"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."
"Commander Garcia didn't question your detection?"
"No, ma'am."
"He informed the bridge that the Michaelson 's combat system sensors had detected a transient which could indicate weapons were being powered-up on the SASAL ship."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Has Commander Garcia or Captain Wakeman or any other officer ever questioned your qualifications to occupy your duty station at that console? Do you have their confidence?"
"No, ma'am, no one's ever questioned my qualifications. I know my job, ma'am. And Commander Garcia and Captain Wakeman, they know I know it."
"Thank you, Petty Officer Daniels. No further questions."
Commander Wilkes came forward, eyeing Daniels sternly. "Petty Officer Daniels, isn't it a fact that the combat systems on the USS Michaelson automatically maintain a record of all activity, including any detections by the sensors?"
"Yes, sir. It's usually on a seventy-two-hour loop, but we can permanently save anything we need to retain."
"And you did permanently save the combat system recordings of the encounter with the SASAL ship, correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"Do those recordings indicate your console ever displayed a transient detection such as you just described?"
Daniels hesitated, then her face hardened and she stared defiantly back at Wilkes. "No, sir."
"No? The combat system records indicate there was no transient detected when you say there was? That you never saw such a detection?"
"I saw a transient detection, sir."
"How do you explain the fact that such a detection isn't in the combat system records?"
"I can't, sir. But I saw it. It was plain as day. I know my job."
"I'm sure you do, Petty Officer Daniels." Wilkes held up his data link. "Trial counsel would like to introduce into the trial record this exhibit, which is an excerpt from a standard, definitive text on psychological wish fulfillment. In summary, it states that in periods of crisis or other intense emotion, individuals are capable of seeing things they expect to see, rather than what is actually there. Examples are provided herein from past military engagements in which combatants 'saw' nonexistent threat information."