Fic: Sparkling Stars XIII: Court-Martial (7/7)
Title: Sparkling Stars XIII: Court-Martial (7/7)
Author: BradyGirl_12
Pairings/Characters: Mildred Hanover, El Plummer, John 'Max' Maxwell, Christy/Virgil, Joseph 'Happy' Haines, Lester Gruber, Harrison 'Tinker' Bell, Willy Moss, Molly Turner, Andrew Martin, Douglas Gray, Morton Dedrick, Thomas Jasco, Mike Bartowski, Billy Jurgens, Jack Kennedy, Jamie O'Shea, Quinton McHale, Arlen Spencer, Anne Belson
Fandom: McHale's Navy
Genres: Angst, AU, Drama, Historical, Hurt/Comfort
Rating (this chapter): G
Warnings: None
Spoilers: None
General Summary: The Garcia court-martial begins. Will Virgil and his fellow slaves finally get justice?
Chapter Summary: The verdict is delivered.
Date Of Completion: May 5, 2023
Date Of Posting: May 10, 2023
Disclaimer: I don’t own ‘em, Universal does, more’s the pity.
Word Count: 2370
Feedback welcome and appreciated.
The entire series can be found here.
VII
THE VERDICT
"Don't bet on a verdict by a jury or judge. You'll lose."
Malcolm Alexander
Esquire
January 6, 1942
Mildred Hanover took a drag of her cigarette. "So I'm a slave-hater. So what?"
"We have your accomplice in the brig," El said.
"My accomplice?" She took another drag. "What are you talking about?"
Mildred, El and Max were in the lounge of the Nurses' Quarters. Well, El thought, it beat the interrogation room.
"One of the Marine guards helped you steal the photographic evidence in the Garcia trial."
"And why would I care about that?"
"Why wouldn't you? You're a slave-hater. Why wouldn't you want to tilt the trial in Garcia's favor?"
Mildred shrugged. Her brown hair was fashionably coiffed and she wore off-duty clothes that were casual and comfortable.
"Sorry to disappoint you, Sargeant, but I'm too busy to concern myself with slave problems."
El lifted his eyebrow. "You'd better hope that's the case, Lieutenant, because if you're found guilty of tampering with evidence, you'll be dishonorably discharged."
Mildred let out a stream of smoke. El had to admit that she was one cool cookie.
"Anything else, Sergeant? I have a date and would like to meet him."
El stared at Mildred, whose cool gaze was unwavering. "Sure, Lieutenant. Enjoy."
"Thank you, Sergeant." Mildred stubbed out her cigarette in an ashtray and rose, leaving the room without looking back.
"Guilty...as...sin," said Max.
"Amen to that."
& & & & & &
The moonlight shimmered over the water as Virgil swung his legs back and forth as he sat on the dock close to the PT-73. They were back on McHale's Island, far away from the chaos of the main base. Virgil was tired. It has been an utterly exhausting day.
He had eaten little at dinner despite Fuji's fine cooking. His stomach was still knotted up from the day's events.
He always felt comfortable when he was close to or on board the 73. It would kill him if after the war he was sent back to the brothel and never be able to be out on the open ocean, feel the salt spray in his face, or experience the roll of a deck under his feet again.
The warm night was not uncomfortable. He watched as a bird flew out of the jungle and over the water. Fish flitted by in the depths of the ocean, and he leaned forward for a closer look.
He had changed from his dress whites to his regular uniform of blue cotton shirt and bell-bottoms. Much more comfortable, and he didn't have to worry about getting dirty.
"Mind some company?"
Virgil smiled. "Have a seat."
Happy sat next to him. "Nice night "
"Not bad."
"Guess we'll be back on night patrol for awhile after the court-martial." Happy removed his hat and idly played with it.
"Ah, well, such is war."
"Isn't there a French phrase for that?"
"I think it's 'c'est la guerre.' "
"Yeah, sounds about right." Happy twirled his hat. "Do you think the judges will hand down a guilty verdict?"
"No idea." Virgil watched a flash of light on the water as a fish swam by the dock.
"You know if they do the unthinkable and let Garcia go, we've got your back."
Virgil looked at his friend. "I know that, Hap. Believe me, I'm grateful."
Happy smiled. "We know you are." He suddenly frowned. "You know, even before I knew Garcia was a slave-hater, there was something about him I didn't like."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah " Happy flipped his hat onto his head. "During the annual physicals he was my doctor. I got a creepy feeling when he was examining me, and that's not something I experience with doctors."
"That's interesting. I wonder if anyone else has had that feeling?"
"I know it doesn't matter for the court-martial, but it could satisfy my curiosity."
"Despite curiosity killing the cat, I'm with you."
