Article 23

Chapter XI

As the Judge Advocate gaveled the court back into session, Thorsson came to his feet and walked towards the bench where the five officers in charge of the session were arrayed.

"Sirs, I know this is highly irregular, but may I approach the court to make a statement?"

Singh lowered his head.

"Admiral Thorsson, you are not listed as a witness in this case. I do not see why you should be allowed to speak."

"Sir, I know it is irregular, but I traveled over eighty-seven million kilometers to be here. I ask but a moments indulgence."

Singh started to shake his head, but Captain Marcioni intervened.

"Sir, I for one feel that it is acceptable to grant Admiral Thorsson this indulgence. This case is based in large part upon the veracity of the witnesses who are cadets in the care of Admiral Thorsson. He can verify the truthfulness of their testimony by his knowledge of their character."

Singh looked at the other three judges, who nodded agreement.

"Five minutes, sir."

"Thank you, sir."

Thorsson, his back to the audience, drew closer to the judges.

"I will not speak of the ideals of the Academy, or the influence I believe such ideals must have in the shaping of the United Space Military Command. All I will say is that our service is unlike any other in the history of humanity. We represent the next generation of civilization, the generation that, united together, will seek our final destiny among the stars.

"I believe that Cadet Everett was the victim of a brutal and disturbed sadist unworthy of our uniform."

"That is out of order," Singh snapped.

"It might be out of order, but it is the truth," Thorsson replied sharply. "Yes, we face a crisis; that crisis is an inevitable part of the historic process of expansion and frontiers. That crisis will not be resolved by the killing of sixteen-year-old cadets whose only crime is being high-spirited and sixteen."

Shaking his head angrily, Admiral Singh held up his hand.

"Then perhaps sixteen-year-olds do not have a place anywhere there is serious work to be done," he shot back angrily, "and your Academy is a nuisance and hindrance to the jobs we must perform."

"It is precisely their spirit that our new and evolving society needs," Thorsson replied. "We need to see the universe through their youthful eyes and not the tired eyes of old men like you and me. We need their exuberance, and yes, their playfulness as well. And most of all we need their idealism. For idealism is born and nurtured in the hearts of the young. I came eighty-seven million kilometers to tell all of you this one thing. I believe that Cadet Justin Wood Bell acted in the highest tradition of the United Space Military Command. Article Twenty-five is placed last on the list for a deliberate reason, to remind all of us that in the end, all rules must be subservient to truthfulness and idealism.

"Too many in our society believe that truth is relative, and I say they are mad. No higher society can function without certain absolute truths to which all must adhere; and defining our ethics based upon a given situation is the path of the damned. I believe that Cadet Bell's act was one of selfless sacrifice to save a friend who could not protect himself from evil. It is that simple, truth versus falsehood, right versus wrong, and if you let MacKenzie go free and then condemn Bell, our Service is damned. And I for one would rather see our entire Service go down fighting and all of our careers destroyed than see one guilty man go free and a group of innocent cadets be condemned in his place."

Singh stirred angrily.

"Are you implying, Admiral, that we would place careers ahead of truth?"

"Yes, I am," Thorsson fired back. "Too many are quietly whispering that for the good of the many we should turn a blind eye to the faults of MacKenzie. We rationalize to ourselves that collectively we do so much good, and that we jeopardize that good by examining this case too closely. Yes, I know about the pressure from the top, Admiral Singh; believe me, I heard it myself, and that is why I flew here with my radio turned off."

Marcioni chuckled at Thorssons admission that he had ignored an order to return to his base and Justin wondered just how much flak was going up over Thorsson's actions. Most likely a lot, he realized.

"Is that all, Admiral?"

"Yes, it is. To condemn any of these cadets except for the one whose truthfulness I seriously doubt would be a crime unworthy of this service. I came here to state that I feel responsible, in part, for this incident as well. If they are found guilty then I am guilty as well of the crime of idealism. If they are found guilty I shall resign my commission in protest and retire from duty with a service that no longer represents the ideals which should and must be at the core of what we are."

