Chapter 28: On the Bridge

“Your arm is as good as new and those nasty burns on your back will be all patched up in a few more minutes.” The CMO of the Shetland was obviously pleased. The Old Admiral, the Captain of the Shetland and three Yokuta elders stood there waiting till the doctor was done. I didn’t like them watching me getting medical aid but, seeing the clouded face of the Admiral, I was certain this was the least of my worries. To me most Yokuta looked alike but I was certain one of these was the Speaker of the Elders.

He seemed impatient and said, “I am sorry Human cadet, for being here while you receive medical attention. I was simply curious about the marvels of your advanced medicine and I wanted to talk to you as soon as possible.”

The doctor checked my back. “Sorry gents, but the liquid metal burned deep holes in the young man’s back, and that takes a little more than just patching skin, there are nerve endings and a tendon to be fixed, so that will take a little longer. His ear is also still mending.”

Two of the Yokuta were fascinated by extreme close ups of my wounds and tiny robots weaving tissue. The third one spread his ears. “I analyzed the recordings of the earlier procedures and I know it was you who saved my life and that this was no exercise, as you so elegantly suggested. While I understand the reason why the psionic suggestion was made, it robbed me of the chance to thank you. Even though I’m old I still enjoy living and would prefer not to be shot in the back. You prevented that and I owe you my life!”

He glared at the Admiral. “Now I’ve learned that Kermac agents tried to establish a secret base on our world before it becomes part of the Union, so they’d have a backdoor into Union communications. Three cadets searching for Yokuta music stumbled upon their operation by chance. The Kermac, afraid their cover would be blown, neutralized the cadets knowing full well that three missing cadets would cause a detailed search. To cut their losses, they wanted to detonate three psi-spore bombs, making the entire world, including the present Union crews, susceptible to their psionic controls. One cadet single-handedly cleared the situation and instead of celebrating him as a hero I’m told this cadet is facing an investigative hearing. All this will be addressed when we stand before your Assembly!”

Admiral McElligott slowly shook his head. “High Debraman and Chairman of the Yokuta. You are correct. We overstepped our boundaries when we psi suggested you and I apologize for that. Yes, the cadet did save your life and yes, the cadet who tried to kill you is a bigot and shouldn’t have been brought here.” They talked about me, with me present as if I wasn’t there, but I kept quiet.

The oldest officer of the Fleet continued, “Chairman, the main problem was the time frame for this meeting. You wanted a selection of young beings to speak during your freedom celebrations. It was my decision to select a bunch of first-week cadets, without any track record and barely any military education, but they’re cadets and therefore military personnel!” Now he did look at me, but talked to the Chairman. “We must act upon our laws and procedures and the young cadet will have an investigatory hearing. This is our way and our laws. Two cadets are dead and we owe it to the parents and the families of these cadets to do all that we can to determine why and how they died and what could have been done to prevent it.”

“Then I demand that these hearings be held here, right now, before we leave for Pluribus! I’ve seen the security camera recordings and the report of your Marines. This cadet has saved this world, many lives and, I might add, yours too! The fact that he destroyed half the city’s mail was more than a fair trade off! We won’t hold that against him.”

McElligott faced the CMO. “How long till we can move these procedures to a more suitable venue?”

“Sir, with all due respect, I’m already violating the patient’s rights by making his treatment a public spectacle. If we’re talking regulations here, not even you, Sir, can tell me what to do when it comes to patient treatment.” Then he said, “He’s well enough to leave now, but I’d like to see him again for a follow-up and to remove the nanites.”

The wish of the Chairman was granted. The hearing was held right away. It was heard by a panel of three officers. I wondered how many cadets ever had a flag-mast hearing with the Old Man of the Navy presiding in their first week. This wasn’t the start I thought I’d have in my chosen profession. Even if I survived this hearing it would certainly end up on my record. Not a good thing for someone who wanted to become a Star Ship captain.

Captain McKenzie, the Admiral and a Klack Commander made up the hearing panel. Once again I stood in the epicenter of events and didn’t like it one bit.

From Captain McKenzie’s face, it was clear that she didn’t like being here and that she didn’t like me. I had no idea what the Klack was thinking or feeling. Someone once told me that it would take years to understand the subtle ways the Klack used their feelers to express their emotions.

A field screen showed an obviously edited version of what had occurred inside and it was the Klack who gave the narration. “What we see here are the events that took place earlier today at and below the Yokuta Nool Nort spaceport and the Nool Nort main courier and mail service warehouse and distribution facilities. The cadets were ordered to wait in the spaceport lobby for a Union ship to take them back to the Academy. There was a waiting time of approximately six hours. Three of them, Cadets Ninio Diobane, Potsema Pe and Rodney Barack, asked for permission to explore the spaceport. They planned to shop for Yokuta music. They were told to be back within the hour.

