February 6th, 2262. 09:15 CNS Magnificent – Legal Meeting Room 1
John was sitting down at the table and staring at the holographic display. They were supposed to start the hearing fifteen minutes ago, but technical difficulties had cropped up. More annoyingly is that the problems weren’t on this carrier. Two of the justices that were assigned to this tribunal were having issues with their workstations.
Sitting next to John was Captain Brook Walker, a lawyer for the Second Fleet’s JAG department. She was very business-like and had all her documents prepared and spread out in front of her. This was in stark contrast to John, who looked like he was either going to fall asleep or die of boredom. Quite possibly both.
“Apologies for the technical delay,” the voice said before the images began appearing, “Captains Erickson, Wu, and Collins are calling to meeting a hearing to determine whether or not Lieutenant John Lief committed any offenses in accessing the personal logs of the former captain of the CNS Des Moines.”
“Lieutenant Lief, please stand,” Captain Wu ordered.
John stood immediately and saluted.
“Lieutenant, this is an official hearing and anything you say can be used against you should this case be sent up for further investigation. It could lead to a general court-martial. Understanding that, are you still willing to testify?”
“I am.”
Captain Collins smiled, “Thank you, Lieutenant. Are you being represented by Captain Walker?”
“I am not, no. She is here to help with any legal misunderstandings and to assist should I ask for help.”
“I’m sure you’ve heard of the old saying lieutenant?” Captain Erickson said.
“I have, and I assure the court I am far from a fool.”
“Very well. Please proceed,” Captain Wu said ceding the floor to John.
“Captain Walker submitted all of my exhibits prior to the start of this hearing. We shared it with Third Fleet’s legal department and Admiral Shephard,” John said as he shared the first exhibit, “Exhibit 1. a is an excerpt from the Officer’s Code of Conduct which focuses on the difference between personal and ship’s logs. Importantly it indicates that personal logs should not be presumed to be private journals and that reviews of them can and do occur in a limited fashion.”
“Exhibits 1. b through 1. e are portions of the regulations that support your actions?” Erickson asked as he was writing notes.
“It is sir,” John said politely.
“Admiral Shephard and counsel, do you have any issues with the submitted exhibits.”
Admiral Shephard shook his head. Lieutenant Commander Jeffries, a junior JAG officer for Third Fleet, fumbled through a couple of data slates before looking up. She looked a bit in over her head, but she eventually spoke up.
“No, your honors, the code of conduct is what it is.”
“Your honors, as I’m sure you all are aware anytime there is a serious incident onboard a Naval incident it requires either the department’s commanding officer or the ship’s captain to conduct an investigation on the actions that led up to the incident,” John paused, “This is excepted when the issue was of the captain’s making and they survive or are still in command. In that scenario, the next in command is duty bound to conduct that investigation. I investigated the legal justification for an acting captain to not only start an investigation but also access private logs.”
Captain Walker then spoke up, “This is where exhibits 2. a through d and 3. a through e come into play.”
“Unless I’m misreading the applicable case law it gives you a fairly wide berth to conduct your investigation as you see fit,” Captain Wu said.
“Exhibits 4. a through t contain a listing of the logs I listened to in their entirety or what portions of them that I did review. Also included for each was the phraseology used during text analytics that my VI was running to scan all of his logs. 4. a is missing the phraseology searches as I had picked that log out and read it. That was why I switched gears and used text analytics to further my investigation.”
Admiral Shephard then spoke up, “Your honors, we’d like to understand better how the logs were accessed and reviewed.”
Captain Erickson nodded, “Lieutenant, I know the exhibits touch on this but can you give us a plain language explanation for what you did.”
John nodded, “I added several subroutines to my VI so that it could scan a log, create a transcript of it, then using text analytics identify specific phrases that were said. This was then used to filter the logs. The transcripts were then parsed multiple more times to gain a better understanding of the context of each matching phrase. This was done to ensure, or get as close to ensure, that I didn’t have to listen to a log that was a false positive.”
“You went out of your way to limit what logs you accessed directly yourself?” Captain Wu asked in a surprised tone.
“After reading the first log that is correct. And the VI never saved a transcript file unless it was ordered to do so. The transcripts were always kept in memory. When I was done investigating for a specific phrase the information was purged.”
