September 17th, 2262. 07:05 Washington D.C. Safe House, Hillwood Estates
John had woken up early and got a great workout in. He was excited to head back to their new home and get as far away from this political cesspit as he could. More importantly, that meant the time when things got back to normal was almost upon them. He was desperate for a return to normality and to serve once more.
He was wiping himself off when he heard Alice in the bedroom. John just figured she slept through her alarm as she’s been known to do. After brushing his teeth, he threw his toiletry kit back in its small case and bid adieu to this wonderful bathroom for the last time.
John walked into the bedroom, thankfully wearing boxer briefs but nothing else, and noticed the two Captains in their room. Alice wore an odd combination of pissed off and disappointed. The Captains on the other hand were blushing and very surprised.
“Jesus Christ,” Julia said.
Brook awkwardly fist bumped Alice before focusing on a wound of John’s, “Holy hell, that’s a bullet hole.”
“Exit wound actually, uhm, why are you here?”
“This isn’t the senator’s doing. But a group of parents has managed to convince a senator to allow them to testify about the impact to them and theirs,” Julia said.
“The Karen senator, right?” John said dismissively.
“The irony that her name is also Karen is not lost on me either Lieutenant,” Julia said.
“Obviously this means that you need to get into your whites and come with us to the hearing this morning,” Brook said before looking very apologetic, “Sorry.”
“Fucking hell. Ah well, this is karma finding some way to get back at me.”
Alice sighed loudly, “Well, I need to contact my CO and find out what she wants me to do.”
“My guess is studying or working here.”
Alice slapped his shoulder, “You aren’t helping.”
“No, no I am not,” John said as he walked into the closet to get dressed.
10:17 Washington D.C. Senate Public Hearing Room
The hearing had been explosive. The testimonials from the family members of the other ships were tragic and emotional. But John didn’t quite understand the purpose of the testimony. To him, it seemed like it was all show and little substance. They didn’t add anything real to the hearing, besides forcing emotions and feelings into the mix.
Now, obviously, they were suffering and they absolutely were allowed to grieve the loss of their loved ones. But they all seemed to act like the Confederacy wasn’t actively engaged in a conflict. That dramatically shifted the behind-the-scenes calculus that these families either didn’t understand or were aware of.
“The actions of Commander Shephard led my husband to his death,” Denise O’Leary said, “We are grateful for having the full story explained to us now, but why are there no punishments being given out?”
“Perhaps I’m missing something Mrs. O’Leary,” Senator Chester Olson tried to hide his annoyance at the question, “But the commander is dead. He has no dependents, nor was he married. The death payment for him was the same as it was for everyone else.”
“Senator Olson,” Gerald Nielsen said angrily, “Your history with the military blinds you to the underlying issue here. The attack wasn’t authorized and clearly was misguided. Why wouldn’t there be some form of punishment put in place?”
“What would you suggest we do? A general court-martial is moot as he’s dead. He was already removed from command due to his untimely death,” the retired admiral rubbed his forehead, “Had he survived, I’m not sure a court martial would even be successful, though I’ve no doubt his career would have effectively been ended as I can’t imagine a scenario where he would’ve been allowed to be promoted or take command again.”
“We demand a posthumous court martial and loss of rank,” Alexis Maxwell spat out, “The Navy needs to know that these types of rogue actions are not allowed or acceptable.”
John piped up, “There aren’t any regulations in the Officer’s Code of Conduct that allow for a court martial of a deceased serviceman,” John said with a slight smirk on his face, “It makes it very difficult to mount a defense of one’s actions and to face a jury of their peers when you're dead.”
“You don’t think he deserves a punishment?” Darrel Fisher was astonished.
“Well, the commander died in the attack. I’d consider that punishment enough,” John said icily.
“What about a posthumous demotion. Surely that is in the cards for this mess,” Gerald shouted out.
Senator Fitzpatrick leaned forward and spoke, “That’s an interesting thought. Senator Olson, would you not be agreeable to such an action?”
Chester shook his head and answered simply, “No.”
“To add some additional context to the Admiral’s response, and sir, I apologize in advance if I’m putting words in your mouth,” John said, “But there’s been a grand total of seven officers that have received such an ignoble award in the entire history of the Navy. I can empathize with the families of their lost loved ones, but the actions, in this case, don’t rise to the egregious levels that the other ones have.”