Singh, face turning bright red, gazed angrily at Thorsson as he came to attention, saluted and then walked to the rear of the room to sit by Justin's side.

Justin looked over at Thorsson, unable to speak.

"Plebe Cadet Bell, Justin."

Thorsson winked at Justin as he came to his feet, nervously tugged at his uniform blouse to make sure it was tucked in, and then approached the bench. As he was sworn in Justin saw his legal advisor come into the room from the comer of his eye. Trying to appear unobtrusive, she slipped up to Captain Marcioni, leaned over, whispered to him, and passed on an envelope.

The questioning started, following much the same path that Justin had endured in the earlier hearing, starting with his relationship to Matt prior to shipping aboard the Somers, their conversations with O'Brian and others and through to Matt's confrontations with Colson and what Matt had said.

Justin tried to remain calm, but he could feel the sweat breaking out around his tight collar and on his brow. After two hours of questioning Justin felt as if the officer acting as MacKenzie's defense was boxing him into a corner, forcing him to admit that in the most technical sense Matt's statements could be construed as supportive of the separatists and therefore imply a mutinous action. Whenever Justin tried to add a "but" or make his own personal observation he was cut off; he would never get the chance to really explain what had happened in straightforward words other than "yes, sir," and "no, sir."

He was coldly furious when Matt's thrashing around in his sleeping net was turned into a physical attack on the Captain.

MacKenzie's defense finally rested and Justin could see the glint of cold satisfaction in the Captains eyes. Justin struggled with the temptation to stand up and somehow voice his protest.

Singh looked around at the other four judges.

"Are there any other questions?"

Marcioni, who had spent most of the time hunched over his desk computer screen as if ignoring the testimony, stirred and looked up.

"I have a few questions, sir."

"Go ahead then."

Marcioni stood up and looked at Justin.

"Can I quickly review a few things, Mr. Bell?"

"Yes, sir." Justin said wearily.

"First. We have not yet heard from Cadets Leonov, Smith, Everett, Iivollen, and Amin, but it is your contention that all will claim Cadet Everett never made any statement that he planned to take the Somers."

"I can not speak for the others, sir, but yes, sir."

Justin took a deep breath and then saw that Marcioni was giving him an opening to say more.

"Matt and I have been roommates from our first day together at the Academy. We know everything about each other, things we'd never tell anyone else. Matt is given to big talk, sir. And he spills everything out when he does. He never, sir, never even hinted that he had any intention of doing anything illegal."

"Yet he did express sympathy for the separatists."

"Sir, he expressed understanding, and I think that's different. And, sir, as I understand it, having opinions is freedom of thought, which the Academy teaches us is our right. We're not out here to police thoughts, only actions."

There was a stirring in the room at his comment and Justin wondered if he had said too much.

"So Mr. Everett, in your opinion, is innocent of the charge leveled by Cadet Colson that he was planning a mutiny."

"Yes, sir. There was bad blood between Colson and Matt even before we shipped aboard Somers."

"Explain."

Justin reviewed the encounter on their first day of the plebe year and up to the final encounter with Colson's threat of getting even.

"So you think Colson's accusation was revenge?"

"Yes, sir."

"And Matt hitting him?"

"Colson is lying about that, sir. Though I did not see it, I think Colson pushed him from behind; Matt tumbled and accidentally kicked him. I know Matt, sir. If he was going to nail someone like Colson he'd do it face to face and not go skulking around sucker-punching someone from behind. Also, I think that if Matt had hit him, Mr. Colson would be minus some teeth."

"And Matt hitting the captain?"

"Sir, it happened as I tried to explain it to you yesterday, and not like Captain MacKenzie's advocate is painting it now. Matt was still half-asleep, the Captain grabbed him and dragged him out of the net and Matt, tossing about, banged into the Captain."

