This Changes Everything

by Darrell Maloney

  Duh.

  The convening authority is usually, but not always, the base commander or a wing commander, of which there might be several on a typical Air Force base.

  In the case where the base commander and his deputy are themselves charged with a crime, it’s necessary for someone higher in the chain of command to fill that role.

  In this instance, General Mannix, the Air Force Chief of Staff… the head honcho of the entire Air Force, was available and took on the role himself.

  One of the first things Mannix did was put out a call for a panel president.

  Similar to a civilian jury, a court martial “panel” consists of officers of equal to or higher rank than the accused.

  If it were enlisted men being tried, a certain percentage of the panel would be enlisted members.

  In the case of Wilcox and Medley, though, the panel would be made up of five bird colonels.

  Quite literally a “jury of one’s peers.”

  The panel president assumes the role of the military judge.

  In a death penalty case the judge must be at least two grades higher in rank than the accused.

  Finding a Major General to sit on the court martial was not an easy task, for quite frankly there weren’t very many two-star generals around anymore.

  It so happened, though, that an old friend of General Mannix, Major General John Stephens, was getting ready to depart Hill Air Force Base in Utah, for permanent reassignment at Dyess Air Force Base in Texas.

  Since Stephens was headed south anyway, Mannix directed he be waylaid in San Antonio for a few weeks to preside over the court martial.

  Stephens was a good man and a top-flight general. He and Mannix had been good friends for many years.

  And that was good, for this wasn’t a run-of-the-mill court martial.

  Very rarely does a single colonel get court martialed.

  Two colonels being court-martialed together had never happened for.

  Add to that the fact this was a death penalty case, in peacetime no less, and that made it the most unusual case any of the men had ever faced.

  Every man, regardless of which side he was on, needed to be in top form and give the trial one hundred percent.

  It was just a darn shame BG Stephens stepped off the plane from Utah with the flu.

  -7-

  Before Saris 7 came along the United States Air Force mandated flu shots for all personnel every October.

  It just wouldn’t do for the mightiest flying force in the world to be grounded because of a poorly-timed flu outbreak.

  These days, though, things had obviously changed.

  Influenza vaccine was no longer available.

  Pharmaceutical firms which once filled government contracts for the vaccine were no longer in business. The vaccine was no longer being developed, produced or distributed, and the consequence was severe.

  What was once mostly an inconvenience; standing in line once a year to get a flu shot, had turned into a major health problem.

  These days unvaccinated military members came down with the flu, and for some people with weakened immune systems or heart or lung problems the disease could be deadly.

  The solution was to set aside one floor of the Wilford Hall Regional Medical Center as a flu ward and to quarantine anyone who came down with influenza.

  For those afflicted, the new policy didn’t necessarily help them much.

  It wouldn’t help them heal any faster.

  Doctors could treat the symptoms of the flu but couldn’t lessen its severity.

  But the quarantine helped lessen the chance of an all-out epidemic that could bring the whole base to its knees.

  The base flight surgeon was notified by his counterpart at Hill AFB the general was afflicted when he left.

  Colonel Danny Gonzales, Air Force Medical Corps, was at the general’s plane to greet him.

  And to drag him off to quarantine.

  A bird colonel taking control of a man with two stars on his shoulders could be a dicey situation.

  But General Stephens was a reasonable man. He knew he’d already risked the crew of the aircraft which ferried him down to Texas.

  In all likelihood they’d have to be quarantined themselves upon their return to Utah.

  He’d already done enough damage.

  He surrendered to Colonel Gonzales without a fight and accepted his fate quietly.

  “How long you gonna lock me up, colonel?”

  “That depends, sir. You appear to have early onset of the virus. We can’t let you loose until you’re totally free of all symptoms.

  “I’m guessing two weeks, maybe a bit less.”

  “Peachy.”

  Protocol called for Captain Wright to meet with BG Stephens as soon as he arrived. The general would need to know what type of defense the Area Defense Council planned to mount.

  David’s opposing counsel on the Staff Judge Advocate side, the prosecutor in the case, would also meet with him to go over the evidence they planned to offer.

  Now both sides would have to wait.

  The trial was on indefinite hold, waiting for the general’s nose to stop running and his throat to stop tickling.

  It wasn’t a good situation for anyone. It meant more time for the accused to sit in the brig twiddling their thumbs and anxious to get it over with.

  Of course, depending on how things turned out, it might also extend their lives by two weeks.

  Captain Wright didn’t want to wait until the general’s illness passed.

  He had some important things to discuss with him.

  He’d had his staff prepare no less than seven pre-trial motions.

  Most of them would ask the court to dismiss the charges for various reasons.

  David believed General Mannix was being unreasonably harsh on the colonels, neither of whom had ever held a base commander position before.

  He was in the bunker, in General Mannix’s office, just a couple days before.

  He didn’t want to discuss his case with Mannix, but he got strong-armed into doing it anyway.

