Chapter 18

With a frustrated look at his team-mates, Mark followed Jason out of the ready room. He found the gunner already in his bedroom, lying on his blanket, arms crossed behind his head, staring at the ceiling. Something caught in Mark's throat. Jason liked to appear tough, hard-headed and rational, but in reality he was probably the most vulnerable of them all – the one who constantly felt he had something to prove. His latest clash with ISO was one he was going to lose, no matter what the verdict of the court-martial.

Mark knocked perfunctorily on the half-opened door, and walked in before Jason could jab at him to go away.

"Mind if I talk to you for a moment?"

"Would it be of any use if I said no?" grunted Jason.

"No, not really. Hear me out, Jason."

"Why, so you can tell me to be reasonable about this again? That the ISO has no choice? Remember, it was you who told me just a few days ago..." he paused for a moment. Just a few days ago? It felt like six months. "It was you who told me that if I don't like taking orders, I should go ahead and resign. And you know what? You were right. I will resign before the ISO can drag me to court. This way everyone will be happy. They will get their pound of flesh, Anderson will get rid of me, and I will not be made a laughing stock in front of the whole Federation."

Mark looked at him as if he was considering this proposition.

"You know what, Jason? You will not."

Jason pulled his head off the pillow, steadying himself on his elbows.

"Yeah? Care to elaborate?"

Mark sat down on the gunner's bed, disregarding the looks of annoyance Jason gave him, and made himself comfortable.

"Yes, actually I do. You know why you will not resign? Because no matter what else you are – and here I would include a whole list of attributes, none of them complimentary – you are certainly not a coward. You are the last person who would run away from something, Jason, whether this is a Spectran patrol, an enemy interrogation room, or an ISO court-martial. Which, by the way, is by no means a foregone thing. You may well be cleared" – Jason chortled at that – "but even if you're not, you will take whatever they throw at you and come out stronger."

"Oh yeah? What for? To be punished for doing what I thought was right and saving your asses? To swallow this and then go back to the team, waiting for the next time Zoltar attacks and I'm called to risk my life again?"

"Yes," said Mark simply. Then he stood up and left the room.

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The next few days leading to the court-martial passed in a kind of daze for Jason. He was given advice by an ISO lawyer, which he took thankfully, but decided he did not want the lawyer to represent him at the court-martial. Swallowing every last drop of pride, he did not go to Anderson with a resignation letter. But he would not speak to Anderson except on work-related matters, and even then, he was barely civil. He was also barely civil to Mark, but did not glower every time he saw the Commander. Some of the things Mark had told him had struck a chord, although both men were careful not to discuss the issue again.

Oddly, at least as far as Anderson and the rest of the team was concerned, it was Princess who seemed to be the most distressed. She felt as betrayed as Jason did: Princess had looked up to Anderson almost all her life, and now she felt that Anderson had let the team down. She had looked to the Chief for support, advice and comfort, and now she felt as if she could never do that again. She was not entirely sure what Anderson could've done under the circumstances, but she thought it was cowardly of him to throw Jason to the lions, as she saw it. And she was also very disappointed with Mark, for the same reasons. The Commander was always such a strong presence for her, someone she could count on – and now she could not do that anymore. She still had feelings for Mark, but somehow could not look up to him as she had in the past. Deep down, she wanted Mark to stand up for the team in a vociferous way, kick up a fuss, do something to help Jason – even if, rationally, she understood very well that this was not something the Commander of G-Force could do. So she was constantly snarky and spent most of her free time trying to help with Jason's defence.

Jason appreciated Princess's concern, but was worried for her – and for the team. His court-martial was putting enough strain on the team. Princess taking it out on Mark and Anderson would not help. Otherwise, they went through their usual training and briefing routines, the only difference being that Jason had to surrender his wrist activator. The one thing they all hoped, was that Zoltar would not get wind of what was happening at Centre Neptune and launch an attack before the whole episode was behind them. If there was an attack, the ISO would have to decide whether Jason could be given his wrist activator back. This detail hurt him more than anything else.

To be continued.

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