Tipping Point in the Alliance War (7 page)

***

The
next day passive sensors detect a vessel approaching the asteroid, from the
direction of the planetary system.  The ship’s velocity is steadily
increasing and is approaching the speed of light.

The
Captain calls both ships to Battle Stations but orders that the weapons be on
the Standby position, which is one level below ON.  If hostilities
commence, it will take the ships about 10 minutes to be fully ready for
battle.  It seems like a prudent risk, because he doesn’t want to appear
to be hostile - especially in the face of overwhelming technology.

As the
active sensors come on-line, the Bridge Crew gets a better picture of the approaching
vessel. The ship is spherical in shape, with a diameter of 0.92 klicks, and is
approaching at a velocity of 72 percent of light speed.  It comes to an
abrupt stop and hovers, about 2 klicks above the Courageous and Brutus.

Captain
Niles begins the ‘first encounter’ protocol, for greeting new sentient
beings.  When meeting an advanced race, Step 1 of the protocol instructs
the Alliance personnel to transmit a pre-recorded package of sounds and images,
which will teach the new sentients about the human race, and the other species,
in the Alliance.  It will also teach the spoken and written ‘common’
Alliance language.  It purposes to depict the Alliance citizens as
friendly and diverse sentient beings.

The
Tactical Officer reports that the visitors are running scans and collecting
data, from all of the ship’s systems, including the ships’ computers. 
This is a violation of Alliance law and is not a friendly gesture.  But
they aren’t in Alliance space, and there isn’t anything to do about it. 
They quietly wait.

After
several hours, the image of an alien being appears on every view-screen on the
Courageous and the Brutus.  It isn’t possible to tell how large the
humanoid is, because there is no object of reference.  The head is
enlarged, as compared to an Earth human, with two large eyes and a smallish
nose, mouth and ears.  The body looks almost frail, as if these creatures
live in a low gravity environment.  Actually, the alien resembles the
depictions of the Roswell Alien, from ancient Earth folklore. 

“State
the purpose of your visit to the Quark System,” the voice says.

“We
come in peace,” begins the Captain.  “One of our vessels is having a
computer malfunction and we stopped here, to wait for it to be repaired.”

“You
are hiding.  Why do you hide your presence?  And if you are friendly,
why do you have your weapons powered-up,” the Quark representative asks?

“We
are fleeing, from hostile forces, arrayed against us in more than 85
vessels.  We dropped out of warp and took refuge on this asteroid, in
order to hide while we make repairs.  We have our weapons partially
powered-up in case your intentions toward us become hostile, but they are on
Standby and are not yet powered ON,” responds the Captain.

At
that time, all of the weapons systems on both the Courageous and the Brutus
power OFF.  The Quark representative says; “Your ships are being taken to
System Administration and your case will be heard, there.  Make no
threatening gestures or actions.”

The
Courageous, and then the Brutus, are captured by tractor beams and lifted from
the asteroid.  All three vessels begin to move toward the planetary
system.  The acceleration is gentle – probably out of consideration for
the relatively primitive inertial dampening systems on the human vessels - but
the final steady state velocity is about 0.7 light
speed
. 

Following
3 hours of high velocity travel, the Alliance vessels are dropped off at an
enormous space station, where the Courageous and the Brutus are berthed
side-by-side.  The space station is bustling with activity, as ships are
coming and going and personal vehicles fill the thruways.  A number of
different and unfamiliar alien species can be observed entering and leaving
vehicles.

After
about an hour, an announcement - with no image - comes over the comm
system.  It says; “Your case will be addressed by the judge in two of your
‘standard’ hours.  Prepare your case.”

Well,
no one knows what “prepare your case” means, but since there is going to be a
judge, it probably means that some point of law is in question.  The
Captain’s plan is to answer every question honestly and completely, and to
depend on ‘the mercy of the court’, in case of an unintentional breach of the
law.  Captain Niles can’t think of any law that they have broken, except
perhaps for trespassing.

The
Captain usually shares the Bridge view-screen images with the crew of the
Courageous.  He feels that the crew has a ‘need to know’ what is going on
outside the ship.  In dangerous situations, he also makes the video and
audio of the Command Deck available to the crew.  This unusual openness
probably contributes to the uncommon unity and cohesiveness of the Courageous
crew.

At the
Captain’s order, all information is available to everyone – including the
prisoners.  The communications between the Quark and the Alliance ships
are already available on all ships monitors.  Now the entire Alliance
community can observe the Courageous’ Command Deck, and listen to the
conversations as the leaders discuss possible actions.  The Captain figures
that everyone is in this together.  If there is a punishment forthcoming,
he expects that everyone will be punished.  They all have ‘a need to
know’.

***

On a
happy note, the repair crew finds the computer problem, and has a spare module
to complete the repair.  It will take a couple of days to run the full
diagnostics, so they get busy.  Everyone else just sits around and
ruminates on their circumstances, until the trial begins.

***

In
exactly two standard hours, the view-screens display something like a crystal
ball in a luminous environment.  A voice says, “You have been charged with
trespassing and with possession of a stolen vessel.  How do you plead?”

Captain
Niles is dumfounded, but recovers enough to respond: “We have no counselor to
represent us, and we are in a place where we don’t know the laws or
customs.  Until such a time that we have more information, I must plead
Not Guilty.”

“The
court takes note of your primitive condition.  A list of the criminal
charges and the relevant Quark System laws has now been downloaded to the
computers of both ships.  The court will continue the case in two of your
standard days,” the voice says, as the view screens fade to empty.

