He wanted to put in some calls but they’d taken his communicator. They brought him something to eat. He picked at it listlessly and then squatted on the bunk and thought about the woman in the crowd at the shuttle terminal. It was only a tantalizing glimpse. Was it really Neraya? If it was, how the hell did she know he was arriving? Not from him; he wasn’t allowed to call anyone. Maybe she didn’t know, maybe she came to meet someone else and saw him by chance. She looked alarmed. Was that because he was being arrested or because she hadn’t expected him to come back? He shook his head.
It was only a glimpse. It probably wasn’t her at all. He’d just imagined it because he wanted it to be her.
*
“You asked to see me?”
The Prison Governor smiled ingratiatingly at the attractive lady in uniform and indicated a seat.
Neraya remained standing. There was no mistaking the authority in her demeanour.
“Yes I did. You have taken a man into custody today, Captain Daniel Larssen. I’ve been denied access to him. I want to know why.”
The Governor nodded slowly. “There are rather strict security issues surrounding this case—”
“Is it your normal practice to keep a prisoner isolated without access to visitors or a lawyer, Governor?”
“Well, no, not exactly—”
“Then why is this man being singled out for special treatment? Is it to give your gorillas a chance to work him over before anyone can get to him? So you can put out some eyewash that he resisted arrest?”
“I can assure you, madam, that nothing of the sort—”
“How do I know that if you won’t let me see him?”
The Governor had begun to perspire. This woman was incandescent. He passed his tongue over his lips. “Please understand, I’m only carrying out instructions—”
“Your instructions are against the law. They are a basic infringement of human rights. Do you recognize this uniform?”
“Yes, of course… Colonel.”
“Do you have any idea how much hot water I can put you in over this?”
“Look, Colonel… what is it you want?”
“It’s not what I want. It’s what’s going to happen. First, I will be allowed access to the prisoner – now. Second, I will come back again, with a lawyer. Third, we will post an application for bail.” Her voice acquired a vehement warmth. “And if I am obstructed in any way I am going right to the top, and I can assure you that heads will roll.”
The Governor swallowed hard. “Colonel, excuse me asking you this, but would you mind telling me what level of security clearance you carry?”
“Class A.”
His face registered shock, and then melted into a smile of relief. “Ma’am, I wish you’d told me that earlier. Of course with such a high level of clearance there will be no problem.” He pressed a communicator button. “Sandra, who’s on induction? Well, have him take Captain Daniel Larssen to the Visitor’s Room. And would you pick up—” he looked enquiringly at his visitor.
“Colonel Delveaux,” she snapped.
“—thank you, Colonel Delveaux from my office and take her down there to see him?”
*
Dan was still sitting on the edge of the bunk when a key turned in the lock. A guard appeared in the doorway.
“Visitor for you, Larssen. Come with me.”
The Visitor’s Room was empty except for two chairs and a table, all bolted to the floor. The only other furniture was a clock on one bare wall. It registered a quarter-past five. He’d arrived at the terminal at ten o’clock this morning. What was all this about? The door opened and Neraya walked in.
As soon as the door closed behind her she flicked her eyes around the room to indicate to him that it would be equipped with cameras and listening devices. She pointed to the two chairs placed at a plain table and they sat down.
He couldn’t take his eyes off her. Her face had always been lovely, but the features had somehow matured, emphasizing the high cheekbones and the perfect skin. Her uniform was a deep burgundy and there was a silver eagle on each epaulette. It was the uniform of a Colonel in the crack Strategic Planning Division.
She held her head a little to one side and regarded him with a look of amused tolerance, rather as a mother might look at a much-loved but naughty child. He responded in kind with a mischievous grin.
“I came back, Neraya,” he said.
“So I see.” Her expression and her voice softened. “How are you, Danny?”
“Good. I’m good. You look absolutely great.”
She smiled. Then she met his eyes and the look he saw there banished for ever the nagging doubts with which he’d tortured himself so cruelly. There was no one else. She was here for him. Nothing else mattered. A sublime feeling of warmth settled on him, and for a moment or two he just bathed in it. There was so much he wanted to say to her…
Not here, not like this.
“I tried to let you know I was on the home straight when I crossed Mars orbit, but they were blocking everything except communication with Mission Ops, right up to the last moment. How did you know I’d docked?”
“Hal told me.”
“I thought Hal wasn’t in the loop.”
“They brought him back in – two weeks ago – so he could make preparations for unloading your cargo. I’d made a little pact with him before you left Earth orbit and he was good enough to remember it.” He caught just a faint trace of her original accent, incorporated now into the melody of her voice. He wanted to listen to her for ever. She went on, “When I saw the MPs taking you away I had a fair idea where they’d be going. Why did they arrest you, Danny? What went wrong?”
He glanced meaningfully around the room to remind her of the surveillance. “I had a couple of problems getting through. The only way I could make it was by using some of the stuff in the holds. Now they’re bleating about missing cargo and breach of contract.”
