by Chris Hechtl
Each of the officers were in their dress uniform while the admiral was in his day uniform. He hadn't been asked or given the opportunity to change. He wasn't certain if he was interested in it or not. A flick of his implants and the nanites would alter his current uniform if he wanted. For now he would ride it out. Besides, he was comfortable. From the way Amadeus was already tugging on his collar they weren't.
Sprite's avatar was next to the admiral. The other two AI would have to take turns with her if they were called as a witness the admiral thought.
There was a tablet and glass of water in front of each of the board officers. As senior officer Commodore Subert also had an hourglass shaped hand gavel and knocker to his right.
“Admiral, that is just one reason we have a problem. Your judgment in that matter is suspect. You keep insisting it was a murder. My conclusions say otherwise. It was an unfortunate accident.”
“That isn't how it happened and you know it, Commander,” the admiral said stubbornly.
“You have supposition, not facts, Admiral.”
“I see. And Commander Sprite's report of the access to the admiral?”
“We only have her word for it since she refuses to grant us access.”
“It'll be a cold day in Mordor before I'll let anyone into my core. I gave you copies of the files.”
“And they could say anything you wanted, Commander,” Winston replied.
“Are you calling me a liar?” Sprite demanded. “Violating my oath as an officer?”
“No.”
“At least not yet,” Egon said. “We still can't confirm the truth of your statements, Commander.”
“I'm not happy about the direction this is going. This is getting a bit too confrontational and adversarial fast,” Captain Lyon said, clearly uncomfortable. "Perhaps we should all take a step back and follow protocol?”
“I find it odd that only sleepers are involved in this proceedings,” Sprite stated. The admiral looked behind him but no one was present as an audience. They didn't want anyone to know? Or they thought they'd move fast enough to keep a lid on things. He was fairly certain keeping a lid on things wasn't going to happen.
“They are the senior officers present.”
“Right,” Sprite drawled.
“You will conduct yourself as an officer commander or be held in contempt,” Commodore Subert reminded her.
“Let's begin shall we,” Captain Lyon stated. According to the admiral's readings of the man's vitals he was clearly becoming uncomfortable about how things were going. He had signed off on it but now seemed reluctant to continue. “Admiral, when you woke on Io 11, you did nothing to secure the ship.”
“At the time I woke she was under attack by pirates. The enemy of my enemy is my friend comes to mind there captain,” the admiral stated flatly.
The captain nodded. “Understood. But you could have taken control later.”
“How? I am one flag officer with three supporting AI trying to take control of a ship from her rightful crew who salvaged her. The rights of salvage apply. A case for mutiny would apply there now wouldn't it?” Irons asked mildly.
That shot went home he could tell. White wasn't at all comfortable with the proceedings.
“There would be no way one man could run a Cabeiri class tender alone. He is correct there,” Commander Howell admitted. “Next question sirs.”
“Ignoring the fact that she was a former navy vessel ... you could have gotten off the ship at any time,” White said.
“While in hyper?” Sprite asked, clearly needling the Neochimp.
“You know what I mean,” the chimp growled.
“No. Each of the planets we visited were unsuited for my plan. They were targets. Pyrax was the closest star system that fit my needs,” the admiral said simply.
“Why did you help the crew rebuild their ship?” Ray asked.
“Why not? My safety was involved. Also, speed. The faster we went the quicker we got to where I wanted to do,” the admiral said. “It seems only logical to me,” he said.
“At Centennial you gave them weapons. That is a clear violation of order nine regarding handing civilians’ weapons, Admiral,” Commander Howell stated.
“I wasn't aware you were given that information,” the admiral said, raising an eyebrow.
“Answer the question, Admiral,” the commander stated.
“All right, a hostage situation broke out on the planet. The security detachment on the ship were going down to rescue their shipmates. They were outfitted with hunting weapons and swords,” he said. He caught Amadeus's grimace out of the corner of his eye. “I gave them SWAT weapons, many of them nonlethal weapons to help them rescue their friends and family. The same weapons police officers are outfitted with,” the admiral stated.
“Still, you should not have been involved,” Commodore Subert stated.
“Many of the people who were hostages I had come to think of as my shipmates. One in particular, Molly the acting chief engineer was the first crew member to forge a friendship with me. I have no regrets in aiding the crew. Then or now. My only regret was that I didn't participate myself. She may not have lost her life if I had.”
Commodore Subert cleared his throat. “I see.” He looked distinctively uncomfortable for a moment. He looked away, then took a sip of water from the glass in front of him. Finally he nodded. “Moving on for the moment. In Pyrax ...”
“Here we go,” Sprite said softly in his ear as the admiral settled himself.
“Let the record reflect that a board of inquiry is not the proper venue to address concerns of subordinate officers,” Sprite said. Commodore Subert flushed. He opened his mouth and reached for his gavel but she continued. “A board can only be called if a ship had been lost, poor performance in battle, collision, mutiny, destruction while in port, or unprepared for battle. Calling one for not following proper procedures and approved orders is at the discretion of the senior officer, which is Admiral Irons,” the AI said.
