worried about my testimony. I'm still tense about what might happen. My guts twist every time I think about being questioned up there. But I feel good. Jen wants to be serious with me. Who would've guessed? Anybody but a dope like me, probably.
Perhaps because of his mood he walked quickly and arrived first at the court room. He took a seat, trying to look calm despite his internal turmoil. Paul turned slightly in his chair so he could glance at others as they entered the court room, hoping to catch a quick glimpse of Jen. He saw all the department heads file in, most of them sitting in a pack, but Sykes slightly separated. Herdez came in, striding to her seat like a warship steaming past small sailboats, and also took a seat away from anyone else.
The junior officers began trickling in. Jen Shen arrived at last, walking briskly to take a seat in the back as usual, then glanced toward Paul and gave a brief nod and small smile in greeting. Paul returned the gesture. Right. Just friends saying hi. No goopy-eyes. Whatever those are.
Kris Denaldo entered as well, but instead of going with Jen she came up front and took a seat in the row just behind Paul, then she leaned forward and whispered in his ear. 'Have you and Jen started picking out curtains, yet?'
'What? How did you-?' Paul looked down at his clothes as if something there had betrayed the events of last night.
'Relax. It doesn't show. Jen and I are girlfriends. We talk about stuff. Nobody else knows.'
'Uh, thanks.'
'She's worried about what you're going to say up there today.'
Paul bit his lip. Jen's got a right to be worried. Even before last night. She's a good friend. 'I'm not entirely sure. I've gone over stuff with Commander Garrity, but she wanted me to sound unrehearsed when she questioned me.'
'You going to fall on your sword for Wakeman?'
'No. What happened wasn't my fault. I'm just not so sure it was his fault. Not on a criminal level, anyway.'
'Okay. Jen told me she was attracted to your idealism. That's funny, huh? Ms. Cynic and Mr. Idealism. So, do what you think is right. Jen'll be there.'
'Thanks. Thanks a lot.'
'No problem.' Kris got up again, moving back to sit next to Jen, where the two ensigns bent their heads together in conversation. Paul stole glances their way, afraid to let his eyes linger on Jen too long, and finally saw her looking up at him again. She shook her head as if exasperated, then one eyelid flicked in a wink almost too quick to see.
At precisely 1000 the bailiff made his 'All rise' announcement and the legal ceremonies and procedures marking the entry of the judge and the members began. Paul took a close look at Wakeman, whose stubborn determination seemed to have slowly eroded into despair. Perhaps it was the way Wakeman was sitting this morning, but over the course of the prosecution's presentation Wakeman seemed to have collapsed in on himself like a inflatable doll with a slow leak.
Lieutenant Commander Garrity stood. 'The defense calls as its first witness Operations Specialist First Class Yolanda Daniels.'
Daniels walked to the witness stand, her uniform and military bearing immaculate. If she felt an qualms at being surrounded by officers it wasn't apparent from her squared shoulders and calm demeanor.
After the swearing in, Garrity stood before Daniels. 'Are you Operations Specialist First Class Yolanda Daniels, assigned to the Operations Specialists Division in the Operations Department on the USS Michaelson?'
'Yes, ma'am.'
'And is your duty station during general quarters at one of the consoles in the Michaelson 's combat information center from which primary combat system sensor results are displayed for warning and analysis?'
'Yes, ma'am.'
'Petty Officer Daniels, what exactly does that job entail?'
Daniels looked around slightly, as if trying to gauge the ability of her audience to understand a technical explanation. 'Ma'am, I occupy the console's primary monitoring station. That's the one on the right. Petty Officer Li occupies the back-up station on the left. When the combat system sensors detect anything they think might indicate a threat, we get an alert on the console and the raw data gets displayed along with the system's assessment of what it means.'
'What sort of data are you talking about, Petty Officer Daniels?'
'Anything the sensors might pick up, ma'am. Visual, IR… excuse me, that's infra-red, ultra-violet, radio spectrum emissions, any kind of energy or visual detection that stands out from the background environment.'
'How sensitive are these sensors?'
'Objection.' Commander Wilkes spoke for the first time that morning. 'That information is classified.'
'Sustained.' Judge Holmes addressed Garrity. 'If the defense wishes to go into detail on that issue the court-martial will have to go into closed session.'
'I understand, Your Honor. That won't be necessary. Petty Officer Daniels, can the sensors you help monitor detect energy weapons being charged on another ship?' Instead of answering, Daniels looked concerned. 'That's all right, Petty Officer Daniels. I'm not asking for precise information or detailed capabilities. Just in general. Can your sensors do that?'
'Yes, ma'am. They can do that.'
'What exactly is involved there?'
'Well, ma'am, when a weapon charges, an awful lot of energy has to be pumped into whatever's being used as a ready-storage source.'
'A ready-storage source?'
'Yes, ma'am. That's what slams energy into the weapon when it needs to fire. But when you're pushing all the energy into the ready-storage source, you get leakage.'
'Energy leaks out?'
'Yes, ma'am. Any place there's a gap in the shielding. Just like if there's a light under a blanket it'll shine through any holes.'
'And under the right conditions you can detect that happening?'
'That's right, ma'am.'
Garrity strode several steps to one side, looking away from Daniels now. 'Petty Officer Daniels, I want you to tell us about the incident with the SASAL ship. You were in the Michaelson 's combat information center and occupying your duty station?'
'Yes, ma'am.'
'What happened as the SASAL ship closed on the Michaelson?'
'I spotted a transient energy detection on my console, ma'am.'
'The same sort of transient energy detection which could indicate weapons were being powered up on the SASAL ship?'
'Objection. It has already been established that the SASAL ship was unarmed. There were no weapons to power up.'
Judge Holmes looked toward Garrity. 'Well?'
'Your Honor, we're dealing here with events on the Michaelson prior to confirming that the SASAL ship was unarmed. Decisions made on the Michaelson, decisions made by Captain Wakeman, were based on the information available to him at that time. Ex post facto determinations of evidence found after that time do not bear on whether or not Captain Wakeman's decisions were correct based upon what he knew when he acted.'
Holmes nodded. 'Very well. Overruled. Continue, Commander Garrity.'
'Petty Officer Daniels, did the transient you saw correspond to the sort of detection you would expect to see from weapons powering-up?'
'Yes, ma'am. Exactly that kind of transient.'
'And you reported that detection to your superiors?'
'Yes, ma'am. I passed it immediately to Commander Garcia, and I heard him pass it to the bridge.'