Captain Brook Walker then spoke up, “Technically eight have been demoted after their death. One admiral was demoted due to actions taken prior to the official founding of the Confederate Navy.”
“He got my son butchered. I demand satisfaction,” Becky Wu shouted from the audience.
Senator Fitzpatrick banged his gavel, “I understand and sympathize with the families in the audience. I will not however tolerate outbursts in my hearing. Please understand that I do require a level of decorum amongst everyone that is present in this room.”
“Ma’am, would you suggest that your son be put forward for a posthumous demotion as well?” John turned to ask her, “Your son was in command of the Coronado and agreed with the attack.”
The diminutive woman’s eyes grew large, and her face turned a bright shade of red. She sat down shaking her head at his comments. The poor woman had out who she was and now several other people were shooting death glares at her.
“What about the letters and messages that we received?” Denise said, “My husband was categorically opposed to the attack. His captain threatened to put him in the brig if he didn’t shut up. Over half of the crew on the Sojourn didn’t support the attack.”
“Ma’am, Naval vessels are not run as a democracy. One person is in charge,” Chester said quietly, “That doesn’t mean mistakes weren’t made or that the commanders of all of these vessels didn’t err significantly in their judgment.”
Senator Karen Carter smiled, “Even Lieutenant Lief here disagreed with the attack yet still went through with it. Do you believe you should be disciplined for your role in aiding the attack?”
John took a sip of water and looked at the annoying senator, “We wouldn’t be having this hearing if I hadn’t acted. Though every day I can’t help but think about what could have been having I been more forceful with my captain and first officer. Then again, I doubt very much the Navy could have tolerated such actions.”
“Then what is all this for?” shouted Darrel, “All of us lost people we loved. And nothing is going to come from it?”
“Senators Carter and Olson, I would like at a bare minimum to investigate the possibility of a posthumous demotion of Commander Shephard along with the other captains in the stealth wing. I believe the Navy should be proactive in evaluating whether or not this is something that should be done.”
The senators nodded. But John leaned back in his chair and thought through that comment. It didn’t sit well with him. Now Commander Shephard was many thing things, but even he didn’t think that was warranted in this case. John turned to where the military members were seated and saw Admiral Shephard, who looked like he had aged twenty years since he last saw him.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The Senators were talking amongst themselves. They were trying to hammer out who was in charge of what and what timelines they should follow. John leaned forward and tapped on his mic to get their attention.
“Senators, what was the final death count of the attack?” John asked quietly.
Senator Patrick Anderson shook his head, “Surely you know the answer to that question.”
“I do Senator, but if you’d humor me with the answer.”
“The final count was one thousand nine hundred twenty-seven.”
“Thank you, Senator. Now I don’t want to dismiss that number any, but how many servicemen did we lose in the previous four weeks leading up to this attack?”
Chester leaned and answered in his deep baritone voice, “Three thousand six hundred and five.”
“We were on a downward trend, but over three thousand lives were lost in the conflict,” John said looking at the senators, “Prior to this attack, what were the projections for future combat?”
Senator Paul Diffey said, “Things were escalating and that attacks were going to be more commonplace.”
“And what of the predicted ship losses and deaths over the first year of combat?”
“In a real wartime scenario?” Diffey asked, “Over a thousand ships lost. Total losses between the Navy and Marines would be over two hundred fifty thousand. Civilian losses would be hard to estimate but the best estimate would be at least ten times that.”
“Let’s use simple numbers here for the sake of argument,” John said, “Over two trillion credits lost in military vessels and three million lives lost for what? A solar system that frankly no one here wants or cares about.”
“What are you getting at son?” Chester asked.
“It is my personal belief, is that Commander Shephard, while being an egotistical fool, tried to prove something unnecessarily. In doing so he damned two thousand souls to death. He was not a good captain. He didn’t want to develop his junior officers; they were there solely to elevate him. When confronted with hard evidence he ignored it and pushed on. It isn’t a lie to say he very nearly got everyone killed.”
“So, you do agree with us!” exclaimed Gerald, “Why the hell didn’t you say that earlier?”
