Against All Enemies

Chapter Ten

After the thrill and excitement of watching Commander Moraine's exercise in trying to ensure she wasn't held to fault for anything, the rest of the afternoon turned out to be as dull as Commander Carr had predicted to Paul.

Expert witnesses were called who testified as to the exact content of security instructions and the proper procedures for handling classified material. Other experts were called, these the technicians who had swept the Michaelson for taps in the wake of Pullman's arrest. They'd found three, it turned out, one each in the captain's cabin, the executive officer's stateroom and Commander Moraine's stateroom. Paul found himself wondering what the odds were of a single stateroom holding two taps, one from NCIS and the other from a foreign source, at the same time. The second sweep a few days before this had turned up no new taps on the ship. Carr made sure that the fact that no new taps had been placed since Pullman's arrest was emphasized.

"Could you determine the origin of the taps?" Carr asked the chief technician.

"Not with one hundred percent certainty." The technician, whose eyes like everyone else's nowadays had perfect vision, still kept moving his hand as if fiddling with nonexistent glasses. "However, nano-scale analysis revealed a very high probability that they were manufactured at a facility in the South Asian Alliance." The technician then explained the nano-scale analysis in sufficient detail to threaten the entire courtroom with terminal sleeping sickness.

David Sinclair, for his part, kept hammering away at every possible place to try to force holes in the government's case. No, the technicians agreed, they had nothing definitively tying the taps to Lieutenant Brad Pullman. No fingerprints, not even stray DNA from flakes of skin. Apparently the taps had been periodically changed out to allow the old ones to be returned to their makers and exploited, so there was no paper trail of material from the taps to Lieutenant Pullman or anyone else.

But, Commander Carr was able to remind the courtroom again, no new ones had been placed since Pullman's arrest.

Judge Campbell, releasing the last technical witness with almost obvious relief, tapped her gavel on her bench. "This court-martial is closed. It will reconvene at ten hundred tomorrow morning in this courtroom for the continuation of the government's presentation."

After the judge and members had left the court, Paul finally let out the yawn that had been building for over an hour. Carr give him a weary grin. "I told it you wouldn't be that thrilling this afternoon."

"Not after until my boss finished testifying."

"Yes. Sorry about that. I gave her as many chances as I could to rebut her own statements about problems in her department. Did she think saying that would make her look good?"

"By the time she was done, I'm not sure she knew why she was saying what she said."

Commander Carr gave another grin. "I wasn't going to let her offer an out to Pullman. Your brother gambled that I wouldn't be hard on my own witness. He lost. It's obvious your brother is trying to build a defense that Pullman's actions were just ill-advised, not deliberately criminal."

"Will it work?"

"Not if I can help it. But given the physical evidence that exists, it's probably his best option. If he can't convince the members that somebody planted those coins on Pullman, he'll have to try to convince them that Pullman was just being stupid."

Paul looked down, frowning. "Brad Pullman's not stupid. I think David will try to say Brad got over-eager and had one of those it-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time moments."

Carr paused and gave Paul a thoughtful look. "Yes. It would match the rest of what's being said about Pullman. Thank you, Paul."

He nodded. So here I am helping the prosecution. How do I know it wasn't a case of Pullman being too cocky, too eager to show how smart he was, being smart enough to do something he shouldn't but not smart enough to realize it'd get him in trouble? Like when he messed with those communications links? That's bad, but it's not espionage. It's not selling secrets to the enemy.

"Have a good evening," Commander Carr added. "I expect we'll get a ruling from the judge tomorrow on whether or not we'll be allowed to enter that list of compromised classified material into evidence. If we do, we may see your captain on that witness stand again."

"Do you think the judge will admit the evidence?"

"I honestly can't make a call on that. Judge Campbell is very good at using her irascibility to mask her thoughts. We'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what she's decided."

The courtroom emptied rapidly. Paul, knowing he had to brief the captain on the rest of the court-martial events that day, hastened back to the ship. Hayes and Captain Agee were both in the Captain's cabin, doubtless discussing a few final issues on the turnover, when Paul arrived. They both listened attentively. When Paul came to Commander Moraine's testimony he had to strip his description bare of all but the most basic information. Both captains exchanged glances, leading Paul to wonder what opinions they might share on Commander Moraine, but of course neither one would ever express any negative evaluation in front of Paul.

As Paul finished, Captain Hayes stood up, too. "I guess that's all for tonight." Hayes walked briefly with Paul as they left the Captain's cabin. "You'll be at the court-martial, tomorrow, again."

"That's still Captain Agee's orders, sir?"

"Yes. He'll be the only one getting briefed by you tomorrow evening." Hayes looked around. "It's very hard to believe that tomorrow I'll be relinquishing command of this ship to him. Hard to believe, but it'll be a tremendous weight off of my shoulders."

