"I wish I knew you were coming, ma'am," says Lieutenant General Andrea Vukovich. "I could have had the cadets given you a proper welcome."
"I would have liked that," says Air Force General Marie Crystal, the Supreme Commander of the United Earth Forces. "But there was no time. I just wanted a quick visit to the campus. I can't spend all day copped up in my office."
The two generals and their escort walk along a concrete pathway on the campus of the United Earth Forces Academy. Tall brick buildings up to three stories high house classrooms and offices. Cadets in gray uniform stand at attention when their superiors walk by.
Ahead of them are a column of cadets marching, led by a fourth year cadet serving as a cadet officer. They all stop at the sight of the two generals and their entourage. They give a salute, placing their flat of their palms next to their peaked caps.
The two generals return their salute. "As you were," says the Supreme Commander.
"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" snap all of the cadets, who promptly continue marching.
"You do keep these cadets well drilled," General Crystal says to General Vukovich.
"Thank you. I frequently do rounds around campus. It helps keep me in shape along with knowing how my cadets are doing."
They visit more places, including the athletic fields and the Cadet Mess.
"Is everything to your liking, General?" asks Vukovich.
"It does look like it," answers Crystal. "there is another reason I am here, General. I have appointed Commander Pullman here to conduct an audit."
"An audit?" asks the Superintendent.
"Yes, ma'am," replies Lieutenant Commander Tracey Pullman of the United Nations Spacy. "To find out more about what's going on at our Academy."
"I see."
"I've had my commands audited a few times," says General Crystal. "I know how necessary they are; that doesn't make audits any less anything."
"I and my staff will provide our full cooperation, ma'am," says General Vukovich.
"General," the commander says to Vukovich, "I will also need to speak to the cadets as well."
"We shall take our leave, General Vukovich,"
"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" snaps the superintendent
Crystal, Pullman, and their escort continue to walk across the campus. In a few minutes, they reach the cadet dormitories.
They walk inside the hallway, passing two cadets who immediately stood at attention upon sight of the commissioned officers. General Crystal knocks on a painted wooden door.
The door opens, and a young woman with blond hair reaching to her shoulders opens the door and immediately stands at attention. Crystal notices another young woman, with purple hair, also in the dormitory room.
"We need to speak with Cadet Sterling," says the Supreme Commander. "Wait outside."
"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" snaps Cadet Private First Class Ann Campbell, who immediately leaves her dorm room.
Cadet Private First class Mirage Sterling stands at attention. She looks at the two women. Crystal has jet black hair with some gray. The general wears a blue, stiff collared coat and a blue skirt. A ribbon rack is pinned to her coat, and she has shoulderboards, each with four stars.
The other woman has auburn hair reaching her shoulders, and she appears to be in her mid-thirties. She wears service khakis consisting of a collared blouse and collared shirt. She has the insignia of the U.N. Spacy and the brass oak leave insignia of a lieutenant commander.
"Commander Pullman will be asking some questions, Cadet Sterling," says General Crystal.
"I know your story, ma'am," the cadet says to the Spacy commander. "You were an enlisted Space Marine; your dropship crash landed on Earth."
"That's right," replies Commander Pullman. "my team and I spent two years resisting alien occupation and we fought at Reflex Point. I wasn't the hero though. Our commanding officer was the hero; he truly earned that Medal of Honor. Too bad he wasn't alive to receive it in person."
"I'm sorry, Commander."
"Let us get down to business, Cadet. Were you accused by the faculty here of cheating?"
"Yes, I was," answers Mirage. "I was summoned to the Commandant's office."
Mirage tells her story of receiving the data stick from Ayanna, to the coach discouraging her from reporting the incident, and being told to keep quiet about it.
"We will need more information," says Pullman. "So we want to make a deal."
"What deal, ma'am?"
The commander presents a personal data assistant. "Basically, you tell us everything, and you will be immunized from any disciplinary action regarding your Honor Code violations," she says. "You will be administratively separated from the Academy with no further service obligation to any component of the United Earth Forces. If you are found to have concealed evidence from us, or lied to us, everything will be on the table."
"Yes, ma'am."
Mirage tells more.
"That will be all, Cadet," says General Crystal. "You may expect Commander Pullman to ask further questions. We shall take our leave now. As your were."
"Ma'ams, yes, ma'ams!" snaps Mirage.
The general and the commander walk outside.
"I must be heading back to Galaxy City, Commander," says Crystal. "Continue your investigation."
"Ma'am, aye aye, ma'am," replies Pullman, saluting.
Oooooooo
"I suppose you serving three years in the Marines helps you with leading the junior cadets," says Lieutenant Commander Pullman.
