Ice frowned at Stetson’s response, although she wasn’t surprised by it. She’d expected one of two possibilities: Either he’d confess when confronted with the evidence, or he’d decline to answer any further questions. Of the two possibilities, she’d expected the second was more likely. After all, Stetson didn’t strike her as the stupid type. He probably surmised that she didn’t actually have enough evidence to bring them to trial. Otherwise, why would she bother to try to get a confession out of him if she didn’t need it? Still, she’d try presenting him with the rest of the evidence she had. Maybe it would be enough to convince him she was sure of his guilt and that it might be in his best interests to give her a confession.

“Your base commanders reported that you were AWOL at the time of the shooting. Would you like to offer some kind of explanation?”

“We decline to answer any further questions at this time.”

“You took off in your aircraft less than twenty minutes after the four witnesses heard the shooting. Approximately two hours into the flight, you turned off your transponder, entered a rapid descent, and attempted to fool air traffic controllers into thinking you’d ditched in the ocean. But you were in and out of radar coverage enough that Marine flight controllers were able to determine that you had deviated from your flight plan, and they were able to plot where you would end up if you continued on the course you had taken. There’s no way you could have known about the murder unless you were involved. So what were you running from?”

“We decline to answer any further questions at this time.”

Ice raised a forehoof to her forehead, rubbing it for a second before placing her hoof back on the ground and sweeping her gaze over the prisoners again. This was obviously a waste of time. Stetson clearly wasn’t going to talk. Briefly, she considered separating the humans and interrogating them individually. Perhaps without Stetson to keep them in line, one of the younger ones would crack. But she decided against it. A confession from one of them would do her no good since the others could simply accuse the one who had confessed of lying in order to save his own skin. No, she needed the confession from Stetson himself and she needed the others to confirm his story. She glared at Stetson, and he looked back at her. His expression was emotionless, the lines on his experienced face as hard as ever. Looking into his eyes, she knew she’d never break him. At least not with any method she could legally use to obtain a confession. Finally, she simply nodded.

“Very well. Then there will be no reason for me to visit you again until I’ve completed my investigation and am ready to make my recommendation to her Majesty regarding extradition or charges. If you should change your mind and decide you want to talk, ask the dungeon guards to contact me.”

Stetson only nodded in response. She waited for a moment, then turned and trotted away from the cell.

As she exited the dungeon, she thought about whether she should go to Cadance with these new developments. She decided against it and turned towards the exit instead, walking outside and making her way towards her office.

At this point, she had no doubt at all that the humans were guilty of murder. Not that she had ever doubted it, but their refusal to answer questions had confirmed it in her mind. But refusal to answer questions was not the same as an admission of guilt. Right now, she probably had reasonable cause to recommend extradition, and Cadance probably would extradite. The prisoners’ refusal to answer questions was strongly suggestive of their guilt, and JAG likely had evidence to prove their guilt. Evidence that Reid were refusing to share with her. But Ice didn’t want to extradite. She was still determined to do everything she possibly could to keep this case in the Crystal Empire. She had a right to punish them. They were responsible for making it all come back to her.

And besides, the fact that JAG was withholding evidence from her could end up working in her favor. She could use that to argue that perhaps JAG didn’t have the evidence at all, or that it was weak or contradictory. Thus, the prisoners would not be able to get a fair trial if they were extradited. Therefore, they should be tried in the Crystal Empire instead.

Yet, she did have to leave the possibility of extradition open, because there was one possibility on the table that was even worse: Asylum. And that was something she was absolutely not going to allow. No way was she going to allow these human monkeys to run loose in the Crystal Empire. She’d recommend extradition before she’d do that. The only way the humans were going to stay in the Crystal Empire, or in any of the other pony nations for that matter, was if they were locked behind bars where they belong.

She decided she’d wait until she had a chance to look over the personnel files before going to Princess Cadance. Hopefully, the personnel files would shed some more light on things. At least give her some leads to where she could focus her investigation. After all, right now, she had nothing at all to go on.

She climbed the stairs to her office building, passing underneath the ever-present gaze of the Ponies of Justice before stepping inside the building. Aspen was gone. Probably left for the evening while she’d been at the palace. She went to her office, stepping behind her desk and sitting down on her haunches. There were three new sealed envelopes in her inbox.