"Mr. Bell. If what you said is true then first of all Captain MacKenzie's belief that a mutiny threatened was an ill-formed and incorrect opinion, based solely upon the lies of one cadet who knowingly played to the fears of his commander."

"Yes, sir," Justin said emphatically.

"Second. Captain MacKenzie went off, as the old saying goes, half-cocked, not properly balancing the evidence before acting, and therefore singled out Cadet Everett based upon his own prejudices and the falsehoods of one cadet. And finally, the incident of striking the Captain never happened as claimed by MacKenzie and was, in fact, an unwarranted attack by a commanding officer against one of his personnel."

"That is correct, sir."

Marcioni looked over at Singh. "If we accept those points then Captain MacKenzie was acting outside of the authority granted to him as captain and did demonstrate, as well, in the worst possible way, faulty and prejudicial judgment that amounted to a vendetta against Cadet Everett. If so, then the later actions of Cadet Bell and his compatriots were fully justified, proper, and in total accordance with Article Twenty-five."

"So far," Singh replied, "I believe the evidence leans to the contrary."

Marcioni nodded, then leaned forward, hands resting on the desk, his attention fixed on Admiral Singh.

"One final point, sir. After several unpleasant incidents during the early days of fleet operations, Regulation 1303 in regards to the use of remote sensing and the gathering of information about fleet personnel was passed."

Singh looked at him quizzically and then nodded.

Marcioni raised his voice, now addressing his remarks to the entire room. "It is strictly forbidden to use a ship's internal computer systems to observe in any way whatsoever the actions and speech of members of a crew. Without that provision, all of us would live in constant fear of the sophisticated machines that are essential to our service."

"Your point, Captain Marcioni?"

"If such recordings are made without prior warning and full agreement by the crew or individuals being observed, it is considered a violation of their rights. The only exception is by prior court order in pursuit of a known felon. All other use is strictly forbidden and there are no exceptions to that rule. Sir, it turns out that Captain MacKenzie routinely recorded the conversations of his crew."

There was an uncomfortable stirring in the room. Justin looked over at his legal advisor who grinned at him and quietly gave a thumbs-up gesture.

"Sir, I ask the court to issue an order allowing us to now view the recordings Captain MacKenzie made that bear directly upon this case."

"Where did you get these?" Singh asked.

"Lieutenant Kowalski, sir, Cadet Bell's legal advisor. She went up to the Somers last night and entered the Captains computer."

"That is a violation right there," MacKenzie's defender cried.

"Yes, it was but necessary to protect evidence, sir. Kowalski feared that if she sought the necessary court order the delay might enable someone to purge the system. In fact, I think Lieutenant Kowalski was surprised to still find the records intact."

Justin looked over at MacKenzie for the first time since the start of the questioning and saw the Captains face pale.

"This is highly irregular," MacKenzie's advocate shouted, "and I question the admissibility of such evidence."

Singh looked over at the Judge Advocate.

"The bugger was doing it for months," a voice shouted from the back of the room.

Startled, Justin turned and saw O'Brian on his feet.

"O'Brian, sit down!" Singh shouted.

"You officers, quit playing your games covering one another's ass and stop trying to hang these kids!" O'Brian snarled.

Singh slammed his gavel down but O'Brian continued to shout.

"Ask any enlisted man on that ship. Ask Doc Zhing, ask the other cadets, we all knew he was taping us. Hell, he had every channel feeding into his computer. The crazy bugger couldn't watch one-one-hundredth of all he was taping!"

"O'Brian, you'll be stripped of rank for this!" Singh shouted.

"Fine, go ahead, it won't be the first time, damn it!"

As he sat down a ripple of applause broke from the cadets and the enlisted men sitting in the room.

"He's right," another voice chimed in and to Justin's astonishment Doctor Zhing came to his feet. "I can't take this anymore. I was wrong, I should have placed him on medical disability the moment this whole thing started."

Breaking into tears, Zhing turned and walked out of the room, ignoring Singh's shouted orders for him to remain.

After several minutes of angry debate at the front table Singh finally looked back at the audience.