"I wish I could be at the ceremony, sir."

"You're needed in that courtroom. And you've been where I needed you when I needed you for about two years now, Paul. That's a lot more important than being at the change of command ceremony. You got your final evaluation from me. Any questions?"

"No, sir." The evaluation had been glowing, ranking Paul in the top one percent, and actually embarrassing him with its praise of him as an officer. "Thank you, sir."

"There's nothing to thank me for. You earned it." Hayes extended his hand. "Good luck, Paul. Look me up when you get back."

From Mars, he means. Paul shook the captain's hand, then watched him walk toward the quarterdeck. A few minutes later, Paul heard four strikes on the ship's bell in two pairs, then the announcement " Michaelson, departing." Very likely that was the last time Hayes would be bonged off the ship that way.

It was getting fairly late and Paul was worn out. Worn out from today, and worn out from three years of this duty. I know exactly what Kris Denaldo meant when she talked about it. He wandered into the wardroom and found Ensign Taylor there, kicking back with some coffee. "Hey."

Taylor raised her coffee in greeting. "Hey, yourself. Long time no see. Speaking of which, I saw our boss coming aboard after her little visit to the court-martial. She didn't seem like a very happy camper. Matter of fact, Commander Migraine looked ready to bite pieces out of the hull and spit them at people."

Paul couldn't help smiling. "I can't imagine why."

"I can. But I'd rather know the sordid truth. What happened?" Paul outlined the events in the court while Taylor smiled. "I wish I'd been there to see it. But then it was nice to have her out of my hair for a while." Taylor sighed. "You remember I finally gave her that code she's been bugging me for?"

"Yeah. You thought it'd keep her busy for a while."

"Oh, it's keeping her busy all right. The only problem is she wants me to sit down with her and go over that code line by line looking for 'errors.'"

Paul didn't know whether to laugh or punch the bulkhead. "How many millions of lines of code are there?"

"Too many. And Migraine don't know code worth a damn so she can't really identify problems with it."

"How much time have you wasted on this?"

Taylor chuckled. "Not much. See this key?" she asked, pointing to her data pad. "I push this and my chief knows to call me with word that a critical piece of equipment just broke and I've got to get there real fast and help look at it." Taylor leaned back and looked upward. "It's downright amazing how many pieces of critical equipment I've had breaking lately."

Paul sat down, shaking his head. "And I'm leaving my division under her command. Not to mention you."

"Not to worry. I can take care of myself, your relief Shwartz has her stuff together and the new guy they sent in to take Pullman's place looks like he's at least halfway intelligent. We'll keep things together."

"But you'll have to put up with Moraine for at least another year!"

"No, we won't." Taylor shook her head, then took a meditative sip of coffee. "I've seen Moraine's type before. Had a division officer a lot like her once. Commander Migraine's gonna self-destruct just like he did. People like that always do. I give her another couple of months and she'll either have a breakdown or screw up so bad she'll be relieved for cause."

"Really?" Paul stared at his coffee for a moment. "I know it's dumb, but I hate to see that happen to someone."

Taylor shrugged. "It's a waste, if that's what you mean. But Moraine get herself on this path a long time ago. You and me tried to straighten her out, remember? Didn't work, even though you were so diplomatic about it I wanted to slug you a few times. I guess they teach you that diplomatic stuff at the Academy, huh? In the same classes where you learn to drink tea with your pinky finger out?" Taylor shifted her grip on her coffee, holding it with absurd delicacy, her pinky finger extended.

Paul laughed. "I think they got rid of the pinky finger classes back in the twentieth century."

"Are you sure? I could've sworn I saw some Academy graduates drinking their caffeine-free herbal tea that way just the other day. It makes it real easy to see their rings." Taylor waved her coffee around. "Like this. 'Yoo hoo! I'm an Academy graduate! Look how well eddicated and well mannered I are!'" She pretended to pick her nose with her ring finger, then extended the digit. "'Yoo hoo! Are there any lowly enlisted people around to dispose of this for me?'"

"I could offer a few suggestions on what you could do with it yourself," Paul offered.

"But you won't because you're still too well-mannered despite my best efforts. Well, even though I haven't been able to corrupt your young soul too much, I hope some of me rubbed off on you."

"I hope so, too." They toasted each other with their coffee.

"All rise." Paul and the others in the courtroom stood to attention. After the judge and members had entered and everyone else had been given permission to sit down again, Paul looked around, trying to gauge how things were going. Commander Carr seemed quietly confident, but then she always seemed to try to project that image in court. Paul didn't know Lieutenant Owings well enough to read his expression or body language, and David Sinclair simply displayed a sort of calm determination. Brad Pullman was the only one whose mood was easy to figure out, his confident smile and posture unaltered by events in the courtroom so far. Paul couldn't help wondering what as-yet-undisclosed defense evidence or tactic of sufficient power existed to justify Pullman's attitude.

