Chapter 2 – The Hearing.

“Chief Perez, wake up… Chief...,” hissed a voice.  

“Not again... I just went through this little play,” said Perez.   

“It’s 1300, Chief, your Mast is at 1400,“ said the voice Perez didn’t recognize.  

Perez slid open the curtain the rest of the way and dropped out of the top rack, grabbed his towel and kit and staggered off to the shower. His mast was in an hour, not enough time to scrounge something to eat, either.

 “Gotta find a dress tunic and a hat. Pants are the same, right? Stupid dress uniform...“ Perez asked himself. 

Exactly 50 minutes later Perez was standing at ease outside the Wardroom conference room, hat in hand, as befitting a theoretically repentant sailor. He was alone in the corridor, which was strange, no guard, strange. The CO just took over about a month ago, so he was rather an unknown quantity, though Muschivk said they both had served with him before, Perez couldn’t remember the dude.

Even so, he couldn’t imagine having to ask for a formal courts’ martial over something stupid like this. His last run in with Reagan was even stupider than this one, but that time Reagan didn’t put him on report. A full Lieutenant should know better. Perez cocked his head. Voices in the wardroom. He slid his hat under the dress tunic epaulet and came to attention.   

The door slid open and Master Chief Petty Officer Muschivck stuck his head out. “Come on in here, Randy.”  

Perez shrugged and went in, “That’s not the way you normally address an offender, Joe.”  

Perez looked around, “Where's the Captain?” 

"Not here yet. He's bringing Reagan at 1400. We got 5 minutes," Muschivck said.  

"Why all the fuss? This is absurd. Why didn't the CO review it and throw it out," asked Perez.  

"He's got some idea that he can 'save' Reagan for the Navy. The dude is smart enough, he just  mean, and I think it’s worth a shot," said Muschivk, "And keep this under your hat, but Cohen thinks the InSystem folks did something to him. His personality is right out of an old TV cartoon."  

"I guess I can see that. You did the same for me, so I guess I can go with it," said Perez.  

"You know," said Muschivk, "I done forgot about that," with a look that said he'd done no such thing. "Sit down," he said. 

"I'd rather stand." 

"I'd rather you sat." 

Perez sat.  

"After this is done, what do you think is the top priority," asked Muschivk. 

"I don't know what you've done, I didn't have time to review the day book and the logs, I had to find and borrow a dress tunic and hat. I've only been a Chief for 6 months and I've been out here the whole time," said Perez.

"That's fine. I wanna know what you think," said Muschivk. 

"I think we need to figure out who and what the ships are, whether there are a lot of them making few trips, or a few making a lot. I can analyze the logs and determine the power to hull ratio and make some surmises about warship or freighter. At this point we can only assume they are hostile. They are actively avoiding scanning. There's not a single reason to do that out here unless they are up to something terrible," said Perez 

"Okay, what then," asked Muschivk. 

"Figure out how not to get blown to hell," said Perez. 

"That's pretty high on my list," said Muschivk. 

"I got some ideas on shielding, in the same lane as what we talked about before. If it worked for the power plants… couldn't it work for the rest of the detectable portions? And what if we messed with the EVA units, we could increase their range and sensor suites pretty simply." 

"That's what we figured as well. You probably dropped the effective detection range of this station logarithmically to about 1 solar volume with the mods already," said Muschivk, "I'm betting you can work your magic on the rest of the hull and make us disappear." 

"Not the whole hull. Maybe a couple more modules. It would take weeks for the whole hull. I don't think we got 'weeks'. I can probably get the detection volume to an Earth-diameter or ... " 

"Attention on Deck," said the CO's Yeoman, as he stuck his head into the Wardroom. 

"At Ease," said the Captain.  

He came in the Wardroom and sat down at the head of the table, and glared at the green tablecloth with distaste.  

"Good afternoon, Randy. You still owe me a hammer from before. Do you think it might be possible to stay on Robert’s good side for at least a couple of days?" asked the Captain. Robert was Robert Reagan, Lt., Galactic Republic Navy.  

Perez blinked at the younger Commander.  He for sure remembered him now, a seriously wiseass PO3 in his company at Special Warfare School, then they were on some of the same operations... though in different teams, then the Assault Commander of Special Team 7. It’d been a long week. “Oh, that David Cohen,” thought Perez.

"Good Afternoon, sir," chorused the sailors in the room.  

"Let's get this over with," said Commander David Cohen, "You all are giving me a headache. Where's the write-up? Who was the JAG rep for this, and where is the investigation," asked Cohen.  

"I requested the wartime procedure due to circumstances, Sir, " said Reagan. 

"You what? So… wait. No write up, no JAG. No investigation?" 

