Attempted Rebellion
There was no way I could kill time in that cafeteria alone, and people from headquarters didn’t arrive until early the next morning.
Well, thanks to lingering in the cafeteria to kill time, I was able to become quite friendly with Director Thomson and Inspector Charlie, which was a pleasant bonus.
After killing time in the cafeteria, I returned to [Shunmin] and went straight to bed.
Early the next morning, I was awakened by Maria, who was on night duty… Who was it that left Maria to handle the night watch alone?
Fortunately, nothing happened, so it was fine, but if this colony had been involved and exploded, we truly would have become criminals.
I digress, but after being awakened by Maria, I headed to that room where Meyrica-neesan had taken me before.
I remembered this room being quite spacious, but when I entered, there were already quite a few people waiting, making it feel rather cramped.
I happened to make eye contact with the inspector I had befriended yesterday, so I gave him a light nod and was led to the center of the room.
“Good morning, Squadron Commander Bruce. I apologize for the sudden nature of this, but I am Chief Machiavelli, who oversees the Kingdom Space Force Police headquarters.”
As soon as I arrived in the room, the person sitting at the large desk at the far end of the room greeted me.
Yesterday, there should have been a colonel whose name I hadn’t even heard sitting there, but come to think of it, neither that colonel nor Lieutenant Colonel Bardon were in this room.
The rank insignia on his shoulder was… wait, Major General.
The person before me was an admiral of the Space Force.
Why was such a person being so humble to me, a mere lieutenant?
“Ah, thank you for your courtesy. I’m late in introducing myself, but I’m Nao Bruce, currently on assignment from the Space Force. My rank in the Space Force is Lieutenant, but here I go by Squadron Commander.”
“I understand your position. …However, there were idiots within the Space Force who completely failed to understand your position. On behalf of the Space Force, I apologize for the great inconvenience caused by these idiots.”
Saying this, the admiral before me bowed deeply.
I hurriedly asked the admiral to raise his head.
“Please raise your head. Personally, I would have preferred not to make this matter bigger, but when things reach the point where they taint the organization or Her Highness’s position, there’s nothing I can do about it…”
“Yes, I understand. Moreover, the current upper echelons of the Space Force are facing major problems, so if matters become further complicated here, the Space Force might not be far from complete dysfunction. I came here precisely because we absolutely must prevent that.”
“Huh?”
Though my attitude toward the admiral was quite rude, I didn’t know how to respond to the admiral’s words, so an pathetic sound inadvertently escaped me.
If this had been yesterday’s group, I might not have been surprised to be shot dead on the spot in a rage, but the elderly admiral ignored my attitude and continued the conversation.
Maybe being shot dead is an exaggeration.
But I might have been punched at least.
“I intended to conduct a hearing with Squadron Commander Bruce to put an end to this matter here, but from the remaining records and testimony from the inspector, I was able to completely grasp the situation.”
“Then why am I here?”
“Yes, I called you here to consult with the Squadron Commander in order to minimize this matter as much as possible.”
“A consultation?”
The consultation from the admiral was about where to set the resolution point for this incident.
Apparently, the act of confining me falls under rebellion when Kingdom law is applied.
Once a rebellion occurs, the aftermath is wide-ranging, from identifying the scope of the rebellion to dealing with the rebel forces involved.
However, since we reported that radio response to Her Highness, it couldn’t be made to disappear, and what made the situation decisively serious was my confinement.
If it had been limited to house arrest, it might not have been necessary to make such a big deal about calling it rebellion, and it could have been settled by just punishing the person in charge through inter-organizational dealings, but even that became impossible.
That’s why both the royal palace and the military understood the importance of the matter, so they sent Chief Machiavelli, the head of the military police headquarters, on the military’s fastest space frigate.
However, there weren’t enough general officers to hold a court-martial here, and neither the military nor the royal palace seemed to intend to finish the court-martial on the spot.
They just consulted about taking measures to minimize the damage.
“Their attitude leaves no room for defense on our part. The military also acknowledges that their foolish actions toward you were clearly behavior that could be taken as rebellion against the Kingdom. However…”
“However… what?”
It must be something difficult to say.
The admiral, who hadn’t hesitated to bow his head to a mere lieutenant until now, seemed to be having difficulty speaking.
It must be quite difficult to say, but I prompted him to continue.
“Yes, however, if we acknowledge that rebellion here, the units involved in the rebellion would extend to at least one squadron. At worst, the entire Second Fleet would become subject to investigation, and would become dysfunctional until the investigation is completed, causing significant weakening in terms of national defense. Therefore, we would like to treat this incident not as rebellion but as attempted rebellion, and we would like to hear the Squadron Commander’s opinion.”