"This court-martial is now open." Judge Campbell looked around as well. "Prior to Trial Counsel resuming her presentation of the government's case, the court will issue its ruling regarding the admissibility into evidence of a list of classified material identified as having been compromised to foreign entities. As a result of being provided additional information regarding the means by which the list was compiled and the criteria used to place items on that list, it is the opinion of this court that the means used are sufficiently unbiased and certain to constitute matters of fact. Therefore it is the ruling of this court that the list be entered into evidence."

David Sinclair stood. "Your Honor, Defense Counsel wishes to register a protest regarding this decision. While not questioning the judgment of the court or implying partiality, the fact remains that only Lieutenant Pullman's lawyers have a primary interest in obtaining the best result for their client. Yet neither Defense Counsel nor his assistant have been allowed to directly examine or question the means and criteria used in compiling this list. The decision to exclude Lieutenant Pullman's legal representatives from this process can only act to the prejudice of Lieutenant Pullman. Defense Counsel formally requests that the court reconsider its decision and allow Lieutenant Pullman's representatives a role in evaluating the nature of the list in question."

Judge Campbell listened without displaying any reaction, then simply nodded. "Defense Counsel's protest and request are noted and will be part of the record of this trial. However, the court will not reconsider its decision. In matters of national security due deference must be paid to the need to protect intelligence sources and methods. It is the judgment of this court that in the case of this list, such deference does not act to bias the case against Lieutenant Pullman. I might add that the court has a high degree of confidence that higher levels of judicial review will concur with this judgment."

David Sinclair's mouth tightened, but he nodded and sat down. Brad Pullman leaned over and whispered something to his lawyer while displaying a reassuring expression. David Sinclair nodded sharply and focused on the judge.

Paul watched the interplay, wondering if he'd really seen a flash of irritation on his brother's face when Pullman had spoken to him. I saw it and recognized it, I think, because I grew up with David. Nobody else probably noticed. I wonder why David's annoyed with Pullman?

Judge Campbell tipped her gavel toward Commander Carr. "Proceed, Trial Counsel."

"Thank you, Your Honor. The United States recalls as its next witness Captain Richard Hayes."

Paul watched in surprise as Hayes came up the aisle again. Carr must've had him standing by in case she won the ruling on introducing the list into evidence.

"Captain Hayes, I'll remind you that you remain under oath. I'm going to revisit some testimony which we couldn't complete at your last appearance. When you were informed by NCIS representatives that classified material had been compromised to a foreign entity, did NCIS identify specific items which had been compromised?"

Hayes nodded. "They did."

"For the benefit of the members, I'll explain that those items are contained on the list which the court has just entered into evidence. Captain, was one of those items your ship's operational orders for your last underway period?"

"Yes, it was."

"What was the classification of those orders?"

"Most of it was at the Secret level, but there were two Top Secret annexes."

"Top Secret being the classification used to protect information whose disclosure is defined as that which would cause exceptionally grave damage to national security?"

"That's right."

Commander Carr was standing directly in front of Captain Hayes, her arms crossed. "Can you tell the court the general nature of the information contained in those two Top Secret annexes?"

Hayes nodded again. "One was an intelligence assessment, and the other was our rules of engagement."

"What, in general, did the intelligence assessment deal with?"

"Our assessments of the capabilities and intentions of the other foreign powers who'd be operating ships at the illegally settled asteroid."

"What about the rules of engagement? What does that deal with?"

Hayes frowned in thought for a moment. "Basically, the rules of engagement tell us what we're allowed to do and how we're allowed to do it. They set the limits on our actions."

"Then by gaining access to your operational orders and those two annexes, someone would know what you expected them to do, and would know exactly what you were not allowed to do. Is that a fair summation?"

"Yes." Captain Hayes nodded heavily. "Yes, it is."

"What is your personal assessment of the actions of the warships of the South Asian Alliance during the engagement at the asteroid?"

"Objection." David Sinclair frowned at Carr. "Trial Counsel is asking the witness to speculate as to the state of mind of other individuals."

"Your Honor, I am asking the captain to provide us with his professional assessment of the manner in which the South Asian Alliance warships were observed to operate. I am not asking him to speculate as to the state of minds of the officers on those ships. I am only asking his impressions of their observed actions."

Campbell frowned as well. "It seems to this court that Trial Counsel's question is permissible."

David Sinclair gestured toward Captain Hayes. "Your Honor, how can the witness know what other ships intended? He can only speculate."

Captain Nguyen at the witness table cleared her throat. "Your Honor, if I may."

Judge Campbell nodded. "Please do."

"Operational commanders routinely have to judge the intentions of other ships by observing their actions. It's a major part of their training and experience. It's very common not to have direct knowledge of what other ships or forces intend."

