Article 23 (21 page)

"
Hemenez
, you're dead for this,"
MacKenzie
shouted.

"Maybe we all are, sir,"
Hemenez
replied, "but if so it will be done by a lawful court-martial and not an act of murder, as you attempted."

Next she turned to
Zhing
.

"Doctor, I am asking for your oath of honor as a physician that you will not attempt to intervene any further in the command of this ship. If you agree, sir, I will not be forced to confine you, and you may go about your duties."

Zhing
looked up from Matt and nodded. A cadet came back from sickbay and handed him an oxygen bottle;
Zhing
clamped it on Matt.

"You and
Leonov
, you'll have to wait, as will the others,"
Zhing
announced.

Justin looked back and saw that there were a number of injured in the room. Some were nursing simple bumps and bruises, but one looked like she had a broken leg and another appeared to be unconscious.

"Enlisted
personnel,
turn in your weapons,"
Hemenez
said. "I will ask each of you to report to me in ten minutes. If you give your personal oath not to aid the former Captain you will have the freedom of the ship. O'Brian, you are Acting First Officer, see that the weapons are collected if you please."

She now turned her attention to the cadets.

"Well, you've received a hell of an education on this flight," she said, her voice cold and bitter. "I just pray that all of you learn from it. My first order is that you are forbidden to discuss anything regarding the separatists for the duration of this flight. Do I make myself clear?"

There was a chorus of agreements.

"Nor are there to be any recriminations.
Debate as to who was on which side in this incident is finished for the duration of this flight."

Justin could see Colson's followers looking about nervously, having already backed into a corner away from the rest of the cadets.

"I remember
Thorsson
telling us we were comrades no matter where we came from or how we might one day be separated by choices made by our superiors, and I still believe that. Mars, Venus, Earth, sailors and habitat dwellers, you are first and foremost of the Service. What you saw here," and she nodded back towards the forward part of the ship, "that's not us.

"Now to the business we must face. All of you are to write a fair and honest
report of all things that you saw transpire
from the moment you boarded this ship. You can write it any way you want, but it must be honest, with no hearsay. All of you are forbidden to utter another word to each other about what happened here until every last report is filed. You will deposit them with me, and you have my pledge that I will take your reports, seal them and not examine them in any way. I will turn these reports over to the appropriate authorities upon our arrival at
Deimos
. I shall offer the same opportunity to the former Captain, Flight Lieutenant Lewis, and Mr. Colson.

"Finally," she said, and looked toward Justin and Tanya, "I regret to inform you two, along with Cadet Smith, that you are hereby under arrest on the charge of leading a mutiny."

Justin looked at her, startled.

"I'm
sony
, but in this case we're bound by tradition and law, and we will automatically face charges upon our arrival at the base on
Deimos
. If I have your pledge of honor you may have access to the galley, but for the duration you are confined to your quarters and no other cadet may speak to you. Upon arrival we will turn ourselves over to the commander of the Base, and that includes you, too, O'Brian. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir," Justin replied.

"Fine, all hands dismissed."

The cadets started to leave the room, a sharp glance from
Hemenez
stilling all comments. She came up to Justin, hesitated,
then
finally extended her hand.

"You have guts,
Bell, more guts than I've ever seen before.
Especially that last moment.
I would have tried to stop you, I think O'Brian would have as well, but you could have killed the Captain a lot of them were ready to follow you."

"I know, and it frightened me," Justin said.

"I could see that too. I'm sorry to have to place you under arrest, but we have to follow procedure here, unlike that man we arrested."

"I know that, sir."

"Come on, let's get to the infirmary."

"Me?"

"You're wounded, too," and she pointed to his side. Under the battle jacket he felt a sharp pain for the first time, and he remembered that Colson had hit him.

They went over to Tanya, who was sitting against the wall with weapon still in hand, helped her up and went through the door to the forward section.
Madison greeted them.

"I left it on auto-pilot at least I hope I did it right. Lewis is down below."

"Fine,
Madison,"
Hemenez
said. "I'll be up in a moment to check."

"What a kick to that engine,"
Madison announced. "I told Lewis to give us full power and he did
I
darn near cut his throat by accident when the engine came on. So everything's OK?"