John turned to face the civilian, “Because I don’t agree with you. After I think about what I could have done to save the lives of my wing, I think about those three million people. Or more. The trillions the government would need to spend to rearm. The millions more people whose lives would be shattered or changed irrevocably.”
John paused to take a sip of water, “The most damning and galling thing of all, is that attack, while the wrong thing to do at the wrong time, was ultimately what ended our conflict and exposed the Alliance.”
The family members were horrified at that comment. The military personnel nodded. Those in the civilian government with knowledge of the plans also were nodding in agreement.
“The calculus in understanding lost lives in the military is difficult, even horrific, for civilians to understand. Two thousand lives to save three plus million and end a conflict,” John looked down at the table, “That is not to say you all shouldn’t feel outraged and angry at what has happened. Commander Shephard’s actions weren’t a noble sacrifice. We didn’t lay down our lives to protect others that day. That attack was done solely to enhance his position in the fleet and to prove his father’s antiquated tactics were correct. Yet, in the end, the conflict is all but over now. And those weapons of mass destruction that the Alliance planned to use as a petulant last act won’t come to pass now.”
John sighed, “That’s the thing that makes me want to vomit every time I come to this conclusion. Every god damn thing we did was for the wrong reasons, but the outcome was about as good as we could have expected,” John laughed, “And that is why we cannot even consider that pompous asshole and his cohorts for demotion. Their attack, and subsequent sacrifice of all those lives, have paved the way for this new peace treaty that is being worked on.”
The chamber was silent. A pin could easily be heard were one to drop. John sat there shaking his head. He took a sip of water and looked up at the senators.
Senator Olson, the retired admiral, was the one that broke the silence, “What would you have the Navy teach about this situation?”
“The Navy ought to be worried about officers creating a vacuum around them. Commanding officers need to listen to their peers and subordinates and not dismiss them out of hand. We need to be smarter and better than the enemy, we shouldn’t needlessly throw lives away. There are certainly times for heroic last stands, this was anything but. We need to be better than we have been. Sadly, situations like this give us an opportunity to reflect and hopefully do just that.”
“Why is this so important do you Lieutenant?” Diffey asked.
“All I want to do is serve Senator. That’s all, nothing more, nothing less. For the last eight months or so, I’ve been relegated to odd jobs that are frankly beneath both my paygrade and abilities. My real job is to be on a ship out there in the void doing frankly anything but this. Especially not spending a month on Earth in my dress whites adding precious little to the political theater here.”
John leaned back in his chair and shook his head. His disgust at the proceedings had met its fill. It’s not that Kory and company didn’t deserve punishments, they absolutely did. But they were dead and doing anything more was literally pointless. Maybe death was a sufficient penalty after all.
The sad irony is that despite his and his cronies' horrific decision, it did result in exposing two things. The Alliance was up to some seriously sketchy bullshit. And Naval Intelligence was partially responsible for losing some key intel that fell into the wrong hands. The other thing John was hoping for was that intelligence would no longer actively play games against him.
To the surprise of many in the hearing room. John wasn’t asked any further questions. Several of the senators’ plans for the meeting had been soundly defeated and shut down. Many others were happy that the young lieutenant had pushed the hearing substantially closer to its close.
Just after noon, they called the session into recess. John and company walked out into a secure section of the hallway. They were discussing where to go for lunch when a surprising individual came up to speak with them.
“Lieutenant, I’d have a word with you if you would allow it,” Admiral Shephard said.
John nodded and walked down the hallway with the Admiral.
“I want to say thank you for defending my son’s honor.”
John winced at that comment, “Permission to speak freely, sir.”
The admiral nodded his head.
“I didn’t do it for you or your son. I did it because it was the right thing to do. I did it for all those innocents that he and his ignored. And I most certainly didn’t defend your son’s honor for he had none,” John sighed loudly, “Would you answer this question honestly sir? Were our roles switched, would your son defend me as I did him?”
The admiral didn’t look at John. He stared at the ground. After a long moment, he shook his head while still staring at the ground.
“No, I don’t believe he would have.”
John took a step closer to the admiral and spat back his response, “And that’s why both he and you failed. He failed the Navy in that idiotic and egotistical stunt. He got two thousand people killed and accidentally exposed potential war crimes. You failed him by raising him as if he was above others. And now you have to live with that knowledge. The yoke you so easily accepted directly contributed to his death.”