“The three cadets didn’t find any open shops but misinterpreted a sign for shops and the train station, but it read ‘mail receiving station and conveyor belt intake’, which are similar words in the native language. They stumbled upon a Kermac spy operation, and were captured by them.

“The Kermac, upon becoming aware of the possibility that Arlicherb would become a Union world, planned to establish a secret intelligence post, right there in the facility, with access to mail and the spaceport. They planned to be established before this world could develop further and Union security could be fully installed, which would make it more difficult in future to establish a major espionage base inside Union territory.

“They also realized there would be a major search for the missing cadets and opted to go to their plan B and detonate three psi spore bombs. These spores originated with the Piostla but have been developed and upgraded by the Kermac. The basic effect of these spores is to turn even shielded beings and those otherwise immune to telepathic suggestions into willing slaves. The spores are hard to detect, especially once they’re inside a body. In other words, if the Kermac had succeeded in their scheme, you, the Yokuta, and even we would now be willing slaves and could carry psi-spore infected individuals to other Union planets at their command.”

The screen focused on the three metal cylinders and Union specialists with containment fields and special suits securing them. He continued, “After the hour had passed, Cadet Deadan, concerned about his friend Ninio, went to search for them. He didn’t ask for permission to leave. He found the same sign, interpreted it wrongly the same way and stepped into a trap. The Kermac needed time to set up their bombs. Deadan resisted the packing machine and was killed by the Kermac by overloading his cerebral cortex with a kill pain command.

“Cadet Plemo woke from his sleep, noticed the other cadets had been gone for a long time and woke his friend Cadet Olafson. Both cadets decide to leave without informing their superior officers of their intentions and I want you to keep that point in mind.”

The visual recording was cut together from various security cameras’ footage and showed different angles of the events that followed.

“As you can see Cadet Olafson bashed and shot his way in, killing and maiming Kermac and Yokuta who were under the psionic influence of two or more Kermac agents. He gambled with all our lives by trying to disarm weapons that he knew nothing about and arrived too late to save Cadets Deadan or Barack. This isn’t how we want our future officers to act. The only decision he should have made was to wake the instructors and tell them about the missing cadets, or at least ask them for permission to search for them.

“When he was certain there was trouble, after killing two Kermac with head shots, he should have returned with Cadet Plemo to deliver the report. While he saved the planet and perhaps half the Union, I recommend full court martial. An experienced officer would have weighed every action against his orders, but I propose that Cadet Olafson was just lucky and acted recklessly and against direct orders.”

That was it! My life in the Navy was over! Was I supposed to say something or defend my actions?

The Captain, with a sinister stare, got up and said, “I don’t like cadets, I don’t like snot-nosed wannabe officers and I’m not too fond of fresh Ensigns right out of the academy. Granted, previous experience has made me prejudiced. When Admiral McElligott asked me to sit in on this hearing I was ready to break the stick over that cadet.”

She spread her arms. “But truth be told, Cadet Olafson saved my ship. Saved us from carrying that cursed Kermac seed into Union Space. Saved us from giving the Kermac access to our powerful ship and all its secrets. That alone earned him my eternal gratitude. Yes, rules are rules, but to be fair he doesn’t know the rules yet.”

She addressed the Klack directly now. “I know you say not knowing the law you break doesn’t make you less guilty, and they do call you ‘N’Uts for rules’ for a reason, old friend, but I’ve been a Captain for quite a while now, and I wouldn’t hesitate to offer him a post on our bridge when he’s done with the Academy.” I think my chin dropped to my chest as I heard her judgment.

Finally, it was the Admiral’s turn. He didn’t get up, but just leaned back, steepled his fingers and slowly shook his head while looking at me with a faint smile on his lips. “I value the opinion of both officers greatly. They’re not Command Officers of the Union flagship because I like their faces, but because they earned my trust and respect many times over. Commander N’Utrtrn’s opinion in this matter is the reason why we’re having this hearing. I wanted you to know how thin the line was that you walked. Just hours ago I talked to you about that thin line between insubordination and the necessity to act despite given orders.”

He turned to the Yokuta. “Before my home world was known as Terra we called it Earth, and before we ascended we fought many bloody wars among ourselves. Terrible things were done and officers declared themselves not responsible because they acted under orders. Out of this terrible and bloody history came the command philosophy I was talking about. An officer must analyze each and every order and each situation, and the excuse ‘I was only following orders’ isn’t a valid defense. The cadet acted exactly how an officer should have acted. I would have thrown him out of the service if he had acted on the third option he had - simply stay on his seat and do nothing. This was the safest option in terms of decisions.

Have you noted that neither Cadet Olafson nor Commander N’Utrtrn even considered that third option? This readiness to help friends, disregarding personal comfort and safety, is what I want to see in officers and therefore I’m closing this hearing and recommending that Cadet Olafson be promoted to Cadet Lieutenant and, complying with the wishes of the Yokuta, he will be awarded the Yaktnh in recognition of his deeds.”

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