IronStar (62 page)

“No!” Kirrah nearly-shouted.

Irshe took the next words out of
her mouth. “The Kruss we captured was taken in battle on our own lands, not
stolen from his own home! Surely these differences are important!”

The law professor replied, “They
would be decisive in Talamae law, of course. Does
Civil’ym
law see these
distinctions the same way?”

Kirrah paused, one hand in
mid-gesture, and considered the thought. “In fact, I do not know, Brai’klao.”

“On that cheery thought, ladies and
gentlemen, I notice Kirrah and I are nearly due for an ‘interview’ with Admiral
Dunning,” said Lieutenant Warden. “I most earnestly suggest we not keep her
waiting. I have experienced her ‘interviews’ in the past, both as observer and
as main dish, and I don’t have a good feeling about this one. Partly because
she hasn’t asked to see you, Adrianne.”

“That’s true,” she replied
mock-seriously. “A good commander never chews out her lieutenants in front of
the grunts. I’d better prep some fast-heal for your six, Lieutenant, sir.

“Thank you all for your
hospitality,” Adrianne continued, getting up to leave with her CO. “I can see
why Lieutenant Roehl cares so much for you all. And Kirrah, I can see how much
the boy and girl mean to you. I am truly sorry I wasn’t able to nail that lizard
for you like I promised. Turns out I was setting up my shot just three or four
meters in front of one of its damned little smartshot pickups lying on the
roof. It must have got a great picture of me setting up my ambush.”

“I thank you, Adrianne, you did all
that could be done. It gave you no shot, and with that dead-man timer on its
beamer, it wouldn’t have mattered. We need to come up with something else.”

“Thank
you
, ma’am. If we can
help in any way…”

“Personally I'm always ready to
learn, although I do not always like being taught.” – Sir Winston Churchill,
op.cit.

“I’m sorry, Lieutenant Warden, we
cannot help in any way,” Admiral Dunning said over the comm relay in the parked
shuttle half an hour later. “You may use the shuttle to transport items deemed
essential by our allied indigenes and their Warmaster, as part of our mutual
cooperation treaty. Even to go this far, we have had to put Lieutenant Roehl on
extended compassionate leave.

“But you are
expressly ordered
not to use any weapon on the shuttle against the Kruss in person, or against
their base, except to defend Regnum personnel or equipment. This specifically
does
not
include those two children. I don’t like it any more than you
do, but until the planet’s status is properly adjudicated, we cannot and we
will
not take an active part in on-planet hostilities.

“The actions you took firing on the
O’dai government building this morning was already over the line, Lieutenant Warden.
If you did not have good video showing a barely-plausible threat from those
rooftop snipers, at this moment you would be in my brig awaiting transport to
court martial at Trailway.” The Admiral’s strong face leaned slightly forward
into her vid pickup, becoming, if possible, even more intimidating.

“
Do not cross my lines again
.
They are there for a reason, and I
will
not have this task force’s
accomplishments overturned by a Civilium Justice Board, to save a set of
enemies from being butchered by their own people, no matter how barbaric.
Are
we quite clear?
”

“Ma’am! Yes Ma’am!” said the ramrod
straight and highly uncomfortable Marine Lieutenant. Kirrah, sitting just
outside the vid pickup three seats away in the shuttle’s passenger compartment,
felt a strong twinge of sympathy for the soldier who was the subject of such an
expert and thorough reaming for acting at her behest. She marveled anew at
Admiral Dunning’s uncanny ability to transform any place she happened to be,
into her own personal royal court, even when only present electronically.

The hard, iron-edged voice rolled
on. “Let us review the rules of engagement. You will require each and every
Marine under your command to read and sign the document delineating these
rules, which I am downloading into a data wafer on the shuttle.

“In accordance with our treaty with
the nation state of Talam, we will challenge, engage and destroy any hostile
forces entering this system, down to the top of their planet’s atmosphere, or
farther in hot pursuit.

