A Galaxy Unknown

by Thomas DePrima

  Admiral Margolan addressed the jury with, "Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen." To Jenetta he said, "Ensign Carver, having been found not guilty on all charges and specifications, you are immediately released from custody, and are ordered to report for active duty three days hence." To the courtroom in general he said, "This proceeding is now closed."

  As the admiral rose, everyone in the courtroom rose and waited until he was out of the room, but where courtrooms usually clear out fairly quickly after the proceedings are over, the attendees remained standing at their seats. Jenetta didn't notice that everyone in the courtroom was still watching her, grim-faced and with rapt attention, as she turned first to Lt. Commander Spence to thank him again for all he'd done, and then turned to Lieutenant Marlo to thank her for all her efforts as well. As she turned to leave, Jenetta became aware that every pair of eyes in the courtroom appeared focused on her. She hesitated for a second, clenched her jaw muscles, then moved with purpose to the aisle from her place behind the defense table. The trek to the doors at the rear of the room, like the path of a prisoner treading a gauntlet of old, seemed infinitely long. She hadn't taken more than two steps before the courtroom erupted in thunderous applause. Hands reached out to grip hers or pat her on the arm or shoulder as she continued towards the door, and she smiled and nodded to the people, shaking hands like a stumping politician as she went. The cameras followed her movements until she disappeared out the doors. In the media center below, an official spokesperson then recapped the entire trial and verdict on live feed, and closed the production.

  Unsure of where she was going, Jenetta didn't even care. She just wanted to get away from the courtroom and feel free again as quickly as possible. Exiting the courthouse, she was immediately besieged by media people who began shouting questions at her. Her only response was, "No comment," as she pushed her way through the newsies with the assistance of Marines posted outside the entrance. As she neared the outer periphery of the crowd, she saw her closest friends in this part of the galaxy. She felt tears form at her eyes and trickle down her cheeks as first Gloria reached her, then Rebecca, Charley, and Leah. Even Gunny Rondell managed to reach Jenetta and received a hug and a kiss on his cheek. The photographers never stopped taking pictures.

  "Let's get away from here," Charley said, as he and Gunny blocked the newsies from Jenetta. Moving as a group to a nearby lift, they stepped into an empty car while Gunny prevented anyone else from joining them.

  "I knew they'd have to release you," Gloria said, as the doors closed.

  "That makes one of us," Jenetta said. "I was scared witless."

  "You're way too famous for them to do anything else."

  "Famous?"

  "Of course. The story is all over the news. Didn't you know?"

  "No, I was being held incommunicado and couldn't watch the news or read the papers."

  "I didn't understand that. We all tried to visit you but they wouldn't let any of us in."

  "You did?" Jenetta said tearfully. "I thought everyone had forgotten about me. You know, out-of-sight…"

  "Like that could happen," Gloria said, stretching out her arms to hug her. "Either that we'd forget about you or that you were out of sight."

  "I guess I was being silly, but I was so scared. You have no idea what it's like when you begin to think that the entire galaxy has turned their back on you. I guess the isolation was more of the over-application of regulations in capital crimes cases. A prisoner needn't be allowed contact with anyone except his or her attorney until after the adjudication process has been completed. At least once the admiral ordered them to stop, I wasn't chained hand and foot every time I left the cell."

  "We're going to celebrate," Gloria said. "Can you leave the base?"

  "Yes, I don't have to report back for three days."

  "Great, as soon as we heard that a verdict had been reached, Rebecca made reservations for dinner at a restaurant on the civilian concourse level."

  "Before you knew the verdict?"

  "We knew they wouldn't put you in prison. At worst it would be some kind of administrative censure."

  "And just how did you know that? I thought that I might be spending the rest of my life in a jail cell."

  "I already told you, you're way too famous. The Raider attacks in this deca-sector have totally ceased since you destroyed their base. Freighters are starting to operate openly again, without waiting for convoys, and Space Command is recommending that all vessels in this deca-sector activate their AutoTect systems. It's all because of you, and what you did. You can't go anywhere without seeing your face in the news or on newspapers and magazines. If they'd put you in jail, the Galactic Alliance Council would have had their heads, or the population of every planet would have theirs. There were images of your being dragged from the hospital in shackles when you were arrested that made every newspaper, magazine, and news broadcast in the entire galaxy. The headlines read, ‘Heroine Humbled Hobbled and Held.'"