"Then you regard Trial Counsel's question as falling well within the professional expertise of Captain Hayes?"

"Definitely, Your Honor."

"Very well. That makes two of us. Objection overruled."

Carr nodded gravely. "Thank you, Your Honor. Captain Hayes, what was your impression of the actions of the South Asian Alliance warships during the engagement at the asteroid?"

Hayes reddened slightly, apparently still angered by the memory. "My impression, and it was a very strong impression, was that they felt they had a free hand."

"A free hand, sir?"

"Yes. They acted like they knew exactly what they could get away with, and exactly where to draw the line."

Carr began pacing back and forth in front of the witness stand. "Given what you've learned subsequently, that your orders had been compromised, do you believe that they acted they way they did because they knew what orders you were operating under?"

"Yes."

"That they felt free to act in the manner they did, bombarding the settlers on asteroid and destroying the hijacked freighter, specifically because they knew the limits on your ability to respond?"

"Yes. I have no doubt of that at all."

"Did the NCIS representatives tell you how they believed your orders had been compromised?"

"They did." Hayes' expression had hardened as the questions dealt with events at the asteroid, and he steadfastly avoided looking toward Pullman. "They revealed that a batch of documents had been delivered to the South Asian Alliance on approximately 16 June."

"Just prior to your ship getting underway?"

"That's correct. A coded identifier on the copy of the orders in the possession of the South Asian Alliance indicated it was the same as the identifier on the orders sent to my ship."

"Meaning the copy in the possession of the South Asian Alliance had to have been copied from the orders sent to your ship?"

"Yes." Hayes took a deep breath, as if trying to calm his anger. "The NCIS representatives also informed me that another delivery of documents had been made to the South Asian Alliance on 2 August."

"Immediately following the return of your ship to Franklin Naval Station?"

"That's correct."

"Did those documents also have identifiers indicating they'd been copied from your ship's systems?"

"They did."

"What did you conclude from this?"

"That someone on my ship had been downloading classified documents and providing them to the South Asians."

"What was your reaction to this conclusion, Captain?"

"I was… upset. I agreed to cooperate with NCIS in attempting to identify whoever was responsible."

Carr stopped pacing and faced Captain Hayes again. "Captain, was that your primary motivation? To identify the one responsible?"

Hayes seemed surprised by the question. "Of course."

"Not just find someone to blame. But find the one responsible."

"I see what you're driving at now. Yes. I made sure NCIS understood I wanted that investigation conducted in such a way that we caught the one responsible, not anyone else."

"Do you believe the investigation was indeed conducted to avoid catching anyone innocent and ensure the apprehension of the guilty party?"

"That's what I did my best to ensure."

"Do you believe it succeeded in that?"

"Objection. Opinion."

"I withdraw the question," Commander Carr stated before the judge could rule on the objection. "No more questions."

David Sinclair regarded Captain Hayes. "Welcome back, Captain. This identifier which you say indicated the classified documents had come from your ship. Did that identifier specify where on your ship the document had come from?"

"No."

"Did it specify who had accessed the message and downloaded it?"

"No."

"Is it fair to say that nothing on those documents in any way connects them to Lieutenant Pullman?"

Hayes considered the question, frowning again. "No. It's not fair to say that. The documents came from my ship and Lieutenant Pullman was caught illegally downloading and removing similar documents from my ship. I regard that as a connection."

David Sinclair didn't let any disappointment show. "Captain, let me narrow my question. Did anything on those documents say they had been downloaded by Lieutenant Pullman?"

Hayes thought again before replying. "No."

"Did anything on those documents say they had been delivered to a foreign entity by Lieutenant Pullman?"

"No."

"When the unfortunate events took place at the asteroid, did you see any actions or reactions by Lieutenant Pullman which you would interpret as signs that he knew what the South Asians intended? Did his reactions differ in any way from those of the rest of the crew?"

"I was fairly busy with other issues than watching Lieutenant Pullman."

"But did you notice anything of that nature, Captain?"

"No, not that I recall."

"Now, as to those events, you've testified that among your orders was an annex which contained an estimate of what actions would be taken by other warships belonging to foreign powers. Is that something you usually see among orders?"

Hayes nodded. "Yes. It's fairly standard, in one form or another."

"Do foreign powers also provide their warships with estimates of what our ships are expected to do?"

"As far as my knowledge goes, yes."

"Do you think it possible that the South Asian ships at the asteroid had such an estimate? Not actual, detailed knowledge, but an estimate?"

"Objection. Defense Counsel is asking the witness to speculate on matters beyond his knowledge."

"Your Honor," David Sinclair countered, "this witness has already testified as to his impressions of what motivated the actions of South Asian warships. I am asking him for a similar judgment on their possible motivations."

