Read Online The War Machine: Crisis of Empire III by Roger MacBride Allen, David Drake - Free Book Online

voices rippled through the wardroom, which had been pressed into service as a courtroom. Lucius Rockler, a wispy little man who seemed wholly out of place in a uniform, stood at rigid attention, visibly struggling to keep his knees from buckling.
    Al Spencer forced himself to continue. By the book, absolutely by the book, he told himself. Rockler must be granted every right to which he was entitled. The crew must know that this was justice, not a witch hunt, not revenge.
    Or was he, Spencer, merely afraid to cause this miserable man’s immediate death? “I must now speak not only to you, Lucius Rockler, but to the entire crew and officer corps of this task force. Enough of you knew to start with why we waited until departure from our last station to begin this trial that it can be no secret to any of you by now. Let me violate one of the greatest taboos and speak the truth, out loud, and in the open: The Pact has more than its share of corruption. We have evidence that friends and relations of the accused had already started efforts to suborn a planetside trial.” Spencer did not mention that the planetside KT had provided that evidence, at Suss’ request. “The evidence of judicial tampering will be entered into the permanent record of this trial.
    “I decided to try this case myself so as to keep Lucius Rockler from escaping justice. Not to prevent his escaping punishment, but justice. I had no personal knowledge of the accused man I have now found guilty, and no firsthand knowledge of the events leading to charges being brought. For these reasons, I felt it possible for me to serve as judge over him, in spite of the fact that I am his direct commanding officer. I have endeavored to conduct a fair and honest trial, and I believe I have done so.
    “But having found Lucius Rockler guilty, and having passed sentence upon him, I cannot and must not order that sentence carried out. So as to insure that the sentence was rendered justly and fairly, the law says it must be put before a review board. This is done to prevent spaceside courts martial from degenerating into vendettas, judicial murders.
    “Naval regulations and admiralty law are most clear on this point. Under the given circumstances, it is illegal for me to carry out the sentence of death against Lucius Rockler, or to order others to carry it out. There are no doubt plenty of mess hall lawyers who have found a supposed loophole, wherein, for example, I might declare us in a state of emergency, or declare that we would be out of contact with superior authority for a long enough period of time that I could carry out sentence.
    “But I refuse to take that course, for an excellent reason: it would dishonor this command by involving it in an abuse of process far worse than the ones contemplated by Lucius Rockler’s friends. If his punishment is to mean anything, it must be carried out in the name of justice, not vengeance. His punishment must be impersonal, imposed not out of hatred, but for his violation of objective criteria—that is to say, the law. To further insure this, Naval Regulations require that an officer convicted under these circumstances be surrendered to outside authority at the first possible instant.
    “Immediately upon our arrival at Daltgeld, Lucius Rockler will be transported planetside and incarcerated at Government House there. His incarceration will be kept secret, and I might add the Rockler family is quite unknown in the Daltgeld system. He will remain in Government House until such time as another Navy unit calls at Daltgeld. They will carry him aboard for eventual transport to a major naval base. Upon his arrival at such a base, a review board will be constituted. They will examine the record of this proceeding in secret. Given the conclusive nature of the evidence, it will be impossible for them to overturn his conviction. Nor, I believe, will they find any mitigating circumstance that would prevent them from carrying out the sentence