Simon was shaking. He had no idea what to expect from the court martial hearing. Sure he had committed mutiny but it saved Mars Base. Simon looked around the room. There was a judge, jury, and prosecution all where he would have expected and Joel was next to him. Simon would have accused Joel of insane bravery from his demeanor. Almost every part of his body gave of a vibe of cool confidence and maybe slight disinterest in the events about to take place. However the eyes gave Joel away. In those eyes was a look of panic, longing, and unrelenting sadness.
"We are here today to determine the punishment for two of our own. For the sake of brevity the accused will be referred to by their first name. Simon, you are accused of mutiny. How do you plead?" Simon tried to form the thoughts that would become words. They didn't really come. "There were mitigating circumstances," Simon shouted. "You will keep a civil tone in this court. Joel you are accused of dereliction of duty, compromising the chain of command, and pursuit of a relationship that was in clear violation of regulations. How do you plead?" The overwhelming sadness in Joel's eyes grew. "Guilty your honor." A few people let out surprised gasps but Simon saw it coming. The judge was taken aback for a second but turned to the prosecution.
"We shall begin," the judge said. "I'd like to call the accused as a witness," said the prosecution. The judged nodded. Simon walked up to the stand. "You are accused of mutiny. You have the right to not self incriminate or make any statement all. Any statement you say can be held against you. Do you understand these rights?" Simon nodded. "Why did you commit mutiny?" "Objection your honor. Implication of guilt," Simon's attorney shouted. "Prosecution will rephrase the question," the judge said. "Did you commit mutiny during the attack on Mars base and if so why?" "Joel refused to give the order that saved Mars base. I had to step in." "Were you aware of the relationship Joel has been accused of and that it was in violation of military code?" "I was aware of the relationship but not the violation. They never seemed to compromise chain of command." "Were you previously aware that a relationship with a superior office is expressly forbidden under military code?" "Yes," Simon said solemnly. "Why did you never report this violation?"
Simon had to think for a moment. Why did he never report them? Joel was his friend but that wasn't it. "Well," asked the prosecution. There was only one thing he could think of. "They were really good together. You really don't see that a whole lot. They seemed deeply in love and neither tried to manipulate the other. It seemed like a great relationship." There was a slight pause then the questioning resumed.
"Would you explain the situation surrounding the mutiny for the court please?" "There's not much to tell. We had taken heavy losses especially with our forces in space. I saw the anti-god lock on to Ashley. Based on intelligence the base received form Earth there was a huge probability there was some sort of failsafe point and that point had already been reached. Ashley was in most cases dead so I suggested the one path that would likely net us the largest advantage. Joel was opposed to the idea so he was restrained and I told Ashley to head for the UARS domes." "Did it ever occur to you to you to detonate the nuke on the shield surrounding Mars at the time?" "Yes and Ashley might have survived if the shield held but that also had the possibility of killing our own, admittedly few, pilots in space at the time." "Were you also aware that a little over nine percent of the planet would either be destroyed or heavily irradiated?" "Yes I knew it would destroy a relatively small part of the planet. It did cause UARS to back down and stop the attack." "No further questions." "Defense," the judge asked. "No questions."
The court then went on to review a holographic security recording of the incident. Joel winced and had an incredibly pained expression when the recording got to him choking Simon. The expression changed to guilt then a conflicted look. Other evidence including a mountain of data was presented. It seemed like it was taking days. The Judge asked for closing remarks and neither side gave any. He then told the jury what they could and couldn't do. They went of to make their decision.
After what felt like hours they came back out and handed the judge a slip of paper. "Simon and Joel will you please stand," the judge said. Both complied. "Simon you have been found innocent of the crime of mutiny. Consequently I was ordered to tell you of your promotion to Commander of the Miranda mission." Simon smiled and laughed. "Joel you admitted guilt. Anyone else would have a dishonorable discharge at this point. You however have been given an honorable discharge. Take it and leave." Joel headed for the door. "I'll be out in a minute. I want to talk to the judge.” "What do you want," the judge hissed. "I thought the proposed Miranda project had been shelved due to not having any known physical resource value?" "Don't look at me, I just do what I am told." "You said anyone but Joel would have a dishonorable discharge. Why didn't Joel?"
