by Chris Hechtl
“Already done, sir.” She frowned as she got a follow-up report. “I hate that we're seven light minutes out. I'm getting a fresh update now. The incoming ships have flashed their IFF. They are TF 1.2.2, sir.”
“Ah. Welcome them then. I want a report ASAP.”
“Yes, sir,” the admiral said as she typed out the order.
“I'm honestly curious about his side of the story. We've seen the media's take and Admiral Childress's from the broadcasts.”
“He definitely has some explaining to do,” Admiral Nilsson agreed with a growl.
@
The arrival of Commodore Diao Yashido's ships was met with relief for some. They had known the ships had been on the way from monitoring news broadcasts from Bek A. “Damn, that was a rough journey,” Diao said when he met up with Commodore Perot in the outer shell.
“But you made it. That's good.”
“Yeah, we did. But our ships are pretty drained. A few are banged up more than I'd like. We lost some people, some good people getting out. That's on me,” he growled.
“Damn,” Commodore Perot said softly. “Transmit your report. I've cleared you.”
“Thanks.”
@
“More ships?” Alice asked.
“Yes. And these have seen combat. Can you handle it?” Commodore Brunswick said.
“We've got the system more or less down pat now. We know what to pull and what to plug in. It's just a matter of having the parts on hand, and then making adjustments based on the ship's class. Do you have a report on their damage, sir?”
“Not yet. They transmitted their log to command. I'll see it eventually, most likely when they show up at our door or after I get pissy with someone,” the bear grumbled.
Alice smiled sympathetically. She knew how the bureaucracy worked.
“The more things change, the more things stay the same,” the bear grumbled.
“Yes, sir.”
@
Admiral Nilsson hit upon a plan to send some of their warships under stealth to the vicinity of the jump point and wait there in case something happened. The ships would lay under stealth until a starship arrived. The plan was for them to then move in to protect the ship and or capture it if necessary. It would be risky and dangerous, quite potentially sparking another firing incident that many still wanted to avoid.
“I'm of two minds about this. I like the idea, but in order to do it, you'd have to be too far out of support range. There is no way Second Fleet and the fortress shell would miss you sitting there within a few light minutes of them forever,” Admiral Sharp Reflexes stated.
Admiral Nilsson nodded.
“And we don't even know if the ship will need protection or not and if it will be viable to help them if they do. At the distance of a light minute or more, we'd be too far out to help,” Commodore Brunswick pointed out.
“Most likely by the time we know a ship is there, it will be too late. We'll have to sit at least ten light minutes out from the jump point to avoid detection from Second Fleet and the fortress shell,” Commodore Fournier said from her vid screen. She was on her ship over a light minute out so there was of course a delay like she mentioned. It drove the point home to the group all over again.
“Agreed,” Admiral Nilsson said glumly.
“Then the protection option is a bust?” Commodore Brunswick asked carefully.
“I don't know. I'm leaving those orders as optional. If there is an opportunity or need, do it,” Admiral Sharp Reflexes stated.
“Also, given that a starship would jump into the jump point and directly into their line of fire, the best way to capture a ship and avoid any loss of life would be to get to her after she left the vicinity of Second Fleet.”
“That would mean someone would have to sit in the inner system between Second Fleet and the sun. They could see ships that way,” Commodore Yashido pointed out. She was of two minds about her brother's defection. She wasn't happy that he'd done it that way. It had been rash and impulsive given what had happened, but on the other hand, she understood. He'd made the call and hadn't pulled any punches in his report. He'd also stated he'd face the consequences for it when a board was called.
“Won't this deployment ratchet up tensions? And won't they know we're gone? You'll have fewer forces here,” Diao warned. “My ships will take months to be repaired.”
“Let me worry about that,” the T'clock stated.
Chapter 40
“What are we going to do about this? This farce of a trial is not good,” Admiral Childress stated. The defense had begun to lay out its case, but they were taking their time doing so. Based on the latest schedule, it could be two months before they were finished. That was unacceptable; he wanted it over and out of the media lime light. The sooner Horatio was dead and buried, the sooner they could move on as if he had never come around. He was certain that given enough time and other distractions people would forget about the interloper and go back to life as usual.
Sherman winced but remained silent. He knew a lot of flag officers were not happy about the trial. Many wanted a way out. He couldn't because it would undermine them and it would flush his career, perhaps his life.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the case, it was far too late to slap a classified seal on everything and make Horatio and the evidence disappear. Despite the gag order, too much was getting out to the media anyway, and it would make things look worse. It would make them look desperate.
He wondered how accurate that thought was.
“He deserves the presumption of innocence,” Admiral Shren stated. “He wants it public. That way it puts us on trial too. It's strategically brilliant. I honestly didn't see it coming out of someone with his background.”
“But it will destroy him,” Admiral Callisto pointed out.
“Do you think he thinks it won't go any way but south for him either way? He knows it is rigged. It's been obvious from day one. Hell, we're the ones who rigged it against him!” The elf growled, throwing his hands up in the air in disgust. “So, he's dragging us through the mud. It's his only option,” the elf said in grudging admiration. “You've got to give the man credit. We've dealt him a shity hand, but he's pulling out all the stops to do what he can with what he's got.”
