Representative Raymond Lordsman leered at Dave with contempt, an obvious contempt that no one could miss seeing. Lordsman stood up and walked over to stand in front of Dave. "Well, we have you now, you pathetic little worm. Whatever possessed you to think that you could defy the Union and tear it apart?" he demanded.
Admiral Oden looked up at the representative from Serapha and smiled. Dave knew he didn't have to say anything to get the man's goat. He was right.
Raymond swung his hand at the admiral to slap him on the face, not expecting what happened. Suddenly, he felt his hand in the grip of a vice. Before he could react, several of his fingers and other bones in his hand were broken. Admiral Oden released his grip on Representative Lordsman's hand before the man even managed to holler in pain. To the untrained eye, it almost appeared as if Lordsman broke his hand on Oden's face. Only the trained eye spotted the quick grab, crush, and release by Dave without even getting up from his hover chair.
"He attacked me!" Raymond yelled out after screaming once in pain.
Ethel looked at the two men. Raymond was holding his hand gingerly and appeared to be suffering sincere pain. Dave was sitting calmly in his hover chair. "Did you attack Representative Lordsman?" she asked.
"No, Madame Chairman. I merely defended myself when he struck out at me. I did no more than I promised I would do in my earlier communication to Congress," Dave replied.
Ethel turned to one of the media representatives and whispered to him. A few moments later, she was viewing the incident on an instant replay. Then she turned back and asked, "Rear Admiral Oden, do you wish to prefer charges of assault against Representative Lordsman?"
"Did he commit a felony?" asked Dave.
"Probably not," she said.
"Even though I'm known to have suffered a head wound and his slap might have reversed my surgery, thus killing me?" asked Dave.
"Well, considering that, it is quite possible that it would be a felony. I honestly don't think he can claim that he was unaware of your condition," she admitted.
"If it's a felony charge, I will prefer charges. If not, then I am satisfied," said Dave.
Ethel said, "I'll have the prosecutor check into this immediately if you wish."
"I do and I thank you, Madame Chairman," Dave replied. Admiral Oden smiled again at Representative Lordsman who was totally unable to respond again with his good hand. To do so would certainly make it a felony. Lordsman was already skating on thin ice. If the prosecutor decided that the assault could be tried as a felony, then Representative Lordsman's immunity would disappear. If that happened, that would be one sure vote against Dave that couldn't be cast. Lordsman would be unable to take part in further congressional proceedings unless the charges were cleared with an acquittal.
"Are you satisfied with your counsel?" asked Ethel.
Dave responded, "Yes, Madame Chairman. Mr. Drystone is more than competent and quite satisfactory to me."
"Do you require some time to prepare your defense?" she asked.
"Perhaps two days at most," he answered. "Anything more would be a waste of your time and mine."
She said, "Very well, I'm sure that Congress can grant you two days to prepare your defense. Trial will begin in two days. Exact hour of the trial will be furnished to your counsel. I trust you are satisfied with the quarters and meals currently provided?"
"Yes, I am, Madame Chairman," Dave answered.
***
"Admiral, let's get on with it. Who can we put on as witnesses? Do you have any hard evidence I can present? Remember, you have the right to have those people brought here to testify and for the evidence to be shown," said Fred Drystone as he paced within his office before the seated admiral.
Dave said, "Well, the only witnesses I would like to call are all dead. However, I do have two pieces of evidence you can present."
Fred replied, "I'm sorry that your witnesses are dead. I presume they died in battle. What evidence have you got for me to put before Congress?"
"No sir, they died of natural causes about fifty years or more ago," said Dave. "The evidence we're going to show consists of two documents they created. One is a copy of the oath I took when I received my commission. The other document is stored in Congress in a glass case. I'm referring to the Universal Rights Bill, of course."
Fred exclaimed, "You're kidding. . . You can't seriously expect to win with just those as your evidence. Your oath is what they're prosecuting you for violating."
