Honor Among Enemies

'Have you investigated the charge, Mr. Cardones?'

'I have, Captain. I've examined all witnesses to the incident. All of them agree that the prisoner intentionally sought a confrontation with Power Tech Third Steilman, in the course of which they had words and the prisoner accused him of attempting to murder Senior Chief Petty Officer Lewis. A fight then ensued, in which Steilman attempted to strike the first blow. Acting Petty Officer Wanderman defended himself, and in the fight which followed, systematically beat Power Tech Steilman, breaking his nose, cheekbone, several teeth, snapped at the gum line, and his kneecap, requiring reconstructive surgery.'

'I take it those are the 'aggravated circumstances'?' the Captain asked.

'Yes, Ma'am. Particularly the knee. All witnesses agree Power Tech Steilman had already been effectively incapacitated, and that the kick to the knee was deliberately intended to have the effect it did.'

'I see.' The Captain returned that basilisk gaze to Aubrey and leaned back in her chair. The treecat on the perch above her desk also examined him, green eyes very intent and ears pricked, and the Captain lifted a finger at Aubrey.

'Did you in fact seek a confrontation with Power Tech Steilman?'

'Yes, Ma'am, I did,' Aubrey replied as clearly as he could.

'Did you at any time use abusive or threatening language to him?'

'No, Ma'am,' Aubrey said, then paused. 'Uh, except at the end, Ma'am. I did call him an 'asshole' then,' he admitted, flushing darkly. The Captains lips seemed to quiver for just a moment, but he told himself that had to have been his imagination.

'I see. And did you intentionally break his nose, cheek, teeth, and knee?'

'Most of it just happened, Ma'am. Except the knee.' Aubrey stood very straight, gazing at a point five centimeters above her head. 'I guess I did do that on purpose, Ma'am,' he said quietly.

'I see,' she said again, then glanced at the Exec. 'Recommendations, Mr. Cardones?'

'That's a very serious admission, Captain,' the Commander said. 'We can't have our people going around breaking one another's bones deliberately. On the other hand, this is the first time the prisoner has ever been in trouble, so I suppose some leniency might be in order.'

The Captain nodded thoughtfully and gazed at Aubrey for sixty awful seconds of silence. He made himself stand very still, waiting for her to pronounce his fate.

'The Exec is correct, Wanderman,' she said finally. 'Defending yourself against attack is one thing; deliberately seeking a confrontation with a crewmate and then shattering his knee is something else again. Do you agree?'

'Yes, Ma'am,' Aubrey said manfully.

'I'm glad you do, Wanderman. I hope this will be a lesson to you, and that you never again appear before me or any other captain on similar charges.' She let that sink in, then fixed him with an unflinching gaze. 'Are you prepared to accept the consequences?'

'Yes, Ma'am,' Aubrey said again, and she nodded.

'Very well. For violation of Article Thirty-Five, with aggravated circumstances, the prisoner is confined to quarters for one day and fined one week's pay. Dismissed.'

Aubrey blinked, and his eyes dropped to the Captains face in disbelief. Her face didn't even move a muscle as she returned his goggle-eyed stare, but there was the ghost of a twinkle in the eyes which had been so cold. He wondered if he was supposed to say something, but the Master-at-Arms came to his rescue.

'Prisoner, on caps!' he barked, and Aubrey's spine stiffened automatically as he replaced his beret. 'About, face!' Thomas snapped, and Aubrey turned and marched obediently out of the cabin to begin his confinement to quarters.

'Did you see the look on Wanderman's face?' Cardones asked when the bosun had departed, and Honor smiled.

'I think he expected a planet to fall on him,' she replied.

'Well, one could have,' Cardones pointed out, then grinned. 'I'd say you put the fear of God, or someone, into him first, Skipper!'

'He had that much coming for not stepping forward in the first place. And that knee thing probably was a bit much. On the other hand, Steilman more than had it coming, and I'm glad Wanderman gave it to him. He needed to learn to stand up for himself.'

'Indeed he did. Not that I expect him to have any more trouble after the way he took Steilman apart.'

'True. And if he hadn't landed Steilman in the brig, Showforth and Stennis might not have cracked about the desertion thing, or about Coulter and Lewis' SUT,' Honor said much more seriously. 'All in all, I think he did quite well by us.'

'Absolutely,' Cardones said. 'I just wish it hadn't taken as long as it did, and that Lewis hadn't almost gotten killed in the process.'

Honor nodded slowly and tipped her chair far back, resting her heels on her desk while Nimitz swarmed down to curl in her lap. The 'cat's approval of the way she'd treated Steilman, and Aubrey, radiated into her, and she laughed softly as she brushed his ears.

'Well, with that out of the way, I suppose it's time to decide what to do next.'

'Yes, Ma'am.'

Honor rubbed the tip of her nose thoughtfully. There had not, in fact, been a timer on the nuclear demolitions, and the ground troops had crumbled when they learned of their leader's desertion, and of what had happened to all their erstwhile associates aboard the repair ship. When Wayfarer's pinnaces disembarked a full battalion of battle-armored Marines and then went back upstairs to provide air support, they'd fallen all over themselves to surrender.

Not, she thought grimly, that it was going to do them a great deal of good in the long run. Sidemore's planetary government, or what was left of it after the long, savage months of Warnecke’s occupation, had come out of hiding when it realized the nightmare was over. The planetary president had been among the first hostages shot by Warnecke's troops, but the vice president and two members of her cabinet had eluded capture. There'd still been a haunted, hunted look in their eyes when Honor went dirtside to greet them, but they constituted a functional government. Best of all, Sidemore had a death penalty.

She was still a bit shocked by the cold satisfaction she'd felt when she informed the ex-privateer leader he would be handed over to Sidemore for trial. Vice President Gutierrez had promised Honor his trial would be scrupulously fair, but Honor could accept that. There was more than sufficient evidence, and she was certain he'd have an equally fair hanging. A lot of his men would be joining him, and the idea didn't bother her in the least.

What did bother her was that four of Warnecke's ships were still at large. One was a light cruiser, and the other three were only destroyers, but the Marsh System had nothing with which to defend itself against them. And since the privateers didn't know their base had been destroyed, they were certain to return eventually. According to records captured on the planet, they were cruising individually, so they could be expected to return in singletons, but any one of them could destroy every town and city on the planet if its captain chose to take vengeance on Sidemore, and it would be some weeks yet before Commodore Blohm's promised IAN squadron could get here.

'I think we're going to have to detach some of the LACs,' she said finally.

'For system security?'

'Yes.' She rubbed her nose some more. 'We'll detach Jackie Harmon as senior officer and give her LAC One. Six LACs should be able to deal with all of Warnecke's remaining ships, especially taking them by surprise and with Jackie in command.'

'That's half our parasite complement, Skip,' Cardones pointed out. 'And they're not hyper-capable. They'll be stuck here until we can get back and collect them.'

'I know, but we'll only be gone long enough for the hop back to New Berlin, and we can't leave Marsh unprotected.' She considered some more, then nodded. 'I think we'll leave them a few dozen missile pods, as well. We can modify the fire control to let each LAC handle a couple of them at a time and then put them in Sidemore orbit. If any of Warnecke's orphans want to tangle with that kind of firepower, they won't be leaving again.'

'I like it,' Cardones said after a moment, then grinned. 'Of course, the people we had reloading all those pods may be just a bit put out when we turn right around and offload them.'