Read Online Rogue Powers by Roger MacBride Allen - Free Book Online
Authors: Roger MacBride Allen
Tags: Science-Fiction
Ads: Link
the whole thing. If they did that, the defense was dead. Pete and Captain Brown had been expecting this, and Pete was ready to do his bit. It would require a little sarcasm, and better for assistant counsel to be snotty then let Brown himself get in trouble with Leventhal for being disrespectful.
Pete stood up slowly. "Your honors, I must raise a number of counter-objections. Captain Tsung knows damn well he's stuck with the unpleasant job of trying to throw an interstellar hero in the brig, and he's doing his best— doing his duty, if you will. Fine. But don't let him tell you how to do your job. If you wish to cut off the defense, you can decide that on your own without his help. Furthermore, five minutes ago my learned friend was foregoing his opening statement and reserving his case—and now he wants to shut down our key witness after five questions! Your honors, I submit that entertaining such a motion, permitting such a strategy, would deny our client's single chance to defend himself. As it is, he will be heard only in a secret proceeding. Allow him at least that."
"It seems to me, Captain Gesseti, that we now have the choice of being instructed by either the prosecution or the defense," Leventhal growled. "We shall confer." The five judges bent their heads together and whispered briefly. Finally, Leventhal addressed the court. "In this matter, we overrule the prosecution. We find that it is conceivable that reasons could exist that would compel the defendant to act as he has. Therefore, the search for such reasons in the experience of the defendant is not irrelevant. Defense may proceed with the current line of questioning."
"Thank you, your honor," Pete said as he sat down. It had definitely been worth all the trouble to get Leventhal on the court.
"Let me restate the question, Commander Larson," Brown went on. "What were the experiences in the New Finland system that led you to your views?"
"It began with the loss of the Survey Service transport Venera," Mac began. Pete and Captain Brown had rehearsed Mac very carefully, and Mac was a quick study. He gave his testimony calmly and carefully. "Many Survey personnel were lost with the Venera. The Survey's commanding officer, Captain Driscoll, decided to launch the Survey ships with undersized crews rather than have the program cancelled altogether."
And Driscoll had been looking at a court-martial herself for that decision, until things had broken the way they did, Pete thought. Then she was suddenly a far-sighted hero.
"As the court might know," Mac went on, "First Lieutenant Joslyn Marie Cooper Larson of the Britannic Navy and I were the entire ship's complement aboard the League of Planets Survey Ship Number 41, the Joslyn Marie. I was in command of the J.M. and named it for Lieutenant Larson, who is my wife.
"While on her first Survey mission, the I. M . was intercepted by a messenger drone with orders to proceed to New Finland. All anyone in the League really knew at that point was that contact with New Finland had been lost, and some group named the Guardians had attacked and conquered the planet. Up until the time of the attack, no one still alive, except a few historical specialists, had ever even heard of the Guards.
"The only other thing we knew was that the Guardians were rapidly setting up a system of interceptor missiles capable of detecting the burst of radiation peculiar to a starship reentering normal space from C 2 space. However, the system was designed for the sensors to look out into deep space. Once inside the New Finnish system, ships were safe from the missiles. The I.M . was the only ship in position to get to New Finland before the anti-ship missiles were all in place. If the I.M . hadn't been in the right place at the right time, there wouldn't have been a chance."
And that's what saved Driscoll, Pete thought.
In the steady voice of an officer reporting the results of a routine assignment, Mac talked on. "We launched for New
Pete stood up slowly. "Your honors, I must raise a number of counter-objections. Captain Tsung knows damn well he's stuck with the unpleasant job of trying to throw an interstellar hero in the brig, and he's doing his best— doing his duty, if you will. Fine. But don't let him tell you how to do your job. If you wish to cut off the defense, you can decide that on your own without his help. Furthermore, five minutes ago my learned friend was foregoing his opening statement and reserving his case—and now he wants to shut down our key witness after five questions! Your honors, I submit that entertaining such a motion, permitting such a strategy, would deny our client's single chance to defend himself. As it is, he will be heard only in a secret proceeding. Allow him at least that."
"It seems to me, Captain Gesseti, that we now have the choice of being instructed by either the prosecution or the defense," Leventhal growled. "We shall confer." The five judges bent their heads together and whispered briefly. Finally, Leventhal addressed the court. "In this matter, we overrule the prosecution. We find that it is conceivable that reasons could exist that would compel the defendant to act as he has. Therefore, the search for such reasons in the experience of the defendant is not irrelevant. Defense may proceed with the current line of questioning."
"Thank you, your honor," Pete said as he sat down. It had definitely been worth all the trouble to get Leventhal on the court.
"Let me restate the question, Commander Larson," Brown went on. "What were the experiences in the New Finland system that led you to your views?"
"It began with the loss of the Survey Service transport Venera," Mac began. Pete and Captain Brown had rehearsed Mac very carefully, and Mac was a quick study. He gave his testimony calmly and carefully. "Many Survey personnel were lost with the Venera. The Survey's commanding officer, Captain Driscoll, decided to launch the Survey ships with undersized crews rather than have the program cancelled altogether."
And Driscoll had been looking at a court-martial herself for that decision, until things had broken the way they did, Pete thought. Then she was suddenly a far-sighted hero.
"As the court might know," Mac went on, "First Lieutenant Joslyn Marie Cooper Larson of the Britannic Navy and I were the entire ship's complement aboard the League of Planets Survey Ship Number 41, the Joslyn Marie. I was in command of the J.M. and named it for Lieutenant Larson, who is my wife.
"While on her first Survey mission, the I. M . was intercepted by a messenger drone with orders to proceed to New Finland. All anyone in the League really knew at that point was that contact with New Finland had been lost, and some group named the Guardians had attacked and conquered the planet. Up until the time of the attack, no one still alive, except a few historical specialists, had ever even heard of the Guards.
"The only other thing we knew was that the Guardians were rapidly setting up a system of interceptor missiles capable of detecting the burst of radiation peculiar to a starship reentering normal space from C 2 space. However, the system was designed for the sensors to look out into deep space. Once inside the New Finnish system, ships were safe from the missiles. The I.M . was the only ship in position to get to New Finland before the anti-ship missiles were all in place. If the I.M . hadn't been in the right place at the right time, there wouldn't have been a chance."
And that's what saved Driscoll, Pete thought.
In the steady voice of an officer reporting the results of a routine assignment, Mac talked on. "We launched for New
Similar Books
