Endurance

by Yoshiki Tanaka

  This went beyond the level of mere contradiction. Yang stood on the alliance’s end of the battlefield because he believed that a democracy that ordinary people came together to operate—fraught though it might be with detours, trials, and errors—was at least better than the dictatorship of a merciful emperor. Yet here Yang was on Heinessen—a world that was supposed to be the very citadel of democracy—apparently shut up in a birdcage belonging to medieval rulers reeking of corruption.

  Don’t rush into doing anything too soon, Yang told himself. For the moment, the High Council shouldn’t be able to destroy him physically or mentally, no matter how much hate they might have toward him. If they were to do that, the Galactic Empire would be clapping with glee at having a rival eliminated without needing to lift a finger themselves. There were only four scenarios in which Yang could imagine Trünicht or the High Council making the decision to do him harm:

  A. A great admiral appears in the alliance with abilities greater than or equal to Yang’s, who also feels genuine loyalty to the powers that be.

  B. A lasting peace is established with the Galactic Empire, and Yang is determined to be a factor obstructing it.

  C. Yang is judged to have betrayed the alliance and taken the side of the empire.

  D. The High Council itself betrays the alliance and takes the side of the empire.

  Regarding A: Loyalty and submissiveness aside, there was, at present, no one in the Alliance Armed Forces who eclipsed Yang in terms of raw ability. To “lose” Yang in the midst of nigh-perpetual war with the Galactic Empire would be an act of national suicide. Of course, just as human beings sometimes commited suicide, nations sometimes killed themselves as well, but things did not appear to have reached that stage just yet.

  Scenario B was just a little on the stupid side. If a lasting peace could be forged with the empire—or a set of circumstances created that would lead to that—Yang would be overjoyed. For him, it would mean retirement and the start of his long-held dream of a pensioner’s life. Still, since facts and their perception were naturally separate things, there was every chance the authorities might act based on misunderstandings or distortions.

  As for scenario C, Yang had no desire to do such a thing himself, but as with scenario B, the government might resort to extralegal measures with that as their rallying cry.

  And regarding scenario D …;

  Just as Yang was about to head off down that lane of thought, the visiphone chimed, and Rear Admiral Bay’s face filled the narrow screen.

  “Excellency, I’m told the court of inquiry will open in one hour. I’ll come to escort you to the Hall of Inquiry, so please get yourself ready to go.”

  III

  The room was needlessly spacious, with a high ceiling. The illumination was kept deliberately dim, just as the air was kept just under the lower limit of the range of comfortable temperatures, creating a chilly, dry sensation on Yang’s skin.

  As if in accordance with some dark passion, everything here seemed calculated to create an almost palpable sense of intimidation. The questioners’ seats were elevated and looked down on the questioned while surrounding his seat on three sides.

  If Yang had been the type to put a high value on authority and power, he would have shriveled up in body and soul the instant he stepped into the room. However, all Yang sensed in that room was thick makeup covering a malicious bluff. Although the sight provoked a physical sense of revulsion within Yang’s body, he was neither daunted nor afraid.

  Nine inquisitors were sitting in the seats above. From Yang’s standpoint, that made three in front, three on the right, and three on the left. Once his eyes had adjusted to the low lighting, he was able to make out the face of the middle-aged man who was looking down on him from the middle of the three seats in front of him. It was Negroponte, who now occupied the seat of Defense Committee chair in the Trünicht administration. He was about the same height as Yang but far more heavyset. He had to be the one in charge of the court of inquiry. Of course, he was probably nothing more than a mouthpiece for the true speaker—the FPA’s head of state, who couldn’t afford to show himself in a place like this.

  The thought of having to spend the next several days entertaining Trünicht’s underlings here belatedly put Yang in a gloomy mood. Frederica and Warrant Officer Machungo had both been taken from his side, and now a lonely battle was forced upon him. A court-martial would have been vastly more fair, since if they wished, defendants could choose up to three defense lawyers. Here, however, it looked like Yang was going to have to represent himself.

  Negroponte stated his name, and then the man seated on his right side introduced himself.

  “My name is Eurique Martino Borges de Alantes e Oliveira. I am the president of Central Autonomous Governance University.”

  Yang saluted to show proper respect. This man was apparently the vice chairman here and probably deserved his respect just for having memorized a name that long.

  The other seven inquisitors also gave their names one after another. Five of them were either politicians or bureaucrats in the Trünicht faction, and as such were the sort of rabble Yang hated to go to the trouble of remembering. However, when he picked out the lean, expressionless face of Admiral Rockwell, Director of Rear Service Headquarters and the sole uniformed officer present, he couldn’t simply smile politely and forget about him. It was a stark reminder of how the Trünicht clique was expanding within the military. The one other non–Trünicht faction politician here, Huang Rui, looked to be more curious about this court than loyal to it. He left an impression on Yang, although of a different sort than Rockwell. Most likely, he had been chosen as an inquisitor so that Trünicht could keep up an appearance of impartiality, but in the poisonous air of this one-sided farce, he might just play the role of ventilator. It would be a mistake to expect too much of him, but still …;

  When all the introductions had been finished, Negroponte said, “Well then, Admiral Yang, you may be seated—no, not like that! Do not cross your legs! Sit up straight. You’re under inquiry, Admiral Yang. Do not forget the position you’re in.”