"I investigated, sir,“ said Reagan, "The complainant officer has the right to fully submit the case, and to prosecute and request punishment be carried out." 

"Why yes, he does, though it's not normally done that way. We will discuss why that is.... in a few minutes," said the Captain with a smile. 

“Sorry, I’m late, Captain, did I miss anything exciting, “ asked the XO as she stepped in the office. She was a dark tiny woman, bustling with unused energy and aggression. If she had a sign it would say, “Do Not Piss Me Off!”   

“No, Barbara, you haven't. And you’re not late, we are just getting started,” said Cohen.  

“I haven’t had time to review the complaint, sir, the Yeoman said about an hour ago, that the Lt. hadn't finished it,” she said. 

“Lt. Reagan has elected to prosecute his complaint himself, “ said the Captain. 

“Has he, now?” asked the XO, pausing and looking at the Lt. Like something she found on her boot. 

“Yes Ma’am. I felt it would save everyone a great deal of time, and we could spend more time discussing Chief Perez’s defrocking and punishment,” said Lt. Regan. 

The XO stood up and turned around to look at the junior officer, her face darkening below coffee color. “Sir, “ she started to address the Captain.  

Cohen held up his hand. “Wait, XO, I’m going to hear this out. It might make quite a difference in the outcome during our discussions later on, “ said Cohen. He turned his head and looked directly at her and said, “Bear with me here, I have my reasons.” 

She sat down, muttering to herself.  

The Yeoman stuck his head back in, stuck out his hand with a PIM in it, “Ships recorder, sir.” 

“Thank you, Mark,” said the Captain. 

The Captain took the recorder and set it on the table, “Legal PIM AI, acknowledge.” 

“Acknowledged, sir.” 

“Has the Administrative Assistant, whom I will address as Yeoman, instructed you as to the nature of this hearing?” 

“Legal: Yes sir. This is a formal Captain’s Mast in the case of dereliction of duty and destruction of Navy property for CPO Randall Albert Perez, requested by Lt. Robert Reagan, placed on report at 0400 this morning, ” said the PIM, a fussy AI that evoked images of eyeshades, accountants and arm sleeves and superior attention to detail.

“Begin recording.” 

“Recording commenced. Comment: I have no complaint on file for this case. I recognize the defendant, but have no prosecutor or complainant, and no other documentation as to evidence to be held over for courts martial.” 

“Legal, Lt. Reagan has elected to both complain and to prosecute,” said Captain Cohen. 

“Statement: Captain it is my duty to inform you that...” 

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Hold, Legal. I will allow it. I will enter notes to the formal file after this session,” said Cohen. 

 “Legal: Acknowledged.” 

The Captain looked directly at Lt. Reagan, “Lt. Reagan. You came to me very early this morning and stated you had a formal complaint where a member of my crew was unquestionably guilty of violations of two Articles of the Uniform Code.  You then requested that we hold this hearing as soon as reasonably possible based on the danger to the ship that resulted from these actions, and expressed that as the Acting Operations Officer, you felt that the station should be transitioned to Combat Status and the maximum penalties imposed. You used a great many words to describe how this CPO was a danger to the Navy and to this ship. Does this summarize your words to me correctly?” 

“… Uh, yes sir,” said Reagan.  

"You very carefully failed to mention that you are prosecuting this complaint yourself. You also failed to mention that you wrote up a summary notice placing the defendant on report and have not completed a JAG investigation, yet wish to continue with the hearing," said the CO.

The Captain looked at Perez, “I am given to understand that this is your first time hearing these charges, and that you have not been cautioned, and your rights not explained to you. This is not necessary for this hearing, as this is not a court of military justice, nor is it a hearing or tribunal with greater than command authority. Do you understand?” 

“Yes sir,” said Perez, promptly. 

“The SEEA will be acting as your representative in this hearing. Is this acceptable to you?” 

“Yes sir,” said Perez again. 

The Captain looked at Reagan, “Chief, it is not necessary to ask for a plea in administrative hearings, and as this is the abbreviated process, Lt. Reagan, for the record, formally state the charges against Chief Petty Officer Perez.” 

Lt. Commander Barbara Sevrinofsky sat forward and said, “Captain, if I may have a moment, in private.”  

“It’s okay, XO,” said the Captain. 

The LCDR looked very uncomfortable and sat back.  

Perez kicked himself, mentally.  This little game showed Joe’s fine hand moving the pieces. He smiled to himself, then frowned. All of Joe’s little games cost him (Perez, that is) something.   

Lt. Randall moved to the front of the conference table and stated, “CPO Perez is charged with dereliction of duty, malicious destruction of Naval Property, and insubordination.” 

Captain Cohen leaned forward and asked, “This is your first-time mentioning insubordination,” said the CO. He shook his head and looked at Muschivk.  