Everyone
on both ships – including the prisoners - turn their attention to the legal
charges against them and to the volumes of legal documents on the ship’s
computers.  The charges read:

1.
     
Entering
Quark System space without authorization

2.
     
Being in
control of a vessel obtained illegally

With
only two days to prepare for the trial, there is no time to waste.  Anyone
with legal training is assigned the task of researching the Quark Law for
relevant statutes, and is looking for loopholes which might set them
free.  Concerning the 2
^nd
charge – being in control of a vessel
obtained illegally – the legal experts are also told to research
Capernic
Systems and Alliance Systems law, in order to
prove that the Brutus was obtained legally.

The
search through the Quark Law statutes is not limited to people with legal
training.  The documents are available to everyone.  And everyone is
encouraged to look for loopholes.  Committees are set up so that the input
from the lawyers can be integrated with the input from regular people. 

The
Captain and his Logistics Officer, Lieutenant
Strass
– who has a law degree, and has practiced corporate law – go through the
findings of the Committees, and make final decisions about the legal defense,
which will be presented to the Quark Systems judge.

(There
is a sense, among the Alliance crew, that they can’t really be responsible for
obeying laws that they didn’t know existed.  Then again, they remember the
many times in Alliance courts, where it was decided that ‘ignorance of the law
is no excuse’.  They need to have a better defense than ‘ignorance’.)

***

In
two standard days - to the minute - the image of the crystal ball appears on
the ship’s view-screens, and the voice of the Judge says:  “The court is
in session, arguing the case of the Quark System verses the Alliance vessels
Courageous and Brutus.  How do you plead?”

“Not guilty to all charges,”
answers the Captain.

The
Judge continues, without a pause or comment: “In response to Charge #1:
Entering Quark System space without authorization.  How do you plead?”

“Not guilty,” responds the
Captain.  “There were no fences or boundaries or posted warnings, as
required according to the trespass laws of Quark Regulation
#1567349573.564.  According to this regulation, there must be a clearly
marked boundary, or signs.

“Irrelevant,”
declares the Judge.  “Those regulations apply to planet-side trespass, and
they have been supplemented by Quark Regulation #S88778376.45q, which
specifically addresses space-trespass.  The only requirement for
space-trespass to be valid is that the boundaries be designated as ‘Restricted
Quark Space’, on the most recent Quark Space Boundary Map,
#47954367968-73-194adh.3”.

“Your
Honor,” responds the Captain “We have no access to that map.  In fact, we
didn’t know of its existence, or for that matter, the existence of the Quark
civilization.”

“Irrelevant Captain,” says the
Judge.  “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.” 

“Your
Honor,” pleads the Captain.  “Even if we are found technically guilty, it
would be an injustice for punishment to be imposed in such extenuating
circumstances.”

“The
court will take that into consideration during the sentencing phase, Captain,”
responds the Judge.

***

In the
case of charge #2:  Being in control of a vessel obtained illegally. 
How do you plead?”

Captain
Niles says; “Not guilty,
your
Honor.  The defense
argues that the ship was taken in a legal act of war, outside of Quark
jurisdiction.  The Alliance is engaged in a war, which was thrust upon
them through no fault of their own. 

It is
in fact, laudable, that the ship was captured, rather than destroyed.  And
it is laudable, that the captured crew has been treated as prisoners-of-war
under the conventions of war, which the Alliance forces obey.  It is
laudable, that the crew has been treated humanely, and has been given a promise
of freedom, if they cooperate.

On the
other hand, the Confederation conventions of war demand that every Alliance
vessel and every Alliance agent be annihilated.  They take no prisoners
and spare no vessel.

You
may be right to call us barbaric, when compared to the Quark, but consider the
circumstances.  We have been attacked, without provocation, and the enemy
demands total annihilation of all Alliance government and defense forces. 
If the Confederation is successful in destroying the Alliance military, then
all surviving Alliance citizens will be slaves to the Confederation.

 Would
not the Quark government be forced to respond against such barbarism, in a
similar way? 

The
Judge responds; “I do find some merit, in the comparison of your form of
barbarism being preferable to the form of barbarism used by your enemy. 
And, indeed, the Quark people have had a history of wars in the distant
past.  It is also possible that we might have to go to war again, if
someone like your enemy would grow to be a threat to us.  

That,
however, doesn’t change the fact that you – the representative of the Alliance
Navy – are in possession of a vessel that you obtained illegally.  There
can be no extenuating circumstances.  It is an absolute rule in our
civilization.  There can be only one verdict and only one remedy.  I
find you ‘guilty’ of being in possession of a vessel that you obtained
illegally.”

“Your
Honor,” exclaims the Captain.  “We did obtain it legally, according to the
Alliance government and also according to the
Capernic
System government, which is a member of the Alliance.

In
your copy of the Courageous’ computer core - which the Quark representative
took, without our permission - you will find that article 97 of paragraph 75.2
of sub-section 143.232, of section 342695 of the Rules of War of the Alliance
Government, specifically states that the captured vessel, the associated
equipment, the cargo, and parts thereof, become the legal property of the
Alliance government at the instant of capture.

The
Capernic
government was a signatory to that Alliance
Government document, and therefore, accepted the Alliance Government Rules of
War as their own.

The
Alliance Fleet, which was annihilated in the
Capernic
System battle, was in the
Capernic
System for the
purpose of defending the sentient beings on planet 4 - named ‘
Egdffe
’.  In fact, after the Alliance Fleet was
destroyed, the Confederation Fleet went to the planet
Egdffe
and destroyed all life forms – nothing remains but radioactive dirt.