Return to Haven (Empire Rising Book 3)

by D. J. Holmes

  More than one gasp escaped the lips of the gathered Admirals. Treason was a very serious crime. Even Somerville, who had been expecting the call for a court martial, was shocked at the mention of treason. Reynolds and Blackwood were going for the jugular.

  “This is an outrage,” Admiral Russell said. “Captain Somerville is one of the best Captains we have. He has shown courage under fire and a willingness to risk his life in service to his country. This is no way to treat a war hero.”

  In desperation Russel looked to Somerville, seeking help in arguing his case. Slowly and deliberately Somerville shook his head. This is not your fight friend, Somerville said to himself. Russell was his closest friend and head of RSNI, the intelligence division of the RSN. He would be bitterly upset that his contacts hadn’t seen this coming.

  “Very well,” Somerville said. “As Captain Somerville is my nephew I am forced to remove myself from the vote. Can I see a show of hands of those willing to bring these charges to a court martial?”

  Somerville was depressed when he saw the hands that went up. His enemies he knew, but some of the hands belonged to friends, others he had thought were allies. He knew himself that his nephew’s actions were reckless, but those who were voting against him now knew what they were doing. They weren’t just voting to court martial a reckless Captain, they were trying to undermine their First Space Lord.

  In the end, the vote passed by ten to six. Before Somerville could go forward with the formal procedures to ratify a court martial Admiral Blackwood spoke again, “I would like to try the case.”

  “This is highly unusual,” Somerville said. “You are the one who brought the charges before us.”

  “And yet it is my right to put my name forward,” Blackwood said.

  “Very well,” Somerville said. “Is there anyone else who wishes to put their name forward to try the case?”

  He wasn’t surprised when none of the ten who had voted for the court martial raised their hands. Admiral Russell made to volunteer but he stopped when Somerville shook his head again. The vote thus became a formality.

  “The vote has passed,” Somerville said after asking for a show of hands. “Admiral of the White Nathan Blackwood will try the court martial of Captain James Somerville on the charges of disobeying a direct order and treason.

  “There is just one more thing,” Somerville said. “As First Space Lord it is my right to expedite any cases that will impact upon operational matters. HMS Endeavour is our first exploration cruiser, she has shown herself to be invaluable over the last year and she will be needed for any future operations in Haven territory. I wish to have any ambiguity about who her commanding officer is sorted out immediately. As a result, the court martial will begin two days from now. If Endeavour’s Captain is to be struck out of the navy, it will be done within the week.”

  Blackwood looked like he was about to protest but Somerville brought his gavel down hard. The boom that echoed around the meeting hall brought the gathering to an end and let everyone know just how pissed off the First Space Lord was.

  Chapter 24 – The Court Martial

  Despite the fact that the Empire’s Navy is spread out over thousands of light years and comprises of thousands upon thousands of Captains and Admirals, if you insult one, you will quickly find all those nearby gathering around to come to his or her aid. The one exception is court martials, there, all camaraderie.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD

  4th June 2467 AD, Admiralty House, London.

  When James sat down in his allotted chair he couldn’t help but steal a glance at the assembled jury. There were seven Captains, all of them already seated in the jury box. Unsurprisingly none of them were looking at him. It was a tradition that dated back centuries. If the defendant was cleared of all charges, then the Captains who sat on the jury may very well find themselves serving with or even under the accused. No one wanted hard feelings from a court martial impacting future operations. On the other hand, if the defendant was found guilty, no one wanted to have any association with them. They were damaged goods.

  To his horror, James saw that Captain Lightfoot was among the Captains who had been selected to serve on the jury. James liked Lightfoot and he didn’t know what thought was worse. The thought that Lightfoot’s opinion of James might be lowered because of all the accusations that would come his way, even if he was declared innocent. Or the thought that Lightfoot may end up being one of the Captains who found him guilty.

  Taking a deep breath, he dismissed his concerns. He already had more than enough on his plate at the moment, worrying about how the court martial would impact his relationship with other navy Captains was something for the future.

  At least it has begun, James thought. It had been two days since his meeting with his uncle. Since then his doubt and fear had been growing. It was one thing for his uncle and Fairfax to promise to protect him. It was another thing to have to wait in silence for two whole days while the entire nation seemed to have erupted over the court martial. It seemed a significant proportion of the population was horrified at the thought of another full-blown war with India, despite the popular support there had been for Fairfax’s ultimatum to the Indians. At least that was how Fairfax’s political opponents were making it out.

