These are excerpts from Ashley's journey as a mentor: 1) Ashley learning a hard truth from Richard at the brink of her war trauma in Book 2; 2) Ashley being a mentor to Book 3's protagonist - Laney Davidson; 3) Ashley being a mentor to Richard in Book 7.
Scene 1 - Richard and Ashley argue about whether it is smart to use anger and vengeance in a fight.
When she was less than two feet away from him, Ashley retaliated with a powerful slap to Richard’s left cheek. Richard’s head bent to the right along with a portion of his body, and he rubbed the impact zone slowly. The majority of the pain he felt was embarrassment and regret, not the fact that it had been a harsh blow or because the reddish-pink area left behind now stung badly. He looked at Ashley, whose rage-shocked wide eyes had now become inflamed with more angered emotions.
“Don’t you dare talk to me like that, Lance Corporal,” Ashley returned hotly, and Richard could start to see tears of embarrassment well up as she began to steadily raise her voice. “You have no idea what this is like. This is the second time these Kronosian bastards have turned me against my allies and forced me to kill them. Only this time, I was stripped of my conscience, imprisoned in my own body, and turned into a monster that killed and maimed four operatives! I can’t live with that, Lance Corporal! I’m done playing their fucking game, and I’m done with their goddamn Crawler experiments, having experienced it first hand now and remarkably surviving it! I’m going to make sure the Kronosians don’t do this to anyone else, so they don’t have to live with this kind of guilt, and I will not see another operative fall by Kronosian hands in the process, and I sure as hell will not allow myself to be put in the position of killing yet another fellow teammate! That’s why you are NOT following me!!”
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"...It’s a little too late to be keeping others from feeling this guilt of killing allies when they have no choice, Lieutenant. This is no longer your personal struggle. This is our struggle, and if we die helping you fight the Kronosians off the Earth, then that’s what we will do.”
Despite her own desire to lash out and fight back, Ashley was nothing short of petrified: it had been many years since anyone, least of all a comrade, had shouted at or scorned her. And listening to Richard’s unwavering yet harsh words seemed to be the only thing she could do in that moment as she let her Lance Corporal continue uninterrupted.
“And furthermore, ma’am, listen to what you said just now; you’re done playing the enemy’s game? Where I come from, that’s a red flag when a soldier of any rank says such a thing. Not that war is or ever was a game, but it means they’re willing to break the rules. It means they’re willing to cross the line, not just to achieve victory, but to make sure the enemy suffers their wrath endlessly. And you know what, that’s exactly what the enemy wants: it’s what the Islamic State insurgents I fought over in the Middle East wanted, and what the Kronosians want right now. Before an enemy force of any kind can destroy the opponent, suppress the opposition, they will always try to emotionally compromise the leadership, terrorize the population, and blind the fighters into thinking exactly like you are right now. Anyone who tells you that anger is your ally in a fight, that anyone associated with the enemy deserves to die horribly or suffer in agony, is a goddamn, thoughtless FUCKER OF A LIAR! These kinds of illusive perceptions weaken you, Lieutenant; make you easier to kill. Or if not that, prove the enemy’s point that you are no different from them, in which case THERE IS NO GODDAMN REASON TO FIGHT THEM IN THE FIRST FUCKING PLACE!” Richard jabbed a finger off to his right angrily as he erupted with this statement before settling down only slightly. “And as operatives of A.T.X.D., who have identical obligations to save lives like a local S.W.A.T. team or Fire Department, we don’t cross that line….ever.”
Ashley didn’t respond - she just sat there quietly, trying to absorb all of what Richard had just said. And her mind was especially jarred by that one explosion of rage questioning the purpose of fighting an enemy if she was going to behave no differently, or worse, than those on the opponent side who had hurt her.
Scene 2 - Ashley counsels Laney when their teammate Cassy gets captured by the SIGA Syndicate and Laney feels responsible for letting her teammate get captured when, in fact, she had been incapacitated by a remote-control seizure induced by the main antagonist.
Laney just exhaled somberly through her teeth in response, calming down a little but still not feeling any relief. She then drawled softly, “I guess I should’ve expected things like this to happen.”
“What do you mean, Corporal?”
“In war,” Laney replied with cold simplicity. “You make friends, but sometimes, you lose them. They’re either captured or killed in action, and there’s not a goddamn thing you can do to stop it.”
“But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get those bonds started. Without the bonds, there is no team. Without the team, there is no effort. And without that *pfft* you can’t possibly hope to win a battle much less a fucking war.”
“I just hope we can retrieve Cassy before SIGA executes her or subjects her to an even worse fate, ma’am,” Laney replied, turning a worried expression to Ashley. “I just don’t know what’ll happen to me if she dies.”
“Y’know Laney,” Ashley said, looking off to the side in thought, “Something tells me Cassy’s too important a prize for SIGA’s henchmen; for Ms. Turner. Therefore, I’d guess they’re not likely to dispose of her immediately. But I do share your concern and pray that she’s still alive when we get to her.”
Scene 3 - Ashley, now married to Richard in Book 7, counsels her husband on fear of loss after he wakes up from a horrific nightmare at the beginning of the story.
It took a while, but Richard soon drew in a slow breath and explained some of what he’d seen.
“I found myself in this wasteland of a battlefield, and…and I saw…bodies. And they were all operatives, many of whom I knew. And you…you were among them, Ashley.”
Ashley took some time to digest this information, but remained calm. As both a former Navy Ensign and a long-time member of the A.T.X.D., it wasn’t the first time she’d heard even remote suggestions of her life being in potentially grave danger.
“Any idea what caused it?”
“No,” Richard replied solemnly, “I was out cold and woke up in this dream having apparently missed much of the battle. I didn’t see what it was. But whatever caused the battle in the first place, I wonder if I could’ve made a difference, maybe prevented that slaughter from happening?”
“Of course you would’ve made a difference, Richard,” Ashley reassured him, gently rubbing his back, “No matter the size or situation of the conflict, everyone’s effort matters. And Richard, I understand how you feel.”
“You do?” Richard inquired with some curiosity, but soon realized that was a stupid question.
“Absolutely,” Ashley admitted calmly. “After the Kronosian War, I had dreams of losing everyone I cared about. For years, I kept some of those things to myself, and outside of counseling, I only disclosed some of them with Dave or Cameron. Then you came along; you taught me that I had to let go of the pain, the anger, and the fear I kept from those events. Ashley took a breath before continuing, “War brings fear, Richard, and fear is often what inspires and drives conflict. But what’s most important is we need to fight that fear before we can fight the true enemy.”
“I guess you’re right,” Richard agreed, though Ashley could still sense some reluctance in his response.
“Now I don’t believe in doomsday prophecies, Richard,” Ashley reassured, “but you have the support of countless comrades to back you up. We will help you make sure this….nightmare, doesn’t come to pass or otherwise turn into reality.”
“Thanks Ashley,” Richard replied, now smiling with his own feeling of reassurance.
“Now come on,” Ashley requested softly, looping her whole arm around his back, “Come back to bed. Tomorrow’s going to be a new day. And we’ve only got two more days on leave before we need to head back to HQ. So let’s make use of the time together while we still have it.”
“Yes ma’am,” Richard replied.
The two shared a short hug and a kiss before accompanying each other back inside, shutting the backyard door behind them.