“This doesn’t sound like a readily available library for a military VI to use,” Admiral Shephard didn’t sound thrilled at John’s answer.
“It is not. It was a bespoke subroutine that I created specifically to do this. There was plenty of downtime on the ship to write it. I’ve submitted it to the Analytics and Research department for code review and possible dissemination to the masses.”
“You mentioned false positives. How many logs did you listen to that were not useful to your investigation?” Admiral Shephard asked.
“There were sixteen logs that even after several parses added nothing to the investigation and didn’t contain any worth in them. They are noted in exhibit 4. b,” John said with a bit of remorse in his voice.
“What is Third Fleet's view on the actions taken by Lieutenant Lief?” Captain Collins asked.
Commander Jeffries cleared her throat and took a sip of water, “Split sir. We randomly pulled six legal officers and asked them to review the situation. Three found it acceptable, three did not.”
“The three that did not, what kind of offense did they believe was committed?” Captain Wu asked curiously.
“The primary offense was a breach of investigative powers. One of them believed that the actions were so egregious that a general court-martial was warranted.”
“What of First Fleet?” Wu then looked to John’s table for an answer.
Captain Walker spoke, “We polled twelve officers from my department, and they all agreed that not only was the approach legally allowable but the restrictive nature the Lieutenant engaged in analyzing the private logs reduced the need to listen to or manually go through logs that had no bearing on the investigation.”
Admiral Shephard then spoke up, “Were any other fleets asked for their opinion?”
“Central JAG was notified; a preliminary review of the cited case law was undertaken but they didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Seventh Fleet agreed with our findings but disagreed with the lengths the Lieutenant went to avoid listening to logs. They viewed them as unnecessary,” Walker continued answering the question.
“Lieutenant, why didn’t you just listen to the logs?” Captain Collins asked.
“The blunt answer is I didn’t want to. In fact, if I could have completed the investigation without listening to his logs I would have preferred to do so. Unfortunately, given the nature of the incident that was effectively impossible. Access to those logs was, unfortunately, a necessary evil.”
“Lieutenant, did you take issue with the battle plan that was brought up?”
Captain Walker was about to say something. John, for the briefest of seconds, grinned. He caught himself instantly and recollected himself.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“I object to that question your honors. It isn’t relevant to the scope of this hearing which is to establish that I not only had a need to access said logs but that I was legally entitled to do so in the commission of my duties.”
The tribunal’s judges looked pissed. Rule number one in a court setting was to never piss off a judge. Or in the case of multiple judges. Admiral Shephard managed to pull that feat off with a single question.
Captain Collins spoke up first, “The objection is sustained. Admiral, your presence here is problematic, to say the least. We were told that you were properly debriefed about the nature and scope of this hearing. Perhaps that discussion wasn’t made as clear as it should have. You are not going to veer off the beaten path. The only thing we’re going to discuss is access to the private logs of the decedents. That is your lone warning.”
“The next outburst from you is going to result in your expulsion from this hearing and an official reprimand for disobeying official orders. The tribunal empathizes with you Admiral, but we will not tolerate fishing expeditions here,” Captain Wu said, “Are we, clear Admiral?”
“My apologies your honors. I will not deviate from the scope of this hearing again.”
“See to it that you don’t Admiral,” Captain Erickson said, “Lieutenant, how much longer are you expecting to review the logs?”
“I expect to be finished by the time I return to St. Mary’s station. I’ll admit that scope creep has an afflicted my after-action report. I’m more than halfway finished with it. I haven’t actually listened to a log in a couple of days. I do check my notes and use them accordingly with the writing of the report.”
“Lieutenant, did you hear anything in the logs that you didn’t care to hear?” Admiral Shephard asked.
“I received confirmation of the Commander’s feelings on me. It matters little now but the first officer was actively trying to find dirt on me to use in a disciplinary hearing. As I’ve stated before, I didn’t want to listen to any of his logs, but my duty required me to do so.”
“What would your after-action report, or at least the portions you’ve completed thus far, look without the logs?” the admiral asked.