  “Oh, come on, Captain Wright. I’m not the bad guy. I’m the convening authority. We’re both military officers. We should be able to discuss matters not prohibited by statute.

  “And I’m also the only one who can dismiss this case outright.

  “If there was some extenuating circumstance for colonels Wilcox and Medley to act in the manner they did, it seems to me you’d want me to know about it.

  “Who knows? If you convince me they were justified in attacking my bunker I might save us all a lot of trouble and order their release.”

  “Sir… there were at least two extenuating circumstances I plan to ask the president of the panel to consider.”

  “And is there any reason I should not hear them first?

  “I mean, I’ll hear them anyway.”

  “No sir, I suppose not.

  “I plan to present evidence that neither of the defendants could have known of the bunker’s existence.”

  “How could they not have known? Wilcox was the base commander. Medley was his deputy.”

  “Sir, they weren’t in those positions at the onset of the bunker’s construction. A colonel named Bettis was in charge.

  “He died more than a year ago.

  “His deputy died at the end of the first freeze and was never replaced.”

  “And Wilcox didn’t think to open up the commander’s safe when he took charge, to read any classified directives Colonel Bettis might have been given?

  “He had an affirmative duty to do so when he took command.”

  “With all due respect, sir, he’d never held a command position before. He may not have known that.”

  “For Christ’s sake, captain, you’ll have to do much better than that. I’m not an attorney, and even I know that ignorance of the law is not an effective defense.”

  “That’s just it, sir. After the colonels’ arrest the SJA and I found Colonel Bettis’s ol
d adjutant. A captain named Neeley.”

  “And…”

  “And he allowed us to look into the colonel’s safe. There was nothing in it pertaining to the bunker project.”

  -8-

  “Well,” the general pushed, “Do you have anything else?”

  “Yes, sir. I plan to ask the president for a delay.”

  “I directed a tribunal within ninety days.”

  “Yes, sir. But our key witness is over a hundred miles away, in the Kerrville/Junction area. She cannot be summoned until after the thaw.”

  General Mannix raised a suspicious eyebrow.

  “What witness?”

  “She was a patient of theirs at Wilford Hall. She’ll testify that she was the one who told my clients the bunker was built and occupied by rogue military officers who stole food and supplies from the people of San Antonio to stock their bunker.”

  “Then I’ll court martial her too, by God.”

  “You can’t, sir. She’s a civilian.”

  That caught him off guard.

  But only for a moment.

  “Then as a civilian, captain, she had no authority to demand they break into my bunker. And as military officers they had no obligation to do so on her urging.”

  “Agreed, sir. It goes to their state of mind.

  “They didn’t even know about the bunker until she brought it to their attention.

  “They honestly believed the bunker was occupied by bad men. As base leadership they honestly believed it was their duty to breach the bunker and arrest those inside.

  “It was really just a misunderstanding, sir. Nothing more. Aggravated, perhaps, by the chaos of the second meteorite coming and taking everyone by surprise.”

  “A mistake? Just an honest mistake? Is that what you’re telling me?

  “Those two yahoos break into a top secret bunker and jeopardize the continuity of the Department of Defense and the future security of the United States of America and you’re telling me it was all just an honest mistake?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “So you want me to just give them a do-over. Is that it? To let them out and pretend none of it ever happened and pray their next stupid blunder is less severe?”

  “Sometimes a mistake is just a mistake, general.”

  “I don’t believe that, captain. What I believe is that there are mistakes and then there are horrific mistakes. And that horrific mistakes cannot go unpunished.

  “Not even if lucky circumstance prevents anyone from being seriously hurt.”

  The one concession David was able to get from General Mannix was his word he would abide by General Stephens’ judgment.

  “General Stephens is a fine man and a good judge,” the general conceded.

  “If he recommends we dismiss the charges for lack of the classified directive or for any other reason I won’t overrule him.

  “Go ahead and prepare your motions, Captain. Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps I judged those men too harshly.

  “Perhaps I should have allowed that the world is a very confusing place of late.

  “Perhaps something Captain Krebbs told me the other day is true.

  “She said maybe the fog of war played a role. That maybe it was indeed just a terrible misunderstanding.

  “Now, I doubt it. Because if she’s right, by default I am wrong. And I didn’t get the top job in the United States Air Force by being wrong.

  “But then again, she’s a bright woman and a fine officer. I suppose we’ll have to see how things play out to determine who’s right and who’s wrong.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Prepare your motions and present them to General Stephens when they release him from quarantine.

  “He’s the man you need to convince I’ve served up an injustice to your clients. I respect him as a flag officer and as a judge, and I will abide by his ruling.

  “If you can convince him your guys are being railroaded, I’ll agree to drop the charges.

  “Have you ever met with General Stephens?”

  “No sir.”

  “I have to warn you, he’s a brilliant man, and as fair as anyone I know.

  “At the same time, though, he’s no pushover.