  Jenetta groaned. "That means that my folks saw it. I didn't have any idea that the news of the court-martial had even been released."

  "There wasn't any way you could stop it. Those of us subpoenaed to appear at the court-martial were restricted from talking about the case until it was over, but the rest of the Vordoth crew, along with most of the fifty captives that you freed have been interviewed by every news service in the galaxy. Also, every captive and every member of the Vordoth's crew sent a personal message to the Galactic Alliance Council demanding your immediate release, and the Nordakians have sent messages to both the Council and Space Command."

  "The Nordakians?"

  "Yes. They've officially petitioned the Galactic Alliance Council to have you brought to Nordakia so they can honor you formally. They were also responsible for our ships being welcomed at Higgins Spaceport. The royal family themselves contacted the Galactic Alliance Council and Space Command Headquarters after we left Obotymot to praise your actions and thank the GSC for insuring that the emergency supplies got through."

  "What?"

  "They told Space Command that the arrival of the food and medicine at Obotymot saved thousands of lives. You're to be the first Space Command officer ever honored by their planet. Space Command couldn't very well convict you of actions that the entire Nordakian and Terran civilizations are praising you for. It would make them look pretty damn stupid."

  "I'm speechless."

  "Let's head for the restaurant and we'll fill you in on everything else that's been going on since you were jailed."

  "I have to send a vidMail first, to my family."

  "Okay, there's a GaMPS across from the restaurant. We'll drop you off and wait in the restaurant for you."

  "Great."

  Fifteen minutes later, Jenetta was sitting in an enclosed com booth in the Galactic Message & Parcel Service center thinking about what she was going to say. When she was ready, she pressed the ‘Start Recording' button and the red light started flashing.

  "Hi Mom. Hi Dad. Hi Billy, Richie, Andy and Jimmy, if you happen to be there. I can imagine what a shock it was to learn that I'm still alive. It was a shock for me too. I never really expected to be rescued from the escape pod. I've been unable to contact you during the court-martial, but I've been told that it's been in the news so I guess you know all about it. I'm sorry to have put all of you through so much, but I have good news. I've just been acquitted of all charges and I'm free again, but the bad news is I don't know when I'll be able to get back to Earth. I have to report for duty in three days, and then I'll learn where I'm going to be posted. I guess that I'm the oldest ensign in Space Command now, or at least I've had the rank longer than anybody else. It seems that I've had a lot of firsts lately. I…"

  Jenetta paused to take a deep breath, and said in a more subdued voice, "I've changed a lot since I last saw you. Not physically; I only look about a year older that way. I'm talking about growing up. I've seen and learned a great deal since I was awakened from stasis sleep, and I've been forced
to do some things that I'm— not really proud of. But I don't want to talk about them right now. I'll explain more when I see you. For now just know that I love all of you, and that I miss you terribly. I can't wait to see you, and hug you. All my love."

  Jenetta pressed the ‘End Recording' button and took a breath. Realizing that a tear was running down her cheek, she wiped it away and composed herself, then stood up and left the booth.

  "How much do I owe you?" she asked of the young male clerk at the counter as she held out Gloria's credits card.

  "No charge, Ensign. This one's on the house. I'm glad that you were acquitted."

  "Thank you. Thank you very much."

  "You're welcome, and good luck."

  Jenetta left the shop and walked across to the restaurant, Gregory's, where Gloria, Rebecca, Charley, Gunny, and Leah were waiting. Gregory's had the subdued but elegant look of expensive restaurants from the twentieth century. A lot of real wood had been brought to the station for the construction of the interior, and then stained to a red walnut color. The earth tones of red, yellow, and brown were pervasive throughout, and there was none of the glitzy chrome and bright neon currently in vogue and general use throughout the concourse.