“What would you do now?”
“I’m not sure. Perhaps cast off of the yoke that’s restrained you for the last two-plus decades. Join the academy and do what’s best,” John turned but paused, “Perhaps that is the best atonement you can do for the family. Teach the next generation to be better. To be better than your son, and you, sir.”
The admiral took the verbal assault in with unusual grace. John couldn’t stand to look at the man anymore. It was probably the only time he could speak to an admiral with that blunt candor, but it so desperately needed to be said.
When John got to the captains and Alice he said, “I need a stiff drink and something greasy to eat. Y’all know of a place?”
The ladies laughed and shook their heads. Alice wrapped her arm around his and the four walked down the hallway towards the exit. Lunch was very needed now, and that stiff drink was needed to cut away the strong taste of bile that John had about everything here.
17:13 Washington D.C. Safe House, Hillwood Estates, Dining Room
John and Alice were eating a quiet dinner together. Captains Walker and Ekre were in the office dealing with the hearing’s aftermath. The afternoon hearing was mercifully short at just over an hour. While nothing was official yet, the civilian government seemed to be inclined to end it.
Admiral Dufresne walked into the room. John stood up and saluted immediately. Alice was slower on the uptake but followed suit.
“At ease, this is a social visit,” Tim smiled as he shook Alice’s hand, “I’m sorry to interrupt your meal together but I need to borrow your husband.”
“He’s all yours. As you can see, he inhaled his food already.”
Tim grunted quietly, “Let’s have a chat out on the patio son.”
John nodded and led the admiral out of the dining room and down the hallway to one of the many exits leading to the outdoors. He then led them through the snake-like set of sidewalks until they got near the pool. John pointed at a table on the far side of the pool.
“How can I help you, sir?”
“Charles and I both wanted to express our gratitude for your assistance in the hearings. Look I know this type of show isn’t exactly your cup of tea. But you handled it far better than anyone could have predicted,” Tim laughed at his comment, “Though I’m not sure why we did that. You don’t seem to ever not rise above expectations.”
“I wasn’t lying when I wanted to serve, sir. I still desperately want to.”
Tim nodded, “And I assure you that you will get that chance. You’ve got a week or so back to the station. Then two weeks off, it’ll be timed such that most of the Des Moines crew will be back on station together. After that, you will get assigned to a new ship.”
“Thank you, sir,” John smiled, “I mean that, thank you.”
“Pan wants you on his carrier, but I told him that you’d only do that if you were its captain.”
John laughed, “Yeah, that kind of ship isn’t for me until one’s mine.”
“Well, here’s a data slate with some openings. Let me know which one you want to serve on. I can’t guarantee anything but,” Tim winked at John, “I might know the man that approves these.”
“I wonder how the rest of the officers and crew will react though?”
“Oh, I’m sure some will treat you like Kory did. There’s a fitting irony that your coming into the academy shook command up to see the benefits that we were blind to.”
“More like refusing to look at but who’s counting?” John smiled.
“That too. None can debate your drive to serve or the lengths you’ll go to bring your crew home. The enlisted will rush to your service without hesitation. I suspect most of the younger officer corps will be like that too, the rest of them perhaps not now but in due time.”
“So, you’re saying it’s going to be awkward as hell?”
Tim laughed, “Oh yes. Speaking of awkward. What the hell is with the royal family? Would you care to guess how many times they contacted us regarding you? And continue to contact us even to this day?”
“Is it enough to get the green light on an assignation op?”
Tim closed his eyes and shook his head, “Not that severe I’m afraid.”
“Aggravating enough where if I rough some of them up the military may look the other way?”
“Probably. Keep it within reason and I can probably work with you.”
Tim stood up and looked at John, “Oh hell, almost forgot why I came here. You are shipping out tomorrow. Pan is taking the CNS Magnificent back to Manchester.”
“Jesus, a weeklong timeshare pitch?” John laughed as he stood up and saluted the Admiral.
“He can be as determined as you are, you know.”
“Yeah, I think a new cruiser may have my name on it though,” John smirked and shook the admiral’s hand.