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CHAPTER 44:
Court Martial

USSF Office of Scientific Integration @OSIGenBoatright
(1/3) People ask me if I think the Percheron Incident could have been prevented—as if somehow there was a failure of our own personnel. The people on Percheron did their best and never failed to do their best—even at risk to their own lives. Colonel Glenn Shepard risked his life on the Bat to go to Percheron to treat his fellow Guardians and colleagues. Doctor Yvette Barbier withstood the influence of the contamination of the toxin much longer than anyone else could possibly have done due to a courageous decision she had made 20 years previously.
(2/3) Engineer Scott refused a full pressure suit because he needed the dexterity of his fingers and the ability to maneuver around the cargo he was securing in Cargo Bay One. That decision cost him his life. Captain LeBlanc fought as long as she could. She led her crew in the finest tradition before she succumbed to a disorder that none of us could predict. Even back on Earth, our Mission Medical docs used every resource at their disposal to solve the malady afflicting our crew.
(3/3) These people are heroes not villains. Could this tragedy have been prevented? We don’t know now, and we may never know the answer. Could we have addressed it in any other way? No. Our people acted professionally and did their best. We can ask no more.

ChirpChat, July 2044



Glenn spent the rest of the weekend dreading the consequences of his outburst, but none came. Jen assured him that everything he said—and to whom he had said it—was well within the boundaries that General Boatright had set for her and the Public Affairs Office. In fact, they were surprised that it had taken so long to come across someone like Senator Walters.

He tried to put that all aside, but still had the nagging sense of being manipulated into something. He thought he knew what—Yvette’s court martial was due to start, and he would be called as a witness against her. He had mixed feelings. On the one hand, he’d harbored resentment for so long that she had outmaneuvered him for so many positions of honor and responsibility. He had doubted her capabilities, and even had to come to the rescue to fix a situation he was certain she’d screwed up. But the four months he’d spent with the Percheron and Marsbase crew had shown him a totally different side of Yvette, as seen by the people she cared for.

That was, in fact the problem. Yvette cared—perhaps too much. There had been a lessening of the exercise requirement because the construction schedule for Marsbase itself had been overly optimistic; it was falling behind, and the people were over-extending themselves to meet deadlines. Yvette had stepped in and changed the daily requirements and timetables to provide more rest breaks. One of the changes had been a reduction in mandatory exercise time from 60 to 30 minutes, given the high exertion levels of the rest of the day.

Melissa Green had developed scurvy—not because of any nutritional failing, but because the increased work required increased calories—carbohydrates—which in turn elevated her blood glucose levels. She wasn’t diabetic, but her kidneys worked harder, and hence were more active in eliminating Vitamin C, so she suffered a deficiency. Taketani had a rash that was hard to treat because he had a skin sensitivity to the powder they used to prevent chafing in their suits. He could have used talcum powder, but they had none—talc was a respiratory irritant and banned in closed ecosystems because of the possibility of asbestos contamination. Yvette had the geologist, Maia D’Cruz, searching for naturally occurring talc in the Martian soil to try to manufacture a substitute for Taketani.

The crew respected and looked up to her, and when the unknown malady started to affect them, Yvette was seemingly the only one unaffected. Her excuses about not having the supplies she needed were quite true. Glenn had plenty of time to go completely through the ship in four months. There were too many things missing that should have been stocked. He found inventory tags and stickers with blanks for the dates of entries for when the compartment had been stocked.

She hadn’t lied, and she also hadn’t confined anyone. Glenn followed up on the log which showed he was the first person to activate the command subsystem for door locks. He was indeed the only to have used it, when he disabled the lock in the med bay. On the other hand, several compartment locks in the habitat ring started sticking around the same time as the spin had been shut down.

Yvette was well-liked—even loved—by her crewmates. She’d been calm and cool and dealt with the sickness to the best of her ability—until she, too succumbed. She’d even been there to help with Katou’s surgery, then confined herself when she felt her own self-control slipping.

No, Glenn no longer harbored a grudge, if for no more reason than seeing her grief and guilt first-hand. Yvette had always been driven, and extremely passionate in pursuing her goals, but there was neither malice nor incompetence in her actions.