"Yeah, OK," Justin sighed.

When he reached sickbay he saw Matt sitting up, an oxygen mask still strapped to his face.
Zhing
was putting drops into Mart's eyes. His hands and feet were wrapped in warming cuffs, and an IV was stuck into his arm.

Justin could sense the smile under the
mask,
and in spite of
Zhing's
protest Matt pushed the mask aside.

"Well, I figure it was forty seconds in the vacuum club this time," Matt gasped weakly.

"Is he going to be all right?" Justin asked.

"Possible frostbite to his extremities.
Eyes were starting to freeze up, I think the drops will stabilize them, some freeze damage to his throat so he'll talk funny for awhile. No symptoms of nitrogen bubbling, though with forty seconds of vacuum we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed. I think, with luck, his lungs will heal up and be all right. Hearing might be off for awhile, looks like one eardrum ruptured, but he's anesthetized now and not feeling much pain."

"Hell, pain," Matt mumbled, "this is nothing. Why, I remember the time" and his voice trailed off as he looked around at the group with a lopsided grin.

"I'll be with you three in a minute,"
Zhing
announced. "But for heaven's sake
don't
stand around there gawking, get your anti-radiation suits on right now."

Justin suddenly realized that he had been getting a heavy exposure for nearly an hour.

He stepped closer to Matt and clumsily took his friend's hand.

"Thanks again, old buddy, I owe you one," Matt whispered.

"No matter what, it was worth it, Matt, it was worth it."

"Hard dock!"

"All hands, all hands, proceed to the main airlock."

Justin
unstrapped
from his seat and looked over at Tanya. The storm had finally abated the day before, allowing them to at least get out of the anti-radiation suits.
Zhing
estimated that their little one-hour jaunt free of protection had exposed them to over a year's acceptable level of radiation, which would mean either grounding or limited duty aboard a well-shielded habitat. The end of the storm had meant that communications had been reestablished as well, and when the USMC heard the news they had been ordered straight to the moon of Mars as
Hemenez
had assumed they would be. The base commander was undoubtedly waiting just on the other side of the airlock.

The one great irony to the entire crisis was that the incident aboard
Gustavus
had been resolved without casualties; in fact, the first report of injuries was exaggerated, only one crew member of the ship had been injured, a tooth loosened in a scuffle, and one separatist slightly wounded. After holding the ship for only a day they had disembarked without incident and fled upon the approach of a Service heavy cruiser, which had not engaged in pursuit.

He could well imagine, though, that with the
Gustavus
incident fading into the background what had happened aboard the
Sotners
would now be the center of attention.

"Ready for this?'
Justin asked, extending a hand to Tanya to help her up.

"Got butterflies in my stomach. More scared now than when we stormed into the lounge."

"You were one cool piece of work on that," Justin said.

Tanya laughed. "You should've seen yourself wish I had a
vid
of it. My God, you looked ferocious."

"Who, me?" and he suddenly felt even more nervous.

"Yeah, you, Justin Wood Bell.
I think you would have drilled
MacKenzie
without a second thought if it came to it."

Justin wondered about that. He had, indeed, hesitated, letting
MacKenzie
get off two shots, and he wondered why. Yet for an instant there he really did want to kill him, especially after seeing Matt in the airlock, fully exposed to the vacuum of space. The whole thing was far too confusing to sort out right now.

Madison
gave Tanya a hand as well and die two pulled her up; together they headed out into the corridor. Those around them fell silent as they passed, a few whispering "good lucks" before hurrying on.

"Well, children, are we ready to face the music?"

Justin smiled at the sight of O'Brian. For the first time since he joined the Somers Justin saw the cook not in an old T-shirt but dressed in full class-A blues, a tangle of ribbons on his left breast. Justin was surprised to see a Medal of Honor with Oak Leaf Cluster and a Purple Heart among the "spaghetti." O'Brian caught him staring.

"Yeah, saw a little fun now and again but I tell you, this ride took the cake. Now let's get forward, can't be late for what might be our funerals."

Justin stepped into the lounge and, seeing Matt coming slowly through the door to the forward section, went over to join him.

"How we doing today?"
Justin asked.

