After a short interlude, and responding to the judges’ summons, Commander Reynolds entered the office, standing to attention before the desk the judges were sharing.

A few shirt seconds later Aruin joined them. Foregoing the whole ‘standing at attention’ part, in this Didn’t, she was a lawyer making a case for her clients, not a subordinate.

“So, obviously you two have cut a deal. We’re willing to accept that on the face of it, as its for the good of the service that we clear this up effeciently.” Krey said.

“Why now, Reynolds? You’re dropping all the serious charges against these two.”

Reynolds cleared his throat.  “Vaalk was the big fish, your honors; Wallace and Olgierdsson were primarily involved in the cover-up, based on the investigation.  In light of Vaalk’s guilty plea, I was forced to re-evaluate the strength of the cases against Wallace and Olgierdsson, and determined that it was less advisable to proceed with those charges than with the lesser ones, so when Defense Counsel approached me to discuss the possibility of a plea deal those were the charges that we agreed were likely most correct and appropriate.”

“Well, forward us your sentencing reccomendations. Lets get back in there, and finish this trial.” Krey said.

Back in the courtroom Tyler brought the court martial back in session and accepted the 2 supplemental motions, and the 2 remaining accused both changed their pleas to guilty on the 2 counts specified by the plea deal.

Seated in the gallery, LCDR K’lev sighed.  “You okay?” Lieutenant Lotharys whispered to him.”

“Yeah, I guess so…” he whispered back.  “I’m glad justice was done, but it still hurts that it happened on my watch, you know?”

She patted his leg gently.  “Yeah, I feel the same,” she replied, still whispering.  “So let’s make sure we don’t have to feel this way twice,” she finished with a gentle nudge of her elbow into his side and a small, private smile.

“You read my mind,” he whispered, nudging her back as a similar smile began to form on his face as well.

“With all the accused having plead guilty, this trial phase of this court martial will, uh, be concluded. We’ll continue with sentencing proceeding tomorrow morning at, uh, 0900h.” Tyler said before baged the gavel.

On a signal from the bench, security officers stepped forward and escorted Wallace and Olgierdsson from the room.