“On the planet, we will defend
ourselves if fired upon. We will defend the city of Talameths’cha and our
embassy there. We will not otherwise intervene militarily in the
O’dai-Talam-Kruss conflict, except to provide passive intelligence and images,
and transport when requested, where such activities will not likely bring
Regnum forces under hostile fire. Say ‘aye ma’am’, and
mean
it, Marcus,
I know this is difficult.”

“Aye,
Ma’am
. Orders received
and understood.”

“Good. Now get me… ahem. Would you
please pass on my request to Kirrah Warmaster for an immediate consultation.”

“Aye, Ma’am. She is standing by
now.” Marcus stepped back, rolled his shoulders and let out a long, long breath
as Kirrah stepped forward into the vid pickup. It felt rather like being the next
meat course at an official barbecue, where everyone was ordering ‘well-done’.

“Yes, Ma…, excuse me, Yes, Admiral
Dunning,” Kirrah said. Her double role was making every step seem like a waltz
in a minefield.

“I appreciate you are in a
difficult and ambiguous position, Ms. Roehl. Your indefinite leave from the
Survey Service is now official, but Dr. Pennington counsels me that we are
skating on some very thin ice indeed. The future of this planet, indeed many
lives, including many
Regnum Navy
lives, depend on us keeping ourselves
very strictly within our legally defined roles, as those roles
will be
defined at some future time, by others who were not present in the field. I
hope you can understand why I must take such a strict interpretation of the law
as we understand it.”

“I do, Ma’… I do, Admiral. Talam is
very appreciative of the help you have already provided. We will do our best
not to abuse your generosity.”

“Thank you, Ms. Roehl. And thank
you for the scan data your flight obtained. We now know the Kruss have no more
than the two rooms, both under the palace.

“We began the day with several
judicial assets, namely the Kruss’ violations of interstellar law in firing on
Arvida-Yee
,
and your, that is, Talam’s complaint against the Kruss Empire for use of
illegal weapons. By the way Dr. Pennington says that will be exactly the right
way to prosecute - the Empire, not the individuals.

“
However
, the actions taken
in the O’dai city this morning may well lead to countervailing charges against
the Regnum Draconis by the O’dai nation. If those charges should prevail, it
could in large measure counterbalance Talam’s claim. The Regnum’s only real
defense is that Lieutenant Warden evaluated the sudden appearance of hostiles
on the rooftop as a plausible threat to
his
forces, not to the O’dai
wounded. Crossbow bolts do not constitute such a threat, and he will doubtless
be explaining in excruciating detail why he believed those hostiles may have
been equipped with modern weapons from the buried Kruss chambers.

“I want you to understand, both of
you, each and every restriction I place on the use of my forces against our
enemies on-planet is there for just one reason: to avoid providing the Kruss or
their allies with any further shred of legal ammunition for what will
ultimately be a full-fledged sovereignty-determination hearing.”

“I understand, Admiral. I have
exactly the same goal,” said Kirrah.

“Good. Because there is one other
thing I must mention. The Kruss aboard my ship is not in fact
my
prisoner.
He is
your
prisoner, in my custody for transport. I am not advocating
any course of action, Ms. Roehl, but if you want it back down there to trade
for those hostages, I am compelled to deliver it.

“You understand, you already have
enough physical evidence to get a Scrutineer’s order for a forced
psycho-pharmacological interrogation, and what that thing may babble under
truth drugs could well be a key part of Talam’s case against the Kruss Empire.
And therefore of any sovereignty hearing.”

A long silence followed, while
Kirrah wrestled inwardly with the implicit offer. Akaray’s life, in possible
exchange for a planet. The Admiral’s gold-flecked brown eyes gazed levelly at
her, challenged her, sympathized with her heart, measured her soul. Kirrah
found her eyes beginning to sting. Finally, she spoke.

“No, Ma’am. I can’t do it. As much
as I appreciate your offer, I have a larger responsibility than to these two
children.” Her voice was steady, despite the tears suddenly starting to course
down her face:

“Talam hereby reaffirms its request
of the Regnum Navy, to transport the Kruss prisoner to Civilium authority on
Trailway as material evidence. We ask this request to be irrevocable from this
point on.” The Admiral nodded understanding. “I don’t… we can’t just let…
sorry, ma’am. We will solve our problem by other means.”

