William Forstchen: Article 23

"O'Brian tipped me off the first day I worked in the galley. On the Somers, if anyone wanted to talk they turned up the music."

"Talk? Talk about what?"

"You know, about the captain, about things aboard ship."

' Tou mean like mutiny?"

"No, sir. Look, sir, cadets talk, we gripe, we swap stories with friends that we wouldn't want our officers to hear," he blushed slightly, "and you know, guys will talk about girls and they don't want them to hear."

Janet smiled. "That's OK, we talk about guys too and we don't want you to hear. What do you think those trips to the rest room are all about?"

"Well, it was sort of like that. MacKenzie had asked that weird question about who were off- worlders. Matt and I were in the galley that evening and Matt made a comment about it. O'Brian immediately went over to the wall unit, punched in some music and then pointed to the loudspeaker as if someone were listening. We realized he meant the captain. From then on, whenever I talked with anyone I turned the music up."

Janet looked at him, her brows knitted.

'You never do this on the Academy, do you? At least, we didn't when I was a cadet."

"You know we don't, sir. Uncle told us right at the start that to use a computer or other device to listen to the conversations of others without a direct court order was a violation of" Justin's voice trailed off.

" Bell, I'll see you tomorrow morning, now get some sleep." Before he could say anything else she was out the door.

Justin sat in the back of the courtroom, slowly simmering. The testimony had dragged on for hours, starting with MacKenzie who had been on the stand for over two hours. His questioning had been circumspect, and MacKenzie had come across as calm and rational. Next had come Lieutenant Lewis, who had backed MacKenzie up on every one of his points. Zhing had proven to be a disappointment, dodging most of the questions and then, to Justin's dismay, coming out with a tacit agreement that given the emergency nature he could understand why MacKenzie pushed for execution as a means of insuring discipline. When the Judge Advocate had pressed Zhing regarding MacKenzie's mental competence Zhing had completely ducked out, claiming that he saw no serious problems with MacKenzie worthy of note or as justification for removing him from command.

Next had come Hemenez and O'Brian. If there had been a damning point for O'Brian, it was that he had fraternized with cadets and shared with them his displeasure with the captain. For both O'Brian and Hemenez, though, the court had focused on the fact they had allowed themselves to be drawn into a mutiny by a sixteen-year-old cadet. The fact that a commissioned officer had agreed to follow a cadet against her duly appointed captain triggered a visible and withering disdain from Singh.

Several times it was pointed out that her commission was only months old, and Singh made the deliberate mistake of referring to her once as "Cadet" before correcting himself and calling her "Lieutenant." Justin could not help but admire her courage throughout the barrage. She held her head high, answered her questions in a straightforward manner, and affirmed that if given the choice she would not hesitate to do the same thing again.

Colson, though, set his blood to boiling. The cadet had further embellished his story, obviously realizing that the exoneration of MacKenzie was his own ticket to safety. Colson claimed that Matt had made statements to the effect that he wanted to seize the ship, and without provocation had hit him, and had said in front of Smith that once the ship was taken Colson would be "spaced along with the damned Captain."

Madison had not helped the situation when, in a voice loud enough for most of the court to hear, she had turned to Livollen and snarled, "That's a damned lie," resulting in a contempt citation from the Judge Advocate.

Senior Cadet Petronovich had come last in the morning lineup, and he set yet another nail into the coffin. He claimed that Matt, Madison and Justin had been unruly, and that he was planning to write negative fitness reports on all three once they returned to the Academy. He then added that he had suggested to MacKenzie that Justin be arrested as well. Justin, surprised, struggled not to say anything in response. Amazed, he listened as Petronovich claimed that MacKenzie had shown too much mercy and forbearance towards Justin, his opinion clouded out of loyalty to the son of an old comrade.

Justin could clearly see how brilliant Petronovich's statements were. MacKenzie was now cast as a loyal family friend betrayed by the son of an old comrade. Thus he had been blinded by the traditional code of comradeship while Justin had foully stabbed him in the back.

Breaking for lunch, Justin looked around nervously in the cafeteria for his legal advisor. She had not been present throughout the morning hearings. Though not formally under arrest, Justin felt the ever-present eyes of the marine guards posted in the cafeteria as he took a bowl of soup and nothing else and headed for the far corner table where Matt was already sitting.

"Well, buddy," Matt sighed his voice still raspy, "it ain't looking good."

"Yeah, I can't believe that Colson. And as for how they questioned MacKenzie talk about the kid-glove treatment."

Tanya, followed by Madison, came over and joined them, filling the table.

"You're up next," Tanya said, " give 'em hell."

"Yeah, sure."

"Hey, you're our ringleader," Madison told him. "Don't flag on us now. We're counting on you."

"Well, I wish the hell you wouldn't," Justin said morosely.

"Come on, we're all in this together," Madison announced, " and believe me, if I had it to do over again there isn't anything I would have done differently."

"Damn it all," Matt sighed, "it's me who got you guys into hot water. If it hadn't been for me, none of this would have happened."

"Oh, yes, it would have," Tanya said quietly, "so stop feeling sorry for yourself, Everett. He was already over the edge. Someone else would have been dragged in by his paranoia. Maybe not this trip or the next one, but it would have happened. Hell, he could have unlocked the nukes on board and tossed them at a colony or habitat and then claimed they were attacking. At the very least, do you think they'll ever let him command a line ship again?"

"Yeah, so what, he'll still have gotten away with this one. What are we supposed to do then, take solace in the fact that we sacrificed ourselves for the greater good? All I want is to see justice done."

Justin listened as they continued to argue, saving nothing. His stomach was in a knot. I'm just sixteen, damn it, he thought, depressed. Six months ago I was out in afield in Indiana or fishing on Sugar Creek. How the hell did I ever get in to this mess, and what am I going to do now? He thought of the vid message he had received from his mother and grandfather the day after docking at Deimos. There had been the usual statements about loving him, and then his mother had said that if it didn't work out she'd be ecstatic to have him back home again.

Back home? Go back home after this? The thought of walking back into his old high school, of facing the taunts and jabs again was unbearable.

"I don't believe it," Madison whispered.

Justin looked up and followed her gaze to the entry of the cafeteria. Everyone in the room had fallen silent, and Justin felt his heart skip at the sight of the man standing in the doorway it was Thor Thorsson!

"My God, what is he doing here?" Tanya asked, and everyone else in the room echoed her question.

Thorsson went over to the table where Admiral Singh was eating. Thorsson extended his hand and the two chatted for a moment, everyone else silently watching them. Thorsson finally broke away and started across the room.