Chapter 61: Rude Visitors

The loud blast of an alarm jerked me out of my sleep. I sat up in surprise and then looked around in confusion. Behind me, I could feel someone else move.

I ended up rubbing my eyes a couple of times to clear them before I recognized where I was. The teleport room lights were now flashing a bright red as the siren continued to blare.

"Quiet!" James' bellow cut through the alarm. It chirped one last time and then quieted down. "I need a report."

"Sorry," a female voice said quietly. I recognized it as Janet's. "The missile cruiser just turned on every targeting system it has and pointed them at the colony. The alarm was set off by the AI."

"Admiral," James said icily. "You better have a damn good explanation for this. Especially if that cruiser is in firing range."

"It isn't," Janet said. "Once Cancun was in the repair docks it pulled back to rejoin the admiral's carrier. They are hanging out near the system's jump limit."

"We could fire from here," the admiral said.

"What? Even the best Confederacy missiles don't have enough fuel to boost that far," Janet said. "We do have anti-missile defenses set up. From that distance you might be able to fire, but the odds of a successful hit are zero."

"That doesn't matter," the admiral said. "I just needed to awaken someone on Ishtar. It's time for James to surrender himself so he can be taken to trial."

I could hear a long sigh over the speakers. Beside me, Madoka awoke and was clearly unhappy. I checked her and found that her diaper needed to be changed. The nearest changing table was just outside the room, so I picked her up to carry her as my master spoke.

"Admiral," James said. "Now, that warrant was issued by someone who works in research and development, correct?"

"Yes," came the curt reply from the admiral.

"And I believe even you must agree that there is no reasonable explanation for why a group with no representation in a system might issue a warrant," James continued. His voice was smooth and calming.

There was a pause. I had reached the changing table and set Madoka down while I retrieved a diaper and some wipes from the miniature replicator set up at the station. My daughter squirmed as I removed the soiled diaper and started to clean her. I was concentrating on this task, but still heard the admiral's grudging, "Yes."

This answer brought a smile to my face, but Colonel Johanes immediately screamed. "There is a reasonable explanation! The condition of this planet and its illegal colony were well known! The warrant was to prevent exactly the kind of uncooperative support I received when I arrived."

James snorted. I had finished cleaning my daughter and was securing a new diaper as he responded. "Admiral, I believe even you will agree that warrants are supposed to be issued for actual crimes, not as deterrents to be used if a commander doesn't receive a certain level of cooperation."

"That does make sense," the admiral admitted.

"And finally, wouldn't it make a lot more sense if a charge of insurrection came from the immediate commander. In which case Admiral Himmel should have been the one to deal with this, not a unit sent by Central Command?"

"You must have been a lawyer," the admiral said with a gruff snort. "Were you always such a barracks room barrister?"

"James is no lawyer," I shouted, defending my master.

"Doesn't matter if he is or was," the admiral blasted back. "I can see where he's going with the questions, and it doesn't matter. It is not my place to decode the legality of this warrant. I'm not an officer of the court that will try James. I am merely the instrument by which James will be taken and transported to the court. They will decide the legality of this situation."

"No," a new male voice said. "You won't be removing him from Ishtar."

"James..." Janet said.

"What?" he called back.

"Sif, Morrigan, Athena, and Freya are forming up in a line. They are directly between us and that carrier," Janet said.

I had finished putting the diaper on Madoka. She was still fussing a little. I returned with her to the teleport room and lay down on the bedroll. I lay her down long enough to take my top off and then brought her up to my breast. She began to suckle as the conversation continued playing out through the speakers.

"What is this?" the admiral shouted. "Captains, I order you to move out of the way."

"No," the same male voice replied calmly. "You do not have that authority. I also would note that if you persist in pursuing the adherence to a warrant that you have admitted to knowing was issued under false pretenses, you are putting your own career in danger."

"Another pretend barrister!" the admiral said scornfully.

"Actually back on Earth I was a lawyer," the voice replied. "Now it appears that I'm the senior officer from the district here. Lieutenant Colonel William Evans, Captain of Morrigan."

"If you are only a Lieutenant Colonel than I outrank you," Admiral Timmons observed. "That means you have to obey my orders when I tell you to stand down, so that I can arrest James and his people."

"My commander is Admiral Himmel," came an icy reply from Tanya Walker. I was astonished by how the warm and sexy voice was now filled with frost. "I do have to obey the superior officer within my chain of command, but you are not part of my chain of command."

"I'm from Central Command!" the admiral shouted. "What..." he paused in his rant. "Come again, you just said that Cardiff had broken formation! Captain, what is the meaning of this!"