"I suppose it does, ma'am," rep[lies Cadet Major Ayanna Harden, as the two of them walk along the concrete pathways of the Academy campus. Other cadets stand at attention when the Spacy commander passes by. "Though my story isn't as impressive as yours."
"I do remember when we relocated to Earth after eighteen years on Tirol. Even though I was in my fourth year, the first few weeks I was as lost as any plebe. There is one more thing I want to ask about your operations?"
"Operations, ma'am?"
"the Honor Code enforcement."
"Oh, yes," replies Ayanna. "We cadets of course investigate and judge honor code violations."
"and expulsion is the maximum punishment?"
"Yes, subject to approval by General Vukovich. Lesser punishments are reviewed by Commodore Nijjar. They are what you would call the convening authorities for the Cadet Honor Board."
"Any expulsions this school year?"
"No, ma'am. Usually we have reprimands and demotions and dirty work. One time, the Commandant approved canceling the academic credits and making the cadet repeat a year. The most recent expulsion was last year. From what I heard, a cadet lied about another cadet violating the Honor Code so he can have a girl all to himself."
"Yeah, I understand why the Super would approve of expulsion in that case."
"So not all accusations are heard by the Honor Court."
"No, ma'am. Sometimes there's no corroborating evidence. Sometimes the faculty offer a lesser punishment in exchange for admission of guilt."
"Are cadets allowed to separate without expulsion if they're accused."
"Sometimes. I served three years on active enlisted duty, ma'am. Not every violation of the AoD has to lead to court-martial, or even a formal punishment."
"Of course, Cadet. I do want to know about Honor Code violations reported to the Corps."
"Some of those accusations weren't back up with evidence, ma';am."
"I do need to conduct an audit for Supreme Command. If you decline to pursue accusations if there's no evidence, that is credit to you and the Corps."
"Yes, ma'am."
Two plebes in gray uniforms stand at attention as they walk by.
Ooooooo
"It's such a shame, really," says Coach Melissa Karn as she sits on the leather sea behind her desk. "She had potential."
"So that was how you heard Cadet Sterling was accused of cheating?" asks Lieutenant Commander Pullman.
"Kam- Commodore Nijjar, sent me an e-mail," replies the coach.
"Did you witness any cheating by the cadet."
"No. I can imagine the pressure she was under,. She had poor grades last semester, and we would have had to cut her from the team if she didn't improve. And, of course, she was a family legacy to live up to. I encouraged her to focus on her studies. Kam told me she was spared expulsion, that she'd just leave the Academy at the end of the academic year."
"Did any cadets inform you of Honor Code violations?" asks the commander.
"No," answers Karn.
Oooooooo
"I do remember the obstacle course, Commander," says Commodore Kamini Nijjar.
She and Commander Pullman are just a few dozen feet away from the Cadet Obstacle Course. Cadets in T-shirts and shorts go through various obstacles, often dropping in six-inch deep mud, with cadet NCO's barking orders, and commissioned officers staying silent as they watch.
"I had to clean mud out of hard to reach places, ma'am," says the commander. "The obstacle course isn't something I is that much."
"We train them to be warriors as well as scholars," says the commodore.
"and not just physically, but morally as well. Commodore, when was the last time a cadet was expelled from this academy?"
"Last year. A cadet actually fabricated an accusation against another cadet, all over a girl's affections. Expulsion was our only option."
"I would agree in that case, ma'am. And of course, there are lesser punishments, and cadets are sometimes offered an administrative separation."
"Depends on the severity of the offense and their academic and behavioral record here," says Nijjar. "Sometimes we just make them wash trash cans. Other times, we let them go with no hard feelings."
"Now, in my audit, one of the players on the women's basketball team, a Mirage Sterling, was cut from the team, ma'am. What do you know about it?"
Commodore Nijjar stays silent for a moment. "She offered to help another cadet cheat. It was reported to us. I had a discussion with her, and I decided to give her a chance to leave the Academy with honor."
"With honor?"
"She did offer to help another cadet cheat. She accepted my offer for damage control. I mean, she was an outstanding cadet, with her family history and all as well as her high school academic and athletic record. But we have to let her go, one way or the other."
"I'll be continuing my audit, ma'am."
"Very well, Commander."
ooooooooo
Commander Pullman walks along a hallway inside the cadet dormitories. She had slept in this exact building, when she was a fourth year cadet over ten years ago. She knock on a door.
Cadet Major Harden opens it; she wears just a T-shirt and shorts. "Oh, Commander Pullman," she says. "Is there anything you need?"
"You provided reports of Honor Code violations."