“I think we should drop the exceeding orders bit. And the defense that he had Irons support and orders is hindering us,” Admiral Callisto pointed out. “Denying the existence of the ansible is just making the navy look stupid.”
“We can't validate Irons’ orders,” Omar said instantly.
“Except we can, we just 'refused to believe those orders are true.' All because they are inconvenient,” she retorted.
Omar's jaw worked.
“The list of charges and the fact that some got dropped isn't good,” Admiral Hill murmured.
“No, it's not,” Admiral N'r'm'll agreed, indicating first-degree agreement mixed with resignation, “despite the court's efforts to keep the trial quiet.”
“But they got to the media and navy anyway. I know some are uneasy.” Rear Admiral Helen Sung replied with a straight face. “Just the part about Horatio being in cuffs and not being given respect due to his rank. And that point about presumption of innocence, Shren, is a crock,” she said, looking at the elf. “He's been treated like he's guilty with the prison thing from the beginning, and it's not sitting well with anyone.”
“Yes, yes they are. And getting hammered repeatedly with reminders from Logan's defense isn't helping. Now this,” Admiral Hill said, waving a tablet in disgust.
“Now what? Or dare I ask?” Sherman asked tiredly.
“Legal professors, entire teams, some famous, some not, have stepped up to offer their services pro bono to Logan's defense. Hundreds of people have come forward as character witnesses. Everyone wants their chance to put their two cents worth into the trial. It has put another delay on the trial.”
“Frack,” Omar muttered.
“Exactly. And
civilians can be warned about a gag order, but if we can't prove they let the information out …,” Admiral Shren sighed.
“We can, but that crack about ONI not being allowed to spy on civilians has hampered us. My people have to be very careful about going out in public. The negativity about ONI is intense, despite some attempts to turn it around,” Admiral Hill said, looking at Captain Prescott. The publicist shrugged.
“It's an uphill battle,” she murmured.
“This is getting out of hand. How can a simple, rigged trial to get rid of a man go south?” Omar demanded.
“I know. I'm worried about what the next envoy from Irons will say. How are they going to handle it? And what are they going to report back to Irons and the Federation?” Admiral Sung asked.
“You think we can't handle them? We outrank them!” Omar replied. “I did my homework. The only person who outranks me and is still in uniform is Irons himself. He's in Antigua.”
“Maybe. Maybe we do … unless he promotes them higher,” Admiral N'r'm'll said slowly.
“You are full of nice thoughts today,” Omar growled, turning a glare on the Veraxin. “You too,” he said, turning the glower on the head of logistics.
“It's all part of the service I suppose you could say,” Admiral Sung replied with a tired smile.
“Find a way. Find a way to get this over with one way or the other.”
“The only way out is see it through as you said, or we drop all charges and return him to duty somewhere,” Admiral Shren stated. “Technically, double jeopardy should have kicked in. He should be out now.”
Admiral Childress's eyes bulged in fury at the very idea. “NO!” he bellowed.
“Then we've got to see this through to the bitter end, even if it blows up in our faces. I hope you've got one hell of a Go-to-Hell plan in case it does and golden parachutes for each of us. We're going to need them,” the elf said with a shake of his head.
“Damn it … we're not going to lose! Not to that jumped up … yeoman!”
“It's not him I'm worried about now.” Admiral Shren replied. Admiral Childress eyed him. “It's Irons when he finds out we court-martialed his best friend on trumped-up charges.”
“What is he going to do? You know the old saying about issuing orders you don't expect to be obeyed. He can hardly relieve us. Besides, that ansible in B102c is a godsend in its own way. We can deny it all we want.” He didn't mention his orders to Captain Clayton to destroy it. Better that it not gets out until he had confirmation that the mission had succeeded. The fact that they hadn't seen Ilmarinen bothered him only slightly. More important things were on his mind at the moment.
“Deny it all you want, yes. But it is there. The orders are coming through, and it just occurred to me that we just sent Ilmarinen back to B-102c—a resupply mission I believe,” Admiral Sung stated.
“Yes? So?” Omar challenged. He was wary though. Sherman's eyes turned to him thoughtfully.
“So information can flow both ways. So, what happens if, when, someone gets word to Irons in that star system? It's probably already happened—if the ship got there intact I mean.”
Sherman sat up straight. That bothered him, and it bothered him even more that he hadn't thought of it before Ilmarinen had jumped. “How sure are you of the captain and crew?”
“Sure enough,” Omar replied, voice oozing lazy confidence that Sherman took as a tonic. “As far as Irons is concerned, he still can't do anything,” Omar growled in disgust. “You are jumping at shadows.”
“Wanna bet? I'm not so sure,” Admiral Shren said, shaking his head. Omar turned to him. “This has Murphy's fingerprints all over it. Everything we touch seems to come apart lately. I'm not going to be at all surprised if this eventually blows up in our face.”
“So, what are you going to do then?” Admiral Callisto asked curiously.
