Firestar
Copyright© 2009 by Prince von Vlox
Chapter 20
Corey settled back in her seat, trying to grasp what had just happened. Had she been exonerated? Or would Captain Matsuoko wiggle out of it somehow? The Captain’s mother was the Eldest of the second-largest Family on Home. How would that affect things? In theory, the Navy was above inter-Family politics, but that only seemed to apply to the Frontier Fleet. Everyone knew the Home Fleet was heavily politicized.
Corey sat up straight when Admiral Fredericks called her name. “Ma’am?”
“As long as we’ve got you here,” the Admiral said, “let’s continue with the actions involving the de Ruyter. Following that first action, the battle group did not leave the vicinity. Third Officer Andersen, would you mind telling us why not?”
“It never occurred to me, Ma’am,” Corey said, rising. “I just had myself and Tech Nettles, and we were trying to cover everyone else’s duties. Quite honestly, I didn’t think the kin-stealers would come after us again, not after what we did to that first lot.”
“Understandable,” Captain Macquarrie said from where she was sitting. “The Captain of a ship has a staff to do all of that. This was your first experience in a command situation, and you were hard-pressed to deal with your immediate responsibilities.”
“Were you aware of what repairs had been made to the de Ruyter?” Admiral Fredericks asked.
“No, Ma’am. I assumed they were proceeding as normal. I’d served in the Frontier Fleet, so I had some idea of the routine followed in repairing a carrier.”
Admiral Fredericks picked up a sheet of paper. “Apparently, it didn’t occur to anyone to report your situation to Damage Control. The repair parties were busy, but they were getting the hangers and the rails back in operation. They were not attempting to repair the ship’s internal communications, which I find curious.” She turned to her aide. “Susan, get a note to the de Ruyter’s Executive Officer. She’s still directing repairs on the ship, so we won’t bring her down here. But I would appreciate it if she could explain the priorities she set with her repairs.”
“Ma’am?” Second Officer Markin stood. “Ma’am, Captain Matsuoko’s Standing Orders said that the hangers and rails were to be repaired first. She wanted to be able to replace any fighters that had been damaged. I think she assumed that she would always have communications.”
“Those were the ones she was using as a missile defense,” Admiral Fredericks said.
“Aye, Ma’am.”
“Thank you.” Admiral Fredericks looked around the room. “There will be a separate inquiry into the damage control effort on the de Ruyter.”
She picked up another set of papers. “A second attack was launched at the de Ruyter approximately 40 minutes after the first. According to prisoner interrogations, the Ship Lord in charge of the raid thought the de Ruyter was a training ship. He ordered it destroyed because it would be an easy target. I had nothing I could spare, and I thought the ship was lost. It turned out that the ship wasn’t the toothless old cat that everyone thought. Officer Andersen, why don’t you cover what happened next?”
“Aye, Ma’am,” Corey said. She ran through the preliminaries of the engagement, the approach of the Idenux cruisers, and stopped at her first decision point: when she’d turned into the attack, and slowed de Ruyter.
“You slowed your acceleration?” a voice asked from the front row.
“We didn’t have much to lose,” Corey replied. “We’d sustained engineering damage, and had a maximum acceleration of 80 Gs in any two of the three planes of movement.”
“But you slowed.”
“It gave us a better firing solution,” Corey said, “and it enticed the Idenux coming after us to turn in behind de Ruyter. I’d placed Ascender and Sugita there so they could engage the Idenux if they tried that.”
“Easiest shots my crew ever saw,” Captain Gorohkin said. “We went to maximum sustained rate of fire right away. We damaged two of the attacking ships so badly they couldn’t continue, and Ascender blew up one of them.”
“I had Engineering turn us right after that,” Corey said, “but this time it was to clear our missile launchers and energy weapon mounts. Plus I had a few fighters still available. I had them work into close range, brought in the cruisers and escorts, and attacked. We destroyed at least two more of the Idenux in the next two minutes, and damaged the rest. The two survivors disengaged right after that.”
“You attacked?” a voice asked.
“I formed a box,” Corey said, “with the de Ruyter and two escorts at the core of it. I had fighters and cruisers on each side. The Idenux could stay in the middle of a concentration of fire, or they could back away.”
“It wasn’t much of a box,” an officer said as she stood. “Captain Drahna Woods of Boyington. The cruisers couldn’t really slow them up, and they could have blasted through the fighters without much trouble.”
“And have Sugita firing up their stern.” Corey shook her head. “No, Ma’am, the only rational thing to do would be to break away from the de Ruyter with a sharp turn. Now we know Ship Lords don’t like to run from a fight, but they’re pragmatic. If they’re taking damage and don’t have much to show for it, they’ll generally break off.”