Dave replied, "No sir, I'm not kidding. I didn't violate my oath, either. If you'll get a copy of it, you'll see that the oath lists the laws of the government and specifically the Universal Rights Bill, which is a law, first among what I am sworn to uphold. I contend that it became impossible for me to uphold both the laws and the Congress when Congress tried to waiver a law that is specifically mentioned in the Constitution under Amendment 18 as being irrevocable and immutable. Seeing as the laws are listed first in my oath and take precedence, that means that Congress acted illegally. I had no choice but to perform my duty as sworn. To blindly follow the orders of Congress would have been an illegal act on my part. Seeing as five members of the Union continued to obey the law, I had to protect them as well."
"But they seceded," Fred said.
"No sir, they merely think they have. They don't have the right to secede, either. They're still part of the Union whether they know it or not because they're still adhering fully to the URB. If anyone seceded, it was the other members of the Union when they chose to disobey the law. It doesn't matter what the Union of Planet chooses to call itself, it's still the Union. That's what I want as my defense," said Dave.
Fred stated, "Admiral, you might be brilliant at fighting in space, but this is a different kind of fighting. You're going to lose with that defense."
Dave said, "Whether I lose or not, it's why I did what I did. Now, since you're the attorney, take the ball and run with it. If you want to put me on the stand, then do so, but don't expect me to lie. When asked, I will give my exact reasons as I've outlined here for you. So don't expect something else to materialize. I don't regret what I did and I would do it again, especially knowing what I know now."
Fred asked, "Which is?"
Dave answered, "The Malakins have nothing less than the eventual total domination of mankind in their plans. The only way I could keep them out of the Union's domain and mankind alive was to have the Navy refuse to become embroiled in a civil war."
"Now I'm finally getting something that I can use. Thank you, Admiral," Fred replied.
Dave said, "You'll have a hard time proving that since I acted without knowing that for sure. I learned that only after I acted."
"Doesn't matter. Just leave that to me since it's my job. Don't volunteer any information to anyone when you're asked, either. Just answer their questions as briefly as possible. I might be able to limit the eventual damage to a dishonorable discharge without any prison time attached when we lose," said Fred.
***
Dave briefly studied the faces of the Congress, minus Representative Lordsman who was required to sit on the side while Lordsman's own case of felony assault was being processed. At least it was a friendlier Congress since all of them had finally spoken with Val about the true nature of the Malakin goals. Still, Dave wondered how they would be able to find him innocent without declaring themselves to be guilty. If ever there was a situation with a conflict in interest, this was it. Either he was guilty or the judges were. Obviously, they would be unable to render an innocent verdict after hearing his defense. Dave knew that, but it was all he had. He sat quietly behind the defense table as the prosecution began its case.
It didn't take Admiral Oden long to discover who was an ally of Raymond Lordsman. Of course, she didn't have the same fanaticism or zeal Lordsman possessed. Nor did she have the same intolerance. However, she constantly got bogged down while trying to follow Lordsman's orchestrated game plan for prosecuting Dave. Repeatedly, the Chairman reminded her that t
he trial was about mutiny and not about whether teenagers on Echo were allowed to have sex. Then she would be reminded that the trial was about mutiny and not about nudity. Then Ethel would remind her that the trial was about mutiny and not whether someone else belonged to a religion. Before the first day of proceedings was over, Ethel was disgusted. Her disgust came from having to replace the prosecuting member because of utter incompetence. Consequently, the trial was postponed to allow the new prosecutor to dig into the facts and prepare the case as it should have been in the first place.
Dave went back to his quarters, feeling somewhat relieved that Lordsman's tactics had backfired into getting his strongest ally off the prosecution team. Unfortunately, Dave believed that he might have been found innocent if she was allowed to continue as prosecutor. What the citizens of those member worlds did with their lifestyles was entirely legal within the framework of the Union of Planets. To convict him of permitting legal activities would have shown the charges to be pure bunk. It might have even further awakened the populations of the other worlds that were still represented in Congress.