  “You can’t just go in there with your hat in hand and say please and compliment him on his choice of colognes and win him over. If you want him to take your side you’re going to have to offer a sound argument.

  “If you offer him bullshit he’ll see right through it and he’ll toss you out of his office. And that’ll put you on a bad footing when you go to trial.

  “Prepare your motions, but make sure you’re thorough. Make sure your arguments are firmly rooted in established case law, and where your argument falls short, admit it.

  “I’m not an attorney, but I know there’s no such thing as a perfect case. Every legal case is subjective, based on a lot of factors.

  “Don’t try to bullshit the man by saying you’ve got a slam dunk.

  “If you do he’ll slam dunk your ass and you’ll blow the whole thing.

  “Now then, when does the hospital say they’re going to spring him?”

  “They said not until he’s free of all symptoms for twenty four hours. It could be three days from now or it could be ten.

  “They said everyone is different, and it depends to a large degree on when he contracted it and how severe his case is.”

  “He’s required by protocol to come and see me first.

  “When he does I’ll give him some heads up that you’re going to hit him with a big pile of pre-trial motions so he doesn’t feel blindsided by it.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “And good luck, son. I hope one of your motions convinces him to set those men free.”

  The look on David’s face was very telling. So telling, in fact, the general went on.

  “Oh, don’t look so shocked, David. I’ve sent men to die before. I even oversaw a couple of firing squads. You might not think highly of me, but I’ll have you know I take no pleasure in ordering men killed, be they our guys or somebody else’s.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  David left the bunker thinking he may have been wrong about General Mannix. Until then he had the impression the general was a hard case, carrying a grudge against Wilcox and Medley for forcing him and his family into the bitter cold.

  Maybe he was wrong. Maybe General Mannix was a decent and reasonable man after all.

  Maybe.

  -9-

  Coincidentally, at the exact moment Mannix and Wright were discussing the colonels’ case, Hannah and Mark Snyder were doing the same in the mine beneath Salt Mountain.

  “Honey, I need to clear the air about something I don’t quite understand and I’d like to find out why you did it.”

  “Did what, Mark? What did I do?”

  “The other day when that guy called on the radio. About your doctors in San Antonio and the predicament they’ve gotten themselves into.”

  “Uh, huh. What about it?”

  “I thought you were way too quick to volunteer to be a witness at their court martial.

  “I mean, I think it’s admirable you’d go out on a limb to help them. But…”

  “But what? I should have just stayed out of it and minded my own business? I shouldn’t have made my own decision? I should have just said I couldn’t help them?

  “Perhaps I should have told them I couldn’t do it because I had to stay here and be a good little wifey. After all, there are dirty dishes in the sink and floors to mop and stuff.”

  Mark sensed he’d already lost the argument before it even got started.

  “Honey…”

  “What, Mark? What?”

  “I just would have liked the opportunity to discuss it, that’s all. Ever since Frank disappeared I’ve come to realize how dangerous it is to move around out there. Especially now, with the heavy snow and ice cover.

  “If they can’t delay the court martial until the thaw… if they need you there
before the world warms up again… well, I’m just worried that getting you there and back would be treacherous. That’s all.

  “I can’t bear to lose you. We made a pact when we were younger that we were gonna have each other’s backs. You were gonna be my wingman and I was gonna be yours.

  “We swore to one another we would grow old together. That we were gonna live to be a ripe old age together.”

  She smiled sweetly.

  “I remember. I said we were going to use the same hair products to get rid of our gray hair. That we would sit side-by-side in his and hers chairs at the dentist’s office. So we could hold hands while they pulled all our teeth and fitted us for dentures.”

  He smiled as well.

  “Yeah. I forgot about that part. I guess that’s no longer an option, huh?”

  “Mark, I jumped the gun. It was wrong to make that decision without getting your input. It’s just that… well, I knew instinctively you’d be against the idea.

  “I felt I had to tell them I would before you had the chance to talk me out of it.”

  “But why do you feel so strongly about it? Why in the world would you want to go all the way to San Antonio while the world is still frozen over, just to help two men you barely know?

  “I mean, it’s a military problem. They created it; they should have to deal with it.”

  “See, that’s where you’re wrong, honey. I don’t have an option to help those men or abandon them. I have an obligation to help them. Just as they have their duties to perform, I have one too.

  “I have to step up and help them out as much as I can.

  “I just have to.”

  “But why?”

  “Because they stepped up for me. They saved my life, honey. If it wasn’t for them and for Joel I’d have died from my injuries in the helicopter crash. I owe them.”

  “Honey, they’re doctors. It’s their job to save lives. It’s what doctors do.”

  “That’s not all, Mark. I’m the one who told them Colonel Montgomery was an evil man. I’m the one who said he was stealing food from the survivors in Bexar County and was stocking a bunker for his own benefit.

  “It was the only thing that made sense to me at the time. I didn’t know their recon… what did he call it again?”