Open Secrets

Desai had begun pacing again, circling the witness stand. “So, your decision to make public the incident at Jinoteur IV was to warn them of the Shedai threat.”

“Of course.”

“Did you do so because you believed the orders you received from your superiors to be unlawful?”

Reyes shook his head. “I don’t know if that’s the right word. It’s not the word I’d use. Ill-advised, maybe?” He had been reluctant to pursue Desai’s original notion of attacking the possible illegality of the directives issued by Starfleet Command. To him, it sounded as though he was trying to deflect culpability away from himself and onto others. While he firmly believed that others were at fault for what was allowed to transpire in the Taurus Reach, he remained adamant that such opinions not be used as a basis for his own defense. “I don’t doubt that at least some of the people issuing the orders were doing so with the noblest of intentions, but after the incidents on Erilon, I encountered nothing but reluctance when I brought my concerns to their attention. We should have acted sooner, but we didn’t. Invoking General Order 24 at Gamma Tauri IV was the best choice from a list of horrible options, and I didn’t want to be in that position again because someone else had failed to act.”

“What finally prompted you to release the information?” Desai asked, walking a circuit around his chair.

“Fate gave me Tim Pe

“You discussed this with him prior to the story’s release?”

“Of course,” Reyes replied. “I knew he’d be writing about his experiences on Jinoteur, and I’d already made up my mind before talking to him. He had written the article and was fully expecting that I would either edit it or refuse to allow its transmission at all. When I saw what he’d written, I knew this was the way to alert the public to what’s going on out here.”

“He wrote about what he saw on a planet deemed off-limits to civilian space traffic,” Desai said, “while engaged in activities as coordinated by a Starfleet officer?”

Reyes kept his eyes on the board members as he replied. “That’s right. He and another civilian volunteered to place themselves in harm’s way in order to assist a Starfleet vessel in distress and ran into more than they bargained for. Afterward, Pe

“So,” Desai said, stopping before him once again, “after Pe

“Of course not,” Reyes replied.

“Threaten you?”

“Keep dreaming.”

“You took his story, proceeded to the communications center, and transmitted it to the Federation News Service. Is that the correct sequence of events?”

Reyes nodded. “It is.”

“Tell me, Commodore,” Desai said, “if a similar set of circumstances was to arise again in the future, do you think you’d act as you did on this occasion?”

Hesitating not one fraction of a second, Reyes replied, “If i

Desai asked, “Even if it meant defying Starfleet regulations?”

“I swore an oath to defend Federation citizens,” Reyes said, “and that duty comes before any other rule or regulation. If that’s changed, for whatever reason, then I’m in the wrong business.”

Offering him a small smile, Desai nodded. That was it, he knew. She had laid out all of the cards he had asked her to play. Turning to the bench, she said, “No further questions, Your Honor.”

Moratino replied, “Very well,” and Reyes watched as Desai moved behind him and back to her table. “Captain Sereb, I assume you wish to cross-examine?”

“Indeed I do, Your Honor,” the Tellarite replied, and the swarthy Tellarite rose to his feet and moved to the center of the room. “Commodore Reyes, you said you felt scared now that the truth—or at least some of it—about the Shedai has been revealed. Tell me, are you a coward?”

Thanks to Desai’s courtroom experience, she had anticipated several avenues of cross-examination based on the questions she pla

Turning toward him, Sereb leaned closer. “You mean you acted in such fashion by your decision to circumvent your chain of command and release this information to the public.”

“Are you asking me a question,” Reyes said, keeping his voice even, “or trying to jam words into my mouth?”

Sereb grunted before turning toward Moratino. “Your Honor,” he began.

Holding up her hand, Moratino nodded. “Commodore, unless you’re invoking the Seventh Guarantee in order to avoid self-incrimination, you’re bound to answer all questions put to you.” Turning to Sereb, she added, “Captain, you will state your queries as questions, not editorials, opinions, or judgments.”

“Understood, Your Honor,” the Tellarite replied before turning his attention back to Reyes. “Now, Commodore, do you believe you were acting out of cowardice when you decided to circumvent your chain of command?”

“No,” Reyes replied. “I was a coward for not doing it sooner.”

For his part, Sereb seemed to have been anticipating a response along those lines. “A very noble sentiment, Commodore, though it raises an interesting question. Why not come forward earlier, before the incident at Gamma Tauri IV? After all, several colonies had already been established on planets known to possess the Taurus Meta-Genome. After the incidents involving the U.S.S. Endeavourat Erilon, why did you not launch your crusade for truth and security then? As you said before, you might have saved thousands of lives. Where was your nobility then?”

From behind him, Desai called out, “Objection, Your Honor. Argumentative. Counsel is badgering the witness.”

“Sustained,” Moratino replied. “Watch yourself, Captain.”

“It’s all right, Your Honor,” Reyes said.

The admiral fixed him with a stern glare. “You don’t have to answer that question, Commodore. Counsel will rephrase without the fire and brimstone.”

“With all due respect, Your Honor,” Reyes countered, “I’d like to answer it as asked.”

Moratino nodded. “Very well. You may proceed.”

Reyes turned toward Sereb, who had moved to his left. “It’s a simple question, with a simple answer. I didn’t come forward before because I was weak or blinded by duty and regulations, or both. Whatever. Take your pick. We should’ve taken what happened at Erilon as an obvious warning and acted accordingly. We should’ve at least informed colony administrators of the threat potential. Most of all, I was wrong about the true nature of what the Shedai represented. All of us were. We had no idea what we’d stirred up, not really, and the people on Gamma Tauri IV paid for that miscalculation with their lives. So, yes, I took it upon myself to act.”

“Your Honor,” Desai said, and Reyes heard the pleading in her voice, but he ignored her. He had long since tired of the proceedings, angry that it was taking so long to just get to the heart of the matter.

“Did I disobey orders by revealing that threat?” he asked. “Yes. Did I conspire with anyone else? No. This is entirely on me, just as the responsibility for all of those people who’ve died since I took command of this station is mine. If only one good thing comes out of this trial, it should be that no one else should have to die because we didn’t do our jobs.”

Turning toward the bench, he glared at the board members. “And if the price for protecting the people we’re sworn to defend is my head on a platter, then take it. Take it, and jam it down whoever’s throat you have to back at Headquarters, and make them listen. If this circus can’t even accomplish that, then do me a favor, and either throw me in a hole or out an airlock right now. I don’t want any part of any organization that can’t understand how badly we’ve turned everything out here into a pile of shit.”