Clidepp Requital (8 page)

As the first real-time images of Mars and Earth appeared on monitors throughout the ship, they were greeted with oohs, ahhs, and assorted comments. A few people even clapped or cheered. While one monitor exhibited a bleak planet the color of rust, another showed a beautiful blue planet with patches of beige and green adorned with swirls of white. As seen from Mars by the naked human eye, Earth appeared as a small ball of light in the sky. But the visual blandness created by the seventy-eight million kilometers mean distance was negated by the superb optical capability of the
Babbage's
cameras.

Her first sight of Earth caused Sydnee to reflect on her recent life. She found it difficult to accept it had been less than a year since her August 2284 graduation from the Warship Command Institute in Australia. So much had happened that it seemed it must surely have been longer, but the timeline was accurate.

In the year Sydnee had been gone, the Mars shipyard had expanded considerably. When she'd left to report to the GSC Light Destroyer
Perry
, the GA was at war with the THUGs, so the yard was operating on a 24/7 schedule. And there was still activity everywhere she looked. With Admiral Carver now working to establish law and order in vast new territories, the demand for new ships, repairs, and retrofits had never ceased.

"No matter how far we travel, I always feel a bit nostalgic when I see Earth after an absence," Jerry Weems said as he plopped down into the chair next to Sydnee's.

"Hi, Jer," Sydnee said as she glanced over. "I thought you might have decided to sleep in."

"I told the computer to wake me when we were within ten minutes' arrival time of Mars. I got here just in time to see the first images."

"I came down early. I wanted to make sure I got a good seat."

"I was surprised to find this chair vacant," he said, looking around the crowded lounge.

"Kelly MacDonald was sitting there. She got called away about a minute before you arrived."

"What's up?"

"Dunno. She got a message, said she had to go, and flew out of here."

"I hope it's not the rebels again."

"They've been pretty quiet since the escape attempt. The leaders are all still locked in the brig."

"What about the other two groups?"

"You mean the ones from the
Glassama
and the
Furmmara
?"

"Yeah."

"All quiet— as far as I know."

After a minute of silence, Weems said, "You seem distracted. Are you that worried about the Board of Inquiry?"

"Of course I am. It's been on my mind ever since we boarded the
Babbage
and I had time to reflect on how other people who weren't out here with us were going to view my actions. Each passing day brings us one day closer to the start of the investigation."

"You did great, Syd. Everyone knows that. You've got nothing to worry about."

"Um, did I ever tell you that the Captain warned me I would probably find myself sitting dirt-side on some obscure moon for the rest of my time in Space Command?"

"Lidden said that?"

"Yeah."

"No, you never told me. Was that after we came to the rescue of the
Perry
?"

"No. Way earlier. It was after I shot those two security people aboard the
Darrapralis
. And then there was the time he chewed me out for taking command of the platoon on Diabolisto after Kennedy was killed."

Weems chuckled, then said, "That one I heard about. The story I got is that he was afraid you were getting a little too far outside your job description when you led a platoon of Marines in a battlefield charge against an enemy force of vastly superior numbers. He just wanted to rein you in a little. Remember, he's still responsible for all your actions, even when you're on a planet and he's in space a million kilometers away."

"Where did you hear about it?"

"Just scuttlebutt. You know how it works. The Captain mentions something to Commander Bryant, Bryant mentions it to Lieutenant Milton, and Milty tells another officer or two that have his confidence."

"And before you know it, it's all over the ship."

"Yeah, but it's not the bad kind of scuttlebutt. Everyone gets reamed by the Captain at one time or another. I think it's part of his job description."

"I guess."

As the excitement of 'first look' diminished, the lounge began to clear as officers returned to their quarters and beds. Lt. Kelly MacDonald returned just as the queue of officers trying to leave the room ended. The seat on the other side of Sydnee was now vacant, so she plopped down there. "Hi, Jer," she said to Weems.

"Hi, Kel. What's up?"

"Just an incident in the sickbay. The security officer noticed that I was up so he called me instead of waking the Major."

"What happened?" Sydnee asked.

"One of the female slaves rescued from the
Darrapralis
wasn't feeling well, so she was taken to the sickbay. The only medic on duty was busy working on another patient, so she was placed on an examination table to wait for him to be free. As soon as the medic finished with his patient, he pulled back the privacy screen around the table. The woman, seeing that the other patient was one of the rebels, screamed, grabbed a pair of shears from a side table, and buried them in the Yolongi's chest."

"Wow!" Weems exclaimed. "Did she kill him?"

"No, but not for lack of trying. The medic said that if he was human, the wound might very well have been fatal. But since he's a Yolongi, all she did was puncture his womb sack. The medic stitched him up and he'll be fine in a few weeks."

"Oh, that's right. I forgot that the Yolongi heart is in his pelvis."

"What about the woman?" Sydnee asked.

"Her problem was minor. She's been treated and released already."

"No, I mean what happens to her now for stabbing the Yolongi?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Weems echoed.

"She was held as a slave by the Clidepp Ambassador, a Yolongi, for almost three decades. I'm not going to fault her for going a little nuts when she saw that Yolongi on the other examination table. If he'd been killed, or even seriously wounded, I might have been forced to prefer charges at some level, but since he wasn't seriously harmed, I'm looking the other way."

"I, for one, support your decision," Sydnee said.

"I sort of believed you would."

"I support you also," Weems said. "Those poor women suffered at the hands of that Yolongi bastard. I think it'll take quite a bit of time for them to recover. It's understandable that they hate all the Yolongi. Too bad we haven't had a counselor on board, but neither the
Perry
nor the
Babbage
crew sizes are large enough to justify the position."

"They'll get the help they need once they arrive on Earth."

"Yes, not much longer now," MacDonald said. "And they all look much better. Their general physical health has improved tremendously."

