The Phoenix Project (31 page)

    
“There was little time.”

    
“Yes, but my experience allowed me to make
that decision.”

    
“You graduated from the academy at twenty—one?”
Ben Dixon asked.

    
“Yes.”

    
“And how many years have you been a member
of the fleet?”

    
“Twenty—seven.”

    
“Did your ego have anything to do with this
situation?”

    
“Absolutely not,” she replied.

    
“How can you be sure?”

    
“My thoughts when I made the decision were
for the safety of my entire battle group. Any other decision could have cost
lives,” she said.

    
“Was this part of your strategy?”

    
“It came down to numbers. Zero lives and
one ship lost verses many lives and many ships lost,” Maria replied.

    
“Thank—you, Admiral. We did win the battle,
didn’t we?”

    
“Yes we did,” she said with pride.
 

    
“What were the results of the battle?”

    
“We lost one ship: the
Excalibur
.
They lost forty—seven warships,” Maria replied.

    
“Out of how many?”

    
“One hundred and twenty.”

    
“The odds against you were what?”

    
Now Maria knew why he had left the numbers
out of her earlier testimony: This gave her the final word. “Three to one.”

    
“Thank—you Admiral. No further questions
Your Honor,” Dixon
said.

    
“Redirect, Commander?” the judge asked of
Myers.

    
“Not at this time, Your Honor,” Myers
replied.

    
“Testimony is complete for today. We will
adjourn for the day and convene again at nine hundred hours tomorrow,” the
judge said and banged his wooden gavel. He stood up, as did the rest of the
courtroom. Maria returned to the defense counsel’s desk and waited for the
judge to leave.

    
“An excellent strategy, Commander,” she
said while the courtroom emptied of people.

    
“Thank—you, Admiral. I’d like to meet
tonight, if it’s convenient, to discuss the coming testimony of your crew. They
start on the witness stand tomorrow at noon.”

    
“Yes, that’s fine.”

    
Her defense attorney grabbed his grey
leather satchel. She was gathering her own attaché case when she heard a voice
from behind her.

    
“Admiral Peterson,” the greasy prosecutor
said. She turned around to confront her interrogator.

    
“Yes, Commander.”

    
“I hope you understand that I am only doing
my job. I admit I’m doing it well, but the court expects my best,” he raised
his hand to salute her. She reciprocated the salute and watched his progress
out of the room. Once the door closed behind him, Maria spoke to her attorney.

    
“Slippery little bastard, isn’t he?”

    
“More than you know. I’ve been at the
opposite table in court from him at least a dozen times. He wins more than he
loses,” Dixon
replied.

    
“He’s arrogant.”

    
“I know. I thought of what it’d be like to
work on his side of the room before as co—counsel.”

    
“And?”

    
“I’d probably end up punching him in the
face.”

    
“So would I,” she said.

    
“Don’t let him cloud your judgment,
Admiral. He’s the one with the ego, not you.”

    
There was a great deal of support within the Coalition
hierarchy to have Phillip Bell as their lead spokesman on the panels. He was
former military and known for his fierce loyalty to his government. His current
standing included him in the Coalition’s high profile, albeit powerless,
cabinet of advisors to the Council of Twelve. Phillip Bell was also known for
his xenophobia towards people born and bred on worlds other than Earth. He was
seen as the perfect foil for the more sympathetic members of the panel.

    
It was his suspicious nature
that proved to be his own brand of hubris and precipitated many of the events
that followed.

Inquiry or Sham: Analysis of the Ferine Hearings

by Penelope Rose

Chapter XI

Lathiel and
Ranik once again sat in spindle—backed chairs with Elliot and Nadine on either
side of them in the courtroom. The board had decided to close the proceedings
citing the previous day’s outbursts as cause. A series of unmanned cameras in
the room broadcast the hearing to the public.

    
“First of all,” the speaker said, “I would
like to apologize to the Ferine delegates for yesterday’s incident. As you can
see, this will not happen again.”

    
The two Ferine delegates nodded in
acceptance of the appeasement.

    
“I will pass the floor to Mister Bell.”

    
Bell
looked to his links to find references from the previous day before he spoke to
the extraterrestrials.

    
“Lathiel, we would like to continue with
your testimony.”

    
Lathiel nodded. “Yes Mister Bell, I would
be happy to.”

    
“You did in fact lead the expedition to the
weapon, purportedly constructed by your ancestors?”

    
“Yes, I volunteered,” Lathiel said.

    
“You volunteered?” Bell asked.

    
“Yes.”

    
“You weren’t ordered to this duty?” Bell asked.

    
“No, our social structure is different from
yours.”

    
“Even scientists have a hierarchy,” Bell said.

    
“There is a structure to our culture Sir,
but not in a hierarchal way.”

    
“Please, explain this to us,” Mary said.