“No objection, Captain.” 

“Very well,” said Cohen, and he looked at Reagan. “You have particulars to your charges Mr. Reagan?” 

“Yes sir,” said Reagan. 

“State them,” said Cohen. 

“This morning at 0330 just after I took the watch, the detector array started showing blue speckling along the outer edges and warping of the images on the display. I queried the watch standers and discovered that CPO had finished his detector mod at that time and had gone to bed. After this I tried to have the electronics staff tech fix the detectors and they could not, stating that Perez had done something and that they appeared completely functional, and that I needed to wait for CPO Perez to fix them. There was no authorization in the logs or the daybook about any detector work.” 

“Please go on,” said Cohen in a friendly voice. Perez grimly took note of this and decided to never, ever trust the Captain if he could help it and also decided that Regan was an idiot and absolutely hopeless. 

“The dereliction of duty took place when he went to bed, with the detectors still broken, and the malicious destruction of property took place when he modified them without command and Naval authority, as shown by the detectors not functioning correctly starting at 0347. I logged this in the ship’s log, and had the Chief recalled to the Bridge. said Regan. 

“And the insubordination?“ asked Cohen. 

“When summoned to Control after being told they were broken, Perez told me that he didn’t touch the detectors and that I was being recorded. This is insubordination. As he is obviously guilty of all charges, I suggest we move to discussing his punishment and release from military service as unfit for duty.” said Reagan. 

Cohen let his breath out and looked at  Muschivk, “At that last little bit, I’m not sure this is  worth it. Are you sure...” 

“Yep.” 

Perez looked at the XO and she started smiling, apparently.. she just got it. Strike that... it became a bloodthirsty grin. “Captain,“ said the XO, “I would like to replace the Master Chief as Perez’s representative.”  

“While I understand your feelings, Barbara, not this time,” said Cohen, “there needs to be some serious learning here. Legal: Delete the last two comments from the public record.” 

“Legal: Acknowledged, access moved to private.”  

Severinofsky sat back again, looking, well, vaguely disappointed, as if a morsel of chocolate had fell under the couch and the cat ate it. 

Reagan started to look unsettled, as if he just remembered something that upset him; or as if he found the chocolate under the couch and it was green and covered with cat hair. 

“Since you are acting as Perez representative, Master Chief, how do you respond,” asked the Captain. 

“Captain, since Lt. Reagan has personally levied these charges against a member of my department, and cannot prove his case with actual evidence, and in fact has only presented hearsay, in accordance with the Navy Legal Manual of Courts Martial we request a trial martial, unarmed, standard tournament rules to resolve the matter.” 

“I approve of this resolution, standard tournament rules is acceptable to the command.” said Cohen. 

“What? You mean a fight? Like with swords or something?” asked Reagan.

“Yes, Lieutantant. A fight. That is what ‘martial’ means, and the weapon of choice goes to the challenged, that would be the defendant,” said the Captain.

“You can’t do that, sir, this is ridiculous! “ said Reagan.  

“You know what? He can. And did,” said the Captain.  

“But, the Navy charged him with two violations, “ started Reagan. 

“No, Mr. Reagan. You charged him with three violations. You charged Perez here personally,” said Cohen, “when you decided to look up only about half of the Uniform Code and apply what suited you, and when you decided not to read the daybook, or the maintenance log, or the package he submitted to GalShips, and accuse him of dereliction of duty. You came to me and told me that Mr. Perez here had endangered my ship and I must do something immediately. You, in this vein have formally personally charged a member of my crew with two serious violations, and as such are responsible for proving your own case.” 

The Master Chief interjected, “Since no modification package was submitted for the subspace surveillance system, which you have informally called the 'detectors', and no work was approved, the Lieutenant is stating that Perez exceeded the scope of his work package last night, in the first charge, and has presented no evidence that this actually occurred. In the second: since the Lieutenant has not proved the first, the second remains outstanding. ” 

“That’s not how this works, “ said Reagan.  

“That is exactly how this works. When you invoked the rules of emergency for administrative punishment, you personally level any charges and are responsible for proving them. If you had read the MilPers legal manual all the way through it clearly states this. This is so that your cheap method for railroading someone you don’t like is not commonly tried. You seem to think that the Navy is responsible for enforcing your personal prejudices. Historically speaking… no, it’s not the time for instruction, you’re not ready.” said the Captain. He addressed the PIM.  

“Legal: The Defense representative’s motion is approved. Recording stop and note that there will be further notes in both the resolution of this case, the personal record of both CPO Perez, and Lt. Reagan, and a personal note to the Outpost section Admiral, as required in the follow on transmission.” 

“Legal: Acknowledged, stop recording.” said the little green box. 