"If there is one more outbreak I'll place every last one of you under arrest. Now, I reluctantly agree to the viewing of the recordings but given the nature of how they were obtained I shall hold my decision as to whether they are admissible or not."

Marcioni, grinning, switched his computer display to the screen behind Singh.

"Item one," Marcioni announced.

It was a recording of the lounge, the incident between Matt and Colson unfolding. With the general background noise it was hard to hear, but it was obvious the two were arguing, Matt almost lightheartedly, Colson increasingly angry.

Colson suddenly raised his voice.

"You're a traitor," Colson shouted.

"Come on, lighten up," Matt laughed. "You need to unbend a bit, Colson."

"You're a dirty offworlder, a cheap sailor."

Matt stiffened. "Listen, buddy," he said coldly, "your old man's company sold faulty seals to cheap sailors like me, a lot of guys I know died from it, including my parents when an airlock blew. I think if my buddies knew who your family was they wouldn't be happy."

"Are you threatening me?"

Matt stared at him angrily. "I wish I was, but I think they'd tear you apart out in the mining camps if they knew who you were. Just stay out of my life. Now get away from me."

Petronovich now stepped in, breaking them apart, and Colson started to shout that Matt had threatened him. Petronovich ordered them to separate areas of the room.

Colson drew back and several of his friends gathered around him, while Matt withdrew to the other side of the room. It was hard to hear the conversation for a minute, then Colson raised his voice. "That's what he said, he said he'd get us all. I think he's planning a mutiny."

Marcioni stopped the scene and the room was silent.

"Item two, though I think if we spent more time on this recording and did a digital cleaning we could zero in on all that was said."

The second clip was of the main corridor, cadets passing down the hallway, snatches of conversation showing they were upset. Madison passed under the camera, followed by Matt and then Colson. Colson suddenly looked back as if to check if anyone was behind him. Balling up his fist, he struck Matt on the back of the head. Matt fell into the room, his feet spinning up and catching Colson on the mouth, knocking him backwards. Yelling started, Colson shouting accusations. The recording showed Justin coming into the room and then the image switched inside the room. The scene ended with Colson storming out.

Marcioni stopped the recording for a moment and looked over at Colson.

Justin turned in his chair and saw Colson, face ashen, jaw trembling. An icy silence seemed to be enveloping him.

"There were several hundred billion K of recorded images and sound in the Captain's computer. Apparently he had every single connection running all the time. I don't see how he could have kept track. It is evidence of an obsessive compulsion to spy but I think he even lost track of all that he was spying on, as manifested by the next clip."

It was the recording of MacKenzie coming into the room to arrest Matt. Everyone in the room was quiet, leaning forward to watch. Several in the audience gasped as Justin pleaded for Matt while the Captain grabbed him in his sleep and tore him out of the net. The camera clearly caught Mart's arm banging against the side of MacKenzie's head, his open palm waving back and forth and not balled up. Justin could feel all eyes on him as the recording showed the Captain leveling his pistol and threatened to shoot Justin if he moved.

The clip ended.

Marcioni looked about the room. "In some circles what the Captain did in that room would be defined as assault. There are more clips, of the Captain badgering Doctor Zhing in sickbay, threatening to destroy his career and retirement if he did not vote for execution. There is a disturbing scene with Lieutenant Hemenez up on the flight deck, the Captain threatening to ruin her career as well if she did not comply with his wishes. At least Hemenez had the courage to take that risk rather than compromise."

All eyes turned toward MacKenzie as Marcioni fell silent.

Slowly he stood up, his eyes cold and lifeless. "You will never understand," he said, his voice distant, almost mechanical. "I did this to show everyone, to show everyone" His voice trailed off.

Stepping away from his desk, MacKenzie stalked out of the room. Singh watched him leave, saying nothing as the door closed behind MacKenzie.

"We are adjourned until 0800 tomorrow," Singh said quietly.