“Like I said, I’m gonna be very busy, very soon,” she muttered under her breath.

She picked up the one off the top. It was from the Crystal Guard, Earth Pony division. She dragged it across one of her fangs to open it and pulled out the report, reading it over. The ground search team had found the objects that had been dropped from the aircraft. They were two portable aviation radios. Colonel Stetson had told the truth about that, then. After his initial lie that it was trash, that is. Either way, finding the objects was no longer helpful to her case.

She tossed that report aside and opened the second envelope. This one was from the Pegasus Guard at Commander Hurricane Field. They had completed their inventory of the contents of the aircraft. She quickly scanned over it.

* Aeronautical maps - Middle Eastern region, Europe, South America.

* Personal effects - Two paperback books, fiction

* Five Beretta M9 semi-automatic handguns

* Three HK416 assault rifles

* One M107 sniper rifle

* Ammunition for above weapons

Well, that wasn’t useful either. None of the weapons would be useful for evidence. They were pretty much standard issue for U.S. Soldiers, especially those involved in special ops. It was expected that the prisoners would have weapons. The only way they would be useful as evidence is if ballistics testing could show that the shot that killed the militia commander was fired from one of those specific weapons. And that would be difficult, given that she had the weapons here in the Crystal Empire, and the bullet that had killed the militia commander was in Afghanistan, or possibly being held as evidence by JAG. She had no intention of sending the weapons to Reid. Not even if he requested them. He was refusing to share evidence with her, so why should she feel any obligation to share evidence with him?

She tossed the inventory report carelessly onto the pile with the report from the ground search team, then picked up the third envelope. This one was from the Government of Afghanistan. She opened it and let the documents spill over her desk. She raised an eyebrow and perked her ears. It was an extradition request for the humans from the Government of Afghanistan.

“Well, this is gonna be interesting,” she said to herself. No doubt, the U.S military thought the crime fell under their jurisdiction because it was committed by U.S. soldiers, and the Government of Afghanistan thought it was their jurisdiction because the crime had been committed against an Afghan on Afghan soil. Now, she had two countries and two governments fighting over which one would get to prosecute the case. She smiled at that. She could definitely use that to her advantage. She could play one country against the other, threatening to extradite to the other if the one she was currently talking with didn’t cooperate with her more. But she’d reserve that option for now. It was her ace in the hole if all else failed. For now, she was better off maintaining that she didn’t have enough evidence to recommend extradition at all.

She put the extradition request from Afghanistan aside, then looked over the evidence summary the Afghan prosecutor had provided. The asshole had written it in English. That already had him on her bad side. It was bad enough that Reid had written in English, but at least he could use the excuse that it was his native language. The Afghan prosecutor couldn’t even do that. He should have written it in Equestrian, not English. Never mind the fact that she herself couldn’t read or write in Persian, and she had no reason to suspect he could write in Equestrian. Part of her knew she was being unreasonable, but a much bigger part of her didn’t care.

She frowned as she finished reading the summary, then crumpled it up between her forehooves before tossing it towards the trash can. Score, two points, nothing but net. The summary had basically been a carbon copy of the summary that Reid had sent. Either the Afghan prosecutor was withholding evidence from her just as Reid was, or he didn’t know any more than she did because Reid was playing the same game with the Afghan authorities that he was playing with her. If that were the case, it would pretty much put an end to her plan to play the two countries against each other. But then another thought came to mind. The extradition request from Afghanistan wasn’t entirely useless. She could at least use it to buy time. She could claim that the legal question of whether it was Afghanistan or the U.S. military that had jurisdiction to prosecute the crime was unclear. She needed more time to look into that before she could recommend extradition.

Another envelope on her desk was from Interpol. As expected, she found an international arrest warrant inside of it. She immediately crumpled that up and tossed it into the trash can too. Score, two points, nothing but net. The Crystal Empire didn’t cooperate with Interpol and did not honor international arrest warrants. And besides, the humans were technically already under arrest anyway. Perhaps not in the way Interpol wanted, but they were under arrest.

