I discovered that mental fatigue is what makes teleporting sloppy and painful, not flippancy or cursing the Universe. It took me almost two months of experimenting with Aether Walker to figure that out, but I got Mind Over Matter II and Pain Suppression III for my efforts.
Two weeks ago, Ivanka and the COB came to talk to me and the plan. Since I was arrested for insubordination and fomenting mutiny as accused by the CO, he’s backed himself into a corner on how to deal with punishment. Non-Judicial Punishment for mutiny would kill him politically. So, I’m getting a tribunal of officers instead of a Court Martial when we get back to Earth.
“MM1 Mercer, reporting as ordered, Ma’am” I stand at attention in front of Commander Zhao, who is chairing the tribunal, with Commander Nugent and Lt. Cmdr. Garner flanking her.
“Take a seat Mercer. Have you been briefed by your advocate about today’s proceedings?" She asks.
“Yes Ma’am.”
“Very well. You stand accused of fomenting rebellion, Insubordination, multiple counts of disobeying a direct order, and fraternization. Advocate, how stand you?
Lt. Sato stands and pauses to get his thoughts in order, “this Sailor denies fomenting rebellion and Insubordination, Acknowledges being in a relationship with ET2 Hunsaker, but claims it is not fraternization, and acknowledges the intent to disobey a direct order, claiming that it was unlawful.”
“Thank you advocate.” Lt. Sato sits. “Mercer admits to being in a relationship with a sailor that she supervises. Tell me, Mercer, why do you claim this is not Fraternization.”
I stand to attention, “I’m not authorized or able to provide her benefit due to our relationship. I don’t sign fitreps or the watchbill Ma’am.”
“Advocate, please retrieve Senior Chief Baiul,” He stands, opens the cabin door and calls for Ivanka. “Senior Chief, do you approve the evaluations and watch bills for the Propulsion team?”
“Yes Ma’am”
“Have you observed any favoritism in MM1 Mercer’s supervisory actions?”
“No Ma’am.”
“No preferred watches, no recommendations for any sailor to get easy assignments.”
“Ma’am, she specifically requests MM1 Carpenter to be one of the other propulsion team leads, and requests the same six sailors on watch for major maneuvers since the first trouble started with the plasma valves. She routinely assigns those six sailors to supervise the salvage team efforts when she is otherwise engaged.”
“And is one of the ‘preferred’ sailors ET2 Hunsaker?”
“Yes ma’am.”
Cmdr. Zhao shakes her head at that and turns to Cmdr. Nugent, “Any questions gentlemen?”
“Yes, XO, just two.” Nugent replies, “Senior, if you were to pick six sailors to supervise maintenance in propulsion, who would you choose?”
“I’d swap out MM1 Carpenter and ET1 Parker, but just because they annoy me, not because they do a bad job.”
“Thank you Senior, and lastly, didn’t MM1 Mercer accuse you of sexual harassment?”
“Yes sir. Had to re-take a bunch of boring training and re-arrange a difficult watch bill around it.”
“That’s all I have Senior, Nav?” He looks over to the other member of the tribunal. The Navigator shakes his head.
“Advocate, retrieve ET2 Hunsaker.”
Melissa’s interrogation was short, they asked her if we were in a relationship and that if she had been offered a variety of things for sexual favors. We both blushed, but she denied the allegation. At that point, the topic of fraternization was tabled.
The XO moves next to insubordination and states that this accusation is normally accompanied by a pattern of behavior, which had not been documented, and quickly moves on to disobeying orders.
“MM1 Mercer, did you ever receive orders to dismiss, purge, disband, or surrender the alien technology inside you.” Sato gasps and stares at me, and the two other officers stare at the XO.
“Captain Morris mentioned that my and the Botinist’s swarm refused to stand down, but no such orders were conveyed to me prior to that mention, nor did he follow up on that statement with a discernible order.”
“Dr. Summers submitted a statement to the effect that Captain Morris had indicated that he preferred her swarm to stand down, but MM1 posited that the designated race leaders could not be influenced in such a manner. She also confirmed that it was not brought up again in that meeting.
Stolen story; please report.
“Additionally, you were ordered not to disseminate the swarm technology under any circumstances. Do you remember this order?”
“Yes Ma’am”
“And there is a chat log of you informing the Captain that you intended to disseminate said swarm to Chief Volkov, if the CO did not help her himself. A copy has been provided to each of you gentlemen” there is silence as the other tribunal members read the copy.
“Did the CO know that Volkov could be healed in accordance with your accusation in these records?”
“He was informed, as I was, that the intelligence that found our ship provided medical assistance to the whole crew for Aether sickness and to repair life-threatening injuries in accordance with their First Contact directives.”
“And you would have every Sailor onboard be infected with this alien swarm?”
“At the very least those sailors that need medical assistance we cannot otherwise provide, such as a broken spine and paralysis. And Aether poisoning.” I snap back.
“So against the CO’s orders, you disseminated alien technology to Chief Volkov?”
“Yes ma’am. It’s our responsibility to assist our fellow sailors where we can, ma’am.”
“Do not preach to me MM1 Mercer.”
“Chief Volkov has discovered a way to aid people with said alien tech, without infecting them, so your desperate ultimatums are no longer necessary.” Cmdr. Nugent contributes.