  To be fair to Fairfax, his propaganda machine was working overtime. As soon as the Admiralty Board had voted to convene a court martial, Fairfax had begun a meticulous PR Campaign. James’ entire naval career had been presented and analyzed across the media. Often with friendly naval officers there to sing his praises when specific battles or accomplishments were being discussed. From what he could discern, the public’s initial assumption of guilt that had come from the announcement of the court martial was beginning to waver. Though James hadn’t spoken to either his uncle or Fairfax since the announcement. They were both keeping their distance.

  Suzanna had also played her role magnificently. After speaking to his uncle, he had gone and told Suzanna everything. She had been livid. After everything she and James had done for the British government, she couldn’t believe what they were about to put her husband through. As his uncle had said, James had warned her about showing her anger in public, it would make them look defensive and entitled, rather than the injured party. He needn’t have bothered. Suzanna had been interviewed on three different news broadcasters and each time her performance had been admirable. In many ways, she had simply repeated the lines Fairfax’s propaganda machine was churning out, except, as a citizen of Haven, she could speak firsthand about everything he had done for her homeworld.

  “Here comes the Judge,” Cynthia Courland, James’ legal counsel, said as she got to her feet.

  Mimicking her actions, James jumped to his feet along with everyone else in the court.

  “The revered Admiral of the White, Nathan Blackwood,” one of the court officials called as Blackwood entered the court through one of the back doors. In silence, he ascended the steps to the bench.

  “You may be seated,” he said as he took his seat. “As you heard, my name is Admiral Blackwood, I have been appointed to be the Judge of this court and will be trying this case. Stand Captain Somerville.”

  James jumped to his feet to hear his charges.

  “You have been accused of disobeying a direct order, endangering the lives of your crew, dereliction of duty leading to the loss of life and treason. You are here to be judged by a jury of your pears on these crimes against the military code of the Royal Space Navy. How do you plead?”

  “Not guilty,” James said as confidently as he could.

  Blackwood paused from reading his script and looked at James.

  “Not guilty?” he said, a gleam of delight in his eyes.

  James thought desperately, trying to figure out what was going on.

  “Your Honor,” his counsel whispered from beside him.

  “Not guilty, Your Honor,” James hastily said.

  “You are fined 10,000 credits dishonoring
a seated Judge,” Blackwood said, clearly satisfied. “This is your first and final warning. If you fail to follow the regulations of this court, I will be adding contempt of court to your offences. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, Your Honor,” James replied

  “Sit down then,” Blackwood snapped.

  What was that all about?” James whispered to Cynthia.

  “I don’t think Blackwood is going to be the most impartial judge,” she responded.

  “What?” James said, struggling to keep his voice down.

  “Don’t worry, I have this in the bag,” Cynthia replied with a grin.

  “Your Honor,” she said, rising to her feet. “Before this court martial begins the defense would like to submit a motion to have these proceedings closed to the public. As you can see, the public viewing galleries are already filling up. The charges against my client are of a serious nature and we would like them kept out of the public eye until a judgement has been made by the jury.”

  “I will consider the motion,” Blackwood said. “Does the prosecution have any counter arguments?”

  “We do, Your Honor,” one of the opposing counselors said as he stood. “We have prepared a brief for you to look over,” he added as he approached the Judge’s bench and handed over a document.

  “Summarize it for me,” Blackwood requested.

  “In short, Your Honor,” the counsel began, “this trial speaks to a turning point in our nation’s history. It is our belief, and we are prepared to argue for it, that Captain Somerville intentionally acted in a way so as to instigate a war between the British Star Kingdom and the Indian Star Republic. His actions do not just impact the Royal Space Navy, but the entire nation. All of our people deserve to know just what he did on his latest mission. They deserve the right to make up their own minds. An open trial therefore serves the best interest of the British people; of whom we are all here to serve.”

  “Do you wish to respond?” Blackwood said turning to face James’ counsel.

  “Only with this,” Cynthia said. “While we vigorously deny any attempt to instigate a war on the part of the defendant, we agree that a fully open trial is in the best interest of the British people and we will acquiesce to the request of the prosecution.”

  James had to resist the urge to spin around and stare at his counsel accusingly. What are you thinking? James wanted to shout. He didn’t understand what Cynthia and Fairfax were up to. James’ one consolation was that Blackwood seemed just as taken aback.

  In order for the jury to come to a proper understanding of what happened on his mission they would have to be fully briefed on all his reports. This would usually take place behind closed doors, for there were many highly classified details in his reports. To open everything to the public would give all the reporters in the public viewing gallery access to everything. Undoubtedly there were spies from the Indians as well as other space faring nations among the reporters. They would be just jumping with anticipation at the chance to hear Endeavour’s full mission reports.