Ice stuck out her forehoof, hooking the handle for her filing cabinet and pulling it open. She pulled out the case file for the humans and added the inventory summary, report from the ground search team, and extradition request from the Afghan Government to the rapidly growing pile of documents inside the folder. She put the folder back in the cabinet and kicked the drawer shut, punting it a bit harder than was absolutely necessary, taking out her frustrations on the unfortunate piece of pressed aluminum. She didn’t see any reason to contact the Afghan prosecutor right now. Let him wait. Let him sweat.

There was little else she could do on the case right now, and she had no other cases to work on for the moment. The director had cleared her schedule, knowing once this case got going, she would likely have little time for anything else. That, and given the high profile nature of the case, Cadance herself had asked that it be resolved as soon as possible. Hopefully, Reid had been quick to act on her request and the personnel files for the prisoners would arrive tomorrow. Maybe they would point her in the right direction. She stood up, left her office, walked down the outdoor stairs, passed underneath the Ponies of Justices, and headed for home. Between going over the evidence Reid had sent, her discussion with Reid over the evidence, her interrogation of the prisoners in the dungeon, and going over the reports from the ground search team, the Royal Guards at CHF, and the extradition request from Afghanistan, she’d had a full day of work. She suspected the days were only going to get longer.

Ice arrived at the office building the next day just in time to see Aspen leaving. The two of them exchanged greetings as she went into her office. Immediately, she noticed the envelope in her inbox from Lieutenant Reid at JAG. She stepped behind her desk, opening it and dumping the contents on her desk. She started reading over the personnel files for each of the human prisoners, her frown growing deeper as she went. The records were completely unremarkable. There were no negative marks on any of them, but neither were there any letters of commendation, medals earned, or other positive remarks. The only thing remotely interesting was that Sergeant Boyd had sniper training. Angrily, she crumpled up the papers. She started with Boyd’s file. He was the one who annoyed her the most. Or was it Stetson? She couldn’t decide. Boyd had asked her about her wings, which pissed her off to no end. But Stetson … Stetson was continuing to infuriate her. He was so hard to rattle. Trying to get under his skin was like trying to carve into a rock with a butter knife. Occasionally, she’d been able to nick the surface. But so far, she hadn’t been able to draw any blood from him like she’d been able to from the others.

She tossed Boyd’s file into the trash can. Score, two points, nothing but net. She followed it with Stetson’s file. It hit the rim, bounced off of it, and landed a few paces away.

“Shit,” she muttered under her breath as she walked over to the trash can and picked up the errant ball of paper. She raised her forehoof for a dunk. She stopped. Something wasn’t right about these personnel files. She reached into the trash can, removing Boyd’s file and going back to her desk, setting the white balls of paper for Boyd and Stetson on the surface. Carefully, making sure not to tear them, she unwrinkled the pages from both files, then added all of the personnel records to the ever growing case file. They might be useful later. More for what they didn’t contain than what they did contain. Now, it was time to go talk to Cadance.

She left her office again, stepping outside and passing under the shadow of the Ponies of Justice as she made her way towards the palace. The reprieve from the incessant heat hadn’t lasted long. The hot, muggy air felt as if it were clinging to her fur. The sidewalks and streets were busy tonight. To her left, a couple of well-dressed ponies laughed as they made their way towards the open doors of a noisy restaurant. When was the last time she had laughed? She couldn’t remember. Glancing at the restaurant, she noticed that it was packed, and the crowd was spilling out the doors into the outdoor patio in front of it. Then, she remembered it was Saturday, the end of the work week. Unlike the humans, the ponies worked Tuesday through Saturday, and their weekend was Sunday and Monday. Sunday in honor of Princess Celestia, and Monday in honor of Princess Luna. She’d lost track of the days. But she wasn’t interested in partying or dining anyway. She sped up to a trot, slowing down again only after the chatter and laughter of the crowd inside had become a low din of background noise.

