Article 23 (22 page)

"How are you, Justin?"

Justin stood up as his legal advisor, Janet Kowalski, came into the room and sat down beside him.

"How are things?" Justin asked. "I don't know. I feel like I was dragged through a meat grinder over the last week."

"I told you that they were going to be tough. This is not some simulation, although you raised that question. This is for real. Careers, and not just
MacKenzie's
, are on the line. There are major political considerations as well. A kid like you often gets caught in the grinder for far less, even when they're right."

"Are you telling me it's looking bad?"

"
MacKenzie
is basing his whole defense on the fact that at the time he acted he had every reason to believe that Matt was planning a mutiny and was about to strike. He then claims a show of mercy for not executing the other eight even though that was within his power. Matt had to be executed, according to
MacKenzie
, to prevent a general uprising of his comrades. In a perverse way, your mutiny now actually serves as proof of
MacKenzie's
claim, rather than the justified provocation you claim."

"That Colson is such a damn little weasel."

"He is also the son of a member of the United Nations cabinet, and you can believe that his old man is screaming bloody murder. I'm willing to bet Wendell's father has called every flag officer in the service
who
in any way whatsoever can bring pressure to bear on Singh. That's a lot of heat to take. Colson can threaten to squeeze appropriations, question promotions and in general make life a pain for the top echelon if they don't back his son up."

"And the hell with the truth," Justin sighed.

"If Colson's story is accepted, then
MacKenzie
has a peg to hang his defense on; that he had probable cause to at least seek the arrest or temporary detain-
ment
of Cadet Everett. If that fact is accepted, then it follows that Cadet Everett struck the Captain."

"Even if he did," Justin replied hotly, "is that any reason to space a sixteen-year-old cadet?"

"Hell, no," Janet replied, "that was something straight out of the old navy, as if he were playing Captain Bligh or Billy Budd."

"Melville wrote that too, didn't he?" Justin asked.

"Yes, why?"

"Just that
MacKenzie
had me reading Moby Dick. It was creepy."

"He is a deeply disturbed man. But unlike the
vids
, someone can be crazy without walking around frothing. Ninety-nine percent of the time they appear to be perfectly normal. And there are some people who want to see
MacKenzie
continue to appear normal. Because if he's proven not to be, then there are going to
be
a whole lot of questions asked as to how such a man rose to the authority of command of a ship. And not just any ship, but a ship that is considered to be a weapon and is, in fact, carrying nuclear weapons on board which could be released on any country on Earth."

"So we're damned in nearly every direction," Justin said, "and truth becomes secondary."

Kowalski laughed and shook her head. "My young Mr. Bell, when did you ever hear that truth had anything to do with politics? Take a look at some of the presidents your country has had, and some of its other leaders as well. Truth is relative to the moment."

"There was the Declaration of Independence I believed in that. My father and grandfather believed in the Charter of Organization of tike USMC. I figured that was something to believe in, at least that's what
Thorsson
said."

Kowalski reached out and patted Justin on the arm.

"I wish it was, but it's not looking quite like that at the moment."

"And if he wins?"

"Oh, they'll call him back
Earthside
, and when the fuss dies down he'll be quietly retired. There'll be discreet internal reviews, things will be changed, but he'll walk.

"As for you, Matt,
Leonov
, Smith,
Hemenez
and O'Brian, you'll get time.
A year, maybe two.
After serving six months, you'll all be dishonorably discharged. The other cadets who helped you will simply be discharged. There'll be some in the service who will quietly say you did the right thing; in fact, your actions will be studied and analyzed. Maybe a dozen years from now you might even be recognized for having done the right thing. But execution, I don't think anyone wants that."

"So what you're telling me is that at
MacKenzie's
court-martial tomorrow we'll get slammed and
MacKenzie
will go free."

"You have to face that possibility."

"I can't believe that."

"What you want to believe and reality are crashing together here, Bell."

'
Thorsson
taught us to believe in a higher ideal, and such an ideal is based upon truth."

"We're not in the Academy now,
Bell, this is the real system, and out here on the frontier it can be rough and damned unfair at times."

"That man arrested nine cadets. He never formally charged them, they were never given the opportunity to make a statement, defend
tihemselves
or face their accuser,
there
was no formal board hearing or trial where Matt could have defended his life.
MacKenzie
just arbitrarily announces, I'm going to kill this cadet,' and now you're telling me the Service will back him up?"

"They're caught by Article Twenty-three, and it's a dilemma as old as navies, in space and on the sea," Janet replied. "In the old days, when ships were out of contact from the moment they cleared port, the authority of the captain had to be absolute. He had to be given broad powers to maintain control, and if needs be, to enforce his authority with the threat of swift and instant punishment. When our service was formed it was decided to follow the traditions of the surface navies. In modern times a lot of thought went into this power of the captain and it was felt that through careful screening only the best would be given such powers.
MacKenzie
is being protected by that tradition, because you, Mr. Bell, struck right at the heart of all such power. Remember the ease aboard the Goddard?"

Justin nodded. After nearly a year in space the Goddard's second officer had become unhinged upon receiving a message from his parents that his girlfriend had left him. Breaking into the weapons locker, he had taken a high-power gun, seized the bridge, and threatened to start shooting up the control panels. The captain had finally shot and killed him. The captain had been fully exonerated for taking action without trial.

"That's different," Justin snapped. "The guy had a gun."

"You wound up with a
gun,
aimed straight at the Captain some might not see any difference."

"We did.
MacKenzie
was out of control. He had overreacted."

"Sure they realize
MacKenzie
overreacted.
But to what?
He is claiming that at that moment he believed he was facing a mutiny and had to preserve the authority of the Service. His decision to spare eight cadets from a possible execution is being presented as an act of restraint. And you see, Justin, he does have one clear and positive argument in his favor."

"What's that?"

"The fact that there was a
mutiny,
and you led it."

Justin's shoulders sagged. Everything had seemed so clear and simple back on the Somers. He felt now as if he were sinking into a muddy swamp with nothing to hang on to.

"Now, I want to go over everything one last time before tomorrow's trial."

After hours of reviewing the events and Janet probing every point with questions, Justin felt as if his head would split apart.

"Look, like I told you a dozen times. O'Brian caught my signal that I needed to talk to him. I went into the galley,
Leonov
came in a minute or so later after O'Brian woke her up, and then
Hemenez
came in. O'Brian turned up the music from the computer player and I laid out my proposal to seize the ship."

Janet looked up from her computer pad.

"Turned up the music? Why?"

"We all did on that ship whenever we wanted to really talk."

"Why?"

"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.