Chapter Twenty-Two
Admiral Armsono
Pax had to walk after that. Ansel assured him that he had hours before Vivra woke, and he was going to take one of them to wrap his head around what Vivra had gone through and the fact that it could have been worse—though it could have been a lot better if Yelena had acted sooner. He didn’t know how he felt. He didn’t want to feel anything, to be honest.
His feet found their way to the captain’s conference room. Rannn and Yon at the Minky table. It was active, a projection of Brica, Rueva, its moon.
Rannn must have seen something. “Issue I need to know about?”
“No. Just getting details of everything that went down on Brica.”
“Anything I should add to the report?”
Pax pursed his lips, thinking. He decided that Vivra didn’t need that kind of record on file. “No.”
The Minky screen on the wall pinged. The caller’s identification showed Admiral Dern. Rannn motioned for Pax and Yon to each take a seat. They did, and Rannn accepted the call.
“Admiral,” Rannn greeted.
The quantum video call showed a Krant sitting behind his desk, wide shoulders stuffed into a gold-buttoned, white Federation jacket. The male looked more like a gladiator than an admiral.
“Captain. I will be proceeding over Admiral Armsono’s court martial. In the records, you are calling for his immediate removal.”
“I am.” Rannn squared his shoulders and pulled his hands behind his back.
“Then we will proceed. We shall begin the proceedings by hearing your reasoning and receiving any facts you wish to present. We will also give Armsono a chance to explain his actions.”
The video of Dern reduced, and Pax saw a large courtroom. Sitting up behind a high court desk was Dern. Below him was Armsono, a Yunkin, and his council, a Bolark.
Pax was glad that he had walked in when he did.
“Captain Rannn, for the record, please recount your evidence regarding Admiral Armsono’s negligence.”
Rannn touched the screen and showed the transfer order to the Garna. Then he showed an uncompleted mission of assistance to Eldon from the Garna’s previous captain, Mosel. The last item he showed was the medial reports the Garna had received from the planet before they arrived. The captain did all of this without saying a word.
“Are you going to say something, Captain, or just keep showing us records we have access to?” Armsono’s Bolark counsel asked.
“Counselor,” Dern said in a warning tone.
“Do you also have access to the number of survivors that lived through the disease on Garna?”
The Bolark responded, “Thirty-six were not exposed to the disease and lived. The loss was unfortunate. Is there anything else you want me to check if I have access to?”
“Do you have access to the survivors on Eldon?”
“There were no survivors,” Armsono said sternly.
“Not now, but I picked up seven from the planet before you nebulized it,” Rannn sneered.
Dern smacked his palm against the desk, and there was an audible crack. “This is not how my courts work. I directed Rannn to explain his side. When he finishes, you will have a turn. If I hear another word out of you or your counselor, I’ll hold you in contempt and strip you of your title. You can find another job. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Admiral.”
Dern’s light yellow and brown eyes turned to Rannn. “Continue.”
“Restating again, I picked up seven survivors before an urgent mission call from Admiral Orin came in. Since we didn’t have time to get the rest, I instructed my communications officer to call in a medi-ship and alert them to the survivors. But the ship never came, and shortly after, we saw via satellite imagery that the planet had been nebulized. That’s when my mission for Eldon was officially closed. There was nothing I could do for the planet, and I submitted the report.”
Rannn tapped the screen again and pulled up the medical paperwork. “This is a record of the procedures my medical officer took to figure out why thirty-six people survived an airborne outbreak when others did not. He was able to deduce that a water contaminant on Yerg manipulated the body and made these thirty-six individuals immune.”
The Bolark lawyer chuckled darkly.
“Counselor. You’re starting to piss me off,” Dern warned.
The male held up his arms. “I didn’t say anything.”
“Continue, Rannn.” Dern pointed a finger at the Bolark.
“We gathered samples on our way to our mission, and Ansel was able to verify that the virus manipulates the body. He was also able to gather a sample of the virus and is currently working on a cure. As for the seven Eldon survivors, we were able to successfully sanitize them before bringing them on board. They claim to have also visited Yerg and got sick from the water contaminants. They are alive because I followed protocols. Specifically, medical ones. In the former captain’s records, we have evidence that no medical procedures were followed by the Federation in the Eldon outbreak. Starting from the mission directive by Armsono to Mosel. That’s all I have to report.”