As she walked, the ghosts that she thought had long since gone began to test the reinforced door she’d put up in her mind. Sometimes the ghosts were shapeless, nameless floating specters. Other times, they were ponies she’d known and lost during the war. And still other times, they were human soldiers, using explosives, and RPGs and any number of other weapons to try to blast away the door. She’d spent the better part of the last twenty years building up that door. Putting deadbolts and chain locks on it. Nailing boards across it to keep them from battering it down. But now, the chain locks were hanging loose, the nails starting to pull out of the boards she’d put across the doors. And somehow, the ghosts knew it and were trying everything they could to get the door to her mind open and burst in. They were knocking on it, pounding on it, wearing her down, waiting for her to give up and let them in. She would not let them in. Not by choice. But how long would it be until the door weakened to the point that it simply broke down? How long until the secure bunker she’d built to wall off her mind would be compromised?

She cursed the human soldiers in the dungeon again. It was all their fault. If they had just stayed in their own damn airspace, she wouldn’t have to deal with them right now. And her door wouldn’t be in danger of blowing apart to let the ghosts in. It was also Cadance’s fault. And Shining Armor and Celestia and Luna’s fault, but she didn’t dare curse them. Still, anger at them churned inside of her like a thunderstorm. It was their fault this case had been assigned to her. Especially Cadance. She had specifically requested the director to assign it to her. But the other monarchs were at fault too. Not one of them had had the nerve to stand up to Cadance. She cursed the director too, even though he had just been following orders from the Princess.

As she approached the palace courtyard, the laughter of ponies enjoying themselves began to torment her ears. She passed over the drawbridge, through the gate, and into the courtyard, but kept her eyes trained to the ground in front of her. Still, from the corner of her eyes, she could see ponies lounging in the palace gardens. To her right a sparkling fountain glowed under magical lighting, sounding like a pristine waterfall as the falling stream churned up white cloud-like billows from the pool beneath. Two young crystal pegasi – who were probably hiding from their parents – sat on the marble ledge of the fountain, their lips pressed against each other, their wings spread widely as if mocking her. She turned her head to the left until she couldn’t see them anymore, then sped up. The guards at the palace doors opened them and she stepped inside. Relief flowed through  her when the massive doors closed behind her, shutting out the sounds from outside like she wished she could shut off the ghosts in her head. She made her way quickly to Princess Cadance’s royal apartment, stopping at the gold trimmed doors with the Crystal Heart replicas embedded into the wood.

“I need to speak to Her Majesty about my case,” she said to the highest ranking of the four guards standing at the door.

The guard nodded, then turned and knocked on the massive doors. The guards inside unlocked and opened them, closing and locking them again after she had stepped into the receiving area.

“Her Majesty will be with you shortly.”

“Thank you,” Ice responded with a gracious nod, glancing around the room. Of course, it hadn’t really changed from the last time she’d been in here, although it was slightly dimmer because there was no fire in the fireplace on this hot night. There were two teapots sitting on the table near the wall this time instead of one. It was the kind of thing most probably wouldn’t notice. But her days in Bat Team Alpha had taught her to notice any change in details, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant. It was usually those small changes that went unnoticed that got you killed.

As she waited, that nervousness poking at her again, joining with the ghosts pounding on the door of her mind. That nervousness that Cadance could read her mind. See her dark thoughts. Know what she was thinking about the humans, and of her desire to punish them, whether or not they were guilty of the murder they were accused of (although she still had no doubt that they were). She chastised herself for thinking like a filly. Such thoughts were silly. Even the Princesses couldn’t read minds.

Although, she realized with a slight shudder, Luna did have the ability to dream walk. So far, Ice didn’t think she had dreamed about punishing the prisoners. In fact, she didn’t think she had dreamed about the case at all. But what if she did? Would Luna get suspicious? She tried not to worry about that either. After all, the mere fact that she wanted to punish them was not evidence that she would actually do so outside of the dream world. And besides, Luna’s dreams were probably far darker than anything she would dream about. Yes, Luna was no longer Nightmare Moon, but Luna probably still dreamed about overthrowing her sister and taking sole rule of Equestria. It was safe to explore such things in the virtual confines of the dream world.

A minute later, Cadance stepped out of her apartment. Ice bowed as the Royal Alicorn approached her.

“Please, no need for that,” Cadance said, and Ice quickly rose. Cadance motioned to the kettles on the tray. “Shining Armor is on his way here, so I figured he might as well listen too. I’d like to wait a few minutes for him. Would you like some tea? I have chamomile and Earl Grey.”