Glenn couldn’t blame her—not and be honest with himself. Considering that his charge from General Boatright was to be honest, he suspected that it would not make him very popular with the court.

He was mistaken.


“Please state your name for the court.”

“Yvette Elaine Barbier.”

“And your rank, branch, and current duty status.”

“Major, United States Space Force, Medical Branch, Active Duty.”

“Objection! Major Barbier is currently assigned to selected reserve.”

“Overruled. The actions we are here to review are the medical duties she performed an individual mobilization augmentee. We will review her actions as actively deployed.”

“Major, what was your role on Marsbase?”

“I was the chief medical officer, in my role as medical liaison to the Mars Exploration Consortium.”

“And how did you come to obtain that position?”

“I was selected as a replacement for the medical officer who had been injured and unable to deploy on the Mars Three mission.”

“And was that injured officer also a space force officer?”

“Yes, it was Colonel Glenn Shepard, and his injury was quite well documented.”

“Were you not instrumental in the decision to exclude Colonel Shepard from the Mars Three mission?”

“I didn’t exclude him. I merely supported the decision to offer him a medical retirement.”

“But isn’t it true that you opposed the rehabilitation plan which would have allowed him to resume his duties? To fulfill the role of medical officer?”

“Objection! My client has already stated that she supported a decision—it is a matter of record that the decision was ultimately made by Command, and not my client.”

“Prosecutor Ramirez?”

“It speaks to motive, your honor.”

“Very well. The objection is overruled.”

“Major Barbier, did you object to the rehabilitation plan which would have returned Colonel Shepard to active status and allowed him to rejoin the Mars Three mission.”

“He wanted me to cut off his legs!” Yvette sobbed. “He wanted them cut off so that he could have prosthetics fitted, but there was only a five percent chance of success which each procedure. He could not have lived a normal life with all of the reconstructive surgery they had to do. I couldn’t stand to see him in pain and crippled for the rest of his life.”

“But if you hadn’t amputated his legs, he would have would’ve lost them anyway. In fact, he likely would have lost more bone, more tissue, and more function. He would have been crippled anyway.”


The proceedings were taking place in an Air Force courtroom on Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling—JBAB—across the Potomac River from Reagan National Airport. Glenn was seated in the gallery, awaiting the call to testify. The questioning made Glenn highly uncomfortable. He was in uniform, but Jen was not, so she sat next to him, and squeezed his hand as the questioning rehashed his accident.

With Yvette on the stand, her attorney, a JAG major named Thomas, and Nik Pillarisetty were seated at the defendant’s table. Nik glanced over at Glenn a few times, a look of concern on his face.

Glenn squeezed Jen’s hand, took a deep breath, and tuned back in to the questioning.


“Colonel Shepard did not have a DNR—a Do Not Resuscitate order on file, did he?”

“That is correct.”

“So, he effectively asked to be resuscitated and treated as needed in the event of serious injury. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Therefore, you needed to follow his instructions with respect to saving his life.”

“Yes, I guess so.”

“Is it not true, that in refusing him the care he requested, you were refusing to do your duty as a doctor? Is that correct?”

“Objection. This has no relevance to the events on Marsbase or Percheron.”

“Your Honor, I believe it speaks quite strongly to motivations that led Major Barbier, to be on Marsbase and in Percheron in the first place.

“I’ll allow it. Mister Ramirez, let’s wrap this up. The objection is overruled, but you need to get to your point.”

“Very well. Major Barbier is it true that despite your medical advice. Colonel Shepard received his bionic rehabilitation and was on his way to recovering sufficient to rejoin the Mars three expedition.

“Yes, he was recovering, but I don’t think he could have rejoined the Mars Three mission.”

“Just answer the question. Did Colonel Shepard recover despite your own medical prognostication?”

“Yes, he did.”

“And you objected to that fact.”

“No, that’s simply not true.”

“Objection.”

“Sustained. I’m going to go with the defense on this one. Mister Ramirez make your point and move on.”

Very well, your Honor. Doctor Barbier, did you specifically prevent Colonel Shepard from joining the Mars Three mission?”