“They would be grossly incomplete. Admiral, as I’m sure you're keenly aware that after-action reports are useful to help us understand situations and learn from them. Mainly so that the negatives from said incidents aren’t experienced again,” John paused to take a sip of water, “To put it a different way, it’s a means for the Navy to add to its collected wisdom over the years. That way future officers don’t have to make the mistakes we make now.”
“Then the report is not trying to lay blame at the feet of one or more individuals?” the admiral asked the question carefully.
“The purpose of the report is to gain an understanding of what caused the incident. In it, I will share the facts leading up to it. It will also contain who in my opinion was primarily at fault. Evidence, such as private logs, needs to be acquired to support that opinion is essential. There is no doubt in my mind that a formal inquest will begin immediately or shortly after I submit my report.”
“Then if not you, then someone else Lieutenant?” Captain Wu asked.
“Your honor, I strongly suspect I won’t be the last person to listen to the logs. The difference is I took care to avoid listening to logs that had nothing at all to do with the incident. Other investigators may not care where or how deeply they pry into the Commander’s former life.”
“Admiral or Commander Jeffries, do either of you have any other questions for the lieutenant? Perhaps any statements you’d like the tribunal to record.” Captain Erickson asked after looking intently at her terminal.
“While I don’t share the opinion of one of our legal officers that the lieutenant committed an offense that rose to the levels that warranted a court-martial, I do believe it is inappropriate for a junior officer to have access to the private logs of a ship’s captain,” Admiral Shephard said, “That opinion is just of a simple old commanding officer and not one that practices law.”
Commander Jeffries then spoke up, “Third Fleet’s response is mixed. While we do not believe it appropriate for a junior officer to review these logs, we do commend Lieutenant Lief for his restraint. Additionally, we do not support anything beyond a written reprimand if the court disagrees with the legality of these searches.”
“Commander Jeffries and Admiral Shephard,” Captain Collins looked at both officers, “Moments ago General Aric Nilsen, the JAG commanding officer for the Navy and Marines, officially authorized Lieutenant Lief to conduct his investigation as he saw fit. Access to everyone’s logs as they were recorded after her deployment has been made available to him.”
Captain Wu smiled and looked at the other judges, “This case is rendered moot and as such is dismissed. This ultimately clears the lieutenant of any wrongdoing. This will be noted in his record but cannot and will not be used in any negative way in the future. In fact, the tribunal commends the lengths with which he went to avoid listening to superfluous logs.”
“This tribunal is now concluded. Thank you for your attendance.”
The connection was then abruptly cut. John sat down and leaned back in his chair. Captain Walker smirked at the reaction. She began putting her stuff back in her bag.
“If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve said you were an actual lawyer.”
“It’s not my first rodeo Captain,” John sighed as he looked up at the ceiling, “This isn’t over by a long shot.”
Captain Walker shook her head, “No, and not to be the bearer of bad news, but this was about as easy as it’ll get too. When you finish your report that’s when the sparks will really begin to fly.”
13:45 CNS Magnificent – Temporary Quarters
John took a sip of water and closed his eyes. After the morning’s hearing, he spent two hours working on this maddening report. Chow was in a word, disappointing. Soggy hot ham and cheese sandwich and not fried enough potato wedges. That meal continued to grow more disappointing as John continued with his work.
On the plus side though, two more sections were completed. But there were still two to three more hours of working on it today and at least four more days before it reached the draft-ready status. That point was a bit concerning because until it got to that point the fleet leaders couldn’t bully him into seeing an early version of the report he was working on.
The speaker then turned on and a voice spoke came over it, “Lieutenant, there’s a personal call coming in for you. Would you care to take it?”
John rubbed his eyes, “Who’s it from?”
The voice sounded confused, “Ensign Andern.”
John laughed, “Yeah, I’ll take it.”
The main viewscreen to John’s left turned on. Andern was leaning over his desk poking and playing with the camera. Then he wiped the lens with a cloth before sitting back down in his chair.
“Holy shit. You really are alive,” Andern laughed to himself before turning his chair, “Kristin, he is alive!”
“My god man, you are a fucking idiot,” John grinned as he looked at his friend, “How’s it going?”
“Not getting into any life-or-death situations, that’s for sure. Kinda boring but between us, but I like boring.”