Happy laughed. Virgil was glad to see it. Happy not being happy seemed wrong somehow.
"Let's go find out," said Happy.
"Why not?"
The two men got to their feet and brushed off their pants.
They found the crew in the rec hut, the radio playing softly in the background. Christy, Gruber and Tinker were playing cards while Willy was sacked out on the couch.
"Hey, guys, we got a question for ya," said Happy.
"Yeah, what?" asked Gruber as he studied his cards.
"Any of you guys ever have Garcia as a doctor?"
"Huh?"
"Just think, Gruber."
Tinker laid his cards face down and went over to the water cooler, filling a Dixie cup. "I did. The guy creeped me out."
"Yeah?" Happy asked.
"Yeah. Something about him." Tinker took a drink. "Even before I knew he was a slave-hater, he didn't seem right. Also, he was a prick."
"You ain't kiddin'," said Willy from the couch. "I heard from my radio shack buddy that guys didn't like him."
Tinker crumpled up his Dixie cup and threw it in the wastebasket. "The hospital staff ain't too cracked up over him, either."
"Who told you that?"
"Just people." He returned to his seat at the table.
"Not Betsy, I hope," said Gruber.
Tinker waved his hand. "Betsy's old news."
"Thank God for that," Gruber snarked, remembering the disaster that Tinker's romance with Nurse Betsy had become.
"No, I have some buddies over there, and they say that Garcia is generally disliked by the hospital staff. They say he's arrogant even for a doctor!" Tinker picked up his cards.
"Wow, now that is arrogance," said Happy.
"You guys wanna join the game?" Gruber asked.
"I'm in," said Happy, taking a seat
"Me, too." Virgil pulled out a chair and sat down.
After the current hand was finished the newcomers were dealt in. The men concentrated on the game for several minutes, then Gruber said, "It's funny about people."
"How so?" asked Happy, squinting at a card.
"The Garcia thing. Hospital people are used to arrogant doctors, especially the nurses, but for a guy to stand out, that's something."
"Shows what a prince he is." Tinker laid down a card. "I'll take one."
"You never can tell who's living at the bottom of the barrel," said Christy.
"With this guy, you could." Tinker looked at his new card with an unreadable expression..
"True." Christy put down two cards. "I'll take two."
"Was Doc Martin at the court-martial? I didn't see him," said Happy.
"He had a bunch of surgeries scheduled. He did manage to duck in a few minutes at a time," said Tinker.
"That's good. He must be appalled at everything that happened." Christy rearranged his cards.
"He's got integrity, unlike some people." Gruber fished around for a cigarette pack in his shirt pocket. "Damnit "
"Have one of mine. I won't even charge ya," Tinker said.
"Ha ha," said Gruber, but he took a cigarette.
"Wonder if Martin will ship Garcia out if he gets convicted?" said Willy from the couch.
"He won't have to. If he's convicted, the Navy will take care of that."
"You really think so, Grube?"
"Not 100%, because who can figure the way of the Navy?"
The swing music from the radio was a pleasing backdrop as the guys played until finally calling it quits around eleven o'clock. They headed to their quarters and stripped to their boxer shorts.
Virgil was exhausted. At least tomorrow this whole ordeal would be over. He tumbled into his bunk, almost instantly asleep.
& & & & & &
The day dawned bright and hot. There was plenty of joking and laughter at breakfast. Christy could tell Virgil was tense, however.
Can't blame him.
Christy just wanted all of this to be over. This whole ordeal had been hard on Virgil. No matter what the verdict, his gentle lover had suffered public humiliation and worry over all of this mess.
I want this done so that Virgil can move on.
He noticed that Virgil had eaten very little. He sipped mango juice and ate half a piece of toast. Hopefully they would get the right verdict and Virgil would eat a good lunch. When an FH'er didn't eat, you knew he was upset.
The crew put on their dress whites and clambered aboard the PT-73. The ride across to the base was smooth on sparkling water. They tied up at the dock and headed for the courthouse.
It was almost a festive atmosphere as people flowed toward the designated Quonset hut. All that was missing were vendors hawking peanuts and popcorn.
Both sides seemed confident of victory. While Garcia's supporters were smaller in number, they made up for it in enthusiasm.
"I'm not a fan of Garcia's, but this coddling of slaves has got to stop."
Christy frowned as he heard the snatch of conversation. Not exactly dyed-in-the-wool slave-haters, but not a fan of slaves, either.
Too many of these types for comfort.
Everyone filed into the courthouse. When the seats were filled those remaining outside hung around the open windows.
The hubbub inside died down as the three judges entered the room and took their seats on the bench. Douglas Gray rapped his gavel and began to speak.
Dr. Andrew Martin dashed in and took the saved seat by Molly Turner. He folded his arms and waited.