The Bolark raised his arms high. “Oh, is that all? By all means, with that kind of amazing intel, you should have been able to raise the dead. But let’s not point fingers like you seem to enjoy doing, shall we? Let’s point out that you have no evidence that Armsono had anything to do with the incompetence of Captain Mosel. Once he called in the star carrier for help, the job was on the former captain. Not the admiral. You’re pissed about the planet being nebulized? So is he. His sister lived there. He never would have nebulized it. Your accusations are out of order, especially for someone who didn’t have all the facts. I demand that you rescind your recommendation and admit that you made it under emotional confusion. And, of course, give Admiral Armsono a personal apology.”
Rannn didn’t say anything but pushed another document forward, a transmission copy of the protocol orders he’d sent to the admiral. He also showed a transmission of the orders he made for the medical ship.
“Oh, no,” the Bolark said. “Your turn to justify yourself is over. No more this or that. You said your piece, and now I will fight for his. You are a dishonorable captain who has issues with his superiors. Just a few months ago, you had Pegna’s admiral sent to DBS after you fairly made him explode after not listening to any of his directions and commands.
“How dare you accuse this man of not doing his job when he responded to the distress call from Eldon within minutes. The planet his sister lived on, if you will remember. You can’t prove that he did not follow protocol. You can’t prove that he sent the bomb. And once you realize that, you will rescind your accusation, and we can actually spend some time looking for the one who destroyed the planet.”
Rannn let his arms fall to his sides. “I won’t withdraw my charges. There was no one but me or Armsono that could have overridden those orders. No one. Even if he didn’t block the ship, he still ignored my quantum message. He never once responded, and from my reports, no one has been to the planet since. No one is investigating a non-approved nebula bomb. If Armsono was not negligent, then why hasn’t he investigated the incident? He is still responsible for it.”
“Investigate what? A dead planet. What is he going to find?”
Dern lifted his fingers to his lips. “I’ve heard enough.”
Admiral Armsono stood up next to his counsel. Both looked at the Krant admiral expectantly.
“I’ve made my decision.”
Pax sat forward, watching the screen and the Krant, hoping the male had honor and realized what a scumbag Armsono was.
“There is not enough evidence to prove to me beyond a doubt that Armsono sent the nebula bomb. Had you proof of that, I would have agreed with you, Captain Rannn. But as it stands, Armsono did not act dishonorably by calling on Garna to aid with the planet-wide emergency. That’s what the Garna was made for. So, while Armsono may have not aided much with the efforts, he didn’t actually have to after he’d sent the Garna in to handle the situation. My final word on this issue is that Armsono’s position will remain intact.” Then Dern looked at Captain Rannn and said, “I will begin the investigation into the nebula bomb. We will find out who ordered it and what ship deployed it. Until then, my ruling stands. Transmission over.”
The screen winked out.
Rannn slowly leaned his head back and then hissed a series of curses. Pax pushed himself to his feet and would have offered his agreement that the whole thing was crap, but he needed to get back to Vivra. He needed to touch the sweetness in his life.
Back in medical, he walked into Shady arguing with Ansel.
“It will work.”
“No, it won’t. The captain will never allow it,” Ansel said, shaking his head.
“Allow what?”
Ansel cut his eyes to him. “She wants me to put tracking chips in the Flourg. She says if Jaccy sent two people to get the slaves, he will send another until he gets them.”
“They’re going to Marnak. They’ll be safe there.”
Shady snickered. “Yeah, no, they won’t. Marnak is not as perfect as you think. There are traffickers there, too. But no one talks about it. I talked to the Flourgs from Lobash and they said the Terran pirates told them there were thousands of buyers lined up. Trust me, someone will pick them up. If not Jaccy, then someone else. If for no other reason than their skin. I can literally bet my life on the fact that one of them will be on Lotus Nexis days after we break port after dropping them off.”
“The admiral of that planet wouldn’t allow traffickers,” Pax said, knowing that no trustworthy admiral would ever allow it or ignore it if they knew about it. At least he hoped to Seth they wouldn’t.
“You can’t stop what you can’t prove. And they never leave any evidence.”
Shady had no idea how deep those words burrowed inside Pax. He also knew that it was a horrible time to ask Rannn to approve this and then hope that he was wrong. And heaven help Admiral Aeon if they dropped off the slaves and they were picked back up. But, then again, it involved Jaccy. “Call the captain, put the question to him.”
Pax stayed as Shady explain her point. Within seconds of the call, Ansel was rubbing his head, knowing he had thousands of Flourg to chip. The rest of the miners didn’t have the luminescent skin, only those that worked with phosephenite.
Weary, Pax moved to the private room but didn’t go to the opposite bed. Instead, he moved behind Vivra’s sleeping body and pulled her into his hold. He pressed his nose against her neck and breathed in her smell. It was magnified because she had not showered, but he still felt his body ease at the touch of her cool skin, and her scent that filled his nose, his lungs, and his body.