An officer may order the immediate death of a subordinate under which circumstances?
1. On recommendation of a duly appointed Court of Inquiry.
2. When the subordinate is found in arms against the lawful government.
3. When the officer possesses evidence that the subordinate is guilty of a capital crime.
4. Under any circumstances.
Sula touched her writing wand to the fourth and correct answer, then touched the icon that called for the next question. She knew that military law was so draconian, there was little room for error or laxity of interpretation.
She also knew that military law was a lot less draconian in practice than in theory. There were relatively few captains who went around offhandedly whacking the heads off their subordinates, because in theory every citizen was the client of a patron Peer whose duty it was to supervise their welfare. While from experience Sula knew that many Peers couldn’t be bothered with such duties, it nevertheless remained a possibility that if a Peer felt that one of his clients had been treated unjustly, he could make inquiries and cause trouble, and the result could be a suit in civil law that might drag on for decades. Captains who wanted to punish a subordinate severely would cover their backs by appointing a Court of Inquiry, and though they were not obliged to follow a court’s recommendations, they usually did if they wanted to avoid problems later on.
Sula sped through the next few questions secure in the knowledge that she was doing extremely well on the exams. Military law was her weakest subject barring interpretation of the Praxis, and so far the questions weren’t difficult.
A first definitely seemed within her grasp.
She tapped the butt end of her wand on the screen as she contemplated the next problem, which had to do with jurisdiction among the various military and paramilitary organizations on a ring station outside the military base proper, and then the door to the exam room banged open.
“Scuuuuum!”
Sula could thank years of conditioning for the fact that her mind continued to gnaw on the problem even as she leaped to her feet, chin high, throat bared.
“My lord?” The Daimong proctor seemed more flustered than the cadets. “Why are you—”
The intruder was Terran, and wore the uniform of a full captain. “We have an emergency situation,” he said. “The exams are canceled. All Fleet personnel are to report to their stations. Those who have no current assignment are to report to Ring Command, Personnel Section.”
“But my lord—” the Daimong protested.
“Now, scum!” The captain’s order was directed toward the cadets, not the exam proctor.
The cadets crowded for the exit. The problem of jurisdiction slowly faded from Sula’s mind, and she looked about her with growing astonishment.
The proctor appeared not to know what to do. She was making attempts to contact someone on her desk comm, but seemed to be having no success.
Emergency situation, Sula thought, and then ran to the changing room to get out of her robes and into her uniform. Despite the buzzing speculation of the other cadets, her mind was still trapped in the pattern of exam questions.
Examinations for lieutenant,she thought,have been canceled for the following reasons:
1. On the whim of a superior officer.
2. Because we say so.
3. Lieutenants’exams have never been canceled.
The correct answer, of course, was the third.
Lieutenants’exams have never been canceled.
Which meant that whatever was going on, it was big.
Coronaducked and darted and sped along the southern edge of Magaria’s ring, the slim form of the frigate obscured by the brilliance of its blazing tail of annihilated matter. Martinez felt himself pressed deeper and deeper into the acceleration couch, spreading into the supportive gel like a piece of putty pressed into a mold. The weight of the pistol was a fierce pain digging into his right hip.
He may have blacked out as acceleration approached ten gravities, butCorona didn’t stay at such speed for long, just enough to achieve escape velocity once it was time to dodge out from the ring station and onto a course for Magaria Wormhole 4.
He was using Magaria’s ring for cover, knowing that the Naxids would never dare fire at him for fear of hitting the ring. And when it was time to break cover and dash for the wormhole, he kept the rim directly betweenCorona and the Naxid squadrons.
Corona’sacceleration dropped to six gravities, which was misery for the crew, not because they lost consciousness, but because they retained it, and with it the discomfort of the ship’s desperate, blazing acceleration.
Eighteen minutes intoCorona’s escape, Martinez finally heard from the Naxids.
“Urgent message via communications laser, my lord.” Vonderheydte’s words came into Martinez’s earphones. “From Ring Command.”
The comm laser was necessary to punch a signal throughCorona’s hot plasma tail. “Tell them to stand by, I’ll speak in person,” Martinez said.
“Very good, my lord.”
“Are the intership radio channels still jammed?”
“No, my lord. Jamming dropped about two minutes ago, with the Coronas ahead three to one.”
Martinez smiled, and then his smile faded as he realized why the jamming had ceased. Seizure of the non-Naxid squadrons was complete, and it was no longer necessary to prevent the target ships from signaling their distress.
Coronawas truly alone now, in a hostile system.
He counted out two minutes—two more minutes in which the inevitable was delayed—and told Vonderheydte to patch Ring Command onto his displays. He waited until the winking light on his console told him he was being recorded.
“This is Martinez,” he said.
His display showed that his interlocutor was a Naxid in the uniform of a senior captain, whose speech was delayed only slightly by the message crossing the distance between them.
“Lord Lieutenant Martinez,” the Naxid said, “I am Senior Captain Deghbal, commanding Magaria Ring. You have departed the ring without permission, and engaged in reckless maneuvers that have endangered your ship and the station. You are ordered to return at once.”
“I thought Captain An-Char commanded the ring station,” Martinez said.
“Captain An-Char is unavailable.” The words were spoken after a slight hesitation. “I am in command of the ring. You are directed to return.”
“Can you can assure me that Lord Lieutenant Ondakaal is under arrest?” Martinez said. “He opened fire on my airlock guards and wounded one of them. He said that our ship was to be boarded and we were all to be killed.”
Deghbal reared slightly at this, and Martinez knew that his barefaced lie had caught the Naxid completely by surprise.
Anything to confuse the Naxids and get Ondakaal in trouble, he thought. And more important, to delay.Delay. Delay had to be his chief object now.
“Everything is now under control,” Deghbal said finally. “There is no reason to be alarmed. You may returnCorona to her berth.”
Martinez took a deep breath against the gravities that sat on his chest. “Lord Escap,” he said, “I have been instructed by my captain not to permit anyone aboard the ship without his express order. Can you get me that order?”
Anger added force to Deghbal’s reply. “Your captain’s permission is not necessary! My order alone should be sufficient!”
Martinez did his best to look as if he was seriously considering this line of argument. He gave the camera a plaintive look. “Well, Lord Escap,” he said, “I would really like my captain’s order on this.”
“I am your superior officer! You must obey my orders! If I am not obeyed, there will be unfortunate consequences for both your ship and yourself!”