Free Rule of Evidence by John G. Hemry

stopped to rub his temples. "You got arrested for running drugs."
    "Yes, sir. And that was on a Friday afternoon and what with the weekend and runnin' lab tests on me to prove I didn't have none of the stuff in me and straightenin' stuff out and all, it was the middle of next week before they let me go."
    "Why didn't they tell the Navy you'd been arrested? That way we'd have known where you were."
    "Sir, I didn't want to embarrass the Navy by admittin' I was a sailor!"
    "Thank you for thinking of that, Jacob."
    "You're welcome, sir." Jacob smiled briefly but quickly turned gloomy. "They found out, anyway. Then there was this, that and some other stuff, and the upshot was the cops there gave me a ride back to the base."
    "That was nice of them."
    "Well, yes, Captain, but they said the judge – this was a different judge, sir."
    "I understand."
    "She kinda ordered them to take me back."
    "Did she also kinda order you to go with them?"
    "Yes, sir. But by the time I got back, I'd missed my ride back to Franklin. The transportation people were pretty unhappy with me, Captain, even when I tried to explain what'd happened."
    "Really?"
    "It's true, sir! They made me wait for an openin' to get back here and that took another coupla days and that's why I was late, sir."
    Captain Hayes massaged his forehead again. "If I understand properly, Seaman Jacob, the Missing Movement charge pertains to being late for your ride back to Franklin, while the Absent Without Leave charge is because missing your ride meant you didn't get back to the ship before your leave expired."
    "Uh, yes, sir. In a nutshell, sir."
    "Seaman Jacob, have you learned anything from this?"
    Jacob nodded sadly. "Have I learned anything? Sir, it'd take me a while to tell you everythin' I learned. Why—"
    Hayes held up his hands. "That's all right. Lieutenant Kilgary, want kind of a sailor is Seaman Jacob?"
    Kilgary cleared her throat but her voice still had a slightly strangled quality as she spoke. "Seaman Jacob is a decent performer, sir. This is the first time we've had trouble with him."
    "Very well." Hayes focused on Jacob again. "I'm going to go easy on you Jacob, but next time you go on leave you might take a friend along to help with the decision-making. Understand?"
    "Yes, sir."
    "Thirty days restriction. One-half one month's pay forfeit, suspended for six months. Dismissed."
    Seaman Jacob grinned with gratitude, saluted, and pulled himself from the compartment. Silence reigned for a moment, until Sharpe closed the hatch again, then Senior Chief Kowalski finally erupted in laughter, followed by Lieutenant Kilgary, Paul, Chief Meyer and Sharpe.
    Captain Hayes gave Senior Chief Kowalski a wounded look. "Senior Chief, why the hell'd you do that to me?"
    "Sir, to be perfectly honest, sir, the XO and I knew there wasn't no way we could describe that story to you. We felt you deserved the full experience, sir."
    "I'm not sure what I did to deserve the full experience. Lieutenant Kilgary, does that guy ever go near anything important?"
    Kilgary stopped laughing and tried to respond in a serious tone. "Jacob is actually a very good mechanic, Captain. He's a wonder with machinery."
    "You're kidding."
    Chief Meyer shook his head. "No, sir, Captain. Jacob can fix damn near anything, even stuff we're not supposed to be able to fix. He's one great mechanic. Absolutely clueless about everything else in the universe, though."
    "You don't say. Chief, try to give him plenty of work so he stays on the ship instead of wandering around bumping into police and nice drug-running female 'guys.' Are there any other cases?"
    Sharpe shook his head. "No, sir."
    Senior Chief Kowalski grinned. "The crew knew we were only going to be out for a few days, sir. Even the trouble-makers didn't want to risk being on restriction when we got back to Franklin."
    "Good." Hayes headed toward the hatch, but paused his movement, hanging before the entry, to raise one arm and swing his extended finger