Part 7 - The Last Refuge Of A Scoundrel (VII)

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

Captain Littlecrow had pulled Mitzner and Gibson into her office immediately, and paraphrased Dr. Kang's long-winded tale. She was now standing beside her desk, agitated, while Mitzner and Gibson sat in the nearby chairs.

"I had Ensign Marceaux verify the warrants," said Commander Gibson, breaking the silence "They're legitimate."

"Of course they are," said the Captain, half sighing.

"I know you are both expecting me to say it but I'll still say it," said Commander Gibson "They have legal Foundation warrants. Failing to hand those two over would be, again I have no problem saying it, treason. It would be pure treason."

"Not necessarily," said Captain Littlecrow "Dr. Kang's legal argument is very clever. If I didn't think I had a leg to stand on in that regard we wouldn't even be having this conversation. So I want to make it clear right away that breaking Foundation law is off the table. We're here to discuss how to work within Foundation law."

"I'm very happy to hear that, Captain," said Gibson "I respect the high standard to which you hold both yourself and the crew."

"Hey Commander, there's," Mitzner brushed her nose with her finger "Something on your nose."

The Commander ignored her.

"What is Dr. Kang's legal argument?"

"He's requesting asylum, for himself and McAfree. At the moment we're outside of Foundation Space. As a starship captain I have extremely wide latitude when beyond the jurisdiction of the Foundation. If I did grant him asylum it would override any warrant as long as we stayed out in the periphery."

"You wouldn't win yourself any friends in Military Fleet with a stunt like that," said Mitzner.

"Don't worry," said the Captain "Exploration Division wouldn't be any happier with me."

"Admin would likely object on procedural grounds," added Gibson. This was as close as he usually came to humor.

"So I get your point about being within your legal rights to not turn over Dr. Kang," said Mitzner "The part I'm not following is why? Why protect him? This seems to me to be a fantastic opportunity for the psychopath to finally pay for, you know, his crimes."

"He's not being asked to pay for his actual crimes. Not this time. If he's to be believed-"

"That's a pretty big 'if," sneered McAfree.

"-then the people behind this are after him for preventing two murders. I don't like the idea of being used as an accessory to someone's revenge. I don't like that this was all kept secret from me until the last moment. Something doesn't smell right about this whole situation and at the end of the day I'm inclined to default towards protecting a member of my crew."

"Whether or not the charges against Kang are legitimate or not he deserves whatever he has coming," said Mitzner "McAfree is another story. She's just his patsy. Why don't we hand over Kang and offer McAfree asylum? Protect the one who is actually innocent. Once they have Kang they'll probably leave us alone."

"McAfree has agency here," said Gibson "She chose to work with Dr. Kang and continues to do so, and is obviously deeply involved in his schemes. Anything Kang is guilty of we can be virtually assured McAfree had some part in."

"We're not going to make this about personalities," said Littlecrow "If we will be offering asylum it will be to both or neither."

"I still say we hand them over and be done with it," said Gibson "It's the right thing to do."

"I have to reluctantly agree with Commander Gibson," said Mitzner.

* * *

The Science Department was having a meeting of their own.

"I have a backdoor in their scanners but that was pure serendipity. I hope you have a way better secret plan to take over the Armstrong than the evil robot version of you did," said McAfree.

"I don' think that will be necessary," replied Dr. Kang "The Captain will not turn us over."

"With your life, though, Doc?" asked McAfree "You trust her with your life? Because I don't. She believes in that Foundation shit, all that New Era demagoguery."

"I don't trust her with my life, don't be ridiculous. But I would bet my life on my ability to predict her behavior," said Dr. Kang.

"That's the same thing!" McAfree whined.

Wagner said nothing. They had once again forgotten he existed.

* * *

Inside a tiny little conference room, tucked away in a hyperspatial nook virtually cut off from normal space/time, the conspirators who ruled the core of human civilization plotted.

"I received confirmation this morning that Dr. Po has been captured, thanks to the information supplied to us by Dr. Kang. I think we can consider his loyalty proven," said Dr. Dresden.

"Hear hear!" agreed Dr. Egorov.

"I'm glad to hear it," said a voice very much like Dr. Kang's.

The mechanical abomination sitting at the conference table with the rest of the Council had about as legitimate a claim to the identity of Dr. Heliodore Kang as the man on the Armstrong did. Each possessed exactly half of the same original brain.

It had modified its body extensively since returning to the core worlds and their associated well-supplied engineering facilities. It now boasted four arms, nine fingers on each hand, and a cluster of thirty-three eyes in the middle of its skull-like face.

"Now what about my impostor? Has he been captured yet?" asked Dr. Kang.

"We have a warship in weapons range of the Armstrong and our demands have been broadcast," said Dr. Sheikh "The impostor should be in custody before the end of this meeting."

"Do not underestimate him," said Dr. Kang "After me, he is the most intelligent man in the galaxy. He's not going down without a fight."

Dr. Dresden was going to let that one pass because Dr. Kang had specified "man".

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net