"Yes, ma'am. None actually went to a hearing."
"you did not report that Cadet Private First Class Mirage Sterling, a second year cadet, was reported for offering to aid another cadet to cheat."
"It must have slipped my mind, ma'am."
"She was your teammate," says the commander. "And another teammate reported her. I am of the mind to recommend proper disciplinary proceedings be initiating against you for violating the Honor Code, starting with your lies to me."
Ayanna heart races and some sweat leaves her pores. "That's quite an accusation, Commander. Whatever Mirage told you, she's lying."
"We know you got those essays and exam results from someone else, Cadet."
"I do not have to answer any questions that would implicate me in violating the Honor Code. That is the law."
"And I can also grant you immunity," says Pullman. "In exchange for you telling the truth about everything, including your Honor Code violations."
"Immunity from disciplinary action."
"No. Immunity from court-martial."
"Court-martial, ma'am?" asks Ayanna.
:"That's right. The Honor Code is a regulation prescribed by the Secretary General of the United Nations. By breaking the Honor code, your disobeyed a lawful regulation and that is a proper subject for a court-martial."
"Ma'am, I will remind you that no cadet has ever been court-martialed for violating the Honor Code."
"You can be the first, Harden. A court-martial can do much worse than an Honor Board. Maybe Supreme Command won't go ahead with a court-martial. Or maybe they will convene a court-martial to try an Honor Code violation. But I do have the authority to grant immunity on behalf of Supreme Command. Make your choice, Cadet."
For a minute, Ayanna stays silent.
Ooooooooo
Joint Forces Air Field Samsun is next to the Academy. Along with hangars and workshops, there are guest lodges for officers who are temporarily assigned here.
The lodges are basically studio apartments with a bed, a kitchenette, and a bathroom. There is a desk in each lodge where officers can catch up on their paperwork.
Commander Pullman sits at a desk in one of the lodge suites, just wearing a T-shirt and shorts instead of the service khakis. She simply had creamy macaroni and cheese for supper.
The commander looks at her final report to Supreme Command.
She clicks the button to send.
Ooooooo
Inside Galaxy City, the Citadel serves as the headquarters of the United Earth Forces. Offices and other support rooms are here to enable the Supreme Commander and the Joint Chiefs to lead humanity's allied military establishment.
Lieutenant General Vukovich enters a large room. She notices General Crystal and some other generals and admirals. The Supreme Commander has exercised her authority to preside over a meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the supreme advisory body of the United Earth Forces Supreme Command.
The superintendent of the United Earth Forces Academy takes a deep breath.
"Sirs, ma'ams, I regretfully submit my resignation from the United Nations Army," she says.
"Very well, General Vukovich," replies Crystal. "You will receive your final orders. Dismissed."
"Yes, sirs, ma'ams," replies Vukovich, before the general turns around and leaves.
Ooooooooo
Commodore Kamini Nijjar, wearing shiort-sleeved service khakis, watches as the young men on the athletic field hit the ball with their lacrosse sticks, practicing for their away game on Saturday. Their hearts race and sweat covers their body as they set aside other memories and feelings to focus on the player sand the ball.
They carry the burden they chose, in representing the UEF in professional lacrosse, along with the burden of their academic and military performance.
The coach blows a whistle. The Commandant of Cadets looks around before seeing General Vukovich, wearing her short-sleeved light green blouse and dark green skirt. She and the lacrosse players all stand at attention at the appearance of the Superintendent.
"As you were," the general says to the lacrosse players. She then turns towards Nijjar. "I have something to tell you."
"What is it, ma'am?" asks the commodore.
"I earlier tendered my resignation in front of the Joint Chiefs in Galaxy City. A massive cheating ring happened under my watch. I will formally announce to the Corps later today./ "
"I...well, I wish you well, Andrea. We'll do what we can to ease the transition for your successor."
"I have one final task I must do, Commodore Nijjar. I am informing you that the United Earth Forces Supreme Command has convened a general court-martial against you on charges of disobeying a lawful regulation, conspiracy to disobey a lawful regulation, aiding and abetting servicemen to disobey a lawful regulation."
Nijjar's eyes widen. "What? They can't be serious!"
"This is no joke, Commodore. You have been removed from your post. All I can say is listen to your attorney."
oooooooo
Duffel bag in hand, Cadet Private First Class Mirage Sterling gets inside a Toyota Sienna van. The driver will take her from the United Earth Forces Academy to the airport in Samsun, where she will fly to John F. Kennedy spaceport in New York City, and then to Sandusky, Ohio.
She hears the engine come to life and feels the van pull away from the cub. The cadet does not look back.