Ice almost went for the Earl Grey, but then changed her mind. Chamomile was a mild sedative and had relaxation properties. Cadance probably used it to unwind after a long day of diplomatic functions. Ice was just starting her day, and feared the tea might make her drowsy. But then again, perhaps the tea would silence the ghosts pounding on the doors of her mind. The caffeine in the Earl Grey was probably not what she needed right now. She was nervous enough as it is.

“I’ll have chamomile, please,” Ice said before sitting on her haunches near the table.

Cadance’s horn glowed with a golden aura and the tea kettle on the table near the wall glowed as well, before beginning to steam as the alicorn used her magic to heat the water. Even using a very small fraction of the full amount of her power, it didn’t take long at all to bring the water to a near boil. Steam rose from the spout, filling the room with a sweet, herbal aroma as Cadance levitated the kettle, filled a teacup, and then floated the cup over to the table in front of Ice, setting it down gently in front of her.

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” she said, feeling her anger at Cadance melt away, a slight taint of guilt replacing it. It was hard to stay angry at a sovereign ruler who was humble enough to take on the role of a servant and bring tea to her own subjects. The hot tea might exacerbate the warm night, but within a couple of minutes, the herb began to take effect, and she felt more relaxed. The door opened again, and Shining Armor stepped into the room.

“Please, remain as you are,” the Prince said before Ice even had a chance to stand and bow. “I’m sorry for keeping you waiting.”

“No need to apologize, My Lord.” Ice relaxed again. It was also hard to stay angry at a sovereign who was humble enough to apologize to one of their subjects for something as trivial as making them wait for what had only been three or four minutes.

“Tea, dear? I made some Earl Grey for you.” Cadance said.

“Yes, love. Thank you,” Shining Armor said with a smile.

Cadance nodded, using her magic to reheat the kettle of Earl Grey before pouring a cup and levitating it over to the table. She poured a cup of chamomile for herself before turning her attention to Ice again.

“You have an update on the case?” The two Royals moved to the table and sat on their haunches across from her.

“I do, Your Majesty. I have received extradition requests from both the United States and Afghanistan. As I expected they would, both countries have already waved the death penalty on their first request. The U.S. Navy JAG officer who is handling the case sent me limited circumstantial evidence, but he has no motive. There were multiple witnesses who saw U.S. Marines matching the number and dress of the prisoners arrive and leave the area of the murder within minutes of the time it occurred, but none of them can make a positive ID. I requested contact information for the witnesses, but JAG refused to provide them on the grounds that they had promised anonymity to the witnesses. The base commanders reported that all five of the humans were AWOL at the time of the murder. The flight the humans took was a scheduled flight. But JAG sent me air traffic control tapes confirming that approximately two hours into the flight, the humans deviated from their flight plan and made maneuvers intended to give the illusion to controllers that the aircraft had ditched in the ocean. On our side of things, the ground search team found the objects that the prisoners dropped from their aircraft. The prisoners were telling the truth about those … after lying the first time that is. They are portable aviation radios.”

Cadance and Shining Armor listened intently, occasionally sipping their cups of tea as she briefed them.

“And what is your opinion?” Cadance asked when Ice had finished.

Ice was quiet for a few moments. She’d have to play her cards right if she still wanted to be able to prosecute this case and ensure she was the one who got to punish the humans. She thought carefully about what she wanted to say before speaking.

“The evidence JAG presented me with is reasonably compelling, but completely circumstantial. It’s not enough to go to trial with, and most definitely not enough to get a conviction. I told the JAG officer handling the case as much. He claims he has additional evidence, but he’s refusing to send it to me. For national security reasons, he claims.”

Cadance nodded. “Should we extradite, then?”

Ice shook her head. “At this time, I would not recommend it for two reasons. First, the legal question about which country has jurisdiction to prosecute the crime isn’t entirely clear. I need more time to look into it. And second, I requested personnel files for the prisoners. JAG sent them to me, but … while there are no disciplinary actions against any of the prisoners, there are no positive remarks or letters of commendation either. The files are completely unremarkable.”

“And there’s something that makes you uncomfortable about that,” Cadance stated, prompting Ice to continue.

“Three of them are MARSOC. Marine special operations. That’s sort of like our Bat Team Alpha. How do three Marines with such completely bland service records get into an elite unit like MARSOC?”