“Technically I was along for the ride on this one.”
“Hey, so I heard through the grapevine that you got arrested on Tau Ceti?”
“Dare I ask how you found out about that?”
Andern shook his head. Kristin then walked into the frame and looked at the screen. She then waived to John.
“Good to see you alive Lieutenant Lief.”
“Oh, for fucks sake, don’t play that with me after hours,” John rolled his eyes, “How ya been Kristin?”
“The training wheels suck, but things are going well. Milan’s aren’t pretty ships, they are armored and armed to the gills.”
“Oh, here’s a pro-tip. Oslo’s suck in combat…” John grunted.
“How’s Alice holding up?” Andern asked.
“We talked after the shitstorm subsided,” John groaned, “No I won’t elaborate. She had been angry-crying for a while. She had it rough for a month. I don’t know how she held it together.”
“Your in-laws were there for a while. As were a couple of her brothers,” Andern said, “All of us tried to reach out as much as we could. I’m sure we were annoying the crap out of her.”
“And that cousin of hers spent two weeks there with her,” Kristin shook her head, “I would’ve been a damn mess.”
John nodded, “Yet this is the life we chose for ourselves. It’s all fun and games until life decides to get real.”
“How bad is it going to get?” Andern asked, “Assuming you can answer that.”
John shook his head, “Obviously any particulars about what happened I can’t talk about yet. But I can’t imagine any scenario that this doesn’t get ugly fast.”
“Not to be the one to change the subject onto other items, but are you going to be around in August?” Kristin asked, “That’s our date. Alice is going to be a bridesmaid.”
“I can’t give you the same honor as best man, kid brother is going to get that, but would love to have you upfront.”
John smiled, “I’d love to be in it, but honestly, I have no bloody clue how things will play out. Or for that matter when they will. Or hell, if I will even be available. Sure hope I can be though.”
“I have to run; we’re doing some pre-deployment training and my shift starts in twenty. It is so good to see and hear from you, John. I was worried that we’d lost you,” Kristin waved and then walked out of the frame.
“Dude, being away from your significant other sucks. You ever have a hard time getting comfortable in bed?”
“Well yeah, primarily because our bed on the station is fucking amazing. I didn’t get a chance to ‘upgrade’ mine aboard the Des Moines. That bed was pretty damn terrible.”
“No, but like, you know…” Andern trailed off.
John nodded and smiled, “I hear you loud and clear. Yeah, it’s rough. But it is what it is. How are you liking station work? Want to switch and get on a boat?”
“Oh hell no. Station life isn’t that bad. We’re moving into better accommodations next month. Going to have nearly six times the space we have here in the couples barracks.”
“Are you buying a place or renting?”
“Dude, we got a killer deal on it. The former owner got extradited to someplace, I want to say it was a minor colony in Alpha Centauri. Some bank was holding onto it and wanted to offload it. We were walking by it because I took a wrong turn. The realtor brought us in and showed us the place.”
“I’m guessing you checked similar properties, understood what real estate was going for there, and so on.”
“Sure did. In fact, I did all of that work. They said they’d sell for ten percent off the list price which was already well under market value. Provided of course if we put down thirty percent. The military discount they said.”
“More like ‘we don’t have to deal with this fucking property anymore’ discount.”
“Ten percent is ten percent,” Andern smiled, “We already closed on it, but we can’t move into it for reasons.”
“Likely a ton of paperwork behind the scenes. Alice took care of all that bullshit for us, though the property is only in her name,” John started to laugh, “Hindsight being twenty-twenty I probably should insist on getting on the deed and making sure I am a little more involved in the purchase.”
“We’re taking more baby steps towards being responsible adults.”
John snickered, “Or in your case, simply being an adult. But hey, I gotta get back to work. This report won’t write itself. Let’s keep in touch. It’s been too long.”
“Don’t work too hard. Oh wait, you always do,” Andern flicked his friend off, “But seriously, good to see you alive and kicking. Keep on doing you.”
John waved and then the communication cut out. He really missed being near his friends. Such was the life of military personnel. They’d be sent hitherto there on different missions and then be sent on to parts unknown. These brief respites from the norm were precious, and John would treasure them more than any would know.