by P F Walsh
At the appointed time, all were assembling at the large Conference room of the Speaker’s office complex. Security of the SPP, the Speaker’s Personal Police was heavy and well-armed. Each entrant was to be identified carefully before being allowed in. Sean and his team had already been admitted to the room and were all seated on chairs along the wall. The large conference table had been moved out for this meeting; it was expected that the Orbital Defense personnel would stand at attention during the meeting.
The Speaker was at a standup podium with the flags of Denknish and the City in flag stands directly behind her, ready for the others to come in. The back wall was lined with SPP guards ostensibly as witnesses. There was one recording vid camera with operator in the right front corner of the room opposite the other front corner which had a large panel covering the corner. The camera could cover all the events and focus on the faces of the Orbital team.
“Please bring in the Orbital Security Team and the Chief Priest.” She commanded in her best authoritative voice. Two of the rear SPP guards opened the double doors and signaled to the outside guards to admit the group. First, came the Chief Priest. As he entered with the Orbital Security Team behind him, the Speaker came out from behind the podium and struck hands with the priest and proceeded to introduce him to Sean’s group one at a time. After he had met everyone in amicable contact, he moved over to the right side of the podium, the position of endorsement to whoever was giving the address.
The Speaker introduced each member of the Orbital Security team to the Discovery crew starting with Colonel Yasto Belmint senior team member on duty that night. After all the introductions had been completed, the Orbital Security team formed up about seven strides in front of and away from the podium. The Speaker now behind the podium facing the smiling faces of the security team, began,
“The first bit of business I wish to implement today is to conduct an award ceremony for performance in duty separate from those in combat. We have rarely been able to have those and I wanted to show that those who implement the most important duties successfully are recognized. In these unending years of war, the approach of an unknown starship might have been destroyed out of hand. Our decades of war have dulled our senses to competent perspective unaligned with combat operations. This could have resulted in our assault against the diplomatic ship of a fifty-one-planet consortium with superior resources. We do not need another enemy, especially fifty-one of them.”
“Therefore, I am awarding each of you the Competency in Extraordinary Duty decoration. The CED. This military award can only be given by the Civil authority and is only the fifth time it has been awarded in one hundred years. Congratulations! The Speaker came to the front of the line and began attaching the decoration to each team member. After the last one had been decorated and the Speaker returned to the podium the Colonel called for a hand salute to the Speaker. Once done, she began again as all watched and the camera recorded the event.
“There is one final matter of grave element we must deal with.” She turned to Halkt-Bar in Sean’s team.
“Halkt-Bar is a crew member of the Discovery starship, a Counselor of Law and a student of our laws. I have asked him to read and excerpt from our Military Justice Code as amended by war powers amendment 567.”
Halkt-Bat stood up and read, his voice sounding tinny but clear as it came out of his translator,
“Section 1109 Awards and Punishments, paragraph 32 and 33 with preamble reads,
“In the course of military disputes and lethal actions between Denknish inside of its solar authority, and sovereign parties beyond, but unlimited, this code concisely establishes disposition of the following eventualities.”
Ҧ 32- Event One. During a lethal dispute between sovereign parties as described above, should a formally declared enemy combatant be apprehended in a lethal spy or sabotage mission inside the solar authority of Denknish, that combatant whether in civil or military dress, be interrogated and within three solars be executed by instant means with witnesses. The remains to be disposed of by chemical dissolution.
Halkt-Bar cleared his throat and continued,
“¶ 33- Event Two. During a lethal dispute between sovereign parties as described above, should the supreme civil authority of Denknish arrange and give warrant of protection and issuance of admittance to an emissary of the enemy for purposes of humane cooperation, pursuit of combat abatement, discussions or offerings of peaceful settlement and that emissary is purposely struck by a citizen or military member of Denknish that results in death of the emissary, that offending person or persons affirmatively identified shall be taken on the solar of affirmative identification to a suitable place nearby and executed by instant means. The remains to be disposed of by chemical dissolution. The punishment shall be recorded by reproducible means and that recording sent to the genesis of the emissary.”
Halkt-Bar finished and sat down. The room grew very quiet. The priest looked puzzled. Speaker Nool then reached around to the front of the podium where a large scroll-like banner was rolled up with a ribbon tie. She untied the ribbon and the banner, secured at the top, fell open. It was a large photo of Admiral Felicit Andregga’s corpse taken on the Discovery.
No one spoke, as she looked at the faces of the Orbital team. Most were frowning, a few with their mouths open. Colonel Yasto Belmint’s face stone-like. The Speaker broke the silence.
“This is the body of Admiral Felicit Andregga. She was given my direct warrant and protection to come and enter Denknish solar space for purposes of discussing the ending of hostilities. In other words, she was an unarmed military officer on a peaceful diplomatic mission in a civilian shuttle bearing civilian identification. That precise information and arrival time was sent directly to you Colonel. Her shuttle was destroyed by our battle drones she was assured by me were safe to approach. She was alone. The Discovery’s crew found her body floating near the site of her shuttle’s debris.”