Murmurs swept through the crowd, dying away as Captain Gorohkin stood. “I’ve had a chance to think about this since the battle,” she said. “I haven’t been confined to quarters or been upbraided by Edith Matsuoko for saving her life. I think some of the people here don’t understand the psychology of what Andersen did, Drahna. Here’s a carrier, a target in the eyes of most Idenux, and it’s coming after them. Worse than that, it was a damaged carrier. They’d seen what had happened to the first lot, and now the prey had turned on them, and was attacking. From prisoner reports we know that the Ship Lords were thinking that this was some sort of trap, and their only hope of living through it was to flee.”
“I think it was a terrible risk,” Captain Woods said. “You had a very shaky missile defense. All it would take would be a hit from a contact warhead and you wouldn’t be here.”
“By that logic, Ma’am,” Corey said, “every ship is at risk. Remember, we had taken engineering damage and couldn’t run. I thought it was worth the risk to get the Ship Lords off balance. They wouldn’t fight as well, and would end up running, which they did. In many ways they’re like a pack of animals that will stampede when things don’t go their way.”
“What if they hadn’t turned?” Captain Woods asked.
“They would have sailed on past us,” Corey said. “I don’t have the vectors with me, but--”
“I do,” Captain Gorohkin said. “I made a vid record of my scan. When Andersen turned she sharpened the Idenux approach angle until it was only a few degrees off of a head-on intercept. That minimized her exposure to hostile missile fire. The Idenux chose to engage, and she punished them for it. I’m not sure you’ve ever been in the position Andersen was. You make the best of what you’ve got. Perhaps you didn’t hear her when Andersen said de Ruyter was only capable of 80 Gs.”
Corey looked around the room. “Imagine you’re an Idenux Ship Lord. You have a damaged carrier in front of you, one with only a few fighters and very little of its normal escort. It turns into your approach, so the only way you can get at it is to slow and curve in behind it. Do you say ‘Oh no, this could be a trap!’ and keep going, or do you go in for the kill? Do you think any Ship Lord would bypass a damaged carrier with almost no escort? How could he hold his head up among his fellow Ship Lords? What would he tell them? ‘I ran from a damaged carrier because it could have been a trap.’”
Laughter swept the room, and Captain Woods hastily sat, her face flaming.
Corey kept her face still and waited for the laughter to die down. It was one thing to go in for the kill on a damaged opponent. It was another, she was learning, to do that to a fellow officer she might have to work with.
“All right,” she said when the room had quieted, “I made some notes of--”
“A question,” another officer said, rising. “Third Officer Shyloe Tamarant from Administrative Affairs. How do you reconcile your actions with your violation of Navy Regulations? We have those regulations for a reason, and we don’t want junior officers thinking they can ignore them at their leisure.”
Corey glanced at Admiral Fredericks, who gestured slightly as if to say she should answer the question.
“I didn’t know that what I did was against the Regulations,” Corey said. “I had a situation, and I was trying to deal with it.”
“The original charges against Officer Andersen have been suspended,” Admiral Fredericks said. “I understand there was an arrest warrant issued, but it was withdrawn due to procedural irregularities.”
“Oh, no, this is an additional charge,” the officer said. “When Captain Matsuoko filed her charges, her sib-sister in Legal Affairs processed them right away so a warrant would be issued. This is contrary to Regulations because the Investigative Service must conduct an investigation before a warrant of arrest is issued. Those charges and warrants have been suspended, but--”
“They shouldn’t have been,” another officer interrupted. “The charges were mutiny and creating dissension on a warship. Admiral Carter ordered them suspended in what amounts to a clear abuse of power. The judicial process must be allowed to go forward.”
“We covered that just a few minutes ago,” Admiral Fredericks said.
“These charges were filed for Officer Andersen’s actions after the battle,” the officer said. “Because of her, there were numerous incidents of disloyalty and even sabotage on the ship. On top of that--”
“I trust you can verify a charge of sabotage,” Officer Tamarant said, cutting in. “That is a very serious charge, one that requires the investigation of the person bringing the charge just to make sure it is not being made maliciously or due to Family influence.” She walked down the aisle and stopped in front of the other officer.
“You are Second Officer Loalla Miyamoto,” Officer Tamarant said. “Ma’am, you cannot wildly fling about a charge of sabotage. Article 27, Section 14 states that if you accuse someone of that act, you must remand yourself to the properly constituted authorities, and that failure to do so automatically results in a dismissal of the charges as unsubstantiated, and initiates an investigation to resolve why you brought those charges.”
“She’s got you there,” Admiral Fredericks said. She smiled at Officer Tamarant. “We’ll get back to your complaint in a moment, Shyloe. Officer Miyamoto, I will assume you spoke of sabotage for rhetorical effect. What did you mean by saying the charges were not filed on the basis of Officer Andersen becoming the acting Fighter Director?”
Officer Miyamoto straightened up, facing Admiral Fredericks directly. “I spoke in haste, Ma’am. But there were numerous instances of personnel requesting transfer from the de Ruyter. The entire fighter complement actually threatened to resign en masse. One of them said she was doing it because she’d rather be a civilian than serve under Captain Matsuoko.”
“Those aren’t offences that can be attributed to Officer Andersen,” the Admiral said.