What the admiral was trying to say was that while they acknowledge the acts, calling it rebellion would be problematic.
Certainly, I could understand that they probably had no intention of rebelling.
They probably only thought of it as a degree of harassment toward me.
They were unlucky, or rather, they were originally idiots, so what was bad was that they used their subordinates to confine me.
Yes, the fact that they organizationally confined me was established.
I don’t know if it was the entire Second Fleet, but I felt that the entire squadron here had accumulated hate toward me, which probably influenced this.
Rather than organizationally confining me, in this case they want to say that those two – the colonel and Lieutenant Colonel Bardon – forcibly used their subordinates to confine me.
This way, there would be no problem treating it as attempted rebellion.
Even so, the aftermath would be troublesome, but as a current resolution point, it’s not bad.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT gadgetizedpanda.net
“Yes, that’s fine with me, but there’s no need to make such a big deal of it…”
“Yes, so scenario-wise, we’re thinking of arresting five people here on suspicion of attempted rebellion, returning to the capital, investigating, and punishing them for appropriate charges. They’ll probably be punished for abuse of authority and unlawful detention.”
“That’s right. Rebellion at this time would truly be an act that benefits hostile nations. But why are you arresting five people?”
“Yes, we need to investigate the two ringleaders and the three who directly detained the Squadron Commander.”
“Eh, those people too?”
“Yes, it’s unfortunate, but since they directly detained you, even if it was under orders, we can’t let them go scot-free here.”
“Even trying to keep things small leads to this big a deal. If it weren’t for Her Highness’s involvement, I’d want to apologize.”
“No, the military’s responsibility for allowing these idiots free rein is heavy. However, while we can raise military personnel with numerous achievements like yourself, why are such idiots in the upper echelons?”
As expected of the head of the military police, he seems to have thoroughly investigated me.
He probably understands accurately not only the incident for which I received that medal, but also the pirate ships I’ve sunk until now.
Still, complaining to me about how to handle the idiots in the military upper echelons…
That’s something for the military upper echelons, especially the generals in personnel or the royal palace to deal with.
…
Ah, that’s why – there’s a royal palace inspector here, and he’s subtly telling that person to do something about it.
Anyway, this matter was settled, at least regarding us.
I was released immediately, but while Thomson-san and I were resting in the cafeteria, the admiral’s aide-de-camp came to report on the investigation process so far.
According to him, the background motive for this incident was the Second Fleet’s anxiety, particularly the entire supply ship escort squadron’s anxiety, and the accumulated hate toward me who had caused that anxiety.
Anxiety and hate?
Sensing my confusion, the aide-de-camp explained in more detail.
This concerns the foundation of the Kingdom military, but while the First Fleet and Second Fleet had been treated equally, it seems the Second Fleet felt they had been significantly outdone by the First Fleet in terms of achievements after the Sicily Family incident.
They already had strong rivalry with the First Fleet stationed in the capital, but now that there was a clear difference in military achievements, they couldn’t bear it.
Especially during the initial training period, which is important for building military careers, the significant gap created with Mark and the others seemed to lead to anxiety.
The hate toward me was also related to this, but apparently they thought I was working with the First Fleet to create advantages over the Second Fleet.
The final straw was when we captured the pirate ship and brought it here as if showing off.
The Second Fleet, which had replaced the First Fleet here after falling behind in military achievements, immediately began hunting the remaining pirates upon arrival, but had almost no results for several days.
Then we appeared to be showing off our catch.
To them, it seemed like [Why do you give military achievements to the First Fleet, but only show off to us?]
I don’t know about that.
I just asked for help with matters beyond our capabilities.
They should adjust organizational evaluations themselves, but hearing all this, I understood the atmosphere I had felt in the cafeteria before.
That was anxiety.
Come to think of it, among those dispatched this time were Onshi-gumi from our class.
I heard it was a measure that included adjustment of military achievements, in the form of an emergency recall, but that probably made things worse.
After thanking the aide-de-camp who had explained various things to me, we parted.
In such a situation, it wouldn’t be good for us to stay too long.
Should we leave immediately?
I wonder if Director Thomson and the others will remain.
“Director Thomson. Since I’ve somehow been released, I’m thinking of leaving immediately, but will you and the others still remain?”
“No, if the captain doesn’t mind, we’d like you to take us back with you.”
“That’s fine. How long should I wait?”
“Oh, right away. Everyone was itching to go home.”
“Then, I’ll be waiting for everyone at the port.”
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Thanks for the update.
those people did that for a petty reason like that? bruh