“What do you have to say for yourself Colonel? I know you and your crew were on duty that night.” She spat in an icy tone. The Colonel remained composed with a trace of satisfaction. Was that because he could now see the result of his work? She prodded him,
“Colonel?”
He finally replied in smooth unstressed tones,
“I had nothing to do with that Ma’am. It is possible that one of my team misunderstood my instructions and I believe the logs for that evening were damaged by an equipment failure.” Some of his team snapped a puzzled look at the Colonel.
The Speaker nodded, looking quite like she expected the answer he gave.
“I would like to take this critical moment to introduce you to two more members of Captain Flynn’s crew.”
At that announcement the two Sisters of Mak’am floated out from behind the screen in the front corner. The Chief Priest began to make protective symbolic motions with his hands and arms as he believed they were spirits or ghosts. No living person could float while planet side. He could not see their faces behind the ivory masks and the hooded robe enhanced the ethereal impression. He was frightened.
The line of Orbital Security team stiffened and a few took a step back and then returned to the line.
Sean rose from his chair and stood alongside the Sisters.
“These are the Sisters of Mak’am. They are not people as you and I, but are planet bound spirits from the Mother Den on the planet Hhearn. They consume no food, seek no wealth, do no work, companion to no one but these sisters have one extraordinary ability.” He recited as they stared at these specters in front of them.
“They have the ability to look into the minds of any person and see what they are thinking. Their robes turn red when confronted with a person of ill intent or evil pursuit, liars and deceivers.” Sean had drawn the Sisters to the other end of the line from the Colonel.
“You each should recall paragraph 33 as you are questioned. There is a firing squad assembled in the courtyard below according to the Speaker, my impression is she is in n
o mood for the slightest bit of leniency. I advise you to respond truthfully if you wish to live out the solar. If you have no part in this conspiracy and murder, you should have no fear.” Sean moved away as Speaker Nool approached the first team member.
She stood in front of him with the sisters beside her and just stared at him. The Sisters spoke to Sean in his mind.
“This one is frightened but innocent, he was not in the room when the order was given to destroy the shuttle.” They chimed. Sean repeated what they said. The team member looked relieved and nodded affirmatively,
“Yes, Ma’am that’s correct I was on break at that time but I knew something important had happened, everyone was nervous when I came back.” he said.
The Speaker moved to the next team member with the same stare. The Sisters spoke to Sean,
“This one was there at the event but was not an implementer and was upset she could not do anything. She knew the order was wrong.”
Once again, Sean repeated their comment verbatim. The team member seemed to slump and tears began to issue from both eyes. By now, the other team members could see the Sisters knew exactly what each member had done that night.
Speaker Nool moved to the third team member a young private rank who was sweating. He buckled under her stare and cried out,
“I was instructed to disregard the order of the Speaker and destroy the shuttle. I didn’t know what was going on. I was told it was just learned it was an enemy trick to get beyond our defense. We were threatened with severe discipline if we discussed this. It was supposed to be top secret stuff Ma’am.”
“Shut up private.” Screamed the Colonel. “We were all following orders from General Tommar and did our duty to kill a rotten enemy officer.” At that he broke from the line, snapped a hidden knife from his belt and moved to assault the Speaker screaming,
“Traitor!” He got just over a step and a half before Doris had her gun in her hand and shot him in the back, the round passing through him into the wall. The explosion threw the room into chaos and the security guards at the back of the room ran to surround the Speaker as she looked at the dying Colonel burbling unintelligible words through his bloody mouth. He stopped moving a few seconds later. Doris dropped her weapon by her side but kept it ready. She sent a message to Martin to raise defense levels.
Speaker Nool stood there for a minute nodding her head and then spoke to her senior guard,
“Issue an arrest warrant for General Tommar, dead or alive for Treason. Take a copy of this recording and get it broadcast over all the networks as soon as possible. Keep running it until the midst-night hour. Then clean up this mess, take the body to disposal according to Paragraph 33, our work is done on this issue today.”
She turned to Sean,
“And the rest of the team?” She asked,
“The Sisters say none are complicit in the planning, and all were following orders of the Colonel.”
Sean could see the frightened Orbital Security team slump with relief, two of the young ones silently crying from the experience.
“Dismissed!” The Speaker barked and they fled the room.
The Chief Priest stunned at the whole event and seeing a man shot down right before him, was trembling and breathing in short gasps. He moved to find a chair and Sean helped him to sit as he composed himself. He said softly so only Sean and the Speaker could hear,
“Ordinarily, I should give him the ‘Issuance of Admittance’ rite but he has taken the life of another in evil intent by his own admission and no blessings can come from me, nor shall his essence pass into the soil as innocent. He is damned.”
Now a bit rested, he suddenly snapped his eyes wide with realization, looked at Sean, at then to Speaker Nool. He said to the puzzlement of Speaker Nool,
“The Scroll, the Scroll, it has been fulfilled.”