  As Jenetta sat down, she held out the credits card to Gloria. "The clerk wouldn't let me pay."

  "Okay, Jen."

  "I'll have to look into the back pay situation. I'm going to need a few things."

  "You'll have quite a payday coming up with eleven years of back pay," Gloria said.

  "I may not. They've had me listed as being dead for a lot of years."

  "But they must have updated the records by now. They couldn't court-martial a dead person."

  "If you think that, you don't know the JAG section or the service, Lieutenant," Gunny quipped.

  "There's also the matter of being in stasis," Jenetta said. "They normally adjust the pay for crews traveling long distances while in stasis. You only get about one quarter pay while asleep."

  "That's still not too bad," Charley said, "you practically don't age and you get paid twenty-five percent."

  "It's not all good. Your family and friends continue to age and may be gone when you get back from a long trip with multiple sleeps. Then there's the physical recovery required after a long stasis sleep. Anyway, the service will determine the amount that I'll get."

  "Do you have a place to stay tonight?" Rebecca asked.

  "Not yet, but I'll arrange for a room at the Bachelor Officers Quarters until I get posted."

  "You could stay aboard the Vordoth for now," Gloria offered. "We'll be in port for several more weeks, and it would keep the damned newsies from leaching onto you when you leave your quarters for meals and such."

  "Thanks, Gloria. That would be great. I'll stay with you for the weekend, at least."

  After placing their food orders, they talked about the court-martial until their cuisine was delivered. The aroma was fantastic and Jenetta wasted no time in digging in and savoring every bite, delighted to be eating real food again. The brig only served synthesized meals of indeterminate fare.

  Once everyone had finished eating and they were enjoying a final cup of coffee or tea, Rebecca asked for the check. Nodding amiably, the waiter gestured to a short, dark-haired man standing next to the maitre d'hotel.

  "Hello, I'm Gregory, the proprietor of this restaurant," he said as he reached the table. "Did you enjoy your meals?" he asked. To which everyone at the table praised the food and service in the most enthusiastic of terms.

  "I'm glad you enjoyed it; the cook made an extra special effort for you. We're happy to have served Ensign Carver and her friends from the Vordoth in celebration of her acquittal today. Today's meal is courtesy of the restaurant. I hope you'll all come back again."

  Jenetta was amazed that the proprietor recognized them, but dismissed it and said, "I'll certainly be back again, if I'm posted here for a while. Thank you very much, Gregory."

  "You're welcome, Ensign. Good luck at your new posting and I'll look forward to serving you again." There was something in the way that he said it that made Jenetta wonder if he knew where she was to be posted. She was tempted to ask, but resisted the urge because a restaurateur couldn't possibly have such information.

  As they left the restaurant, the cheerful party turned towards the shopping concourse, but they hadn't gone more than a dozens steps before the mob of newsies that had been scouring the station for them converged on their group from every direction. They hurried to another lift tube as Charley and Gunny again blocked the shouting nuisances from getting to Jenetta.

  Inside the lift, they enjoyed a respite from the yelling while the car dropped to the transport level where a shuttle from the Vordoth waited. Twenty minutes later, they were all on their way to the ship, now barren of any cargo container link-sections. The laser array sections were still attached to the main ship though, easily making it the meanest looking civilian ship in the port.

  "The company has given us special permission," Gloria said, "to leave the array sections in the configuration that you set up, and we'll keep them as long as there's a threat from Raiders, or Space Command again restricts private ships from mounting exterior weapons. They're delighted with the tug and shuttles that you gave us, by the way, and they're even letting us keep one of the shuttles. They've sold the other one to replace the containers and cargo. Charley picked the best one for us. It's neither the biggest, nor the newest, but it's in the best condition."

  "How about you? Are you to be the new captain?"

  "No, a new captain will be joining us before we leave here. But I'm not unhappy about that, since I still have a lot to learn. And they've promoted me to Lieutenant Commander, effective with the beginning of the new month, so I'll probably be the first officer on our next trip. We shouldn't have any trouble filling out the crew with the Raiders gone."

  "Congratulations, Commander."

  "Thank you, Captain."