Judge Campbell considered the question. "I tend to agree."

Commander Carr shook her head. "Your Honor, this is a different matter-"

"No, Trial Counsel, I believe it's substantially the same matter. I'll remind Trial Counsel that she introduced this line of questioning. Objection overruled. Continue, Defense Counsel."

David Sinclair looked back at Captain Hayes. "Captain, do you think it possible the South Asian warships were working from an intelligence estimate as opposed to detailed knowledge of your intentions?"

"It's possible," Hayes conceded.

"Is it also possible that such an estimate could've been what gave them the impression you cited, that they would be able to act without your interference?"

"Yes, that's possible. I'm not saying it's probable."

"Thank you, Captain."

Carr was standing almost immediately. "Trial Counsel wishes to redirect. Captain Hayes, regarding Lieutenant Pullman's reactions while events unfolded at the asteroid, you stated you were too busy to specifically note them?"

"That's right. I don't recall Lieutenant Pullman being on the bridge."

"Do you have any memory of him at all while the South Asian warships were attacking the asteroid settlement?"

"No. I don't recall noticing Lieutenant Pullman at all during those events."

"Then to clarify, your answer isn't that Lieutenant Pullman's reactions didn't seem to differ. It's that you have no idea what Lieutenant Pullman's reactions were."

"Yes. That's exactly right."

Carr nodded slowly, drawing out the moment. "One other question, Captain. Defense Counsel posed to you an alternate possible cause for the confidence you say you observed in the actions of the South Asian ships on that occasion. Which do you consider more likely, that they were acting off an estimate or that they were acting from certain knowledge?"

Hayes didn't hesitate. "Certain knowledge. Estimates are all well and good, but they're only estimates. They can be wrong. They can be very wrong. You have to take that into account. The sort of confidence I believed I saw the South Asians demonstrate tells me they had certain knowledge."

"Thank you, Captain. No further questions."

Captain Nguyen leaned forward, her elbows on the members' table, her hands clasped before her. "Captain, I find myself having to re-ask a question posed to you earlier. While NCIS was conducting its investigation to determine who was the source of the classified material being compromised to the South Asian Alliance, did you feel confident at every stage that the investigation was being carried out in such a manner as to minimize the possibility of an innocent person being charged or entrapped and maximize the possibility that the guilty person would be caught?"

Once again, Hayes didn't hesitate. "I would not have approved the investigation if I did not believe that to be true. I wanted the guilty person caught. More importantly, I wanted the compromising of our classified material to stop. Hauling in someone innocent of the earlier offenses wouldn't have accomplished either goal."

Nguyen nodded. "At the time the investigation began, your period of command of the USS Michaelson was growing short. I understand your change of command will be later today. Did you feel any pressure, internal or external, to resolve this matter quickly enough that it wouldn't be passed on to your successor in command?"

Hayes looked briefly weary, as if the burdens of his last two years had been brought to the fore by the question. "Captain Nguyen, as I'm sure you're aware, no commanding officer wants to pass on unresolved issues to his or her successor. Especially an issue of this magnitude. But at every decision point I realized that if I did not resolve it properly, then I wouldn't have resolved it at all. Telling my successor that I'd caught the right individual if in fact that person was still running free wouldn't have been doing him any favors. In fact, it'd be undermining him in a very critical way. That's a long way of saying I knew I had to resolve it right."

Captain Nguyen nodded again. "Thank you. Do any of the other members have questions?"

"I do, ma'am," Commander Sriracha stated. "Captain, you assigned Lieutenant Pullman to take over the Communications Division. This is a job which specifically deals with much of the classified material flowing into the ship, especially the most urgent material. Did you assign Lieutenant Pullman to this position because of a particular belief in his trustworthiness?

"No, Commander. I honestly can't say that. I had a division officer's job coming open, Lieutenant Pullman's record indicated he should've been competent to do it, and there was no reason to doubt his trustworthiness. No reason at that time, that is."

"Still, Captain, you could have assigned Lieutenant Pullman to a less sensitive position. In engineering, perhaps."

Captain Hayes frowned and shook his head. "I could've, but even though a job in engineering might be less sensitive in the sense of less exposure to classified material, it's still a position requiring great faith in the trustworthiness of the officer. I don't have any jobs on my ship that don't require me to trust their occupants. You know that."

Commander Sriracha smiled. "Yes, sir, I do. I just wondered how you'd express it. Thank you, sir."

"Captain?" Lieutenant Kilgary asked. "I'm assuming from what's been said that there's no indication Lieutenant Pullman attempted to communicate anything to the South Asians during or immediately prior to the engagement at the asteroid? Or is there something about that which will be presented later?"

