Marco Domici: Keeping Pace

"Face it Doug, she's on her way to being spaced."

"Sir, we don't still do that, do we?"

"I still smoke a pipe, Doug." Colonel Domici leaned back in his seat and relit the bowl. "My seat is actually covered with a soft animal hide and we still have a chaplain in the brigade. What makes you think a tradition as old as walking the plank would get lost?"

"Hope, I guess." Doug said. "I know folks think the chaplain corps is antiquated and too soft. Maybe we are." He shrugged. "But sometimes it's the voice in the wilderness that calls clearest."

"Not sure of the reference, Doug."

"Bible, sir. Often the prophets were out of the societal mainstream."

"Do you think it applies here?" The smoke started to roll as the vegetable matter caught fire. "Really? All the evidence we can find points to her and those separatists. We have medium range video of her talking to Gunny before they take him down. The in-vehicle recorder captured her voice as well. Don't get me wrong; our Intel boys went over everything with a nanoscope. All they knew was that we thought one of ours was being framed; they were all young. No one knew who the target was."

Doug closed his eyes for a silent moment. "Thank you sir. I appreciate that. Not sure why the locals are so problematic right now."

"Gunny was a courier, Doug." Embers grew bright and then dimmed. "Not a deliveryman as everyone thought. Gunney had gotten a job delivering sensitive government documents, court evidence, things like that."

"Did they go for money? Gunney never seemed to have a lot."

"Not directly. At least that's our guess." Embers glowed for a moment. "The locals aren't saying what was taken but it's certainly got them spooked. It was a robbery, plain and simple. Except..."

Doug looked at his commander. "Yes?"

Embers glowed, and then ebbed. Glowed again and then lay still. "Except she called him by name, Doug." His fist crashed against his desk. "She called him by name, got his attention, and then watched him die at the hands of her friends."

---

"Major, mind if I come in?" A tall, partially bald man stood outside the chaplain's door. His civilian clothes were younger contemporary than his partial grey suggested but seemed to fit him well.

"I would say things are a bit crowded, sir, but that joke never seems to work." Chaplain Domici motioned to a chair. "Please, come in. How can I help you?"

The man hesitated for a moment, and pointed at the door. "May I close it?"

"Mind if I know what this is about?"

"Sorry, I haven't introduced myself. Johnson, Yu-Wei Johnson. I wanted to talk to about one of your soldiers."

"Please, close the door." Chaplain Domici leaned back in his chair while the other man closed the door and settled in. "Please be advised that since you are not in my unit, nothing we discuss here has any legal confidentially protection. That said, Mister Johnson, I have been hoping to talk with you."

"And I you, sir. One of our congregation has spoken highly of you."

"Only one? Older or younger?"

"Ah, more introductions." Johnson replied. "I am the youth minister for our small church. In this case youth can be as old as college age. The elder congregants tend to speak to one of the senior pastorate or a deacon."

"Got it. I'm Doug, by the way."

"Yu-Wei, but you already knew that."

"Yes, well, the older congregant and I go back a ways, and we still chat on occasion." Doug looked over Yu-Wei's shoulder for a moment and seemed distracted.

"23 October, each year, I believe?" Yu-Wei said quietly.

Doug nodded. "We cannot discuss the activities of our soldiers outside the unit, Yu-Wei. Suffice it to say that 23 Oct is a particularly memorable date for some of us."

"I understand, Doug. I am not privy to the details. However, I understand there were great tragedies that day."

"And great heroes. One of whom was killed a few days ago for no good reason we know of."

"The son is now away on a mission." Yu-Wei held up his hand. "That is a guess, as he was supposed to stop by yesterday. Normally if he can't make an appointment he let's me know. No need to confirm or deny, I don't need to know. Since he is away, it gives me a little room to talk freely. My assumption is that he's on a ship in some other place and we have time to discuss and plan an event."

"Sorry, Yu-Wei, but we're a bit depressed at the moment. One of our veterans has been killed and there are complications we'd rather not discuss that make it worse."

"Well, I will do my best to make this brief, Doug. Please get back to me when you have time. Marco and I have been chatting for a few weeks. He's been a bit evasive but I get the impression he wants to get married."

"Really?" Doug replied. "Most young Marines aren't that concerned with a stable relationship. I'm not sure I was at the time and I was fresh out of seminary. Lot's of distractions in the modern world. Any idea who the lucky girl might be?"

"Pace, Irene Pace. It seems she and Marco...Doug, are you alright?"

"Sorry...sorry..." Doug reached into a drawer. "Care to join me?" He opened a bottle of scotch and poured a glass. At Yu-Wei's nod he poured a second.

"I'm not normally a drinker, Doug. However, there's this sneaking suspicion that I'm not going to like some of those complications you mentioned."

"Between us, chaplain's confidentiality." Yu-Wei nodded. "One of the prime suspects in the murder is from our own unit."

Yu-Wei nodded, and then paled. "No..." He gulped his drink.