"Feeling coming back in my fingers and toes gosh, I thought old
Zhing
was
gonna
have to lop them off."

"Your ear?"

"Healing.
He did a little laser surgery on it yesterday, said I should be back up to Service standard in a month. Darn, can't wash out just because of a bad ear."

Justin smiled. Washing out over a busted eardrum was the least of his worries for Matt at the moment.

"Captain on deck," someone announced, and all came to attention as
Hemenez
, her arm still in a sling, came into the room. She went up to the airlock door, stopped, and slowly surveyed the group.

"You're a good crew and I hope you don't think it strange for me to say that it was an honor to serve with you. As I promised, I have not looked at your reports. I know you filled them out honestly and that's all that I ask that if questioned about the events which transpired on this ship you speak truthfully and with courage no matter how you feel about what happened here. Open the airlock."

As the door unhinged a
bosun's
pipe twittered. Justin drew in his breath and he saw a quick sidelong glance of reassurance from
Hemenez
.

The first man through the door was a fully armed marine in battle gear. The marine cleared the airlock, sharply scanned the group, and then stepped to one side. A short portly man wearing the uniform of a base commander came through the door, and
Hemenez
snapped to attention and saluted.

"Acting Ship's Captain
Hemenez
, sir. Welcome aboard."

The commander returned the salute and then slowly examined the group, his gazing lingering on Justin and Matt as if he had been studying their pictures long before actually meeting them face to face.

"Captain, you are relieved. My Exec will take command. Where are Captain
MacKenzie
, Lieutenant Lewis and Cadet Colson?"

"Down below, sir."

The commander motioned with his hand; half a dozen marines came aboard and immediately headed for the lower deck.

"Lieutenant
Hemenez
, Sergeant O'Brian, Cadets Everett,
Leonov
, Smith and
Bell, come with me."

Justin spared one final glance for his comrades, and he could see that all eyes were fixed on him. He was tempted to say something but knew it would be inappropriate, and as he left the ship he wondered if he would ever see any of them again.

"Plebe Cadet Bell, Justin, 144-99-1842 reporting as ordered."

Justin stood before the Court-Martial Review Board, eyes straight ahead. Behind the five men sitting at the long table he could see
Mons
Olympus framed by the airlock window. The highest mountain on Mars soaring upward, its summit lost beneath a thin line of clouds wreathing the slopes. It felt good to have one-third gravity under his feet again; it made him feel steady.

Outside the window he saw a few protesters standing outside the base perimeter; one sign caught his eye, Space Mackenzie! Justin flushed at the sight of it.

The hearings and trial had been moved down to
Lowell
City
, the main base of the USMC on the planets surface. The general explanation was that a matter of such grave significance had to be heard by the office of the rear admiral in command of Mars, Omar Singh. Justin could understand the unstated political reasons as well. The separatists had seized upon the "Somers Incident," as it was now called, to demonstrate that the USMC was a service out of control. Holding the trial in the heart of the separatist region would be seen, hopefully, as an act of fairness. He also knew that the media back on Earth saw the holding of the review board on Mars as caving in. More than one commentator was openly stating that
MacKenzie
had in fact shown restraint and should be decorated for heroism rather than face a court-martial. Justin and his followers were already being branded as a group of reckless, spoiled children.

"Mr. Bell, you may be seated."

Justin sat down in the plain armless chair in the middle of the room. Admiral Singh was sitting less
than a
four meters away, a semicircle of glittering brass flanking him on either side. Singh nodded to the Judge Advocate, who stood up.

"Mr. Bell, I am Captain Tracey Houston. I want to explain something to you before we proceed. This is not a general court-martial but rather a review board hearing to decide if the events that you were involved in aboard the Somers warrant the need for a general court-martial, and if so what charges the USMC will bring against you and others. Do you understand that?"

"Yes, sir, it was explained to me by my legal advisor."

Justin nodded to the woman sitting to the side of the room.

"You understand, therefore, that there is no one here in this room who is seeking to prosecute you or who will defend you, though your advisor may intervene if she believes your rights as a member of this service are being violated. Do you understand that?"

"Yes, sir."

