Episode 25

Wednesday, November 2^nd, 2006

Chapter 76

Military reporter for the Stars and Stripes

12:04 am November 2^nd, 2006

(5:04 pm local time, Palestine)

This was the strangest trial I ever attended. The Commandant on the Parris Island Marine Base Training Camp is not the sort of defendant I expected to meet on my beat in the Middle East.

And he was on trial for piracy. Not even in my most drunk and drugged party state in college would I have thought this would happen.

The defendant looked like he could not believe he was on trial. He was sitting at the defense table as though he was some local monarch and this was all a joke for his amusement.

The judge certainly was not amused. I was no trial lawyer, but I'm betting it was only the United States Military Code of Justice that prevented her from ordering his head chopped off.

We watched as the judge straightened up in her seat. "Members of the Jury, are you prepared to publish your findings?"

The Foreman stood up. "Yes Ma'am, we are."

"And have you reached a united verdict, as required by your instructions?

"Yes."

"Foreman of the Jury, you may now publish your findings."

"Yes, Ma'am. As to count one, the charge of piracy, we find the defendant guilty."

The pencil General Colt was holding snapped in two as his hand clenched.

The foreman continued remorselessly. "As to count two, the charge of assaulting a civilian, we find the defendant guilty."

I listened to the foreman go on as he went through the charges. Finally after he reached the verdict on conduct that brought dishonor to the uniform of a United States Marine with yet another guilty verdict that it hit me. This is the story of my career. No doubt my superiors would not let me print it anyway. It's far too explosive of a story.

The Presiding Officer looked sternly over at the defense table. With a slight tremor in her voice, she asked, "Do you have any statement on your misdeeds?"

General Colt stood at attention and looked around the court room. "I have no statement about my misdeeds. There have been no misdeeds. Everything I have done, I have done according to my oath as a United States Marine." The General sat down proudly.

The Presiding Judge spoke with the calm reserved for those who were truly pissed beyond emotion. "General Colt, your statement saying that your oath as a Marine justifies your behavior is a travesty of everything you are charged with teaching the recruits at your training facility. Such behavior as yours cannot be tolerated in the United States military. The least sentence I can give you is that you be stripped of rank, dishonorably discharged and that you spend at least the rest of your lifetime in the stockade."

Colt reacted to that. "You're all a bunch of traitors!!!"

The case must have stressed out the Presiding Officer. Because she reacted to the prisoner's outburst. "You are an embarrassment to the Corps. You betrayed our military ideals and are a serious threat to national security. Your actions and your lack of repentance could easily have driven Stone towards active retaliation."

Colt was not concerned at all. "It is my right under the Homeland Security Act to seize from any civilian anything perceived as a threat to national security. By Stone's statement that his work would not be used by the military, he became a threat to the United States. Because Stone resisted, I have declared Jacob Stone to be an enemy combatant."

"To punish you for your contempt of justice, there will be an amendment to the sentence I just gave you. You are to be kept in solitary till such time as they can transfer you to Guantanamo, Cuba. There you will be let loose in the general population for the duration of your sentence. Let the guilty suffer the fate you planned for the innocent."

Chapter 77

Tiffany

Personal log (voice), Tiffany French, Captain of the Flying Dutchman,

7 am November 2^nd, 2006

I mustered what enthusiasm I could for the meeting with Karl. I wonder if everybody who kept telling me to move beyond my pain understood what they were asking. I doubt even my ex could be raped then be acting normal within the time they are asking me to. At least I hope they are only expecting me to be acting. No sane person could expect a full recovery so soon.

Enough of this. Even I know thinking about it all the time can't be helping things. I looked at the situational display. We were approaching the meeting place I had suggested to Karl.

The Flying Dutchman landed in the clearing.

Five minutes later Karl poked his head out of the underbrush.

"Joe."

"Yes."

"Deactivate the cloak."

"Done."

"Open the hatch."

"Done."

I went to the hatch and waited for Karl to come aboard. "Welcome to the Flying Dutchman. This way." I led him to the lounge/workroom.

Karl took a seat. He looked around uncomfortably.

This was not going anywhere. "Are you going to say anything? This ship was filled with enough uncomfortable silences before you came aboard. I do not need you adding to it."

"Sorry about that. It's just I suddenly remembered who I am talking too."

"I'm nobody important anymore. Remember, I dumped Jacob."

"That's not what I'm worried about. I just remembered that your Program week was really bad." He got up. "It's really wrong of me to bring my Program problems to you."

"Sit down" my voice lost the emotion it had. "You're right. It was a bad week. But I can't just stop caring. You're having problems. The only other Program student is in the Middle East if the rumor mills can be believed. The rumor mills are also saying some interesting things about you and Krissy. I'll try to help if I can."

