one day pay your mother back for what she had done. I figured I owed her. One life saved in exchange for another.”
“You never found out who was really responsible for the shelling?” Skin asked.
Stacia shook her head. “Still a mystery. In fact, there’s still not any solid evidence that someone involved with the Galactic Marines was responsible. It’s just a conspiracy theory, even if I’ve seen more than my share of evidence that corruption in our branch of the service is alive and well.”
“But you still sound like a true believer,” Stanton said.
“I am. I believe in the good the Galactic Marines can do. I also believe they need to be kept in check. This planet is the perfect example of what can happen when people with our augmentations are given too much power.”
“But what about the things I heard from Lexton’s people about you shooting my mother?” Stanton asked. “You’re telling me none of that actually happened?”
“No, that happened. I shot General Borealis repeatedly. Last time I saw her, she was being dragged off to be put on life support.”
Stanton blanched.
“But there’s one important detail I haven’t told anyone. It didn’t come up at my trial and no one witnessed it: she told me to shoot her. In fact, she gave me a direct order.”
“Wait, are you trying to say that my mother ordered you to try to kill her?”
“No, I’m saying that she ordered me to shoot her. And to do a thorough job of it without actually killing her. It had to look like I’d actually wanted her dead.”
“But that’s crazy! Why would my mother ask anyone to do that?”
“Because, Stanton, no one is ever supposed to go down to the surface of Leviathan. Unless, of course, they’re trying to make a political statement and actually crash instead.”
Stanton’s face went from pale to beet red.
“After your crash, the security around the planet was beefed up. You can imagine what kind of PR nightmare it was, for the son of a prominent Galactic Marine general to be making a protest at the most heavily guarded prison planet in the explored galaxy and then get stuck there. The powers that be didn’t ever want a repeat of that. So trying to get someone in to rescue you the same way you got in was impossible. The only way to get someone here to help you was if a major, unforgivable crime was committed. Such as the attempted murder of a superior officer.”
“She did that?” Stanton asked. “She made that kind of sacrifice for me?”
“Of course she did. You’re her son. And I owed her. She’s tried to tell me for years that I didn’t owe her anything, but I couldn’t rest until I felt I had paid her back. This whole thing was my idea. Trust me, it took a long time to convince her this was the only way.”