Justin felt as if he would collapse in his chair and he barely had the strength to stand as Singh walked out of the room. Marcioni came up to Justin and extended his hand.

"I knew from the beginning, son, that you were right. You might not believe this but maybe even the Old Man felt that way as well."

"He sure didn't seem that way."

"Well, he was caught in a bind. A lot of powers beyond what you see here were playing the game out."

Marcioni fell silent as Colson, head lowered, hurriedly walked past them. Justin was tempted to say something but the hunted look in Colsons eyes stilled him. Kicking a beaten dog came to mind and he knew that as long as Colson lived the bitter revelations in this room would haunt him.

Marcioni looked up as Thorsson approached. Smiling, Marcioni extended his hand.

"You were a darn good cadet and an even better officer," Thorsson said, eyes beaming.

"Thank you, sir. Just trying to do what was right, as you taught us."

"Well now, I think this young cadet here needs a little rest, so how about if I walk him and his friends over to their quarters. I think it's safe to assume that all charges will be dropped against them and they will receive a full and honorable exoneration."

"Full and honorable at the least," Marcioni replied. "I think some decorations are in order once all of this gets sorted out."

Thorsson put his hand on Justin's shoulder and led him to the door. As they stepped out into the corridor Justin saw a flurry of activity down at the end of the hallway. A marine, his uniform disheveled, came running up the corridor. Grabbing another marine he darted back down the hall and around the corner.

"Something's wrong," Thorsson said quietly.

Justin started forward but Thorsson put out a hand, stopping him.

"It's not your responsibility now, let it go."

"I still can't believe he killed himself," Justin said.

"I can," Thorsson replied, leaning against the wall of the lounge and nursing a scalding cup of coffee. The burn out of Mars' orbit had finished half an hour ago and Thorsson had called the crew of Somers forward to the lounge to talk things out.

The ship was heading back to Earth, with a stop at the Academy to drop off the cadets and Thorsson. Hemenez had been placed in acting command of the ship until its return to Earth Base One, with Seay as acting second pilot. Rumors were already spreading that, given the "bad luck" name of the ship, and its age, chances were the old Somers would never sail again, at least under USMC colors, and would be sold off as a high-speed transport.

"What happened to the Captain, sir?" Livollen asked.

"He was already far over the edge of paranoia when you people came aboard and for that I must apologize. Let that be a warning to all of you young officers, when an old hand like O'Brian here brings you a warning, you darn well better sit up and take notice."

O'Brian nodded his thanks from the corner of the room. He, of everyone involved in the incident, had wound up taking the hardest punishment, the dark swatch on his shoulder indicating where his stripes had been pulled off for his outbreak in the courtroom.

"Not the first time," O'Brian announced cheerily when Justin tried to console him. "Hell, young sir, you might be pulling my stripes yourself someday."

The days after the end of the trial and the full exoneration announced for all cadets, enlisted personnel and officers who had resisted MacKenzie had gone by in a confusing whirl. As Thorsson had implied, heads had rolled over the incident, and were still rolling. Zhing had taken early retirement, Lewis had resigned, and Singh had suddenly been recalled to Earth for an "administrative review." It was rumored as well that there had been an overhaul in the Office of the Director Service Personnel, with sharp questions being asked about the review process that promoted captains and gave them command.

As for the press, Justin found he simply couldn't understand it. On the one hand he was being hailed as something of a hero, especially by the Mars press and the pro-separatists leaders. That in turn had created something of a backlash in conservative quarters, with some wondering if the service had gone too soft and Justin was being overly praised for his actions. Before Singh had left he had called Justin in and suggested that in the long run his career with the service was now dead no matter what any court might say. He had led a mutiny, and regardless of the justifications that stigma would always surround his name. No officer would ever fully trust him in the future.

Thorsson in turn had laughed at Singh's comments, replying that Singh was a generation on the way out.

"Concerning Captain MacKenzie's suicide," Thorsson continued, "it was tragic, but in a more traditional sense it was, perhaps, the only avenue left to him. It was a shame that marine guard was wounded trying to disarm him; there was a time when a man went quietly to his office, wrote a letter of apology, and then ended it."