Oh? Melissa was wondering if she’d continue on a healing track. Guess that answers that. “Thank you sir. Good to hear she has recovered.” He nods at that.
Cmdr. Zhao stares at me for a moment, making me squirm with her attention. She then whispers to Cmdr. Nugent who eventually nods.
“MM1 Mercer you will be returned to the brig while we deliberate, our verdict will be delivered to you.”
I snap to attention and walk out with my advocate to meet the two sailors to escort us to the brig. “So, advocate Sato, how do you think that went.”
“Doesn’t look they’re going to try and stick you with treason. But they wouldn’t have gone through the whole Special Courts Martial process to dismiss the whole thing. You’re probably looking at reduction in rank, forfeiture of pay, and restriction for 3-6 months.”
“Because I wanted a sailor to stop hurting.”
“Most of the time, the way you do a thing matters, MM1.”
“Yeah, I get it Sir, but I usually don’t understand until after it bites me. Pop-tart?”
He takes a whole one and side eyes me, “aren’t you confined and on rations? Yes! Strawberry is my favorite.”
“I got smuggled a pack or two during this morning’s prisoner transfer.” Total lie. Not that I couldn’t have arranged it, just not necessary. He shakes his head at my audacity, or awesomeness. It’s hard to tell sometimes because they’re so close together.
“Alright, once they get you in, I’m going to get some coffee and come back. Deliberations are usually between 30 and 90 minutes. You’re not allowed visitors, so don’t ask.”
I snicker at that. I haven’t been allowed visitors for two months, save COB and Senior Chief, so why would I expect that to change?
Sato comes back with a bottle of coffee and a tablet to read while he waits. Two hours later, Cmdr. Nugent comes in.
“Petty Officer Mercer, you have been found guilty of Insubordination for disobeying a direct order and disrespectful behavior toward officers of the Copernicus. As punishment, you will be reduced to MM3, assigned extra duties, restriction, forfeiture of 2/3 pay, and assigned rations for 6 months. Your confinement has been commuted to time served. The other charges levied against you have been dismissed for lack of evidence. You will be removed from supervisory roles and will report to the Chief of the Boat for extra duties. You will not be eligible for promotion until after your restriction period has ended. Do you understand the punishment that has been levied against you?”
“Yes sir.”
“Good. You two,” he points to my escorts, “this Sailor is no longer confined to the brig. Sato, stay with her to make sure she actually understands.” Sato confirmed the order and watched Nugent storm out.
“Well, Mercer, that was about as good as we could expect. This was a witch hunt, and nobody got burned, just a little bruised. I call that a win.”
“Thanks Sir, but it doesn’t feel like winning.”
“Sometimes, victories are Pyrrhic.”
Yah, that’s motivating. Thanks so much Lt. Sato. I do thank him for his time before I head back to crew berthing. Or at least I try to when Ivanka grabs the back of my neck and tells me she wants to talk about my extra duty schedule.
When she shoves me through the door to the Chiefs’ mess, I see all the Chiefs not on watch standing around shooting the shit. As I stumble in they all turn to look at me and COB speaks “Mercer, I was fit to shit an armadillo when I heard that I had to see your face in the Goat Locker everyday. But then you saved one of my Chiefs. You were stupid the way you went about it, but Volkov made a remarkable recovery because of you. Don’t think we’ll forget this.” He comes up and shakes my hand, leaving a master chief’s coin in my hand.
The next chief comes up and says “Raw deal kid,” before plopping a silvered plastic package in my hand. Each of the gathered Chiefs hands me something and pats me on the shoulder, except Petra, she cries and hugs me. At the end I’m standing there holding several packages of Penny snacks and two fingers of whiskey.
COB speaks again “We felt pretty strongly about delivering your rations today. But remember, just ‘cause you got busted down, doesn’t mean you get to be lazy.”
“Aye chief. I’ll be sure to remind Senior Baiul that I’m not to be lazy. Thank you all. For these and . . . just thanks.”
“Bah, Baiul, teach MM3 how this works. Alright Goats, back on the mountain!” The assembled chiefs ducked into their bunks or out of the mess.
That was very confusing, but it also felt . . . like a thumbs up from my dad? I tear up while eating my strudel.
“You risk a lot to help me Penny. Thank you, truly. Come back to your bunk? We’ll be respectful, promise. Your name is still on it. We thought you would make Chief first, but . . .”
“Oh, that salt feels so good in my wounded pride. Mmm, give me more.” I give my best “not helping” face. “Joking aside, I hear you’re taking a healing track Petra?”
“Hm? Kind of. My main skill is Tech Assist. It provides temporary benefit to various things, but I have to research those areas. To heal, I needed to assist my body’s healing. I can do it for others now too.”
“So, like, you can tech assist the reclamators?”
“YES! It works very well. We are now consuming scrap at a sustainable rate.”
“I have something that can help with that too once I scrounge together some free time.”
“If it will help with the repair effort, I’ll consider it extra duty.” Ivanka dismisses my worry. Wow, Ivanka seems so tired but so much less stressed than before I went to the brig. Petra’s injury must have really been messing with her.
Yah, I’d be just as devastated if Melissa, or even Katie, were hurt like that. Which would be a nightmare for everyone because I’m a mess as it is.