Karl sat back down and looked at me.

"Ok. The problem's so simple it's practically stupid. I've wanted Krissy for the longest time."

"Rumor has it you got her. Where's the trouble?"

"It's how I got her. The Program put us together. It's true I was going to make a move on her, but I thought it would take time. The Program threw us together. Another thing you should know is that I've been chatting Krissy up online for several weeks now. Even with the Program, she only put things together last night when I all but spelled out the connection for her."

"Hmmm. It sounds like the two of you would have got together eventually."

"Maybe. But how do I know if this relationship isn't based on the Program? I've even go so far as to plan a date out based on the knowledge I got from the Program. You might say I'm getting such an advantage in learning what she likes and wants that I'm worried that she'll be reacting to that. All these advantages and the Program added in makes me wonder, how do I really know if she has any interest, or is this just the Program at work between us? How do I know if this is what she is really feeling?"

"You don't."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you don't know. You can't know what she's truly feeling anymore than she knows what you're truly feeling. You two are a couple in the Program. That's almost to be expected because you are partners. You two are having sex. That's to be expected because you are teenagers. Its next week that will tell you both how strong the relationship is. Next week the artificial coupling from the Program will be gone. How you two behave then will be all you need to know. You and Krissy will have to decide. I can't decide for you anymore than I could decide for her."

"I was afraid you'd say that."

"Here's a news flash for you. I went through the same anguish. Last week was a roller coaster ride. I started out with a partner about as unlike me as possible and still be human. At least that's what I thought when the week started. It turns out that he was not as different as I thought. He seems different, but he has the same emotions buried in there somewhere. We got along great."

"Then why aren't the two of you still together?"

"It's what I told you. The Program threw us together. We hooked up. But I saw something about him Friday afternoon that was a bit much for me. There are things about those we date that will surprise you. Expect it. Trust me on something else. She'll be having doubts of her own."

"That's probably true. It's just hard to deal with the fears at times."

Giving him advice was not as tough as I feared. But I noticed he was carefully avoiding something.

And if it was what I thought it was, he was very smart to do so.

His treatment of Julia.

I toyed with leaving it be. I know the circumstances that led to Julia's situation. Still, giving a guy a license to torment and abuse a girl goes against everything I thought Jacob and I fought for. "Karl, there is one other thing."

"What is it?"

"What's happening between you and Julia."

"I'd rather not talk about it."

"I don't want to either. But something must be said. What you're doing to Julia isn't right."

"Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. A lot has changed on that front since your dramatic exit from the high school."

"Ok. What I know is she was assigned to be your sex slave as punishment for something she did last week. I also heard that you're taking great pleasure in the situation."

"Ok. Just as I thought. You don't have all the information. Do you even know why she's being punished?"

I shook my head.

"I thought not. She's being punished for putting pictures of you and Jacob having sex on the internet."

"How did she get pictures of that?"

"She took them last week when both of you were in the Program."

"That explains how she got the pictures. Why did she put them online? Do you know?"

"Yes. She happened to think Heather had the right idea. But Julia was more ambitious. She wanted, and these are her words mind you, to beat Jacob at his own game. So she set out to ruin him politically."

"That still doesn't explain how she ended up your sex slave."

"That's was the principal's idea. She set out to destroy a nerd's pride. So the punishment was designed to destroy her pride."

"Ok. That explains how. Forgive a probably very stupid question, but why?"

"Why?"

"Why are you going along with this?"

"You mean besides the fact I'm a nerd and her attitude really upsets me?"

"Yes. Weren't you paying attention last week?"

"Yes."

"I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"Because if you were, you would know that such mistreatment is exactly what pissed Jacob off."

"What are you talking about? I'm not tormenting any nerds."

"That's not exactly what pissed Jacob off. What pissed him off was the idea of tormenting anybody because they were different. Or because they believed differently. Your treatment of Julia is exactly the sort of thing he was fighting against."

He looked at me with one the more annoying looks a man can have. The one they wear when they have information you don't. "Just how recent is your information about me and Julia?"

Chapter 78

Agent 53

8 am November 2^nd, 2006

1 am November 3^rd, 2006 (local time)

I put the cast on my arm again and made like the battle drained solider I was supposed to be. The Association chose me for this assignment based on my acting experience, and by Cecil B. DeMille, I was going to give the best performance anybody could expect.

First, I went to the bench at the gate. There I saw the pilot drive in. After having a brief talk with him, I set him off to his assigned quarters. Next was the navigator and the engineer. They arrived by boat. I gave them the same brief talk and sent them where I'd sent the others. I already knew the last person was already on the base. By now he should be in the quarters.