Justin looked at Thorsson in surprise for implying support for the idea of suicide.

"Just talking about an older time, which MacKenzie's mind functioned in," Thorsson said. " MacKenzie's world came apart long before you people ever set foot aboard his ship. I wonder if having so many of you young cadets around might have triggered something buried deep within. A memory, a fear from when he was young. Be that as it may, once the unraveling started it couldn't be stopped, sort of like when you crack open an intricate machine and all the little springs start leaping out. No matter how hard you try you can't get them back in and trying to fix it just means more leap out.

"He built a justification for what he did and I think he actually believed it. It is a rare person who will do evil, knowing they are doing evil. Such characters belong in bad fiction; they rarely appear in real life. Most such people somehow believe they are doing right no matter how twisted they are. Even Hitler. He did not look in a mirror, cackle and say he was evil. No, in his twisted mind he believed he was doing right. Even the men and women of the Black Cell who destroyed most of New York and Moscow early in the 21st century thought they were doing right, even though millions died.

"No, I'm not connecting MacKenzie to those nightmares of humanity, all I'm saying is that he was disastrously disturbed. In that courtroom I could see it in his eyes when the recordings started to play. Poor Mr. Colson was revealed as a liar, and MacKenzie as a failure of a captain who did not follow the most basic steps of trying to analyze Colson's lies before acting. I don't think he even saw that in many ways he had set Colson up to be the initiating spark of his desires for vengeance. Once that was revealed, the way he seized Matt no longer seemed like a captain heroically defending his ship, but rather the actions of a bully out of control. His treatment of Hemenez and Zhing was deplorable and again looked more like a bully trying to have his way rather than a captain attempting to reach the truth. I dare say that if those recordings were ever reviewed in more detail there might be some darker aspects of MacKenzie revealed. I hope they are just simply destroyed.

"So, in that moment I think MacKenzie realized what he was and the internal collision of those two sides was played out. When he left that room there was only one answer for him find a gun, which tragically happened to be in the holster of a marine, and end it."

"And Colson?" someone asked.

"He's on his way home on the same ship taking Singh. I accepted his resignation just before we departed. Poor lad, I don't think he wanted to endure the ride back to the Academy. I think I should add that I reluctantly accepted the resignation of Senior Cadet Petronovich as well. Petronovich felt he should have resisted the captain as the rest of you did, and for that he apologizes to you all."

"Colson a poor lad?" Madison interjected. "He almost killed Matt, myself and a lot of others with his tales."

"He had the potential of a good officer in him, otherwise we never would have accepted him, family connections or no family connections."

Justin stirred uncomfortably at the mention of family connections, for after all, wasn't that how he had gotten in? Thorsson saw him start to lower his head.

'There are some exceptions to that rule," Thorsson added, "but they never survive scrub summer, Mr. Bell, or what happened aboard this ship."

Justin blushed but said nothing.

"But, as I was saying. It's not fair for me to discuss Mr. Colson with his fellow classmates. Let me just close the issue by saying he is now a young man with a terrible burden to atone for. I'd like to think there's enough mettle in him to see his mistakes, to make amends and get on with his life."

Justin could see that for Matt and Madison that idea would be a hard pill to swallow.

"I think we've all learned a terrible and valuable lesson aboard this ship, one that will be studied by the Service for years to come. All of you should look into your hearts and ask what you did right and what you did wrong. Concerning what you did wrong, learn to correct it; concerning what you did right, take pride in it, but not glory. This was a horrible tragedy in which, in an ultimate sense, there were no winners."

Justin nodded in agreement. He could perceive that in a way he was the center of attention in the room and all he truly wanted at the moment was to slip back and be an anonymous plebe-year cadet like the rest of his friends. He wondered if the Academy would ever be the same again.

"Now, lets just say the next watch is free time, but at 0700 hours tomorrow we are back on Academy schedule," Thorsson said with a grin.