General Tommar was enjoying his dinner at an expensive restaurant at Denknish Capital City with friends and a few fellow Officers. He had just put down his glass of red Malker spirit, a fruity essence of gremers, a somewhat cross between a grape and an apple that was popular and in short supply since many of the gremer fields had been damaged. Such inconveniences did not come to mind of the General who was invested in the excitement and drama of war. He fashioned himself in his mind’s assessments as a visionary leader, and on some solar, to rise to Speaker where a real leader could show the way to domination of enemies and any social resistances. He felt very clever on how he squashed the Speaker’s peace attempts. He knew that once the Presidium Leader Helmist Andregga learned his daughter, unarmed Admiral Andregga, had been murdered by Denknish, all hopes of peaceful settlements would be abandoned.
It was while he was musing on this achievement when he suddenly reached up to his earbud pushing it in a bit more as he listened to a brief message. His face turned white and he rose from the table so forcefully his place setting went crashing onto the floor as he pushed his chair over and ran for the exit without saying a word to the astonishment of his table partners. His table napkin was still tucked into his waist belt.
It took some time for the chaos in the Speaker’s Office to be documented with testimonies from all especially the Orbital Security team one of which confirmed the now deceased Colonel’s reference to General Tommar’s orders for the action. The Security forensic specialist documented the dead Colonel with photos of him and the knife in his hand before the body was removed. A cursory statement was required of Doris and she gave a typical police officer’s report. Clinical and concise. She did not have to surrender her weapon since she was under diplomatic exclusion. The investigators ignored the Sisters who huddled together behind the screen, also under diplomatic exclusion.
“In a way, this could not have worked out better than it did.” Thought Speaker Nool. Outside parties under diplomatic protection not only solved the problem and exposed the guilty party, but escape bureaucratic inquisitions and attempts to reconstruct the events which now were playing on vids all over Denknish.
“Good luck on changing this story.” She thought. “This is a major blow to those who oppose settlement of this war. I don’t think the General’s life is worth much now. His associates in this scheme will want him unable to talk, especially after they learn more about the Sisters.” She mused and smiled.
As all the investigative staff left the office, Sean asked the Speaker if she would like to join him and his crew on the Discovery for dinner and discuss interplanetary relations. She was invited to bring a security officer with her. He said he has a small favor to ask of her when they were aboard the Discovery. She couldn’t imagine what it might be, but Denknish certainly owed Captain Sean and his crew a substantial debt of gratitude. His security officer may have saved her life.
She accepted his invitation, notified Security to bring the transport around, assign an Officer, and went to the closet to get a coat and umbrella. It had started to rain again.
Wallace Henning, the Earth Interplanetary Relations Office (IRO) Ambassador on Hhearn was deluged with questions related to appropriate business transactions and culture issues. There was a thriving interest in establishing trade with Earth. The one he was most pleased about was request for assistance in leasing the top floor of the Council Building for an Earth restaurant to be called “Top of The World.” It was made by a Food Service Corporation that owned over 2,000 Earth restaurants of various types and franchises. They had the pockets to approach interplanetary business, but there was no doubt in his mind that it would turn out to be the most successful unit in their portfolio, and would lead to opening others on Hhearn and the Member planets. The company had already sent an agronomist, a farming expert, and a production analyzer to Hhearn to determine the viability of raising Earth based vegetables in Hhearnian soil. There was also the interest of transporting dressed meat that Hhearn did not have like Pork. There was a big demand for bacon. Things were getting very busy.
Wally sat in his office composing his latest report to Sean’s local office and a copy
to the President of the United States who now was Earth’s sitting Councilor on the Council. Sean had originally been nominated as Councilor for Earth since he was Earth’s Senior Field Officer from the IRO, Earth’s Interplanetary Resource Office. Sean declined, wanting no more honors than he had already received and the freedom to develop his own more flexible activities. The Board of the IRO, surprised, then voted to choose the President of the United States since he was already going to attend the annual meeting with the Secretary of State. Russia and China voted ‘no’ but were in the minority and did not have a starship to go yet. They were outvoted. The President was surprised but pleased to step onto a larger stage of leadership.
As Wally wrote, he knew Sean’s Hhearn office would forward his report to Sean once Sean got an arrangement to receive couriers
unmolested in a war zone. He expressed his personal concerns related to Sean’s Courier report that there was an age-old war between two worlds, one of which he was now visiting. He looked forward to Sean’s next courier report, but as much as he now knew Senior Field Officer Sean, he felt it was likely to report success in at least limited relations.
After he got done with his report and posted it, he would be joining the Senior Councilor and his mate for dinner. He was interested to hear the Councilor’s perspective on Nasht-Mer’s ‘Tour des dépenses,’ a tour of spending on Earth. He laughed as he went to get his suit coat on. He wasn’t quite comfortable in the Hhearn mode of male dressing yet.
“That will take a bit of time, “He mused, “actually, a lot of time.”
Chapter Six
Book Two
The Dinner aboard the Discovery with Speaker Nool was relaxing and productive in getting to know each other’s personal style of communicating. Initially, the Speaker was businesslike and in her normal ‘command’ mode as Speaker. But, as the evening wore on, now sated by Earth foods and drink, she was becoming more relaxed and more like she thought she would like to be as a Leader, if there was not the pull and demand of wartime issues. The Speaker and Sean discussed the very great need of Denknish to receive food aid. Sean knew that could clearly come under humanitarian assistance but was still aid to one party over the other.