  After wisely swallowing the words “It’s not like anybody told me how to sit,” Yang put together the humblest expression he could manage and straightened up in his seat. In battle, too, timing was everything.

  “Well now, let’s begin the inquiry …;”

  It was a solemn declaration, but it made not the slightest impression on Yang. He was just earnestly praying for this to be over soon.

  The first two hours were spent going over and confirming Yang’s past accomplishments. Starting with his date of birth, parents’ names, and father’s occupation, his record up until entering Officers’ Academy was examined in detail, with comments made as each and every point was introduced. They seemed to know more about Yang than Yang did himself.

  What made Yang inwardly groan the loudest were the report cards from his Officers’ Academy days that were projected on a wall screen. Leaving aside his 98 points in Military History, his 94 in Strategic Theory (Classical), and his 92 in Exercises in Tactical Analysis, he had a 58 on his practical test in marksmanship, a 59 on his practical test in piloting fighter craft, and a 59 in Exercises in Engine Engineering, for which he had good reason to be embarrassed, since a grade of 55 or less in any subject would have resulted in washing out.

  And yet, how different things might have been, both for Yang himself and for the Free Planets Alliance as a whole, if he had flunked out and been expelled. Iserlohn would still be in the empire’s hands, proudly impregnable, though on the other hand, the Alliance Armed Forces would have escaped that disastrous defeat at Amritsar. Protected by Artemis’s Necklace, the Military Congress for the Rescue of the Republic’s coup might have been partially successful, and a state of civil war with the opposition might still be dragging on. And if it were, it was entirely possible that Duke Reinhard von Lohengramm, taking advant
age of the civil war, would have sent all his massive fleets at once and been well on the way to fulfilling his conqueror’s dream.

  As for the impact on Yang personally, he would never have met a young Frederica Greenhill during the evacuation of El Facil, nor would he have gotten to know Alex Caselnes afterward. Without Caselnes, he would have never met Julian or gotten von Schönkopf as a subordinate. He might have been conscripted and lost his life on the front line, or he might have dodged the draft and ended up a fugitive. A human being was nothing more than the smallest component, an atom, of history, but out of all the infinitely branching paths to the future, only one was chosen to become the reality. Was the wonder of fate’s deft handiwork to be praised, then, for the countless mutually associating microcosms that were forever taking shape?

  “… and, at present, you are both the youngest member of the FPA Armed Forces to have made full admiral and our supreme commanding officer on the front. That’s a perfect example of what people mean when they say, ‘enviable good luck.’”

  The way he said that got on Yang’s nerves, popping the bubble of speculation he had surrounded himself with and bringing him back to reality. He hadn’t cared much for that expression or the tone in which it had been delivered. If the treatment he was getting really was that enviable, they were welcome to switch places with him. He was the one who had to provide a steady stream of orders while his ship was heaving up one minute and back down the next. He was the one who had to efficiently carry out the work of death and destruction while beams from enemy warships were forming huge swells of light that engulfed his whole field of view. He was the one who had just had a journey of four thousand light-years forced on him the moment things seemed to be settling down—and had traveled all that way to the capital just to be dragged in front of this court of inquiry. He wasn’t going to plead for sympathy, but as far as he was concerned, his status was in no way, shape, or form anything worth getting jealous over. Nameless soldiers and their families might be excused for thinking so, but he did not need to hear it from this bunch, who were sitting in safety far from the front lines, thinking of nothing but how best to pound down any peg that stood out from the rest.

  “In our democratic republic, no one—no matter who they may be—is permitted to take arbitrary action exceeding the norms. In order to eliminate all questions concerning this point, we have convened this court of inquiry today. For that reason, my first question is …;”

  Here it comes, thought Yang.

  “Last year, when you put down the Military Congress for the Rescue of the Republic’s coup d’état, all twelve of the satellites composing Artemis’s Necklace—satellites constructed with a huge investment of public funds for the defense of the capital—were destroyed on your orders, correct?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You’ll probably assert that this was a tactically unavoidable measure, but I can’t help feeling it was a hasty and roughly handled decision. Was there really no other way besides the complete destruction of our nation’s valuable property?”

  “I judged that there was none, so I took that action. If you believe that decision was mistaken, I’d certainly like to hear the alternative.”

  “We aren’t military specialists. It’s your job to do the thinking at the tactical level. Now that you mention it, though, wouldn’t it have been better if you had entered the atmosphere after destroying, say, two or three attack satellites?”