"I just happened to bring along a complete update on all assignments and study guides. Malady is beside himself thinking you people have slouched off on your physical training, so we'll start with a two-hour workout. Heaven knows I need it after being cooped up on that Eagle for ten days. I'll then give a daily two-hour class on Fleet Procedures, followed by study for the rest of the day."

Muttered groans greeted his comments.

"You're dismissed until tomorrow morning."

The group came to attention as Thorsson went to the door to the forward section. As Thorsson came to Justin, he slowed.

"I heard that Captain Marcioni asked you a question that troubled you, Justin."

"What was that, sir? There were so many questions I really can't remember much of anything now."

"Whether or not you feel that you are entitled to bear the honorable name of your father."

Justin flushed and lowered his head.

"Well, son, do you?"

Justin finally nodded his head. "I think so, sir."

"I know so," Thorsson replied, placing a hand on Justin's shoulder. "I know so, and I'd be proud if I ever had a son like you, as I know your father is proud of you now."

Thorsson squeezed his shoulder and then departed. Justin, eyes full, smiled when he saw that Thorsson left the door to the forward section open after he had passed.

The group started to break up. Off in a corner he heard Matt going into another one of his tall tales, with Livollen and Smith drifting over to listen. Justin stopped at the edge of the group and for a moment the two caught each others eyes. Matt grinned and shrugged, but there was the slightest look of acknowledgment, an almost whispered thank you, and Justin, smiling, backed away.

"Care for some coffee?"

Justin saw O'Brian coming, and he gladly took the cup and sipped on the straw.

"I think I might stay on with you Academy folks," O'Brian announced. "This getting bounced around from ship to ship is growing old. So I asked old Thorsson and he said the transfer will be through by the time we dock if I want it. He said no one else would want me anyhow."

"Well, we'd sure want you," Justin said with a grin.

"That would be just fine, Bell, I'll make sure you pull extra kitchen duty so we can talk over old times. You should see the things I can whip up when there's gravity under my feet."

Grinning, Justin stepped away, not sure where to go next. His old cabin seemed too cramped, so he started forward. Seay was coming down from the flight deck, and with a smile extended his hand. Again there was the comment about a job well done and again Justin didn't know how to respond.

"Remember, we jump again the week after we get back. You up for it?"

"Sure, can't wait!"

Brian clapped him on the shoulder and continued aft.

Stopping at the door to the forward section he hesitated. There was a flash memory of standing at the doorway, bursting through and seeing Matt drifting in the airlock and then there was MacKenzie. For a brief instant he wondered if a ghost had come aboard the ship, he could so clearly see him, pistol raised, screaming at him and then firing.

He drifted up the stairs to the flight deck and saw that someone was in the command chair.

"Permission to come on deck and observe, sir," Justin announced.

Hemenez turned and smiled.

"Come aboard, cadet, but someone's already in the co-pilot's seat."

Justin was surprised to see Tanya and he started to back away as if to leave.

" Bell, maybe you can do me a favor. I need to take a break. I think you and Leonov here are capable of standing watch awhile. OK?"

"Yes, sir, I think so."

Hemenez unstrapped from her chair and floated out, moving carefully as she maneuvered her arm that was still in a sling.

"I know I can trust you and Leonov with the ship, just page me if anything comes up."

"Yes, sir."

Still smiling, she drifted past him. Justin looked over nervously at Leonov; she motioned for him to take the seat and strap in.

For several minutes Justin said nothing, studying, the array of instruments and control screens. He wasn't quite sure of all of them, but he figured Hemenez wouldn't leave the bridge if things weren't under control with all automatic sensors working correctly.

Finally he looked up out the forward view screen. To his surprise he felt Tanya's hand slip into his. He looked over at her and she smiled.

"Beautiful night," Tanya said.

Justin nodded, unable to speak. It was, indeed, a beautiful night, and far off, a glowing dot in the sky marked their course to home and the Academy.