The Ascent

Chapter 42

I didn't sleep much that night, or the next. I tried to find out who had filed the accusation, but that information wasn't released until the preliminary hearing. My first thought was that Newman was trying again for my position, but then as I lay not sleeping, I thought back to the incident on the Battle of Kuzikos when I had boarded Sherman's flag ship and shot the spacer who claimed he was being held against his will.

I went about the next few days with a numb sick feeling. I found it hard to concentrate on the logistics reports and though the number of jump ships arriving had nearly grown sufficient to move the fleet, I couldn't feel excited about going home. The hearing was going to arrive even sooner.

When the day came I showed up in my best uniform with the best legal counsel I could arrange. When my name was called, a trooper led me into the courtroom. After confirming my identity I was sworn in before a panel of three judges of which Commander Ashbless was the head jurist.

"This is only an inquiry," Ashbless began in a calm almost friendly tone. "No formal charges have been made. Any spacer may make an accusation, but only the court may formally charge someone with a crime and then only if the preliminary evidence warrants a trial. The accused is not required to make a formal response to the charges at this point but may, if he so chooses, offer exculpatory evidence. The court reminds all parties they have been sworn in and that everything they say is a matter of court record and may be used in any further court actions. Are there any questions?"

Standing at attention before the court, I looked at sub-commander Jennings, my lawyer, who poked a data pad calling up files. She quickly looked up at the judge and said, "Not at this time." "Very well. Fleet-commander Kenneth Phon now stands before the court. Does anyone have an accusation to make?"

I glanced around the room. It was fairly large by shipboard standards but, packed with observers, it seemed quite small. The whole proceedings were being recorded and made publically available, so I knew many more were watching around the fleet.

"Er, we do." Two men and one woman, all wearing stained duty coveralls rose and stood at the court clerk's table.

"And what is the nature of the accusation?" Commander Ashbless asked.

"Piracy," said the first man. He was an unshaven middle-aged man with a pear-shaped body and a ring of hair around his bald head that reached nearly to his collar.

"And murder, or manslaughter," said the taller man next to him. He was a skinny guy with a ferret face and short sandy brown hair and patchy mustache of the same color.

"Criminal negligence at the least," added the woman who looked a lot like the first man, but with less hair on her face and more on her head.

"These are serious allegations," Ashbless said. "When did this happen?"

"Back on that moss planet just before we entered the territory of From the Stars."

I rose.

Ashbless acknowledged me. "Commander Phon?"

"May I ask a question?"

"You may, but I remind you that everything said here remains a matter of court record."

My lawyer paused in her prodding of her datapad and gave me a worried frown.

"Is this about the Leroy Kelso?" I asked.

The shorter man raised a defiant chin. "You know it is."

"And the murder—homicide—negligence charge, is that about the people left behind?"