Chapter 1 - Captain, You’re Relieved
Master Sergeant Jax Miller stepped between Morgan Vance and Captain Sterling before Sterling could touch her again.
Smoke drifted behind the armored vehicle. Harsh canyon sunlight cut across the concrete barriers and caught the dust on Morgan’s tactical vest. One hand pressed against the wound in her side. Her rifle hung safely lowered against her shoulder.
Sterling moved toward her anyway.
Miller raised his pistol to a controlled midline and stopped him cold.
“Touch her again, sir, and I’ll report you resisted enemy capture.”
Every soldier inside Outpost 2960 froze.
Sterling stared at the weapon, then at Miller, as if rank alone should have protected him from consequence.
Morgan’s breathing came hard, but her eyes stayed locked on him.
“You reported me dead while I was still fighting.”
Sterling glanced toward the troops gathered near the barriers.
Too late.
They had heard.
Sergeant Hale lifted a blurred green field log in one hand.
“FDC recorded the full transmission.”
Morgan pulled her blood-stained data book from her vest and held it up.
“Forty soldiers are alive because I disobeyed you.”
Miller lowered the pistol slightly but did not leave the space between them.
Sterling’s arrogance collapsed into something smaller.
Fear.
Miller looked at the officers surrounding the captain.
“Captain, you’re relieved.”
May you like
No one defended him.
And for the first time that day, Sterling understood what it felt like to be abandoned inside his own perimeter.