The elf snorted. “The same thing as everyone else at this table. Duck and cover and point to everyone else. Unfortunately, in my case and in Sherman's over there, we're still going to catch it in the neck,” he grumbled. “But the die has been cast; we'll see it through. Or, at least I will,” he said.
Sherman grunted but then nodded when the eyes around the table turned to him.
@
General Yetmister was not at all happy about being shut out of the Admiralty meetings and even less so about the situation in general. But the bomb, that was taking things a bit too far. Slowly but surely, he started to help undermine Omar and Draken. But he couldn't look obvious about doing it. He knew some people were acting anonymously in the forums, venting their frustrations. Some were also using the “free Wi-Fi” or “free cloud space” for various things. What they didn't know but he did was that a lot of those sites were controlled by the corporations who data mined everything they saw.
Feeding the media was one thing he had a love-hate relationship with. He wasn't a natural; he hated that backstabbing crap. Give him a butter knife and a hill to fight up any day he grumbled internally.
He checked with BUPERS and grimaced at the number of retirements, half-pay, reservist transfers, and resignations. Ninety-nine point nine percent were squids. He had a lock on his own people. But there were always a few that bothered the hell out of him to see.
He flipped over to the list of personnel that BUPERS listed as AWOL or in mutiny. His grimace deepened. Not good. The list was in the millions. He shook his head in disgust.
@
Horatio quietly tapped into the vid feeds in the prison out of boredom and monitored his case. He caught the news about more resignations. He checked and was appalled at the numbers of officers, noncoms, and enlisted who had reportedly resigned over the months since Ilmarinen had returned to the Republic.
Good people were resigning, but not those who should. It bothered him. The following morning, he met with his defensive counsel to discuss the case.
“Doctor Bullettine, can I ask you a favor?” Horatio asked when they were nearly finished.
Benny and the others all looked at him.
“Sure,” the psychologist said slowly.
“I'd like you to make a statement to the media.” Benny's eyes flashed. Horatio held up a restraining hand as far as the cuffs would allow. “Not in regards to the case. This is a personal statement.”
“Okay,” Bull said slowly.
“Just to be on the safe side, we'll listen so you'll be running it past us. We don't want to get into trouble about violating the gag order,” Benny said. Commander Chedwiggen grimaced but then nodded.
“As if I'm not in enough trouble as it is?” Horatio asked wryly.
@
Doctor Bullettine allowed himself to be ambushed outside his office by the media to deliver Horatio's message. He just so happened to stop at a lunch cart and let the reporters Geneva tipped off find him.
“Doctor Bullettine, how is the trial going?” a Neowolf reporter asked.
“I can't comment on that,” Bull replied. “But, I do have a statement from my client.”
“And that is?” the first reporter to get to him prompted. Others thrust their cameras and microphones in his direction.
“To those members of the Navy and Marines who are resigning, I urge you to stop and think about your actions carefully,” the psychologist read from his HUD projected on his glasses. “You who are officers are entrusted with the greatest treasure the Federation has, our soldiers and sailors. They deserve and demand your loyalty and protection in return for their own to you. You have a duty and a moral imperative to the men and women under your command. Never forget that.”
“As far as the orders, that may be a problem; look them up. You have the right to refuse an illegal order. But be very careful about such things, I strongly urge you to consult legal counsel before something of that nature becomes a problem. By resigning, you are abandoning the men and women under your command when they need you the most.”
He stopped and took his glasses off. “I have to admire
my client. He's staying in there, fighting the good fight,” the doctor said, wiping at his eyes. “No matter the cost. So, think about his words carefully. I know I have,” he said. He turned and paid for his pretzel and then took it. He saluted the reporters and the camera with the salty confection and then went back inside.
Dumbstruck the reporter turned to the cameraman. “Well, you heard it here, folks. This is Ricardo Deliquez reporting.”
@
“Nice touch with the eye wipe,” Theresa murmured as she met him in the lobby.
“You don't think I overplayed it?”
“No, not really.” She looked at him aghast as he took a bite of the pretzel. “You aren't really going to eat that, are you?”
“Yeah. But it needs mustard,” Bull said as they entered the lift.
She just shook her head at him.
@
Lieutenant V'l'r felt like he was being naughty as he slowly snuck in more origami paper folding lessons into his extracurricular tutoring sessions. He had been into it for years as a larva and a molt, long before he had gone to the academy. He'd been amused to see it in the academy syllabus as a requirement for navigation, higher math, and genetic engineering. He hadn't understood the significance though until his instructors had explained it to him during the introduction to the class.
He folded a paper dragon with measured movements, using a stick to help keep the creases sharp. Scientists used the technique in protein folding. It was also used for spacial folding, string theory, plasma, and advanced math. That was why it was a requirement.
But it was so much more than that. The artistic display was a nice side effect, but to get to the final product, the person had to learn planning, patience, and to think steps ahead. They also had to execute steps with precision. It had taken him half of the course before that sunk into him.
When some of his more advanced students picked up on it, he introduced them to his geometric folding program and the math algorithms it was based on.