“She met with them only a few hours after the Raid concluded,” Officer Miyamoto said. “Just after that, they contacted Staffing and Personnel. The only conclusion one can reach is that she put them up to it. She knew Captain Matsuoko had it in for her, and--”
“Any truth to that, Officer Andersen?” the Admiral asked.
“None whatsoever, Ma’am,” Tina Hendrickson said, shooting to her feet. “Squadron Lead Hendrickson, Third Squadron, de Ruyter,” she added. “Officer Andersen did meet with us, but it was at our request. I was there, and she seemed as surprised as anyone when we met her.”
“Why did you meet?” the Admiral asked.
“To thank her for getting us off the rail, Ma’am,” Tina said. “We lost several pilots because of Captain Matsuoko. Even Third Officer Stuart was there. She can verify what happened.”
“They’d only say that because they claim Officer Andersen saved their lives,” Officer Miyamoto said hotly. “They resented serving on the de Ruyter and--”
“And why do you think that happened,” Tina said, cutting in. “You were not present on the carrier, so you have no idea what was going on. I had been there for more than a year, and I’d concluded that the rawest newbie in my squadron had more ability than the Captain.”
“Captain Matsuoko posted high marks in tactics and strategy,” Officer Miyamoto said.
“And Officer Andersen’s were even higher,” Captain Alexander replied. “And she had higher marks in Administration than Captain Matsuoko. The latter only had acknowledgment that she’d taken the class.”
She took a sheet of paper out of the case beside her. “I looked up Captain Matsuoko’s record while she commanded the supply ship Provisionaire-General. In the two years she commanded that ship, she had a 350% turnover in personnel. In every instance, the personnel leaving the ship stated that Captain Matsuoko was not up to the challenges of ferrying supplies between the Ring and the Fleet Bases in the Home system. Even Jess, the dolphin running ship services, even she requested a transfer.”
Murmurs broke out around the room. The captain of a ship and the orca or dolphin running it had to form a tight bond. Most in the Navy would consider such a request a damning indictment of the ship’s captain.
“Officer Miyamoto,” Admiral Fredericks said. “Do you feel that actions undertaken freely by the crew constitute mutiny and subversion of authority? To the best of your knowledge, did they disobey a direct order?”
Officer Miyamoto remained silent.
“You couldn’t know, of course,” the Admiral said, “because you weren’t there. You would only have hearsay evidence from members of your family, which is also Captain Matsuoko’s family.”
“Squadron Lead Hendrickson,” the Admiral said, turning back to her. “Did Officer Andersen say or do anything during that meeting to make you think she was undermining the authority of Captain Matsuoko?”
“No, Ma’am,” Tina said. “She didn’t say anything about the Captain. She was more interested in the details of our fights.” She shot a glance in Corey’s direction. “I think she was trying to understand what happened. She was in our Ready Room for about an hour, and we, well Ma’am, we talked shop, just like any pilots will.”
“Ma’am?” Officer Tamarant stood again. “I happened to be present in Legal Affairs when Captain Matsuoko came in this morning. She handed the charges to her sib-sister, who works there, and was very specific that they were for Officer Andersen’s actions during the fighting itself, not for anything that happened afterward. I’m willing to testify to that under oath.”
“I ... see.” Admiral Fredericks drummed her fingers on the podium in front of her.
“The new warrant was issued after a review of the statements Officer Andersen’s made earlier today,” Officer Miyamoto said. She folded her arms and glared at Corey.
“This discussion does not belong in a tactical forum,” someone called out.
“I agree,” Admiral Fredericks said, “but bear with me for a moment. Officer Miyamoto,” the Admiral went on. “There appears to be a discrepancy about the charges filed against Officer Andersen. I had my aide obtain a copy of Captain Matsuoko’s charges. They corroborate the statement of Officer Tamarant. So what new charges are you presenting?”
“Ma’am,” Officer Miyamoto said. “As I stated, we analyzed Officer Andersen’s description of the events on the de Ruyter. We took testimony from members of the staff and crew. We concluded that the events that followed the departure of the Idenux constituted detrimental conduct and incitement to mutiny.”
“Who is this ‘we’?” Officer Tamarant asked before anyone else could speak. “You are in command of the escort Falcon, and you are not associated with either the Legal Affairs Office or the Investigative Service. Per Article 15, Section 6, you only have authority to investigate and issue administrative charges against the personnel assigned to your command. If you have done otherwise, that would constitute a breach of authority.”
She walked down the steps again, much like a prosecutor making a point in a trial. “Officer Miyamoto. You stated that you conducted interviews of the staff and crew. The discussion regarding the events on the de Ruyter took place less than an hour ago. You have not left this facility, so I can only conclude that you are acting in collusion with someone else. I think any Justice would conclude that your fresh charges were hastily made up for political reasons.
“I am curious: how many crew members were interviewed, and what were their positions? I would also like to know which staff officers were questioned, and who did the questioning, because de Ruyter’s entire staff did not leave this facility until just a few minutes ago.”
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