“Now,” said the Captain, “are you going to accept the resolution? Right now, you have two choices: one, get in the ring with this old fart; or two, get written up for as many counts of conduct unbecoming an officer, dereliction of duty, insubordination and failure to ensure the safety of personnel under your command as I can cobble up. I warn you though; if you choose option two, I will not have this prosecuted here... I will have you formally charged and sent off to sector for courts martial and regardless of how that comes out, your career will be over. I think the most irritating part of all this is that you simply do not understand what you have done.” 

Reagan, in shocked, sputtered, “Why are you doing this? He’s just an enlisted piece of garbage, you can’t actually care... You should be...” 

Cohen held up his hand again, “Stop right there, Mr. Reagan, and thank your God, whomever he may be, that the recorder was off. Why? Just for your edification I’ll tell you why. I joined the navy as a regular recruit 24 years ago. My family was no help for me, my ‘daddy’ owns a grocery store in a small town on a planet not all that far from here, and I joined as E-1, because I was a screw up with nothing else to do. Commissions are very expensive when you buy them. I went to boot camp and decided to go Special Warfare Operations. Guess who my company commanders were? In Special Operations School, my unit number was company 117 and my drill instructors were Chief Petty Officer Joseph Muschivk, and Petty Officer First Class Randall Perez, (pointing at them) we then spent the next five years on Assault Team Seven together,” said the Captain, pointing at each of them. “Knowing the relationships of the people around you is a leadership basic. You assumed that I had never heard of anybody on board this station previously and would just go along with whatever you suggested. Did you even look at the record of your incoming CO?” said Cohen.  

“What! That’s not fair,” sputtered Reagan. 

“I’d really like to hear your definition of fair someday. You just tried to end the career of a 35-year decorated veteran because he called you out a couple of weeks ago for not doing your job, which, I might add, because of all this, I have not got around to discussing with you... that’s my fault... You did know that the Master Chief here won the unarmed combat All Navy Championship 4 years running, didn’t you,” said Cohen. 

“And it ‘twas a sad day when I lost it about 10 years ago to shrimpy here,” said the Master Chief rumbled, pointing at Perez. 

 “Getting old and slow costs you, old man,” said Perez, who shrugged. 

“By the way, Reagan,” said the XO, “I am an Enlisted Special Operations graduate as well. Guess who my unarmed combat and special skills instructor was in Company 156? I went through about two years after the Captain. At that point, the Master Chief here was chosen for MCPON, and rotated to Luna Base, so I only got him for half the first year in Assault. They alternate MCPON's between In and Outsystems, but we got him back two years later."  

“So... here’s the deal. You are going to get in the ring with old Joe there, and he’s going to hurt you some. Then you are going to join the Boat Security forces in their drills and they are going to hurt you some more. In that process, you might become an acceptable officer. Every morning you don’t have watch you are going to work out with all of us, Barbara and I alternate days. You are also going to report to me personally every Friday, and this next time, in four days, you will describe to me CPO Perez’s ship modification package, in writing, and what it does and why you wasted 30 minutes of my life on this mess. The next Friday we will talk about why it affected the subspace detector system, and the Friday after that; assuming you can still move, we will talk about what you did and how an officer should conduct themselves, and why enlisted personnel are not ‘garbage’,” said Cohen, tapping the table.

Cohen continued, “You are relieved as Acting Operations Officer when you lose to Muschivk, but you may have the chance to earn it back; assuming you do as I, and they (COB and the SEEA and the XO, of course) say. You, of course, have the option of appealing this ruling. If you choose to appeal, the appeal goes to the Sector Commander, in Vega. It might interest you to know that the sector commander was my advisor at the Academy.  

To be sure, it is a very large universe and it is remotely possible you will defeat the Master Chief. Should that happen, we will open an investigation into CPO Perez's behavior, as is stated in the MilPERS manual. Oh, and don’t even think about resigning your commission. At that point I will charge you, as a civilian, with conspiracy to obstruct military operations and remand you over to sector courts, and while your family’s influence might help you get off with no sentence, you’ll still have the charge, and your career will be over. Legal. Recording on.” 

“Legal: Acknowledged, recording.” 

“Lt. Reagan: the representative for the offender has requested unarmed personal combat, based on the lack of evidence and obvious personal animosity represented by the plaintiff. The Command is willing to hold this finding. Do you accept the outcome of this proceeding?” asked the Captain. 

“.... Uh, Yes sir,” said Reagan, in shock and tears running down his face. 

“Chief Perez, do you accept the ruling of this proceeding.” asked Cohen. 

“Yes, sir,” said Perez.  

“Excellent. The ‘duellum judicium dei*’ will take place directly after dinner as it's almost 1500. Don’t eat very much, Lieutenant.” 

* Trial by combat under the eye of god. The Captain is trying to be funny.