***
It took close to a week for the new prosecution to prepare its case and for the trial to begin again. Fred was happy when that happened since the courts might look at it as double-jeopardy, a principle of law that still remained alive. Dave didn't feel that it was since the trial was merely postponed for a change of prosecutor. As the trial progressed, witness after witness was called to testify about Admiral Oden's actions.
The prosecutor asked, "You were with Admiral Cain when his fleet went to Beulah to arrest Admiral Oden?"
Private Simmons said, "Yes sir."
"Did you in fact reach Beulah?"
Simmons replied, "No sir. We had a battle and we lost without even destroying an enemy ship."
"I see. I take it that you went up against former Union units then?"
Simmons said, "Yes sir."
"Who fired the first shot?"
Private Simmons said, "They did, sir."
"How do you know that they did?"
Simmons replied, "Admiral Cain told us they did. I didn't see it. I was in the galley."
"Never mind, Private Simmons. You can step down. Uh, excuse me. Hold your position, Private. I forgot that the defense has the right to examine you."
Simmons started to stand, but retook his seat. "Yes sir."
Fred Drystone asked from his place at the defense table, "Have you seen the combat footage taken of the battle?"
"No sir," replied Simmons.
"Would you like to see some?" asked Fred.
"Uh, sure," Simmons said.
Fred stated, "With the indulgence of Congress, I would like to have a combat video shown at this time."
Ethel nodded and the equipment was activated. Almost everyone in the court watched as a shot seemed to come from one ship toward another. Admiral Oden noticed immediately that it was a combat video from a Seraphan warship and not one of the warships from the Grim Reapers Squadron.
Fred talked as the video played. "This clearly shows that a Seraphan ship fired first, thus starting the battle that took place."
Simmons said, "It can't be, sir. They fired first. They must have doctored up their combat video to make it look that way."
"Private Simmons, how do you account for this combat video being doctored when it came from your own ship? After all, it was turned over as evidence by Admiral Cain under orders from Congress."
Simmons replied, "From my ship? Uh, I don't know, sir."
"That doesn't matter why you don't know. However, I must ask the Congress to ignore the testimony of this witness since he is clearly ignorant of the true facts of the case and wasn't in a position to see for himself."
Ethel said, "So ordered. The witness may step down, if the defense is finished with him."
Fred nodded and Ethel waved the man away from the witness chair.
***
"We did well today. We showed that you weren't blood thirsty and that you acted to defend the planet, not yourself," said Fred as he and Dave left the trial.
"That much is true. Had it been one ship, I would have assumed that they were coming after me. That much force was meant to assault the planet. It would be nice if you could prove that, but it would also be counterproductive to the Union eventually healing itself, so don't," replied Dave.
"Damn it, Admiral, quit taking my weapons away from me!" Fred responded.
***
Fred struck early when it came time to put on the defense. His first witness was shocked to hear his name called.
"Sir, I am the prosecutor," he protested.
"You are also a witness to part of what took place. Please take the witness stand and answer my questions under threat of perjury, which is a felony I believe," said Fred.
The representative took the witness chair.
Fred asked, "Did the communication from Admiral Oden indicate that he would not take orders from Congress?"
"Yes, it did."
Fred asked, "Under what circumstances did it state that?"
"If we ordered the Navy to attack any of the member worlds that declared their intentions of seceding."
"Did he state why he would not take those orders?" asked Fred.
"Yes sir."
"Why? Would you please state why?" asked Fred.
"Because he felt we couldn't fight Malak and conduct a civil war."
"Did Admiral Oden stipulate a length of time during which he would not attack those planets?" asked Fred.
"No sir."
Fred looked squarely and held the message out, "I ask you again, did he stipulate a length of time during which he would not attack those planets?"
"Oh, I see what you mean now. Admiral Oden stated he would not while the war with Malak was on going."