"The reason for this method is as follows. The captain of the Somers, Ian
MacKenzie
, has preferred a charge of mutiny against you and ten other cadets. Normally that would automatically lead to a general court-martial. However, the service has brought charges against the captain based upon Article Twenty-Five, and his trial goes before the court-martial board starting tomorrow. This hearing is to serve as a general review of that charge against him, but also possibly against you and others. I think it is evident that if Captain
MacKenzie
is exonerated you and your compatriots will undoubtedly face charges."

"Yes, sir, I understand that."

"Mr. Bell, we are seeking to gather background information regarding what happened aboard that ship from the moment of embarking from
Star
Voyager
Academy
until docking at
Deimos
. I must warn you that you are under oath, and whatever you say before this board may indeed be used against you if you are brought up on charges."

"I understand that, sir."

"Thank you, Mr. Bell. Admiral, you may proceed."

Singh smiled and leaned forward.

"Well, Mr. Bell, I dare say you realize that you have created one hell of a mess for this service."

Startled, Justin did not know how to answer.

Singh then launched into his attack, and for the next hour Justin felt as if he were being pummeled by Malady, the one difference being that a beating from Malady was administered with a certain amount of mercy. Singh began with Justin's decision to mutiny against
MacKenzie
and the bringing of
Leonov
, O'Brian, and
Hemenez
into his plan. By the tone of his questioning he displayed obvious displeasure over the fact that a regular serving officer and an enlisted man with years of experience had thrown in with a mere plebe cadet.

He then reviewed the attack and seizure of the ship and
Hemenez's
subsequent behavior. Singh then turned the subject to Matthew Everett and grilled him about Matt and their friendship. He focused on whether Matt had made any statements that might be construed as favorable to the separatists, and Justin was forced to admit that what his friend had said might be misunderstood.

"Now, as to the incident of striking an officer.
Remember, Mr. Bell, Captain
MacKenzie
placed the sentence of execution upon Mr. Everett not for any alleged traitorous intent, actions or statements but rather for striking an officer in what was believed to be a state of emergency while administering his lawful office as captain of the ship. Did Mr. Everett strike Captain
MacKenzie
?"

"Sir, it was accidental, a glancing blow while Matt was still asleep."

"Did he, or did he not, strike him?"

"Sir, Captain
MacKenzie
laid hands on Matt, dragging him violently out of his sleeping net without warning. Matt flailed about; he has a hard time waking up from a deep sleep."

"Did he or did he not?"

"
Sir, that
would be like someone saying that you hit their fist with your nose. Matt banged into him, yes, but Captain
MacKenzie
had grabbed hold of Matt and was dragging him around."

"Then he did strike him."

"I didn't say that, sir," Justin replied and a touch of anger was in his voice. He could sense where Singh wanted this to go; that no matter how erratic and crazy
MacKenzie's
earlier actions might have
been,
the bottom line was that a cadet hit a captain of a ship. If that was the case, then everything else would be brushed under the carpet. Matt would be guilty and therefore his own actions and those of his friends would have been illegal, or at best in a very gray area of the law.

Singh- looked down at his computer screen, then back at Justin.

"According to a statement made this morning by Captain
MacKenzie
, and I quote, 'based upon the information given to [me] by Mr. Colson,' Cadet Matthew Everett had uttered treasonous statements, and had declared that he planned to take the ship and turn it over to the separatist movement.
Everett had boasted that he would do the
Gustavus
one better."

"That is a lie, sir," Justin snapped angrily. "
Either I or Cadet Smith was with Matt the entire time, and
we never heard him make a statement like that."

"Cadet Colson is not facing charges at this moment," Singh replied sharply. "You and Smith are, and so help me, son, if you interrupt me again you'll have a charge of insubordination thrown at you before you leave this room,
do
you understand that?"

Justin looked over at his legal advisor, who shook her head sharply.

"Yes, sir."

"So you are claiming that Cadet Colson is lying in regards to his allegations against Cadet Everett?"

"Yes, sir," Justin said emphatically.

'That is all I have to ask," Singh said calmly and as he leaned back in his chair again he gave a disarming smile as if he and Justin were in a friendly game and not involved in an issue of life or death.

"Are there any other questions?"

There was a moment of silence, as if all that Justin had said was somehow beyond belief, and then an officer at the end of the table stirred.

