ACV's 1 Operation Black Gold by J Murison, Jeannie Michaud

sir, civilian authorities have complete authority over us.’
    ‘But this is a matter of national security.’  He had really cooked his goose that time. 
    ‘I believe national security is a civil matter is it not.’  The officer, deflated, he had been out manoeuvred.  Let me see the charge sheet.’  He handed it over reluctantly.  Grizz scanned it quickly.  A frown creased his face.  ‘What’s your name?’
    ‘Captain Stewart.’ 
    Grizz grilled him with his eyes, ‘you may not have to salute me Captain Stewart, but I still out rank you.’
    The luckless Captain stiffened with shock, realising what he said was true, and for a carrier officer, insulting a man like Grizz was shear stupidity.  ‘I’m sorry sir, but I’ve been trying to track this man down for 24 hours now and I’m a little fuzzy around the edges.’
    ‘There are no charges on this man, only a name, rank, and number.  24 hours later isn’t exactly hot pursuit.’  Grizz waved the paper under his nose.
    ‘Well sir, we were going to interview him first, eh before handing him over to the civil authorities.’
    ‘You mean you’re just going to make up charges as you go along.’
    ‘No sir, we do have official charges, but well I didn’t have time to fill them in.  As soon as I found out who and where he was, I rushed straight over.’
    ‘Well you’ve totally fucked it now.  You know that don’t you.  You realise it’s against the law to arrest a man in this manner, without so much as a word laid down against him.  Surely the Military can’t be that stupid.’
    ‘I’m sorry sir.’
    ‘There’s no bloody point telling me you’re sorry, it’s not me you’ll have to answer to.’  The hapless Captain seemed to shrink a little.  ‘Now what are these charges supposed to be?’
    ‘He hacked into the army’s computer and sent priority flash messages, froze consoles without proper access codes or the proper authorization.  He is a danger to national security.  We must arrest him and conduct a proper inquiry into the incident.  We have to find out how he got into the system.’
     
    I in the meantime was trying out my new T.O.S, in the mirror, my long hair wasn’t making it easy and it looked kind of silly too.
     
    ‘Jim!’
    I finished tucking some loose hair behind my ears.  ‘Aye Grizz.’  I presented myself to him doing a little twirl.  ‘Whit d’ye think?’
    ‘I think you’re in a lot of trouble Jim.’
    ‘Nah, dinna think so.’
    ‘Jim if you hacked into their computers they can lock you up for years, it’s very serious.’
    ‘Nah, dinna think so, as a matter ó fact, I ken so.’
    He frowned, ‘you seem very sure of that.’
    ‘I am as a matter of fact.’  I took my wallet from my pocket.  ‘I’ll tell ye whit, I’ll bet ye a hundred pounds right now they won’t touch me.’  That surprised him, I never bet on anything, not even the National.  The only time I was heard to say that was when I was over 300% solid on my facts.  He mulled over that for a moment.
    ‘Whit did you do?’
    ‘Fuck sake man!  I told ye last night about Davie Whitton and the bairn.  All you lot did was laugh at me.’  I could see the cogs begin to turn as he tried to remember what I had been saying through his drunken haze.  ‘I used their computer to get that wee lassie help, that’s it.’  I could see the pieces fall into place and the recognition turn to shock as he realised I hadn’t been trying to put one past them the evening before.
     
    The Captain butted in then.  ‘You mean Mr. Whitton, the surgeon.  Yes that’s right sir, he used the computer to get him temporarily released to perform an operation, but that isn’t the point, he still has to be brought in for hacking into the system.’
     
    ‘Bollocks, I never hacked into the system.  I used normal procedures as I wrote them down myself.’ 
    The officer shook his head, ‘Pardon, as you what?’
    ‘As I wrote,’ I hesitated for a