The Nordia Incident - 9. The Verdict

Admiral Jennings struck his gavel and brought the Inquiry to order. The gallery quieted and all attention focused on the board.

He said, “Gentlemen, do you have a verdict?”

Admiral Stewart stood and said, “Yes sir, we do your Honor. I will be speaking for the board.”

Jennings said, “As to question one, how do you find?”

Stewart said, “We find that Commander Glenn acted in the best traditions of the service in coming to the aid of the Brisbane Maru.”

Jennings said, “As to the second question, how do you find?”

Stewart replied, “We believe that all the involved Alliance personnel and civilians acted in good faith and that their findings require further investigation.

“These finding are extremely troubling and we cannot in good conscious ignore them. We owe it to the honor of our service and the people of the Alliance not to shirk this duty.”

“We have all sworn to uphold the Constitution of the Alliance. We cannot shirk that duty or denigrate the Constitution by looking the other way from something as ugly as the specter of slavery.”