    
“There is a board of scientists that give
final consent to projects, but they never issue orders. Scientists act on their
own and ask for resources as needed. In the case of the Nevargh fleet
approaching, the board asked for volunteers to attempt to reactivate the
weapon.”

    
“Why did you lead the expedition?” Bell asked.

    
“If no one else did, Cartise would be an
occupied planet by now. I knew that someone had to volunteer. It might as well have
been me.”

    
“That’s it? Someone had to do it?” Bell demanded.

    
“Yes Mister Bell, haven’t you ever
volunteered for anything?” Ranik replied for Lathiel.

    
A brief laugh came from a few Alliance members at the
table. An expression of embarrassment crossed Bell’s face.

    
“Delegate Ranik I am hearing from Lathiel
at the moment. Please keep your comments to a minimum,” Bell said.

    
“He won’t defend himself,” Ranik mumbled
and fell silent.

    
“Lathiel you volunteered for this
assignment and what did you find?”

    
“The base was in disrepair, but the primary
furnace was still viable,” Lathiel replied.

    
“What was it like, stepping into ancient
history?” Mary asked.

    
“Much like visiting a mausoleum, Ma’am.
Everything was covered in dust. We had to use environmental suits for a full
day before life support was restored.”

    
“How was it like a mausoleum?”

    
“It was an eerie feeling. The place was
dark when we entered. Nothing there had been disturbed in centuries. Many of my
colleagues stated they saw moving shadows cast by no living being. They said
they had only fleeting glances but they swore they were there.”

    
“Yes, that’s very disturbing Lathiel,” Bell interjected, “but I
take it you were able to repair the weapon.”

    
Jolted from his reverie, Lathiel responded
to his statement. “Yes, we worked right until the end. I was hoping to
eliminate the recoil from the weapon but it seemed it was never designed for
that.”

    
“This recoil was what caused the deaths you
had mentioned?” Bell
asked.

    
“Life seemed to be viewed differently in
ancient times. The cannon was constructed with our ancestor’s full knowledge of
its flaws. Apparently, they viewed the loss of the people manning the weapon as
acceptable. The cannon was functioning two hours before the Nevargh fleet
arrived. I spent every effort to eliminate the recoil before the deadline, but
it was irreconcilable with the use of such a destructive force.”

    
“This recoil destroyed the base?” Bell asked.

    
“Several of the upper levels of the complex
collapsed when the weapon fired. The primary furnace overloaded and nearly all
of its internal components burnt out. All of the lower levels experienced heavy
damage but were still standing. Only about forty of us managed to escape.”

    
“But the enemy fleet was destroyed?” Mary
asked.

    
“That fleet, yes.”

    
“How many Nevargh fleets are there?” Bell asked.

    
“The Nevargh fleet totals one hundred and
twenty thousand ships at last count.”

    
The board took in a collective breath at
the news. An instant later, they were arguing among themselves. Bell took his part in it,
listening to the emphatic whispers of a man seated next to him. After a moment,
Bell extracted
himself from the heated debate and returned to his verbal discourse with the
Ferine.

    
“Lathiel, have you ever considered the idea
that you may have lead a ferocious enemy to
our
front door?” Bell demanded.

    
“Lead them here?”

    
“Mister Speaker, may I respond for
Lathiel?” Ranik asked, standing up.

    
Bell
let out a sigh of exasperation, “Very well, Ranik may answer for Lathiel.”

    
“Thank—you. I don’t believe that you or any
of your colonies are in danger.”

    
“And just why not?”

    
“Even if the Nevargh knew of your
existence, and I doubt they do, you are far too removed from their sphere of
influence to bother with.”

    
“You honestly believe that we aren’t
important enough for them to conquer us?”

    
“Oh, they would conquer you if they could,
believe me,” Ranik said, “but I think you misunderstood me. The Nevargh’s
maximum achievable superluminal speeds are one thousand c. It would take them
ten years of constant travel just to reach you.”

    
“But you reached us, according to submitted
reports, in three and a half days,” Bell
said.

    
“Our fold technology is generations ahead
of their FTL technology. To date they have never managed to reverse engineer
any of the fold drives they have captured.”

    
“But they could.”

    
“We offered them the technology before the
war began. The Nevargh never understood it. They’ve always been so stupid,”
Ranik said.

    
The statement brought another flurry of
mild laughter to the panel. Ranik sat down and allowed Lathiel to resume his
testimony.

    
“Fold drives,” Mary said. “The submissions
also mention this but only in passing. What are they?”

    
“They are a technology we discovered more
than forty years ago at an archeological dig. Their approximate equivalent in
FTL terms would be about one million times the speed of light.”

    
“Are you serious?” Bell asked.

    
“An archeological dig?” Mary asked at the
same time.

    
Lathiel stood silent in confusion, not
knowing which question to answer first. Bell
frowned down the table at Mary and then looked back to Ranik. “These drives can
accomplish one million c?”