A murmur arose in the courtroom, quickly quelled when Judge Campbell gave the spectators an acidic look. Paul found himself startled as well by the question. Startled because he wondered why he hadn't thought of that himself before. Communicating with the other ships wouldn't been easy, but it wouldn't have been impossible, either. The right software could've projected a simple code onto part of the Michaelson's outer hull using the video displays which were part of the visual bypass system, or a transmitter could've been run out past the grounded outer hull, though that would've required cracking an airlock which would've set off alerts.

But Commander Carr was shaking her head and answering for Captain Hayes. "There's nothing in the government's case pertaining to that issue, Lieutenant."

Lieutenant Kilgary looked surprised. "Even though as Communications officer Lieutenant Pullman would've had authorized access to the visual bypass system back-up message projection capability?"

Paul felt like slapping his forehead. Well, duh.

Captain Hayes had an expression that seemed just as startled, but then his face cleared. "No, wait a moment. Pullman didn't get tapped as the new Commo until after we were on our way back from the asteroid. He didn't have that access when we were out there. Lieutenant Denaldo was still Commo at that time, and I know she'd have ensured there wasn't any unauthorized access of that capability."

"Yes, sir." Lieutenant Kilgary nodded in agreement. "That does resolve the question."

Lieutenant Commander de Vaca looked from Lieutenant Kilgary to Captain Hayes. "There's high confidence, then, that this Lieutenant Denaldo would've done a good job of protecting her access codes?" Both Kilgary and Hayes nodded.

Captain Nguyen checked to see if anyone else had questions. "That's it, then. Thank you, Captain."

As soon as the judge dismissed him Hayes hastened down the aisle, checking his watch, and out of the courtroom. Paul checked the time as well, surprised to see how little time remained until the change of command ceremony was scheduled to take place. He still felt uncomfortable about not being there, knowing that Lieutenant junior grade Shwartz would be the one standing in front of what had been Paul's division. But it was probably just as well. Shwartz, not Paul, would be the new Captain's Combat Information Center Officer. He had to let go of that responsibility and start facing whatever new responsibilities he'd have in his job on Mars.

The next witness's testimony wasn't as dramatic as Captain Hayes' had been, but Paul found his information intriguing. The NCIS agent, a man Paul hadn't encountered before, testified to the results of the financial investigations conducted on Lieutenant Pullman once the proper warrants had been obtained. The last ten years of Lieutenant Pullman's financial life, both on and off the official record, had been reconstructed in exhaustive detail within a period of days. Paul wasn't sure whether he should feel reassured that the government could ferret out financial wrongdoing that well, or horrified that the government could track someone's financial life that well.

Paul stared at the displayed data. The complex diagrams, revealing a dizzying maze of interlinked financial transactions across borders and regulatory authorities, kept ending in various bank accounts whose owners had different names, but a remarkably similar set of passwords and access codes. That in and of itself meant little, until the agent revealed that a warranted search of Pullman's personal storage had unearthed a well-concealed data coin containing all those same passwords and codes under triple encryption.

Paul couldn't help staring at Brad Pullman after this information was revealed, wanting to see how Pullman would react. But except for a surprised expression and a shake of the head in denial, Pullman didn't seem especially fazed by the revelation.

There were a few purchases that hadn't apparently come from Pullman's salary; the money to pay for those things not having come out of Pullman's regular bank accounts and not being traceable to the regular government deposits of Pullman's pay. A very nice vehicle registered in Pullman's name. A state-of-the-art home theater system. A couple of gambling vacations where the house (as usual) had won a lot more than Pullman. But nothing Pullman, as a single junior officer, couldn't have afforded by using the money he earned in his own salary. Instead of using Pullman's salary, though, the luxuries been paid for using money acquired in some other way. Paul stared again, focusing on the sums in the different bank accounts. They were nice, but even added up they didn't seem all that large.

David Sinclair tried to hammer at that in cross-examination. "Is there anything here that Lieutenant Pullman couldn't have afforded on his own?"

The NCIS agent shook his head, his expression calm. "No."

"These sums in the bank accounts. That's all you found?"

"Are you saying there's more?" the agent inquired, igniting a burst of laughter from the courtroom and a glare from the judge.

David Sinclair flushed slightly, but spoke evenly enough. "That little a sum. Those few trinkets. You're claiming that Lieutenant Pullman sold secrets to a foreign power for such modest sums? For a few items that aren't even luxuries beyond his income?"

"That's what our investigation shows."

That agent left the witness stand and another arrived to discuss the contents of other data coins found in searches of lockers reserved under various names. All of the lockers had been traced back to Lieutenant Pullman as the agents had followed threads of information from point to point. She explained and showed that these coins contained detailed plots for dead drops, locations where materials could be deposited for later retrieval by foreign agents. There were lists and photos and instructions, all of them cross-referencing each other across one or more coins so that the capture or loss of a single coin couldn't compromise any part of the scheme.