“No, I wouldn’t have done that.”

“But you didn’t think he should be there.”

“He hadn’t recovered enough to fulfill the duties.”

“So, you made sure that you took his place instead.”

“Objection!”

“No further questions right now, your Honor, but I will be recalling the defendant at a later time.”


The next morning, the prosecution next called Doctor Peter Schlecht and questioned him intensely about the Mars Three crew health reports. The director of MarsX Mission Medical Command insisted that the results were within normal range of variability. Glenn, of course, knew why they had deviated, but it wasn’t his time to testify. He wondered exactly what role his testimony would play in the proceedings.

The next topic regarded Yvette’s selection for the CMO position, and whether she had deliberately sabotaged Glenn’s chance to recover and join the mission, instead of leaving the vacancy she’d filled.

The prosecutor argued that there had been two possible launch dates, six months apart, but MarsX chose the earlier launch window, rather than waiting—and allowing Glenn to join the mission. For the first time in the proceedings, there was information that Glenn hadn’t known ahead of time.

“The decision was made to replace Colonel Shepard approximately six weeks before mission launch. In the opinion of this medical board, would Colonel Shepard have been considered fit for duty for the alternate launch window six months later?”

“The medical board determined that it would take Colonel Shepard at least six more months of rehabilitation, and retraining for the mission.”

“So, he would have been ready for the later launch.”

“We couldn’t know for sure, but the later launch had other problems.”

“Why is that? Mars is Mars, it would still be there six months later.”

“Mars Three was actually three missions—and launches. In Phase One, cargo modules were sent with food, fuel, and air supplies. Phase Two sent the construction materials and infrastructure for the base. Third phase was personnel to construct and work in the base. The first two phases had already launched—in fact, the Phase One ships had already arrived. Those items would have to sit there for another six months before they could be unpacked and inspected. If the crew launched immediately, got to Mars, and found any of the pre-positioned supplies to be lost, broken or faulty, replacements could be launched immediately.”

“But couldn’t they simply do that six months later?”

“No, the timing of optimum transit to Mars would have required a longer transit time. That would add four more months before the supplies arrived. We didn’t have the Helicity2 drive, or the strap-on launch boosters we used to send Bat in six days. We launched in the first window—and had the backup plan of resupply in six months. If we launched later and needed the emergency resupply, those would have taken nearly a year to get to Mars. The crew might as well have come back. Mission failure. We simply couldn’t wait.”

Glenn hadn’t known about the timing of the two launch windows. At the time, he’d been too busy feeling sorry for himself.


Ramirez called Jeff Ling, who testified over video link from the Moon. Again, the prosecutor called Yvette’s qualifications into question, but Ling professed nothing but respect for her qualifications.

Ramirez then asked why—if everyone was satisfied with Yvette’s performance, it was necessary to have Glenn on the team reviewing her findings and decisions.

“Mister Prosecutor, it is obvious that you have never worked in the medical field.”

“I fail to see the relevance. Answer the question. If you and Mission Medical had every confidence in Major Barbier, why did you need Colonel Shepard to review the medical data?”

“As I was about to tell you—in medicine, we seldom take only one view of a medical problem—that’s called siloing and it costs lives. Daily rounds are not just for teaching, but to verbalize and discuss a case, the test results, and the diagnosis. Surgical cases are always preceded by a conference involving all of the doctors associated with a case, including the personal physician, specialists such as neurologists, the surgeons, the rehabilitation team. In this case, we needed to bring in the space physiology specialists. Colonel Shepard wasn’t the only doctor looking at the data.”

“Just the most critical.”

“Perhaps. He had a vested interest. He trained with these people. They were friends and colleagues. He, and we, wanted the best for them.”

“Objection. Relevance.”

“Sustained, Mister Ramirez. I think you’ve taken this line of questioning far enough.”


The second day of the court martial came to a close with Glenn feeling that the testimony had been mostly in Yvette’s favor. So far, the only real negatives had been about her motivation and methodology of getting assigned to Mars Three. On the subject of her competency, the prosecution had gotten nowhere.

The problem was—they still hadn’t gotten to events on Percheron.


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