"I have some, sir."

"Go ahead then."

"Cadet Bell, I am Captain Roberto
Marcioni
. I wish to tell you now that I served with your father when I was a cadet, and found him to be an honorable man."

"Thank you, sir."

"As I look at your file I see that you gained admittance to the Academy not through the standard review process but rather by special decree as the son of the winner of a posthumous Medal of Honor. I therefore have to ask you are you worthy of the honorable name of
Bell, or is your presence in this service nothing more than a way for the service to honor your father?"

Startled, Justin did not reply for a second. The thought had indeed troubled him during the long days of the cruise after the mutiny. What
would his father
have done, he had wondered while lying awake at night. During the time from Marts arrest to his seizure of the ship he had not had time to contemplate that question and he realized now that in fact he should have cast the question more in that light before going ahead, rather than simply acting on the impulsive decision that he was right and
MacKenzie
was wrong.

"Sir, I believe I am worthy of my father's name."

'Tell this board why, Mr. Bell."

"Sir, my father, as you know, gave his life to save over five hundred civilians aboard a transport that was threatened with catastrophic decompression. I believe my father did not hesitate to make that decision, even though in those few seconds before his death he knew that he would certainly die by going through that airlock and closing it behind him."

Justin paused for a moment. Again the image formed and he wondered if in those last seconds his father might have indeed hesitated, if he was afraid, and if his last thoughts were of his wife and son. Justin drew a deep breath, afraid that there might be a shudder in his voice, worried that the others in the room would then believe that he was trying to play on their emotions.

"I made my decision to take the Somers based upon Article Twenty-five, that the Captain was engaged in an immoral and illegal act and as such I was honor-bound to stop him. Also, I did it to save a life.

"To ask if I can compare myself to my father is unfair," he said, his voice steady but low. "I am proud to be his son and only hope that someday I might measure up to half his stature."

He fell silent.

"If the cadet facing execution had been Mr. Colson rather than Mr. Everett, would you have acted?"

Justin, surprised by the question, said nothing for a moment. Would he? He loathed Colson, and Matt was his best friend. Would he risk his life, his career for a worm like Colson? He realized that if he would not be willing to do that, then he was indeed a hypocrite, only willing to selectively apply the high ideals of Article Twenty-five.

"I believe, sir, that I would have," Justin finally replied, "though I must confess it would have been far more difficult to reach that decision."

The captain questioning him said nothing for a moment.

"One final question, cadet."

"Sir?"

"Did you want to kill Captain
MacKenzie
?"

Justin closed his eyes for a moment.

"Yes," he said. "I wasn't sure when I made my way upstairs and prepared to attack. I had considered the chance that people might get shot. I had hoped originally to arm everyone I had released, burst into the room, and by a show of force convince the guards to lay down their weapons. The idea of firing the engines was a lucky break."

"Not for the two cadets who were seriously injured," Singh interrupted.

"I regret that, sir, I honestly do, but I saw no other way."

"I think you realized though that
MacKenzie
would fight," the captain continued. "I know the man, and you did, too."

"Yes, sir, perhaps I wasn't thinking that far ahead at that moment. But when I came through the door after firing the engine and saw my friend in the airlock, breathing vacuum and dying, yes, sir, I did want to kill him."

"Why didn't you? He fired two shots at you but you did not reply."

"Perhaps I was afraid, sir," Justin whispered.

"I don't think so,
Bell,"
Marcioni
replied, and he looked over at Singh. "No further questions."

Justin looked out the window, watching as the shadows of twilight deepened on the side of the mountain. It was such a strange light, the sky directly overhead a dark indigo blue, the horizon showing a faint orange glow of reflected light from the surface. On the south-facing side of a nearby hill he saw a team of farmers wearing light pressure suits checking the protective plastic covers that automatically wrapped around the rows of
Yarinba
cactus when the temperature dropped below zero. The plant had been created from genetically altered barrel cactus to withstand the thin air and harsh climate extremes of the planet. The
Yarinba
were part of the first step in
terraforming
the planet, the plant locking moisture beneath its tough outer hide and ever so slowly pumping the hundreds of billions of cubic meters of oxygen into the atmosphere that would finally make the surface habitable.