The commodore's hand gripped the gavel. “Let the record further reflect that proper procedure deems that the board must be of an authority superior to the authority in this case Fleet Admiral Irons. This is not the case,” Sprite said. Commodore White winced. Captain Lyon paled slightly. The AI didn't react at all. “Admiral, do you concur?” Sprite asked, turning to Irons.
“I think we need to let them say their piece,” the admiral said simply. He noted they were only focusing on the negatives, not any of the positive things he had accomplished. Nor his stated strategy or the political situation in the sector. “Continue,” he said with a nod.
“Giving them enough rope, Admiral?” Sprite asked for his ears alone. He merely flicked his fingers. She could tell that although he was projecting a calm demeanor he was angry. Not quite pissed but he was definitely not amused.
“Setting aside the events after your initial arrival on Anvil station, and the battle for the moment, we can attend to them later,” Captain Lyon said with a look to Commodore White. The neochimp merely flicked his fingers. “Let us focus on your subsequent actions in regard to your departure from the star system ...”
...*...*...*...*...
“What the frack is going on?” Yao demanded. He glared about. Everyone had stopped working.
“Hadn't you heard? Some idiots arrested the admiral.”
“Are you serious? And that gives you the right to what, strike?”
“No, we're just waiting for them to say something,” the rating said. “And hell, sir, I'm not thrilled about the situation. No one is.”
“I'm not either. Admiral Irons is a damn good man,” he said. That seemed to settle a few of the ratings. “Quigon around?”
“In the back, sir,” the rating said, jerking his thumb to the back room.
“Okay. Why don't you and the others take a rest break? A long one,” he said. “Then um, go to lunch. I'll see if we can figure out what's going on,” he said.
“Aye aye, sir.”
&n
bsp; When he found the chief warrant he shook his head. “What a fracked up situation.”
“You're telling me? First they come after us and now this? After the admiral? The admiral?” the chief demanded. “How stupid does this get? I swear, some people lost IQ points when they became a popsicle,” he growled.
“Yeah, tell me about it. Any word?”
“Nary a thing,” the warrant replied, clearly disgusted. “They aren't letting anyone in either. It's supposed to be public but Captain Egon ordered the Marine sentries and mechs to secure the door and not let anyone in,” he stated.
“Frack. I guess it is up to the admiral now.”
“Yeah,” Quigon sighed. “I guess it is. We just need to keep a lid on things until he can regain control.”
“Right.”
...*...*...*...*...
The questions were as ugly as Sprite feared. They also went on for hours. She wondered why the admiral didn't shut the entire proceedings down but he didn't. He wasn't backing away, she could see that. He wasn't retreating, he was just answering their questions. Some of the accusations were ugly, a death penalty case if it ever went to court martial. Not that it ever would but ...
He was accused of cowardice several times, in leaving Pyrax, Antigua, and not immediately standing up to the assassin Ole blue on Epsilon Triangula. He was also accused of interfering with planetary authorities in several of his encounters including Briev.
Captain Egon pointed to his encounters with the mob on Epsilon Triangula. This was frowned upon by the other members of the board.
Sprite acted as his advocate to the best of her ability. After each point was brought up she used his own memories and recordings of the encounters to frame the admiral's defense. The admiral also quietly stated his reasoning for each decision at the time. He wasn't justifying each of them, just explaining them. He burned slightly in humiliation over a few of them though.
When questions were raised about his relationship with April and his conduct in their last encounter it made the admiral realize who had given them the information. Sprite's accusing eyes fell on Defender on the admiral's HUD. “I see now where you got this information. Which, by the way is a violation of my rights. A watchdog AI cannot be used against an officer unless he has been accused of a crime.”
“But this is criminal, Admiral. Using your nanites to violate this woman ...”
“Was the only way I could access what I needed to,” the admiral said, voice cooling. He was done with it Sprite judged. She could tell he was gathering himself for an end to this.
“Accessing her memories was also a violation,” Amadeus said. He held up a restraining hand. “Not that I blame you. And we have done more during the Xeno war. But that was war, Admiral,” he said.
“True,” the admiral said. “I did overstep in my investigation. I had to know. I had to know for certain if she was a threat or not.”
“Admiral, do you understand that what you just said is an admission of guilt?” Egon asked carefully.
“It is what it is. I have my reasons for doing so. I have a mission, I can't let my personal feelings get in the way of it. I will deal with it when the time is right,” the admiral stated flatly. He was still grappling with Defender. The very idea that the AI, a part of his staff would work with the prosecution. It was a feeling of betrayal.
“Are we going to go to a court martial over this?” Captain Lyon asked carefully.
“No,” the admiral said before Commodore Subert could open his mouth. “No you are not.” He stood. “The point of a board is to review the actions of an officer. You've done that. This proceeding is over.”
“Sir you have no say in ending this proceeding,” Commodore Subert said.
“Admiral, we're not questioning if what you had done is legal. That is for another ...” Commodore White said.
“Oh yes you are. The point of this is to make you second guess your actions. I do that enough on my own thank you. This is bullshit. You are pissed at me because I shot you down. Get over it. You're officers, start acting like it.”