"Not being zapped by guards for every small transgression probably helps," Sydnee said.

"Well, I'm heading back to my nice comfortable bed, ladies," Weems said. "I'll see you at breakfast, or at the scheduled 1000 meeting."

"What's the meeting about?" Sydnee asked.

"All I know for sure is that every officer from the
Perry
has orders to attend. I suspect it might be to discuss leave time and required appearances at the Inquiry Hearing. Now, I bid you both a goodnight, or perhaps a good morning."

When Weems was gone, Sydnee said, "It's so different out here now. The new stations look amazing."

"They're definitely impressive."

Work on two new Earth orbital stations had moved along briskly during the year Sydnee had been gone. One had been completed and the other was reported to be more than eighty percent complete. The first was now handling all freighter traffic and was surrounded by several shipping container farms. One farm held containers waiting to go down to the planet's surface, while another was reserved for containers that had just come up from the surface and were scheduled for departure with an outbound freighter. The third farm was for containers in transit that had been dropped off and were awaiting pickup by another freighter. The first two farms were kept separate because every container had to be irradiated to kill any organism before entering or leaving Earth orbit unless the container had a special exemption.

The station still under construction would eventually handle all passenger traffic. Each of the two new stations was over twenty times larger than any of the three large stations previously in Earth orbit and were clearly visible by the naked eye from the planet. Some Terrans were screaming that they were so large they were affecting the tides, and scientists were tiring of explaining that the new stations just didn't have sufficient mass to cause a noticeable effect.

"I'm feeling a bit of anxiety about the future," Sydnee said.

"I figured that was it."

"Figured what was it?"

"The way you've been acting for the past few weeks. After the rebels caused that brief bit of excitement, I noticed a change. I knew it didn't have anything to do with the escape attempts since you didn't have to hurt anyone."

"Yes, that worked out well."

"It should also help you out at the Inquiry Board."

"How?"

"You can't be painted as a violence-prone madwoman when they know you did your best to avoid hurting anyone after having been authorized to use whatever lethal force was necessary to rescue our people."

"Do you think I would have been portrayed as a violence-prone madwoman otherwise?"

"No, not really. But this shows them that you only use what force is necessary in each situation. I never would have thought to use the fire suppression equipment to end the standoff."

"You're not a violence-prone madwoman either. If not the foam, you'd have thought of something else."

"I'm not so sure. I'm a Marine. We've been trained to deal with situations in a more— direct way, using the weapons we've been issued and the people under our command. I would probably have been trying to position myself for a clear shot at Klieppaso, where you were definitely thinking outside the cube. But you do have a Marine's instinct for knowing when further talk won't get you anywhere and the situation calls for immediate action. We all know you certainly don't hesitate when you reach that point."

"I hope the Inquiry Board looks upon my actions as favorably as you do."

"They will. They're all professional military men and women with decades of experience."

The entire officer complement of the
Perry
easily fit into the large conference room selected for the meeting. It probably could have handled the entire officer complement of an
Ares
class battleship as well.

When Captain Lidden and Commander Bryant arrived and strode to the front off the room, everyone jumped to their feet. Lidden loudly said, "As you were," and the officers settled back into their seats.

"As you most certainly know by now, the
Babbage
has arrived at Mars. Over the next twenty-four hours, the vessels in the transport hold will be removed so the ship can depart to its next assignment. During that same period all of you will receive orders to report to one of the shuttles for immediate transport to the Space Command base in Nebraska, USNA, where temporary quarters have been arranged for us.

"The Board of Inquiry hearings will begin tomorrow. I know that sounds rather sudden, but during the weeks we've been underway, they've had plenty of time to prepare. Each of you will receive notice of where and when you'll be required to appear to give testimony. Some will have little participation in the proceedings, while others of us will be required to be there on a daily basis. If you are not scheduled to appear on a given day, you are free to spend the day as you wish and even travel to visit family and friends. However, if you
are
scheduled to appear and fail to show on time, you will be considered AWOL. Make sure you plan your away time accordingly. Those who can't make time to visit family now will receive time after the Inquiry is complete. Any questions?"

Sydnee raised her hand.

"Marcola."

"Um, sir, is there any indication of which issues they'll be investigating?"

"I imagine they'll take a look at anything and everything that pertained to our established mission and the actions of the
Perry
's crew in response to the Clidepp rebel incursion into GA space."

"Um, including the, er, situation aboard the diplomatic ship?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," Lidden said, then added with a slight grin, "but I wouldn't worry too much if I were you. The Admiralty Board has ruled on that matter already, and I seriously doubt the Inquiry Board would disagree with their determination. They may investigate the event simply to make it part of the official record and show that slavery of Terrans has been occurring in the Clidepp Empire for decades, despite the denials of the government there. And this time we have the recovered slaves to prove our claim. I'm confident there will be a separate investigation on that issue, but once our sworn testimonies are on the record, our further presence will probably not be required at the other investigative hearings."

"Yes, sir."

"Any other questions?"

Lidden waited through fifteen seconds of silence before continuing. "That's all for now. Carry on." He and Commander Bryant then strode out of the room as the officers jumped to their feet.

"It's too early for lunch," Weems said to Sydnee, "and I don't have anything else to do. Want to grab some coffee?"

"Sure. Might as well. We'll just have to sit around anyway until we get assigned a time to report to a shuttle."

Sydnee and Weems weren't the only ones who opted to grab some coffee while waiting and the guest officers' mess was crowded. Kelly MacDonald had a table all to herself, so the pair took seats there after getting their coffee. Lt. Pete Caruthers, the other officer who had joined Sydnee, MacDonald, and Weems on Diabolisto when they went to recover the MAT, came over and joined the trio after getting his coffee.