"This meeting has been brought to attendance to discuss Braxton Rudforest's conduct and his adherence to or lack thereof to the codes of our organization as they relate to the accusations of misconduct as brought forth by Sargent Gray."
The meeting room was filled with the top officials in charge of the school and students. At the head of the room, seated right in the middle behind a stately desk, was none other than the admiral himself. Four other individuals had joined him and were seated two to his left and two to his right. Braxton recognized the head of student affairs, but none of the others.
Lieutenant Gray stood off to the side, leering smugly at Braxton.
"Presiding over the case is Admiral De Châteaupers, Rear Admiral Worthington, Commander Rourke, Lieutenant Moliére, and Seaman Sinclair." A civilian alien that Braxton would have considered young continued to read aloud from the script held in its middle appendage.
"Excuse me," Already knowing he was going to be kicked out, Braxton figured it didn't matter if he violated a few more protocols. "Sorry to interrupt sir, ma'am, or other."
The civilian alien pinched together the vibrating threads it spoke through in what appeared to be a close approximation to a frown, but it silenced.
Braxton stood up and locked his hands behind his back, mostly so no one would shoot him or challenge him to a duel for disrespect. He wasn't in the mood to be shot, and he'd hate to embarrass a commanding officer by besting them in a duel in front of a crowd like this.
"Why is there a seaman on the panel? Isn't this disciplinary hearing thing supposed to be all my superiors telling me what I did wrong? Like, you've got officers standing over against the walls, and this kid isn't even a petty officer or anything. He's just….well, a seaman. No offense, man."
The youth smothered a smile and nodded his head to indicate they were on good terms.
"Imprudent little-"
"Stand down, Lieutenant." Admiral De Châteaupers interrupted Gray before he could become too riled up. "It is a fair question, if a bit out of turn."
Braxton shrugged. "I figure it's my hearing, right? Figure after my astonishing resume, your impressive assembly is looking for a show. Might as well be the star."
"You will be stardust when this is over," Gray hissed through his teeth.
"My impressive assembly," De Châteaupers spoke calmly, ignoring the derision behind the title, "is here as this case has garnered particular interest among students and facility alike. As well as having a respected member of Star Command request specifically to submit a character reference. I will admit, I have not had a case like this in all my years. Normally I would allow Commander Rouke to handle matters, however, it appears that the school was not content to leave well enough alone."
Despite having both feet planted firmly on the ground, Braxton found himself completely off balance.
"Oh. That…" He drew in a deep breath and straightened his spine. "I appreciate the explanation, sir. Thank you. But I still am unaware of just why a seaman is sitting as a judge in this case."
"Peer evaluation. Those of us with rank, while experienced and sporting a list of merits as thick as your disciplinary folder," Braxton had the decency to look bashful at the admiral's words, "occasionally can be out of touch with today's youth. It has been a long time since we were in school, or fresh to the ways of life. Seaman Sinclair is here to ensure that we consider your perspective and that you receive the fairest trial we can provide."
"Oh. Thank you."
"May we continue?"
Braxton nodded and sheepishly sank into his chair. So it wasn't a dog and pony show. They weren't just taking a laugh at him. All the same, he couldn't regret standing up for himself. They were here to judge his character, and he wasn't about to compromise the core of himself just to score a brownie point or two. If they were to find him guilty, as they would, they would find all of him guilty.
The alien announcer cleared their throat and continued. "This meeting has been brought forth under request of Lieutenant Gray and shall be witnessed by several ranking officers and other interested parties. No civilians except for a nonpartisan scribe and announcer shall be present at this hearing."
The alien took a seat at last and poised its appendages upon the typing device before it, ready to begin transcribing the proceedings.
The Rear Admiral cleared her throat. "To begin this meeting, I would like to state that all supplemental material has already been reviewed by the judges on this panel, as a time saving measure. I do not intend to be here until 0300 or later."
Braxton raised an eyebrow at the panel before him.
"Letters of recommendation or condemnation from your peers and teachers," The Commander stated in a bored tone.
"You had quite an impressive collection of advocates, I must say," Lieutenant Moliére added. "We delayed this trial three times because we had not anticipated the volume of written statements we would receive. One or two is normal, perhaps five or six, but you, young man, well!"
"We shall hear from Lieutenant Gray first." The announcer stated.
"Thank you, sir." Lieutenant Gray crossed over to stand before the hearing committee, his hands behind his back and feet spread just shoulder width apart. "As the esteemed officers, and seaman Sinclair is aware, Braxton Alexander Rudforest is exceptionally well documented in a singularly negative manner."