The judge paused and thought for a moment. "Would you believe dedication and years of service?" Simon shook his head. "No it's got to be something else." "This is completely off the record but a presidential pardon came for him while the jury was deliberating. It, however, was going to be a cold day in hell before I let someone like that remain in the military. The president be damned." "Thanks for the info," Simon said while rushing to catch up with Joel. He spotted him about to turn into another hallway. Joel turned when he heard Simon. "I don't know why you are running. There's not much point to it." "To what running? Of course there's a point. It's great exercise and allows you to catch up to friends so you can have stimulating discussions with them." "To anything." "Ah don't start that again. You lost her. Stuff happens. I'm very sorry for what happened and I hope one day you will forgive me for my part in it. Though it's not a reason to give up all hope." "Wasn't your fault," Joel said gruffly. There was an awkward silence for a bit.
"Hey I'm probably going to be stuck on Earth for a while so you, me, and my niece should go to the zoo. She has been wanting to meet you for a while." "It amazes me that a nation so scraped for resources is wasting them on a zoo." "It's a good morale boost. Plus they have some endangered species there." "Humanity has a good chance of falling on that list too. You don't see the animals helping us." "That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you gentlemen about," said a strange looking person neither Joel nor Simon had noticed while walking. He held out some ID, which showed him to be CIA and his name to be Peter Lancaster. "Word on the street is that you two are wanted by UARS. They have you two listed as the most valuable intelligence assets who would have knowledge into the AU's actions. We want to give you to them." "That sounds like a horrible plan," Simon quipped. "Not really. You would try to gain their trust. Say your defecting because you can't stand the AU's actions or something. Work them for information while they try to work you. It would give you the chance to prevent something like this recent skirmish from happening again. Please, at least think about it. Here's my card."
"I will think about it," Joel said as he and Simon were walking away. "Hey! Aren't you the one always warning me about CIA spooks?" The conversation was cut off when they reached a blast door that led to the outside. It opened slowly. Simon and Joel quickly slipped through the opening that was forming. The door then began to close slowly behind them. It was a beautiful peaceful day. The sky was a brilliant shade of blue and it was warm but not unbearably so. There was less air than Simon was used to because of higher altitude but Simon was trying to cope. A white spaceship appeared out of nowhere and began firing lasers.
"Dive," Joel shouted. They ducked next to some motor vehicles. "Can we make it to the base?" Simon asked. "No blast doors are closed. They'd never let us in. Go for the guardhouse on three." There were some shots that came close to where Simon and Joel were hiding. "Three," Simon yelled. They ran for the guardhouse. A few lasers narrowly missed them. Simon and Joel got into the guard house were looking around for weapons with the guard who was already there. Simon felt like his lungs were on fire and was panting heavily. They found one rock
et launcher. "I'll go," Joel said. He loaded the weapon quickly and rushed out. He lined up and was about to take his shot when the ship disappeared. He went for some cover next to a motor vehicle and waited for the ship to reappear. He waited and waited. After what seemed like ten minutes later he felt a tab on his shoulder that made him jump. He turned to see that it was Simon. "Don't do that!" "Sorry. No subspace fluctuations detected. It's gone." They headed back to the base.
In a large room a lot of people were talking and arguing, especially Pete Lancaster. Everyone turned when they saw the two walking in. "What the hell's going on," Joel asked. "Like I said they want you. They may have been going for a grab or just wanted to make sure you two were alive. The timing was beyond coincidence. I think we have a spy in our midst." Peter looked worried. Another man spoke up. "You're both to be confined to this base until further notice." "So much for the zoo," Joel said.