“I understand and respect your
decision, Kirrah Warmaster. On behalf of the Regnum Navy, good hunting. Would
you please inform the shuttle crew I wish to speak with them next?”

“Yes ma… of course, Admiral.” Kirrah
stepped back in turn, opened the door to the flight deck and gestured to the
somewhat pale-looking young pilot and an apprehensive flight engineer. Behind
them, the gangly young red-haired gunner fidgeted nervously with his uniform
collar.
Next up to the sausage machine
, Kirrah thought with relief and
considerable sympathy. She sat down beside Marcus, in one of the unused seats.

“Ensign Margaret Piersall, Petty
Officer Lorraine Thornlea and Chief Petty Officer Gary Cavanaugh reporting as
ordered ma’am.” Margaret’s salute was as snappy as her eyes were frightened.

The Admiral said, “Thank you,
Ensign Piersall. You will all shortly have an opportunity to review the written
rules of engagement, but since it was your crew who actually fired my shuttle’s
weapons on that large metal door this morning, I wanted to have you all
together to ask a question that’s been on my mind since reviewing the mission
log.

“Did it occur to any of you,
anyone
at all
, to consider the consequences if, say, the O’dai king, or some
revered religious leader, or possibly a Civilium Scrutineer we haven’t known
of, had been standing behind that door?” A deafening silence followed the
Admiral’s question. Kirrah felt herself swallowing uncomfortably, even from the
sidelines.

“No one? Then perhaps it would be
prudent to briefly review the chain of command for joint LAS - Marine missions.
PO Thornlea!” The flight engineer actually
flinched
visibly as the
Admiral’s attention turned unexpectedly to her.

“Aah! Yes, ma’am?”

“Who was in command of that shuttle
and everyone aboard her this morning?”

“Ahhh, ahhh, Ensign Piersall,
Ma’am.”

“That would be my understanding as
well,” the Admiral said dryly. Kirrah could not help admiring the scalpel-like
clarity with which the woman was separating fact from fantasy.

“And what change in command
followed, when Lieutenant Warden’s party deplaned, Mr. Cavanaugh?”

Gary took a breath, squared his
shoulders and stepped forward. “Ma’am, that would be a bifurcation of command.
Once on the ground, the Marine force was under the independent command of
Lieutenant Warden, with the shuttle crew acting in a support role. Ma’am.” He
stepped slightly back, looking just a little relieved at having a ready answer.

“Very good, Mr. Cavanaugh. So
perhaps you could explain to me why you fired your vessel's weapons in response
to a
request
from someone on the ground, who was neither in your chain
of command, nor under probable threat from enemy action?”

The young man’s Adam’s apple was
bobbing visibly in his throat as he recognized where the Admiral had allowed
him to go. “I apologize, ma’am. I believe I acted improperly.”

“We are agreed, then. You are
hereby demoted to Petty Officer and fined one month’s pay. You two are
dismissed for now, I want a word with Ensign Piersall.” Two very snappy salutes
signaled the near-lightspeed exits of the two Navy enlisted personnel. A very
pale young pilot remained standing at attention in front of the vid.

“Well. Ensign Piersall. What was
your worst mistake today?”

“Ma’am, ahh, I believe that would
be not countermanding the order to fire on the door of that building, ma’am.”

“Incorrect, Ms. Piersall. That
was
a mistake, but not your worst one. I will assist you by quoting relevant
portions of the mission log, which I have had the advantage of reviewing in
some detail.

“First, we have the resourceful
commander of our allies, asking Lieutenant Warden whether she might have the
use of your shuttle’s heavy beamers. Then we have his speculation that it
might
be within the mission’s terms of engagement.
Then
, we have your gunnery
officer asking whether she’d like ‘one big bang or a slow burn’, I believe was
his phrase.
What was your worst mistake, Ensign
?”

The thoroughly miserable pilot
looked about ready to run, or burst into tears. With a visible effort she
squared her shoulders and looked directly into the vid pickup. “Ma’am, I can
think of so many possibilities I don’t know which one was worst. I am fully
prepared to accept whatever punishment Ma’am considers appropriate.”