"Judge Dedrick and Judge Jasco and I conferred last night. We went over the evidence carefully, all of it eyewitness testimony from less-than-credible sources. Crewmates are often biased. All of the testimony was from crewmates with the exception of one, who was deemed extremely close to the crew."
Molly's face reddened and she swore under her breath.
"Slave testimony was offered but is extremely dubious."
Christy squeezed Virgil's hand.
"There is no physical evidence to buttress this testimony."
Mutterings of "It was stolen" was heard around the room.
"We then considered the testimony of Dr. Edward Garcia. We found his testimony credible." He rapped his gavel as the muttering grew louder. "Taking it all into consideration, we declare Dr. Garcia not guilty of slave torture."
There was more gavel rapping as there was an outburst of outrage.
"Dr. Garcia's full rights and privileges will be restored as a member of the Taratupa Hospital staff."
Andrew Martin muttered, "That's what you think."
"Case dismissed."
The final rap of the gavel came as Garcia's supporters cheered and Virgil's supporters vented their outrage. The three judges quickly left the courtroom, Dedrick laughing and joking with Gray while Jasco looked behind him unhappily.
"Can you believe it? Whatta bunch of jerks!" Mike Bartowski raged, keeping his language clean because of ladies being present. Billy looked sadly at Virgil.
"I'm so sorry, Virg," said Happy.
"This is...is...I don't even have words!" Willy complained.
Jack Kennedy shook his head in frustration while Jamie looked stricken.
Doc Martin stormed out, ignoring Garcia, who was the center of a group of celebrants.
"Doc's not too happy, huh?" McHale asked.
"How could you tell?"
"I'm so sorry, Virgil," Arlen said.
"Nonsense, you did fine. The judges' bias, especially Commodore Gray's, was obvious," McHale said.
Arlen noted, "Gray didn't say they had reached a consensus, so there was dissent. I'd guess Jasco."
After several minutes of people coming up to Virgil expressing sympathy and outrage, Christy said, "Let's get outta here." Virgil nodded.
They managed to get out of the courthouse without being stopped more than a few times. Once outside, they headed for the small clearing that allowed them some privacy. Virgil stood watching the water ripple and Christy watched him.
"Beautiful day," said Virgil.
"It is," Christy said carefully.
Virgil squatted and trailed a finger in the water. "I'm hungry."
"That's good." Christy took a deep breath. "Forgive my curiosity, but you don't seem to be too upset about the verdict."
"I guess I'm not." Virgil straightened up and faced Christy. "Guess I expected it."
Sadly, Christy wasn't surprised, either. "I have to agree with you."
Virgil picked up a stone and skipped it across the water. "Billy was right about the outcome, but I had to try." He shrugged. "I want to get back to the Island."
"Let's go tell the Skip." He put his arm around Virgil's shoulders. "Patrol after lunch, and night patrols for a week, I heard."
"Suits me. Beats sitting around a courtroom."
& & & & & &
Max hurried into El's office. "Verdict's in."
El was smoking a cigarette. "Let me guess. Not guilty?"
"You got it, Chief."
El blew out a smoke ring. "They could get away with that verdict because of the missing evidence."
"Too bad our evidence is so flimsy against Dobbs."
"We'll break him down." El stabbed our his cigarette in an ashtray. "Someone asked him to take that evidence. Could have been someone who's a known slave-hater like Mildred Hanover, or someone well hidden." El stood. "At any rate, I'm releasing Dobbs."
"Can't we keep him a little while longer?"
"I need him on duty. Captain Binghamton just called and wants our whole squad on duty tonight."
"He expects trouble?"
"Yeah. He thinks the slave-haters are going to get boozed up and if they run into slave-supporter: powder keg."
"I can see that."
"Anyway, Dobbs might've snatched the evidence, but I have the feeling he isn't happy about it. He'll do his job as a Marine."
"Then we'll nail him!"
El laughed. "We can let him cool his heels a little longer. Let's go to the PX so I can get my Lucky Strikes."
Max grinned. "Right, Sarge "
& & & & & &
Arlen and Anne said their farewells to the crew of the PT-73. They were taking a gig to the U.S.S. Clive, which would take them back to ComFleet. Several people from the base were milling around. Mildred Hanover stood under a banyan tree while smoking a cigarette. Arlen was talking to McHale and Anne idly scanned the crowd. She locked eyes with Mildred, who smiled at her. Anne nodded slightly, then stepped into the gig. Mildred left to join her fellow slave-haters for more celebration.
& & & & & &
Captain Binghamton's fears about rioting came true that night. A drunken confrontation turned violent. There were casualties, most of them minor and treated at the hospital.
There was only one mortal casualty: Private Erland Dobbs, caught by a stray bullet.
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