“Missing cargo and breach of contract? After you got through? That’s not the issue. Any normal company would defend an employee in a situation like that. You know very well who’s behind this.”
Dan nodded. It had occurred to him, too. No doubt the Station Commander’s report had given Stott the idea.
The door opened and the guard appeared. “Sorry, ma’am. Time’s up.”
Her manner changed. She didn’t even turn towards the interruption. “Thank you warder, I will determine when this interview is over,” she said imperiously. “If you care to, you can check that with the Prison Governor.”
The man withdrew hastily and Neraya directed her attention back to Dan, who had been watching with undisguised admiration.
“The first thing is to get you out of here,” she said. “You’re going to need legal representation.”
“I was thinking of conducting my own case.”
“Don’t even think of it. They’ll get some smart lawyer to run rings round you. And you haven’t got any experience of this type of case. I’ve got good contacts; I made a few enquiries before I came here. They call it a court martial but it has a lot of elements of civil court procedure because it’s only a quasi-military organization. I’ve lined up an expert for you. You’ll like him. His name is Conor O’Gorman. He’s an Irishman.”
Dan grinned. “No, really?”
*
“Thanks for getting me out, Conor.”
Conor beamed. He was a generously proportioned man, with a round, ruddy face to which beaming came naturally. “You’re very welcome. It was a straightforward bail application. Jeyz, they were difficult about it, though.”
“There’s someone on the Board of Directors who doesn’t like me.”
“Ah, now that might explain it.”
“Who put up bail?”
“I think you know that already.”
“Yes, I guess I do.”
“Well now, I had a word with the company’s lawyers about the charges. They were thinking of referring part of the case to the International Conven
tion. They said what you did to the freighter contravened the Convention on Militarization of Space.”
“Ha, that’s a joke. What did you say?”
“Eh well, I said in view of the fact that you had been hired to carry a large cargo of offensive weapons, for delivery to, and deployment by, a military client, it seemed to me that in terms of the Convention the company had already been compromised before you even got on board. That being so, I’d be more than happy to defend you on the charges. Of course as it was an International Court the hearing would be in public and I assumed they would be comfortable with that?”
“Lovely. What was their reaction?”
“They had a rapid consultation and decided that maybe they would not follow up that avenue after all.”
“Great stuff. What else do they want to charge me with?”
“That you deliberately disregarded a decision by the Board of Directors. In this context that’s like disobeying the order of a senior officer.”
“Okay.”
“That you wilfully and maliciously caused damage to company equipment, namely, one of their spacecraft.”
“Yup.”
“And that you misappropriated lawfully carried cargo for your own ends and thereby caused the company to be in breach of its contractual obligations. Technically that’s not a breach of martial law but as it’s linked to the other charges it can be tried in the same hearing.”
“Right. It’s all true. Except for ‘maliciously’. I didn’t do any of it maliciously.”
“Good. So let’s talk about your defence.”
56
As the Security Officer opened the door to usher him into the courtroom the murmur of conversation Dan could already hear became suddenly loud, then faded as he entered. What seemed like a sea of faces turned in his direction. He looked away but he could still feel their eyes on him. Conor was sitting in the front row, calmly unloading papers from a battered leather briefcase on the table in front of him. Seeing Dan, he smiled and pointed to the seat on his right. Dan went over and sat down quickly, aware all the time of that curious, hostile inspection. He was unprepared for this. He was expecting a relatively private hearing and this looked more like a conventional civil case, with a sizeable audience. After months of living a solitary existence on Solar Wind it was profoundly unsettling. Who were all these people and why were they here?
Whoever they were, they must have been vetted very thoroughly. Neither the company nor the government would want it to become general knowledge that the run he’d just completed breached the Convention. He thought about it more carefully and it began to make sense. It wasn’t just the Convention, there were breaches of contract involved as well. That meant the directors and senior executives of SpaceFreight and the company’s lawyers would probably be somewhere in the rows of seats behind him, maybe the directors of Space Fleet too. Apart from the legal aspects they’d want to know how and why he’d almost written off one of their most expensive ships. The Agency would be represented; as clients they would be concerned about shortages in the cargo they’d paid for. And the Department of Defense had provided the weaponry so they would certainly have observers back there to find out why some of it had been used en route.
Conor had been very reassuring when they were preparing his case but Dan was now beset by doubts. The company was clearly vulnerable to compensation claims and possibly to law suits. By putting them in this position he’d probably breached his own contract. What would they do if they found him guilty of that? How vindictive would they be? Would they withhold the remuneration package they’d promised him? After all he’d been through would he find himself once again out of a job and deep in debt? Somehow that disturbed him even more than the prospect of another spell in jail.
By now the court was in full session but he had retreated so far into his own private world of worry that he was almost oblivious to what was going on around him. Then the Prosecuting Officer started to show pictures of Solar Wind and that brought him abruptly out of his reverie.