“You think their personnel files have been altered?” Shining Armor questioned, raising an eyelid.

“My gut feeling is that sections have been removed from the records, My Lord. Something that JAG doesn’t want me to find out about because it might weaken the evidence and suggest that perhaps the prisoners’ claim of innocence is true.”

Ice’s heart beat just a little faster in her chest as she lied directly to the Royals. She didn’t actually believe for one second that the prisoners were innocent. She knew they were guilty. What she actually expected had been removed from the personnel files were notes about prior disciplinary problems that would suggest the prisoners were more than capable of cold-blooded murder. After all, if that were to get out, it would raise difficult to answer questions about why they had not been removed from service before they had had a chance to kill. She was still convinced that Reid’s game was to provide just enough evidence to make the prisoners look guilty, but not enough evidence for her to try the case herself. He wanted to force her to recommend extradition. She wasn’t about to play his game. The prisoners were hers. Hers to put on trial. Hers to punish. But hopefully, claiming she believed the missing information from the files might exonerate the prisoners would validate her recommendation not to extradite at this time.

“But if the human military won’t send you the missing information, then it would seem you have nowhere to go with the case,” Cadance stated. “Even if the circumstantial evidence is not strong enough for you to recommend trial, it is compelling enough that Shining Armor and I would not be inclined to grant asylum and have these potential killers running free in the Crystal Empire.” Shining Armor nodded his head in agreement with his wife.

“No, I definitely don’t recommend granting asylum,” Ice responded, suppressing a wince as she realized she’d said it with more enthusiasm than she intended. However, neither Prince nor Princess gave any reaction suggesting that they were suspicious. Ice continued, making a conscious effort of will to slow down so as not to give away her ulterior motives.

“My recommendation for now is to continue holding them. I’m reasonably certain I can convince JAG to send me the missing information from the personnel files.”

“How do you plan to do that?” Cadance asked.

“By accusing them of altering the files they sent me, which I am almost certain they did. By convincing them that there is no chance in Tartarus that I will extradite if they continue to actively try to deceive me by feeding me incomplete and altered evidence.”

Cadance appeared to think about this for several moments. Ice’s mind ran wild with irrational fears. Why was Cadance taking so long to respond? Was she on to Ice’s game? Did she suspect a lie? Ice was certain she hadn’t given herself away. Her explanations for why she couldn’t recommend extradition at this time had been perfectly reasonable. She was sure of it. After an eternity, Cadance nodded her head. Ice felt her tension snap like a breaking rubber band.

“Very well. You have done good work on this case so far. Please continue to keep us informed.”

“I will, Your Majesties,” Ice responded, downing the last swallow of her tea before standing and bowing to the two monarchs. They nodded in response, and she turned to leave. The two doors glowed with a golden aura as Shining Armor opened them for her. She stepped out and started to walk way. The doors closed behind her, and a wave of relief washed over her. It was good to be out from under the watchful gaze of the two Royals.

She made her way out of the palace. It was quiet now, except for the serene waterfall sounds of the fountain. The courtyard stayed open late on weekends for the enjoyment of the citizens of Crystal City. But by now, it would be closed, and the Crystal Guards would have made everyone leave. No doubt, much to the annoyance of the two young lovers she had seen at the fountain earlier.

As she walked, she smiled to herself. She was certain neither Princess Cadance nor Prince Shining Armor suspected any shenanigans on her part. As far as getting the missing information from the personnel files, she had no intention of asking Reid for it. There was no way she’d convince him to send it to her. He couldn’t do it now without making himself look as guilty of lying as the prisoners themselves. If he sent her the missing information, it would prove that he’d been intentionally trying to deceive her. Withholding evidence without telling her he was withholding it for security reasons wasn’t quite the same as downright falsifying evidence, but it was almost as bad. Reid would be well aware that it would completely destroy any trust that he thought she had in him. Not that she had any, of course.

Besides, she didn’t need Reid. She had something much better. Something that not even Cadance, Shining Armor, or the director of her office was aware of. Something not even Luna or Celestia knew about. She had a mole in the U.S. Department of Defense. Next Chapter: VII Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 11 Minutes