Court-martial

[Yaoquizque]

Appearing to reflect on what was just said, Mochizuki eventually spoke himself :
"Before we get to the next point of our discussion, I'd like to know what Takahashi-san and the Minister of Defence will say about this."

Takahashi stood up.
"Hai."
After recieving a nod from Mochizuki, Kumagaya knew that he was to question Takahashi, as they knew each other a little longer.
"Takahasi-san, your return was a stroke of good fortune, as I have seen in your report about what you had to go through to come out alive. Please, tell us again what might have brought you into this position to even let us assume you were K.I.A.?"

Takahashi gazed at the Admirals one by one before beginning to speak.
"With a small escort, i moved to Freeport 6 to participate to a meeting organized by Gallic Royal Navy. We were ambushed by aliens. Everyone died but me... I have been eventually... Rescued... by what i assume to be slavers."
Kumagaya nodded.

"I eventually was rescued for good by what seemed to be Colonials. They helped me recover, and they eventually sent me to Sakamoto's forces, that were hiding in the Barrier pass.

That's when i heard about what happened in Kusari lately. Sakamoto-san showed me the evidences he collected about Nagata-san.
As this was too grave to be ignored, i contacted the Ministry of Defence, who ordered us to return to Kusari. As you could see, the Admiral Sakamoto complied to that order."

Mochizuki addressed the Minister of Defence Suwa Katsuko, who was attending to the court among several officials of the Republic.
"Suwa-san... Do you confirm what Takahashi-san says?"

His hands folded on the table, Suwa-san gave a short nod. "It is how she said." And in his opinion that was just about all that had to be said.
A little displeased by the short answer of the minister, Kumagaya added: "So the only time you heard about the supposed state of Nagata-san was from Takahashi-san lately?"
"Indeed. I wonder why Sakamoto-san did not act like she did." He smiled and leaned back. Curiously eyeing Sakamoto.

Kumagaya nodded. It was this what puzzled the Admirality. So he promptly asked Sakamoto about it: "Why did not you try to share that important piece of information before, Sakamoto san?"
"I did. Several times. If you check the internal logs of he Asagao, you will find i have been trying to contact the Parliament and the Ministry of Defence several times. I suspect Nagata somehow succeeded to intercept those transmissions on a neural net node and stopped or redirected them."

He then sighed.
"Then, when Nagata labelled us as traitors, we lost access to the Naval Forces communication grid. And anything coming from us would have been labelled as an attempt to cause more havok for that extent. Nagata did his best to ensure we would lose any credibility."

Mochizuki eventually nodded. "It will be investigated, and everyone who has commited a derelict of duty will be punished accordingly. Arigato, Sakamoto-san... And thank you for your answers Suwa-san and Takahashi-san."

"Now on to the next subject... Taiyouji-san, Nakamura-san, please stand up. You two were in the operation that failed to capture Nagata-san..."

With that information, started a crowd of mumbling in the hall. Looks like that was the first time they heard it. "What happened? What made you miss him? Where was he headed?" urged Kumagaya.

Jiro looked at Teta before he stood up.

"Hai, admiral... We took part in the operation... Nagata-san was helped by a squad of Kusari naval ships, either Kempeitai or something we are not aware of, which we did not take into consideration... They were still chased all the way to Tohoku, and after we lost all our hitting power to the enemy, Takeru-san and I could make it out of there alive with the pods of our wing mates, only because of the Ion Storms that blocked our rear and didn't allow the enemy to chase us... I'd say... that the suspicions about Nagata-san are correct, close to sure."
Also being asked to stand up, Nakamura did the same, but had not much to add to the report of Taiyouji san: "It is like Taiyouji-san explained.", she confirmed, "It was not possible for us to stop Nagata-san before we came under heavy attack by unknown forces."

A woman wearing a veil quietly spoke when Nakamura stopped to talk.
"If you allow me, Admirals, the Tokkeitai would like to speak."
Mochizuki raised an eyebrow while gazing at the strange woman. "Stand up. And please continue, Tokkeitai-san. What are you known as, first of all?"
"I'm operative 'Kiyohime', First trust circle." replied the woman in a concise manner.
"What do you want to say regarding this?"
"The Tokkeitai had been studying the black-boxes of the Lieutenant-Commander Takeru and the Lieutenant Taiyouji. It leaves no doubt that the cruiser Yamashiro was supported in Tohoku system by vessels belonging to the former 'Hanta Iseijin' division, that, with the disaster of the Arch, was lost and infected by Aliens. We also could confirm the cruiser Yamashiro has been refusing to comply to the orders to stop and to be boarded, and have been firing on the strike force. That is all."
Kiyohime swiftly sat back, merging once again with the crowd.

"I see..." eventually uttered Mochizuki in a troubled tone. He finally took a look at his friend, the rear-admiral besides him. Nodding to him and saying with a low voice that others couldn't hear, "Looks like it is sure then... Unbelievable... What do you think? Should we pass on to the next point now, about the attack on Nansei?"
"Really troublesome..." replied Kumagaya in the same tone "but please let me ask one last thing about Sakamoto's motives."

Kumagaya then nodded, and speaking out loud : "It seems that before trying to escape like that, Nagata made sure he had somebody to cover his retreat."

"But right now, it is not Nagata san who is under trial. I would like to ask Sanada-san about what kind of order Sakamoto-san actually issued to his subordinates when he left the regular chain of command, and how he justified this to her."

---