“Admiral, you are perilously close to being called into contempt. Please watch your tone,” Captain Egon stated.
“I am done with this as I said.”
“But it is a part of the process. We all have to answer for our actions, Admiral,” Captain Lyon stated.
Admiral Irons judged Captain Lyon was a good sort, but he had that lingering resentment over his drone carrier project. He was also a Marine, a hard charger. They had a tradition of not retreating. The idea of Irons backing off was probably throwing the Marine. He was right in some ways, the admiral had played it off and had gotten burned. He shook his head, getting himself back on track.
“It is a way to cut someone down. To nitpick their every action instead of doing what it was intended, to see what went wrong, identify it, and then identify how to fix it.” He scowled. “I admit, I've always hated this process. Hindsight however is twenty twenty. So it's far easier to see the problem now then when you are under the gun.”
“True,” Amadeus admitted. Captain Lyon nodded grudgingly.
“What I have done I have done in the best interest of the Federation. In rebuilding the Federation. Yes I have made mistakes. I am a mortal, we tend to do that. So do AI,” he said, staring at each of them in turn. “I have faced my conscience, and I have done my best to learn from my mistakes.”
“So that is an admission of guilt?” Winston asked.
“I think I have something to answer that,” Sprite said triumphantly. She blinked out and a recording took her place. The officers stared as the last president of the Federation talked to the admiral and then gave him extraordinary powers as well as immunity.
“Um ...” Phil licked his lips, now nervous. “How do we know that is real? Not that I am doubting you, Commander ...”
“It is in your records. It is encrypted, only the admiral can access them. But your AI and you can check to see if it is there,” Sprite stated. She watched as Ray, Egon, Winston, and the other AI accessed the files. The organic officers did as well.
“It's there,” Egon said. “Though we don't know if the content is as you say it is,” he said as a qualifier.
“At this point I am going to take it as it is,” Commodore Subert said, clearly uncomfortable. He noted the codes mentioned in the message and matched them to the admiral's IFF. He also realized he had just flushed his own career.
“So you just found that out now?” Captain Lyon asked.
“When we arrived,” the admiral replied. His good humor was partially restored by the poleaxed expressions on the faces of the board. A few were starting to realize they were on thin ice.
“Admiral, if you had this all along, why the devil didn't you lead with that?” Amadeus demanded. “It would have saved us all a lot of grief including you!”
“I didn't want to smack you down it would have cause long term relationship issues that I didn't want or need. I don't want kiss asses. I want to know when I am doing something wrong. This had to be done to clear the air,” the admiral said. “Now it's done. It better not come up again.”
“So, we're finished here?”
Admiral Irons shook his head grimly no. “Not quite.”
Phil blinked as the admiral went over and pulled the gavel over to his side of the table. “Sir? You said ...”
“I know what I said. But now it is your turn,” he said. His eyes glittered as they froze in their tracks. “You see, the door swings both ways gentlemen,” he said. “Commander?”
“Yes, Admiral,” Sprite said out loud. “And for the record, I love turning the tables on them,” she said gleefully on his HUD.
“Um sir ... this is hardly the proper time or place,” Captain Lyon stated.
“Since I am the senior officer it's up to me to determine that isn't it?” Irons asked. He rapped the gavel once.
“Admiral, there is not much to say. We went into stasis.”
“Oh no? Let's examine that
for the moment. When you realized you were cut off, you did what?”
“Continued our work,” Captain Egon stated.
“What you should have done was reestablish your contact with higher. Why didn't you?”
“We couldn't. The ansible was gone on their end,” Commodore White stated, indicating the tablet. “It's over now what purpose does this serve ...”
“I'll be the judge of that,” the admiral stated flatly. The Marine winced. “You all stayed in your safe world and did nothing while the galaxy burned around you. And you accused me of cowardice?” He asked. He saw that shot go home when Amadeus's eyes narrowed and a few of the officers reacted in protest. “Insulated in the labs.”
“We ... it's not like that,” Commodore Subert protested. “You're twisting what happened out of context, Admiral.” Commander Howell scowled.
“We had to listen to them. To hear the reports of worlds burning, our own weapons used against us. Some of us broke. Admiral Halsey had to stand down, he couldn't handle it anymore. Losing the ansible link was both a climactic stab in the chest and … a relief,” Amadeus admitted softly.
“I see.”
“When the resupply vessel never came, what did you do?”
“We ... didn't know what to do. At first a couple days passed, then a week.”
“When did you realize it wasn't coming?” Sprite asked.
“After a month. Then we thought it would never come. That was when we ... realized we were in a bad situation.”
“You could have done something yet you didn't,” Sprite said.
“Like what?” Commodore Subert asked, now exasperated. He half rose to his feet.
“Sit down commodore, I'm not through with you,” the admiral growled. He locked eyes with the junior flag officer. Phil sank back into his seat.
“Why didn't you build a ship? Even if you couldn't build one large enough to get everyone off you could have sent a courier to Antigua or another world,” Sprite said.