Free Against All Enemies by John G. Hemry Page B

thing. Things couldn't have turned out any worse than they did. I wish those people had been given a chance to try."
    * * *
    "What the hell were they doing there?"
    Paul looked over at Lieutenant Mike Bristol, surprised by the junior supply officer's uncharacteristic outburst. Meals in the wardroom had been subdued lately. They were on their way back to Franklin Naval Station, the civilian freighter Prometheus Rising following five thousand kilometers astern, far enough away to avoid giving away the Michaelson 's exact position or colliding with the warship by accident, but close enough to be within easy reach if protection was needed. One of Paul's few enjoyable moments lately had been watching the expressions on the faces of Commanders Kwan, Garcia and Moraine when he told Captain Hayes in their presence about the civilians' impending request for escort home. But Hayes had agreed. "Why was who where?" Paul asked.
    "Those people on the asteroid."
    Paul had seen the reports. "The survivors claim God told them to settle the asteroid."
    "Why?"
    "Hell, Mike, I don't know. God hasn't talked to me lately. Next time he does, I'll ask."
    Something about his tone of voice got through to Mike, who nodded. "I know you don't know. It's just . . ."
    "Yeah."
    "And the SASALs," Bristol continued. "Using a ship named the Saladin for that kind of atrocity. Saladin himself never murdered civilians. He was a decent, honorable soldier."
    "What I want to know," Randy Diego asked, "is why they did it? I mean, why kill those people? What was the point?"
    Paul glanced around, but no one else seemed willing to answer the question. "We don't know for sure, Randy, but best guess is that the SASAL leadership didn't want these settlers getting off easy. They wanted to make an example of them so no other groups would try to settle asteroids without oversight and monitoring."
    "So they tried to kill them all?"
    "Apparently."
    Kris Denaldo made an angry face. "Anybody else planning on setting up rogue settlements will know the SASALs are willing and ready to slaughter them. And they'll know we won't stop the SASALs from doing it," she finished bitterly.
    "We couldn't," Paul insisted. "You know that."
    "Sure. We had our orders. And those orders gave the SASALs a free hand. How'd they know?"
    "They didn't—"
    "Are you sure? Look at what they did. It's just like they knew we couldn't do anything, that we'd have to sit by and watch them fire on those guys."
    Paul scowled down at his food, not feeling the least bit hungry and unable to think of any response to Kris' statement. They couldn't have known our orders. But they sure acted like they did. They even stopped shooting when there was a risk of hitting us by accident, as if they knew that would allow us to shoot back .
    "We saved two kids," Ensign Gabriel noted.
    "Is that supposed to cheer us up?" Kris demanded. "Between the SASALs and the settlers' own suicide pact a lot more died."
    "I know," Gabriel agreed helplessly. "I just . . . I don't know. It's something."
    Mike Bristol nodded at her. "That's right. Does anybody know if the captain's going to get in any trouble because of this?"
    "Why would he get in trouble?" Kris asked.
    "You know."
    "No, I don't."
    Bristol made a face. "A scapegoat. What if they want a scapegoat?"
    Paul shook his head. "The captain deserves a medal for what he did, not any kind of reprimand."
    Randy Diego spoke again. "But all those people on the asteroid did die. If the politicians need someone to blame—"
    "They can't nail it on Hayes," Paul explained with an outward patience he didn't real feel. "I know for a fact that word's gotten around in the press that our ship was put between those SASAL ships and their targets."
    "But I thought we weren't supposed to do anything ," Randy insisted. "If they need someone to blame and the captain did something they can claim was wrong—"
    "Or didn't do something they can claim he should've," Val Isakov chimed in. "They could