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give me much time to deal with the other personnel matters.”
    Ashlyn nodded and thought for a moment before speaking. “MJ, you’re with her on this assignment. In fact, I want you to be one of the onsite referees. I need to know if there is any breach in protocol or any attempt to bypass the rules. You know what I’m looking for.”
    “I do.”
    A devilish gleam lit Adamson’s eyes and Ash smiled slightly. The master sergeant would miss nothing as the sims progressed and then she’d probably run the O-Course herself, beating all of them in the process.
    “Kevin, you get to deal with getting the sergeant transferred out. Write up your recommendation and reasoning. I’ll approve it. Then you can take it to Personnel Command. If needed, I’ll tag my mother’s aide to expedite it all. I’ll let him know while I’m there for the briefing she’s called.”
    “Briefing?” Curiosity tinged Ortega’s voice. Ashlyn understood. Ortega knew her schedule better than she did and the briefing had not been on it earlier. “Do you think it’s about our orders or what happened yesterday?”
    “My guess is both.”
    She would certainly feel better if that were the case.
    “When do you leave?” Talbot wanted to know.
    She glanced at the time. “Right now unless I want to be late. Luce, I’ll touch base with you later today. MJ, set up the use of the O Course for this afternoon. If any of you need me for anything, comm.” She paused, making sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. “Let’s hope we are wrong to be concerned.”
    Not that she expected them to be. If she’d learned anything since taking over as CO of the Devil Dogs, it was that very little went as expected. Not that it surprised her. She’d learned a long time ago never to take anything for granted. If that meant trying to anticipate everything that could go wrong, so be it.
    “Will do,” Adamson promised.
    “One thing before you go, Ash,” Ortega said. “How hard do you want me to push on these exercises?”
    “Luce, I’ll leave that to you.” And how Ortega handled it would tell Ashlyn a great deal about how her friend would do as the battalion’s XO. “But, from what little I know of the three we have concerns about, they have been with the DDs long enough that they should be able to handle anything you throw at them. I need to know how they react in situations where they are out of their comfort zones. For at least part of one of the exercises, have the senior non-coms taken out of the mix. Let’s see how the officers, and not just the captains, respond to having the backbone of their companies removed. Then, take out the COs. Let’s see how the rest of their people react without them at the lead.”
    “Understood. I’ll keep you posted.”
    Ashlyn thanked her and reached for her datapad. Unless she missed her guess, the next few days were going to be interesting and not necessarily in a good way.

C HAPTER F IVE
     
     
    “H AVE A SEAT , M AJOR ,” Brigadier General Elizabeth Shaw said as her daughter entered the office.
    Ashlyn nodded and did as she was told. As she did, she smiled slightly. It was still difficult at times to remember that her mother was also her commanding officer. That meant she had to be careful to avoid the sort of response anyone else who might be present would see as insubordinate. At least when they were alone, her mother didn’t usually require her to stand on formality. Not after the first few moments, anyway.
    Like her daughter, Elizabeth was dressed in BDUs. That was just one of the many changes General Okafor had put into place when she took over as Commandant of the Marine Corps. Until she had, those assigned to the HQ staff and all members of the Corps stationed planetside wore their ”service” uniforms, complete with coats and covers, most days. But at least once a week, mess dress was the uniform of the day. Most Marines, real Marines as far as Ashlyn was concerned, had hated it. Neither uniform