First there were general views of the spacecraft, the observation bays indicated with arrows. These were followed by close-ups of the observation bays with and without Dan’s modifications. There was a low buzz of conversation. The Prosecuting Officer went on to show pictures of the damage caused by the shells and by the asteroid hits. This elicited gasps from the audience. Dan watched the succession of images with genuine interest. While he was still at Station Saturn one of the military pilots had given him a quick shuttle tour of Solar Wind, but the lighting had been poor. These more detailed shots conveyed a much better idea of what he’d been flying home. It was quite impressive. The implication was that he was responsible for the damage.
The first witness was the Flight Controller on the Orbital Dock.
“You are Edouard Mesager?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Would you state your occupation, Mr Mesager?”
“I am the Flight Controller on Orbital Dock 3, the Freight Dock.”
“And were you on duty as Flight Controller at the time of the departure of the Spacefreighter Solar Wind?”
“I was, yes.”
“Mr Mesager. You have seen the pictures I have shown the court of the observation bays on the Solar Wind.”
“Yes.”
“Did you have the opportunity to note the condition of those bays when the freighter was at your Orbital Dock?”
“Yes, for sure. The Freighter was up there loading for weeks. I saw plenty of it.”
“And were the observation bays at that time like this?”
He showed again the picture of an unmodified bay.
“Yes.”
“They were not like this?”
He showed a bay with a shell-thrower and a torpedo launcher in place.
“No, certainly not.”
“If they had been like this, you would have noticed?”
“Hoh, yes!”
“And during loading did the Spacefreighter show evidence of any other kind of damage?”
“No. It was like new.”
“Thank you, Mr Mesager. That will be all.”
Conor waived cross-examination.
Hal Lewis was called to the witness stand. He shot Dan a glance. He looked uncomfortable. After the preliminaries the Prosecuting Officer said:
“Mr Lewis. Do you recall a conversation with the defendant about the Board’s decision not to seek exemption from the Convention on Militarization of Space?”
“We had a conversation about the decision not to arm the freighter, yes.”
“Mr Lewis, in your opinion was the defendant acquainted with the content of the Convention?”
“He was aware of the main thrust of it, yes.”
“Including the prohibition on the deployment of offensive weapons on a civilian freighter.”
“Yes.”
“And in the course of your conversation with the defendant did you inform him of the Board’s decision on this matter.”
“I did.”
“And what was the defendant’s reaction?”
“Your Honour,” Conor interrupted. “The defendant does not contest the charge that he acted contrary to the Board’s decision.”
“Your Honour,” the Prosecuting Officer said testily. “I am trying to establish that the defendant had knowledge of the Board decision before he acted in defiance of it.”
“Proceed.”
“I repeat, Mr Lewis, what was the defendant’s reaction when you informed him of the Board’s decision?”
“He thought they were wrong. He explained why—”
“Mr Lewis, did the defendant accept the Board’s decision: yes or no?”
“He seemed to, yes.”
The Prosecuting Officer dismissed Hal. He then explained that his next witness, the Commander of Station Saturn, could not be present in person but he would present in evidence the Commander’s written report. As he’d given the Defence a copy beforehand both Conor and Dan knew what was in
it already. There were no surprises there for Dan.
“In relation to this report I would like to emphasize the purpose of establishing Station Saturn. The Station will make an important contribution to scientific research but that is a spin-off. Its primary task is to deflect or to destroy objects such as asteroids that are of a dangerous size and on a collision course with Earth. To accomplish this successfully requires the use of explosive devices and it is for this reason, and this reason alone, that these devices were included in the cargo manifest of Spacefreighter Solar Wind. Now I draw attention to the shortages in the cargo, as noted during unloading at Station Saturn and recorded by the Station Commander in this report starting on page thirty-seven. Sixteen torpedo launchers, thirty-two torpedoes, sixteen shell-throwers, and approximately three hundred rounds for the shell-throwers. In addition you will see, starting on page forty, a list of cargo that was lost or damaged. The clients are currently seeking advice on recovering these losses from the Company, which is in breach of its contract as a direct result of the defendant’s reckless and malicious actions.”
Conor rose quickly. “Objection! Prosecution has not established that these actions were either reckless or malicious.”
“Sustained. The Prosecution will please stick to the facts.”
The Prosecuting Officer smiled and called Captain Dan Larssen to the stand.
57
“Captain Larssen, were you aware that the Board of Directors had made a specific decision not to arm Spacefreighter Solar Wind?”
“I made the request to the Board but they did not have the courtesy to communicate their decision to me. I had to ask Mr Lewis what had happened.”
“And Mr Lewis then communicated the decision to you?”
“Yes.”
“So you did know of the Board’s decision.”
Saturn Run (The Planetary Trilogy Book 1) Page 26