  “If I had done it that way, we would have no doubt come under attack by the remaining satellites, and our forces would have certainly taken casualties.” As this was an indisputable fact, Yang didn’t even raise his voice. “If you’re saying that unmanned satellites are more important than the lives of soldiers, then my judgment was mistaken, but …;”

  Yang hated himself just a little for putting it that way, but without at least this much pushback, Negroponte wouldn’t respond.

  “Well then, how about this: the conspirators were trapped on Heinessen in any case. Instead of taking such swift, sudden action, wouldn’t it have been better to have taken the time to wear down their will to resist?”

  “I thought about doing that as well, but there were two factors that made me abandon the idea.”

  “We’d all like to hear them.”

  “The first problem was that the coup d’état faction had been psychologically backed into a corner, and there was a danger that they would try to get out of that situation by using government VIPs in the capital as human shields. If they had come demanding concessions with pistols pressed against your heads, we would have had no choice but to negotiate with them.”

  An awkward silence stretched out for several seconds.

  “The second issue involved an even greater danger. At that time, the uprising inside the empire was drawing to a close. If we had continued to lay siege to Heinessen and just leisurely waited around for the coup faction to implode, then Reinhard von Lohengramm, gifted war maker that he is, might well have launched a massive invasion, spurred on by the momentum of his victory in the empire’s civil war. Aside from its civilians, Iserlohn had only a small security force and some spaceflight control personnel at the time.”

  Yang paused to take a breath. He would’ve loved a glass of water.

  “For these two reasons, I had to take measures that would liberate Heinessen as quickly as possible and, moreover, deliver a crushing psychological blow to the coup d’état faction. If that’s deserving of criticism, I’ll resign myself to it. But my own feelings aside, the men and women who risked their lives fighting under my command will not accept it unless you can provide a better alternative plan.”

  Not even Yang was above this much of an implied threat. And it seemed to have worked. A susurrus of low voices passed among the board members, with irritated glances being fired off from their huddle toward Yang. It seemed they had run out of room for more counterarguments. The only exception was Huang, who turned to one side and yawned a little. Finally, Negroponte cleared his throat loudly and spoke.

  “Well then, let’s set this matter aside for the time being and move on to the next thing. Just before you engaged the enemy in the Doria Stellar Region, you apparently said the following to your entire force: ‘Compared to individual rights and liberty, the state is just not worth all that much.’ We have the testimony of multiple witnesses who heard you, so there’s no mistake, is there?”

  IV

  “I can’t vouch for every word and every syllable,” Yang replied, “but I certainly did say something along those lines.”

  If there were witnesses, there was no point in denying it. But most of all, Yang didn’t believe he had said anything wrong. It wasn’t like he was always right about everything, but what he had said that day—that had been right on target. If the state were to fall, they could start over and build it back up again. There were plenty of nations that had fallen for a time only to be rebuilt. Of course, far more had fallen never to rise again, but that was because they had already exhausted their roles in history, become corrupt, grown weak in their old age, and lost the value of their continued existence. The death of a nation was tragic in most cases to be sure, but the reason was because of the large amount of blood spilled in the process. What was worse was how that tragedy would turn into the gravest of comedies as many people laid down their lives sure in the belief that they could save an unworthy nation from its inevitable doom—and then with their sacrifices accomplish absolutely nothing. States unworthy of their own existence, jealous of people who did deserve to live, took as many with them as they could in the moment they were cast into hell. Sometimes, the supreme authorities of those nations even lived out their lives in luxury as aristocrats of the enemy nation, forgetting all about the countless war dead who had been crying out their names as they fell on the battlefield. Yang wondered: throughout history, how many of those who were ultimately responsible for wars had actually died on the front line
s?

  Personal liberty and individual rights—those were the words Yang had spoken to the soldiers. Should he have maybe added “life” to that? But when Yang thought about all he had done up till then and all he was likely to do in the future, he knew there was no way he could have spoken that word. Just what in blazes do you think you’re even doing! There have got to be all kinds of things to do out there that matter more than ordering murder and destruction on the battlefield.

  “Don’t you think you made a rather indiscreet comment?” a grating voice was saying.

  During his days at Officers’ Academy, there had been instructors whose eyes would light up at the sight of a student making a mistake. This guy sounded just like them: a voice like a cat licking his chops in ecstasy.

  “Huh? How so?”

  The Defense Committee chair, perhaps growing uncomfortable due to Yang’s failure to roll over for them, allowed a stern edge to creep into his voice. “You’re a soldier with a duty to protect your nation. Young as you are, you wear the title of admiral. You command a military force with numbers equivalent to the population of a large city. So how is it not indiscreet when someone in your position makes a comment that belittles the state, by extension shows contempt for your own duties, and furthermore invites a drop in morale?”

  What you need right now, Yang’s reason was telling him, is patience to endure all this vanity and absurdity, but that internal voice was getting weaker and weaker.

  “If I may say a word, Your Excellency,” Yang said, controlling his voice as best he could, “I think that statement was unusually discerning for me. States don’t divide like cells to produce individuals; individuals with independent wills come together to form states. That being the case, it’s clear as day which is principal and which is secondary in a democratic society.”