  No doubt Blackwood was thinking the same thing, for he hesitated in making a decision. James turned to follow Blackwood’s stare for he appeared to be looking up at the public gallery. He turned just in time to sport Shadow Defense Secretary Reynolds give a slight nod.

  “Very well,” Blackwood said, pulling James’ attention back to the front of the courtroom. “Motion to close these proceedings is denied, this court martial will be fully open to the public. We will hold a thirty-minute recess to allow any court reporters to leave and fetch their datapads,” he finished, bringing his gavel down with a bang.

  Great, James thought. Normally all electronic devices were banned in courtrooms to prevent anyone from recording the proceedings. That meant reporters typically had to use their memories to write up what happened for their broadcasts. While many of them would no doubt still observe the ban on actually making any recordings, there would be one or two unscrupulous characters who would record the whole day’s events and upload them to the data net as soon as they were out of court.

  Come with me,” Cynthia said after Blackwood exited the court, “we have a waiting room assigned to us.”

  As soon as they got into the waiting room James couldn’t help himself. “What is going on?” he demanded. “Why give the public full access? We will be giving away state secrets.”

  “Being a civilian litigator, I’m not up to speed on the rules about classified military information,” Cynthia replied after she took a seat. “But as far as I understand it, your uncle has already spoken to the officer who will be giving the mission overview. He knows what he can’t reveal in an open court.

  “What’s more, the reports have been redacted to remove anything that contains any technical secrets. For the rest, I think your uncle assumes the Indians already know it. We won’t be giving too much away. And Prime Minister Fairfax thought an open court will serve our purposes a lot better.”

  And just what are our purposes?” James asked. “I assume you have been filled in, even if I haven’t?”

  “Not entirely,” Cynthia said. “As I’m sure you know; Fairfax likes to keep things close to his chest. But I can tell you this much. Fairfax wants a public spectacle. His opponents think that such a spectacle will rally public support against any further intervention in Haven. There are elements of the opposition, led by Shadow Defense Sectary Reynolds, who do not want to see any open hostilities with the Indians. They are using this trial to generate the public support they need to table a bill that will accept Indian control of Haven. Fairfax disagrees, he intends to use this trial to crush the opposition and pave the way for full military intervention. I’m afraid you are caught in the middle.”

  “So that is why you reversed your position on having an open court?” James asked.

  “Yes,” Cynthia said. “If I had of argued for it, the prosecution would have suspected something and tried to stop me. This way, I had them present the arguments I wanted to make.”

  “Then what is going on with Admiral Blackwood? I saw him looking at Reynolds.”

  “We believe he is in the pocket of the opposition. He was the one who brought the charges against you at the Admiralty Board.”

  “And he can be the Judge in my case?” James asked, taken aback.

  “Yes, I’m afraid so,” Cynthia said. “But that may work out to our advantage. If he is openly hostile to you, everyone will see that. It will help us portray you as the one who is being innocently accused for political reasons.”

  “So he is working to see that I am found guilty?” James followed up, not at all happy with how things were shaping up. “Does he oppose war with the Indians?”

  “I’m not sure about his position on intervention,” Cynthia said. “But I have been told that the opposition are calling in a few favors to exert their influence over him. And, there is supposed to be some family history between the two of you. I assumed you knew that already.”

  “No,” James said. “There is nothing that I know of. I have met his son, Captain Blackwood, he commands a light cruiser. But I have never met Admiral Blackwood, nor am I aware of any hostile dealings my family has had with the Blackwoods outside of normal Admiralty business. I’m sure my father and Blackwood knew each other, but beyond that I never really paid much attention to what my father was up to when I was young.”

  “Well there must be something,” Cynthia said. “Because if he does break neutrality, it will be obvious to everyone, and the rest of the fleet will know it. If he is willing to do this, he must have his reasons.”

  “I suppose,” James said. “So what are you going to do?”

  “We are going to goad him,” Cynthia said. “But we have to be subtle. You can follow my lead.”

  “What do you mean?” James asked.

  Before Cynthia could explain, the door to their waiting room opened and a military police officer stepped in, “The court is ready to reconvene,” he said.

  “We’re right behind you,
” Cynthia said as she stood to follow the officer out.

  *

  “This court martial is back in session,” Admiral Blackwood said as he banged his gavel and everyone in the courtroom sat down. “We will now turn to opening statements. The prosecution may begin.”

  “Thank you, Your Honor,” the leading prosecution attorney said as he stood.

  “Men and women of the jury. My name is Jack Rodgers, each of you have already heard the charges read out against Captain James Somerville. It is the intention of the prosecution to show that Captain Somerville directly disobeyed his orders. He was sent to Haven to observe what, if anything, the Indian military forces were up to. Instead, he bypassed Haven and went to the Havenite colony of Independence.