Braxton Alexander Rudforest crossed his arms and frowned, but smartly held his tongue.
"Specifically, Cadet Rudforest has proven himself to be irresponsible and reckless, as well as aggressive and displaying an utter disregard for rank and authority. His disrespectful conduct has been allowed to slide for far too long, and I have several pieces of evidence to uphold my testimony.
"I should like to start with the most egregious offense, the assault of an officer. As can be attested to by multiple witnesses, last Friday at approximately twenty hundred hours Rudforest struck myself across the face. His attack was unprompted and unprovoked." Lieutenant Grey turned and gestured towards a display deck that had been set up near the center of the room, not too far from Braxton.
"I have requested from the hologram archives the minutes pertaining to Rudforest's assault upon my person."
The hologram deck lit up, displaying the entire room packed with excited youth. At the front, Gray stood holding Matt's letter in the air. Matt and Braxton were approximately halfway to the front of the room.
"I have had the image cropped to focus solely upon the moment in question."
At the time, Braxton had been focused upon caring for his friend, and ensuring that Matt got through his anxiety and fears. His family did very dangerous work, there were no shortage of accidents in the construction business. Terraforming was known to be a risky occupation. One never knew what news a letter might contain. Sitting back now and watching like a detached god surveying one of his many creations, Braxton was struck by just how pale his friend appeared. His skin was shallow and a dull mate, coated in a thin sheen of sweat. He looked positively ill.
Far more satisfying, however, was watching the tiny rendition of himself punching Gray directly in the jaw.
The hologram cut off immediately after he landed his punch. The room had barely begun to react. An audible gasp was prematurely ended, and from the background Jim could just be heard crying, "Braxt-"
"As you can see," Gray continued triumphantly, "It is as clear cut as can be. Rudforest has assaulted me and should be immediately expelled."
"That whole clip couldn't have been more than fifteen seconds long," Seaman Sinclair mused aloud. "Is there any more to it that we can get context from?"
"Unfortunately," Gray responded in a tone that no one could mistake as remorseful, "I am afraid that the files were…corrupted while we were extracting the relevant moments. I was informed that a significant portion of the evening is unrecoverable and that it can not be viewed or uploaded to anything."
"Then it is most fortunate my grandson requested a copy of the time and location of the incident immediately after it occurred. He was concerned that we may not be able to obtain a record of the event, and considering the severity of Cadet Rudforest's actions, considered it prudent that there be a full copy of the entirety of the evening. His download begins when the first individual enters the field of view and continues for so long as there were individuals in the view of the holorecorder." Admiral De Châteaupers produced an orb from amongst a small box of evidence sitting on his desk.
Gray's face contorted through several emotions, both visible and suppressed, before settling into a thin smile. "How foresightful."
"Excellent!" Seaman Sinclair was by far the most enthusiastic about the proceedings. Braxton was beginning to quite like him. Sinclair took to his feet, swiftly crossing around to the front of the judge's bench. "May I have the holorecord, sir?"
The admiral handed the orb to the young seaman. Sinclair approached the holodeck and swapped out the two orbs. "May I have the controls please, Lieutenant?"
Gray handed over the tablet with a sour frown.
Sinclair tapped at the displays for a few moments, 'Hmm'ing and 'uh huh'ing to himself. With a final triumphant, "Ah ha!" the young man tapped a final button and stepped back. "Here we go!"
The display lit up to once again show the room. Once again Lieutenant Gray stood by the front of the room, handing off a parcel of letters to a smiling young man. The semi transparent figure of the Lieutenant turned, selecting the next letter from his bag.
"Mars."
Braxton could feel his blood beginning to boil as he watched last week's interaction all over again.
"Let's move it, von Mars." Braxton could practically mouth the words alongside the rerun of the altercation. "We don't have all day, I will skip you."
The room was nearly silent as the projection played on. The only additional sound was the scribe's keys' clicking as they swiftly typed up the interaction as it played out.
It did not miss Braxton's attention that Seaman Sinclair smiled when holographic Braxton punched the lieutenant. No one else in the room, however, was smiling. Though even Sinclair had lost his smile by the time Gray shredded Braxton's letter.
The small figures of Braxton, Matt, and their friends gathered together once again and headed out of sight. Up at the front Gray raised another letter into the air. "Matinral."
"That seems like it covers enough," Rear Admiral Worthington announced. "Seaman, mute the projection, but let it run. If we see any evidence of further altercations, we will attend to it again. For now, let us move on. We still have a lot to discuss."
Braxton took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and prepared himself to face his disciplinarian folder.