Fred stated, "Then, as I see it, he wasn't in mutiny. He was trying to tell you that the military could only fight one war at a time. In other words, he was trying to save everyone's asses. Couldn't a reasonable person take this message to mean just that?"
"I guess so," the representative said.
"You guess so? Please be more specific Representative Mikelia Bronte. After all, you are a congressional representative and considered fully capable of reaching such conclusions," said Fred.
"Yes sir, a reasonable person could take the message to mean just that."
Fred took a chance. "But instead, Congress went into critical mass over this communication and later authorized the Seraphan fleet to take action when our forces were needed to fight off the Malakins. Would you permit the Union to be attacked by an outside force?"
"No sir! Never!" Bronte exclaimed.
Fred asked, "Did you know that you committed an illegal act?"
Bronte answered, "An illegal act? Never, sir!"
Fred replied, "Yes, you did. You and most of Congress permitted a waiver of provisions pertaining to the Universal Rights Bill. That's illegal. It states so in the Constitution. Since Serapha has not conformed itself to the Universal Rights Bill in order to gain admission, it is technically and legally not a member of Congress. Because of that, the fleet that was sent against the Grim Reapers Squadron . . . such a catchy name, I wonder who gave it that. Um, excuse me for digressing. Anyway, the fleet sent against the Grim Reapers was consequently not a Union fleet. On top of illegally admitting Serapha to the Union, you condoned sending a foreign fleet against Union forces actively engaged in defending the Union against the Malakins who initiated the current war by attacking us."
"As the elected Congress, we have the right to grant waivers!"
Fred continued, "Not in this case. The constitution used to establish the Union of Planets clearly states that the Universal Rights Bill cannot be modified to take away anyone's rights nor to permit admission of anyone who is unwilling to recognize those same rights. It specifically prohibits Congress from doing so. Therefore, you acted illegally, not once, but twice. The Navy wasn't even rejecting any orders from Congress yet. Th
ey merely indicated that they would if they were ordered to attack part of the Union. I'm finished with this witness. The prosecution may question the witness if it chooses."
Mikelia looked at Fred in a daze. He wondered how he was going to question himself on the witness stand. Finally, he turned to Ethel and said, "The prosecution has no questions of the witness."
Ethel motioned him out of the witness chair. "Mr. Drystone, do you have anymore witnesses to call?"
Fred stood and answered, "Unless you wish for me to call each and everyone of you to the witness stand for the same set of questions, I don't really have anymore witnesses to call. I do, however, have two pieces of evidence to submit. One is already on display in a glass case behind your head, Madam Chairman. The other is a copy of the oath every officer takes upon commissioning. It shows that each officer is sworn to uphold the laws of our government first and foremost. Then it mentions following the wishes of Congress as directed by the President secondly. I submit that Admiral Oden obeyed his oath by adhering to it in the precedence set forth as this evidence I put before you clearly shows. The admiral is an honorable man who was caught in a dilemma not of his own making, but of others who bent the law in their eagerness to do the right thing for the Union and guarantee its survival. I don't think that we should condemn those men and women for trying to guarantee the survival of the Union of Planets. Neither do I think that we should ruin the career and life of a man who dedicated himself to that same cause. Furthermore, I suggest that a dismissal of all charges in connection with this trial would be a great step forward in making amends with those member planets who are absent in their refusal to abdicate their rights as guaranteed by our Constitution."
Ethel replied, "I believe that you're right that it won't be necessary to call each of us to the stand. You'll get the same answers generally. I accept your evidence as Defense exhibits A and B."
Fred said, "In that case, the defense rests." Fred sat back down next to Dave and quietly stared back at the Congress that now had the ball thrown into its lap. The members of Congress moved about and whispered to each other. That kept up until it was nearly supper when Ethel called an adjournment until the morning.
Dust Bunny (Rust Bucket Universe) Page 9