  "Ensign."

  "Captain. It'll always be Captain to me, Jen. At least until you make Admiral."

  Jenetta laughed. "That won't be for a very, very, very long time."

  "But it will happen. I just know it."

  "Thanks, Gloria. And thanks for being such a great friend."

  "Likewise, Jen."

  * * *

  "I trust all of you have been watching the Ensign Jenetta Carver court-martial with the same high degree of interest as myself," Admiral Richard Moore said to the other members of the Admiralty Board during a regularly scheduled meeting in the Admiralty Hall at Supreme Headquarters on Earth. "I understand that it's been the most popular live event broadcast in the history of military vid broadcasts, playing to SRO audiences in all locations."

  "I've certainly been watching," Admiral Evelyn Platt said. "The details of her battle tactics, enemy base infiltration, capture, treatment, and escape have been fascinating. I haven't missed a minute of the broadcasts, recording any parts I couldn't watch live so I could view them later."

  "I've heard that activity aboard every ship, and on almost every base, has practically ground to a standstill whenever the daily broadcast signal was received, until the broadcast ended," Admiral Roger Bradlee said.

  "The audacity and successes of this young girl has been awe-inspiring to an officer corps too long without significant victory against the Raiders," Admiral Raihana Ahmed said.

  "Not just the officer corps," Admiral Raymond Burke said. "The ratings and noncoms have been rooting and cheering for her since the first minute the court-martial began. You'd think that she was fighting to have all ship and base messes roll back the clock to the days when the British Empire ruled the seas and provided free beer with every meal."

  "The court-martial seems to have had a significantly greater impact than we foresaw," Admiral Loretta Plimley said.

  "I believe that the issue of the 18,000 deaths aboard the Raider base, and the destruction of the destroyer and cruiser she fought have been adequately explained— a
nd accepted," Admiral Arnold Hillaire commented.

  "We certainly can't be accused of being too soft on our own in this case," Admiral Bradlee said. "In fact, many people have privately commented to me that we were being far too severe with the girl."

  "Carver certainly garnered a lot of sympathy among the media," Admiral Lon Woo said, "but I think most everyone is satisfied with the outcome of the court-martial."

  "Of course they were sympathetic," Admiral Donald Hubera said. "They saw us as bullying a young, pretty, defenseless girl that we had missed finding when we looked for Hokyuu survivors. They felt that we screwed up and were only trying to shift attention away from our failings."

  "We did screw up by not finding her," Admiral Plimley said. "On that point, they're absolutely correct. As a result of our examination of her pod, certain modifications in design and retrofit are being discussed that will prevent such problems in the future. We want to insure that we never lose an-other officer or crewmember in such a manner.

  "We're left with the thorny issue of what to do with this young ensign now," Admiral Moore said.

  "Not so young," Admiral Shana Ressler said. "She looks young, because we failed to find her escape pod after the explosion of the Hokyuu, but she's been left seriously behind by her classmates, most of whom have advanced to Lieutenant during the past eleven years, and one has made Lieutenant Commander."

  "Ensign Carver has had a great deal of attention turned her way as a result of the court-martial," Admiral Raymond Burke said. "It seems to me that we must either reward her substantially, or bury her so deep, in some totally obscure job, that her name, face, and actions will be quickly forgotten and rarely, if ever, mentioned again."

  * * *

  Jenetta was delighted to be able to spend two days with her friends on the Vordoth. It was a wonderfully relaxing time where she was able to totally unwind and temporarily forget both the depression of being closeted in the station's brig and the despair of possible consequences from the general court-martial. Rebecca was rarely seen without Charley when they weren't on duty and Gunny seemed thoroughly infatuated with Leah. It appeared that Leah had finally developed a mutual attraction with a man taller than herself, and she couldn't stop staring at him with adoring eyes. The group of friends dined together each night and then talked or listened to music in the officer's lounge. Now that Jenetta was just an ensign again, and free of all command responsibilities, she longed to take a few wide-open throttle rides on a maglev sled, but without a cargo, there was no tunnel through which to travel. Life was just so unfair at times.