When his turn came to cross-examine, David Sinclair tried his usual question. "Did anything on these coins indicate they belonged to Lieutenant Pullman?"

"Not directly," the NCIS agent replied smoothly, "but comparative analysis of the written contents with material known to have been written by Lieutenant Pullman produced a match with a statistical certainty of ninety-eight percent."

David Sinclair gave Commander Carr a very brief but intense glower as he returned to the defense counsel's table. He knew she'd left that item undiscussed during the agent's testimony so he'd be fooled into bringing it out during the defense's cross-examination.

"This court-martial is closed," Judge Campbell announced. "It will reopen at thirteen hundred in this courtroom."

Paul stayed standing after the judge and members had left the room, once again trying to study Brad Pullman. The physical evidence presented this morning seemed both damning and conclusive, yet Pullman didn't reflect concern. What has he got up his sleeve? What defense evidence or witness or argument is so potent that Pullman doesn't seem much worried even after being caught with all this Spying For Idiots guidebook stuff?

"Going anywhere for lunch?"

Paul turned in surprise, seeing Jen standing beside him. "I didn't expect to see you here."

Jen shrugged. "I don't particularly enjoy visiting courtrooms anymore, but I figured you could use a break."

Commander Carr turned as well, halting when she saw Jen. "Lieutenant Shen."

"Commander."

Apparently having finished their conversation, Carr and Jen turned away from each other. Paul resisted a sudden urge to bonk their heads together, reflecting that if the two women had been a little less alike then Jen might actually have liked Commander Carr.

Jen insisted on their hiking to Fogarty's. "You haven't been eating well enough."

"How do you know that?"

"I have my own sources and methods. Order a decent meal and eat it."

"Okay, okay." Paul ate, knowing she was right, but didn't say much for a while, thoughts tumbling through his head as he tried to process everything he'd seen and heard at the court-martial.

Jen canted her head to one side and studied him. "You're awful quiet. What's bugging you?"

"I don't know." Paul frowned, then nodded. "Yeah. That's exactly it. There's all this evidence that Brad Pullman did commit espionage. Hard, physical evidence. It seems plenty convincing to me. But I keep asking myself why he would've done that. There's no indication at all that Pullman supports the South Asian Alliance, no indication he dislikes our government or our country or our policies on Earth or in space. No one's claiming he secretly hates the Navy. He doesn't seem to have any strong political beliefs. All we have is money showing up in bank accounts traceable to Pullman, but we're not talking mega-bucks. Not even remotely. Nice to have money, maybe, but not even as much as he's earning as a junior officer."

"Does he look guilty? I'd expect you to know the difference between scared and guilty."

"He doesn't even look worried!" Paul clenched his fists in frustration. "No matter how much evidence I see that Pullman is guilty, some part of me keeps wondering what his motivation could've been. His real motivation. If I can't figure out why he'd do it, I have trouble accepting that he did it."

"Maybe he's an idiot," Jen suggested.

"That doesn't seem to be the case. He's very smart. He could handle his job on the Michaelson without breaking much of a sweat."

"Hmmm." Jen pondered the question as she ate. "I see your point. There's a disconnect. People don't go to all the trouble Pullman apparently did just for a little extra pocket change. Smart ones don't, anyway. Maybe he's just irrational deep down."

"Wouldn't that show up in other actions? How could he confine irrationality to just committing espionage?" Paul twisted his mouth. "Besides, if there was the remotest chance of coping an insanity plea I'm sure David would've run with it."

"Let it go, Paul."

"What? Let what go?"

"The sibling rivalry. Your brother doesn't seem nearly as hung up on it as you are."

He felt heat on his face as anger rose. "Jen, you didn't grow up with a guy who made you feel like nothing you ever did could measure up to him."

"No," she stated sarcastically, "I just grew up with a father who expected me to sprout wings and fly if the job called for it. Look, I can't claim to be an expert on you and your brother, but it's past. Let it go."

Paul picked at his food. "It's not that easy."

"Did I say it was easy? Growing up. That's the key phrase. You and I are both old enough that we ought to be able to recognize what wasn't great about our childhoods and accept it as something that was but that doesn't have to drive us for the rest of our lives. Who has a perfect childhood? David had his own pressures to deal with, believe me. Maybe he's oblivious to this day how his attitude grates on you, but so what? Why let him make you crazy?"

He found it hard to come up with an answer and didn't know if that was because it was too complex or if he genuinely didn't have an answer.

Jen touched his hand for just an instant, all the physical contact she could risk while they were in uniform and in public. "If he still wants to lord it over you, letting him get to you just means you're playing along. If he doesn't care about that anymore, then you're just shadowboxing with the past."

"I'll think about it." He saw her skeptical expression. "I said I'd think about it and I will. Because I can't think of anything wrong with what you're saying."

