Unsung Armada by Scott Bartlett

Author:Scott Bartlett [Bartlett, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-02T22:00:00+00:00

3

“Are you sure Chief Shimura can be objective, here?” I mutter to Leeroy Johnson, my civilian counsel, as I cast an eye across the jury benches.

“Oh, definitely,” Johnson says. The pudgy lawyer wears a wrinkled suit that looks like it’s about to burst across his middle. Seems weird for an upload to choose to be fat and disheveled, when he has the option to look however he wants. But it’s not something I have time to dwell on, so I just accept it as yet another Subverse oddity.

The rest of the bots that infiltrated Control took a couple more hours to clean up entirely, and the brass decided to postpone the court-martial until the next day. They didn’t allow me to help with the cleanup efforts, of course. Instead, they held me in custody overnight, alone with my datasphere and my thoughts. They also took my blaster.

From the jury bench, Shimura glares at me, and I hold his gaze for a few moments before turning back to Johnson. Back when Shimura trained us, he was a Senior Chief Petty Officer, but he’s since made Master Chief. “He always hated me,” I say. “It’s pretty obvious he still does.”

The attorney shrugs. “He sure fooled me, then, when I questioned him.” Both the defense and the prosecution get to question each jury member, to make sure they’re capable of seeing the defendant’s situation objectively.

Not for the first time, I’m struck by the desire to wrestle the lawyer to the ground and knock him around the head. That would be impossible, of course, since he’s not really here. He’s an upload, present only by virtue of the collective processing power of the dataspheres of everyone in the courtroom.

Normally, a Guardsman undergoing court-martial would have a military attorney—unless he could afford a civilian attorney’s fee, which isn’t common. I actually probably could afford it, if I was willing to dip into the Ares’ repair fund, which I’m not. Luckily, a member of my versecast audience happened to be a renowned attorney, famed for getting uploads out of the same underverses I’m so familiar with.

At least, it seemed lucky at the time. But Johnson shows every sign of being thoroughly incompetent.

Fount, I’m screwed.

Other than Chief Shimura, the jury consists of a collection of commanders, captains, and admirals. There’s Rear Admiral Quinn—who I directly defied while chasing pirates out on the Brink— sitting next to two other admirals, both of them upload-only, there biological forms having died decades ago.

Under Guard regs, the jury must be half biological humans, half uploads, but that hardly seems fair, if you ask me. What upload is going to sympathize with abandoning my duty to protect the Subverse to chase pirates in the real?

Rear Admiral Quinn is technically digital, as well. At least, this version of him is. Physically, he’s stationed out on the Brink, and the man on the jury is really just a brainprint of Quinn that’s been briefed on the particulars of the case.

Without warning, the bailiff steps forward.

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