She grinned. "You're going to make a good husband with that attitude."

"It won't apply to every issue, I'm sure. Okay, you're so smart, tell me honestly, do you think Pullman's guilty?"

Jen looked away. "Why does my opinion of this matter?"

"Because you're smart and you know a lot about things."

"Like how it feels to be sitting at that defendant's table wondering if you're going to spend the rest of your life staring at the walls of a small cell?"

"Yeah."

She sat silent for a while and Paul let her think. Finally, she sighed. "I'm torn. I have a very strong and I know to some extent irrational bias against the government because of what happened to me. There are guilty people out there and they need to be caught. I just don't trust the government nearly as much as I used to when it comes to catching the right ones."

Paul nodded in understanding. "I feel some of the same thing. But there's a lot of evidence against Pullman. Not just the circumstantial stuff they tried to get you with, but solid caught-with-his-hands-in-the-cookie-jar stuff."

"I know." Jen played with her food for a moment. "I guess it comes down to my wondering what we don't know. What evidence might be out there that we're not seeing, that might tell another story."

"Jen, even in your case the investigators didn't try to cover up anything."

She surprised him by laughing. "Do you still believe that? All right, I'll admit they didn't actively try to cover up things. But I've been going over those reports in my free time. Don't give me that look. I've got every right to examine something that almost destroyed my life. You think the investigators dug into everything? They didn't. They asked the questions they wanted to ask. They didn't ask things they didn't want to ask. They didn't ask things whose answers they might not want to hear." Jen saw Paul's surprise. "Do you honestly think no one else wondered why that new engineering control system supposedly hadn't had any significant teething troubles? That no one else ever wondered if they ought to check to see if they could find anything contrary to the official 'everything is great' claims about that system?"

"I know your lawyer looked."

"He was a lawyer. A guy who worked hard for me and did what he could, but not someone with the specialized experience or knowledge to smell the right rats and run down the locations of their lairs. I could've done it, but I was safely locked away in pre-trial confinement and under so much stress that I couldn't think straight. Any other people who could've said 'let's question the people who actually developed this system and ask them if everything was really as great as the acquisition people in the Pentagon claim it is' didn't say anything. There were too many people who were willing to go along with what they were told when they were supposed to be investigating. Too many people who avoided looking in the 'wrong' places that might hold answers their bosses didn't want to see."

Paul clenched his fists, remembering the agony he and Jen had gone through during her court-martial. "I'm sorry."

"For what? You've nothing to apologize for. If you'd been an engineer, with the right contacts, you might've found those answers earlier, but I'd be pond scum to complain about that. You asked the questions those other people didn't. For which act of moral courage you're being sent to freeze your butt off on Mars, of course."

"That and a few other acts," Paul noted.

"Yeah. Meanwhile, whoever covered up those problems with that system remains officially unidentified and is probably still fat and happy and going to cocktail parties. All that person did was cause the deaths of lots of sailors and terrible damage to a US Navy warship, but digging that person out and making them pay would embarrass the wrong people."

"And you're afraid that might be happening to Pullman?"

"A bit. I mean, there's no way to independently challenge or verify what the spooks in the intelligence world are telling us. We have to assume they're being honest. But what if they're mistaken? What if their bosses want a conviction and contradictory information is getting swept under the rug so we never even know it exists?"

Paul sat and thought, his food now untouched. Something about Jen's argument about Pullman's court-martial and the events surrounding her court-martial wasn't quite matching up in his mind. But he couldn't figure out what was missing. "I don't know, Jen," he finally said. "I'm going to keep thinking about it."

"Good." She smiled mockingly at him. "What can they do to you? Send you to Mars?"

"There's still Ceres."

"My father's been told that if you get orders to Ceres I'll never speak to him again in this life and whatever comes after, and he knows I mean it."

"Not that he had anything to do with my orders to Mars."

"Oh, no. Of course not." Jen smiled again. "Captain Herdez is also keeping an eye out. She thinks she can block anything but what we've agreed to without tipping off anyone. The next orders you get should be the ones to her ship."

"You talked to Herdez? Willingly?"

"I've done tougher things. Paul Sinclair, if we weren't willing to go to the mat for each other we shouldn't be getting married. True?"

"True." That much, at least, he was certain of.

"When's Pullman going to present his defense?" she asked, switching topics so fast it took Paul a moment to catch up.

"This afternoon, I think. Are you going to watch?"

"No, thanks." Jen didn't quite hide a shudder. "If Pullman's defense is strong, I'm going to be thinking of how weak mine was, and if Pullman's defense is weak, I'm going to be having flashbacks to my own. I'm sure I can trust you to let me know if anything strange happens."

"Right." Paul said it even though he was feeling a bit tired of people trusting him to do things. He couldn't wondering whether or not Brad Pullman was trusting him to do something.