A Just Determination (27 page)

"I do."

"Are you Commander Allan Garcia, United States Navy, Operations Department Head on the USS
Michaelson
?"

"I am."

"Do you know the accused?"

"Yes. Captain Wakeman has been my commanding officer for the past year."

"Now, Commander Garcia, as Operations Department head, were you familiar with the orders issued to the USS
Michaelson
during the ship's last patrol?"

"Yes. Intimately familiar. That's part of my job."

"In general terms, what did those orders require of the USS
Michaelson
?"

"Well, in general, we were required to patrol through the American zone and challenge any third-party shipping which entered the zone without requesting and receiving permission."

"Did the orders indicate you should leave this patrol area at any time?"

"Not explicitly, no."

"When the USS
Michaelson
moved to intercept the vessel henceforth to be referred to as the SASAL ship, and the SASAL ship responded to this challenge by fleeing the area, did you regard your orders as having been satisfied?"

"Yes, I did. That's what they said. Challenge anyone entering the zone without permission, and that's what we did."

"But Captain Wakeman ordered the Michaelson to pursue the SASAL ship. Did he consult with you regarding this decision?"

"No."

"Did he seek your advice, as the department head responsible for operational matters?"

"No."

"After sustaining his pursuit for sometime, Captain Wakeman brought the
Michaelson
close to the SASAL ship. Would you describe, in your own words, what happened?"

"Well, I was in Combat. The Combat Information Center, that is. Because we were at general quarters. Captain Wakeman tried to tell the SASAL ship to heave to so we could board it for inspection, but they didn't respond."

"Do you believe your orders authorized him to make this demand of the SASAL ship once it had left the American zone?"

"No. There wasn't anything in there about that."

"How did Captain Wakeman attempt to communicate his demands to the SASAL ship?"

"We tried a lot of ways. Radio first, of course, then visual signaling, and finally some particle beam taps on the SASAL's hull."

"Did the SASAL ship respond to any of these attempts to communicate?"

"No. Not a word."

"Commander Garcia, if you encounter another ship in international space which refuses to respond to your communications, what is standing policy for dealing with that situation?"

"Well, you make sure he's not in distress, and if he's not then there's not much you can do."

"What did Captain Wakeman do?"

"He ordered us to fire a warning shot across the SASAL ship's bow."

"A warning shot? Had he determined whether or not the SASAL ship was in distress?"

"Uh . . . no. We didn't take any steps to do that."

"So Captain Wakeman ordered you to use force in an attempt to compel the SASAL ship to comply with his instructions?"

"Yes."

"And what happened after you fired that shot across the bow?"

"The SASAL ship maneuvered. He turned his bow toward us and lit off his main drive so his course intersected ours."

"Intersected? You mean there was a risk of collision at that point?"

"Yes."

"And you recommended to Captain Wakeman that he maneuver the
Michaelson
to open the distance with the SASAL ship, didn't you?"

"Yes. More than once. That's standard procedure."

"And did Captain Wakeman do that? Did he follow standard procedure?"

"No. We maintained course and speed the entire time."

"And while the SASAL ship continued to close on the
Michaelson
as Captain Wakeman took no corrective action, what action did Captain Wakeman order?"

"He ordered us to lock weapons onto the SASAL ship, and about two minutes before the SASAL ship reached its closest point of approach he ordered us to fire on it."

Wilkes leaned forward, looking at Garcia intently, then faced the members of the court-martial as if addressing them instead of Garcia. "So, Captain Wakeman brought his ship close to the SASAL ship by leaving his ordered patrol area. Once close to that ship, he ordered it to comply with his instructions even though it had no legal obligation to do so. When it refused to respond to his commands, he ordered a shot fired near it, and when it reacted by turning to close on his ship Captain Wakeman ignored repeated advice to maneuver his own ship and instead ordered you to fire on the other ship. Is that correct, Commander Garcia?"

"Yes. That pretty much sums it up."

"Once the
Michaelson
had caught up with the wreck, which was all that remained of the SASAL ship, and sent boarding parties over to examine the SASAL ship, what did those boarding parties find?"

"Uh, nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary, I mean. I commanded the second boarding party. There wasn't anything on the SASAL ship that shouldn't have been there."

"Did the SASAL ship show any signs of having been prepared for any sort of combat situation?"

"No. They didn't have suits on, they didn't have interior airtight partitions sealed, nothing like that."

"Then the SASAL ship was unarmed and unprepared for any kind of combat when Captain Wakeman ordered that it be destroyed using the full firepower available to the USS
Michaelson
?"

"That's correct."

"No further questions."

Judge Holmes gestured to Garrity. "You may cross-examine."

Garcia sat stolidly while Wilkes returned to the prosecution's table and Lieutenant Commander Garrity came to the witness stand. "Commander Garcia, when Captain Wakeman ordered his ship to pursue the SASAL ship, did you advise him you believed this to be contrary to your orders?"

"Captain Wakeman had read the orders, just like me. He knew what they said."

"So you didn't say anything to him? You didn't indicate any belief that Captain Wakeman's actions might not be justified by your orders?"

Garcia bared his teeth in a humorless smile. "Captain Wakeman didn't take kindly to unsolicited advice. If he wanted your opinion, he'd ask you. If not, you were supposed to keep your mouth shut."

"Then you regarded it as your duty to keep Captain Wakeman happy instead of well-supported?"

Wilkes was on his feet before the question ended. "Objection. The question disparages the witness."

"I withdraw the question," Garrity stated, apparently oblivious to Garcia's reddening complexion. "Commander Garcia, during the actual intercept of the SASAL ship, what were your recommendations regarding communicating with the other vessel?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You said attempts to communicate with the SASAL ship failed. What alternatives did you suggest?"

"I . . . that wasn't my responsibility."

"Did you suggest Captain Wakeman ensure the SASAL ship was not in distress?"

"I didn't have to. Captain Wakeman knows standard procedures as well as I do."

"So you simply assumed Captain Wakeman was aware of alternatives instead of advising him?"

"When the SASAL ship turned toward us, I advised Captain Wakeman to maneuver the Michaelson. I did that more than once!"

"Oh, yes." Garrity walked a few steps away from Garcia, then turned to face him again. "When the SASAL ship turned toward you. At what point did you first advise Captain Wakeman that the SASAL ship might be on a firing run?"

"I . . . I didn't . . ."

"Didn't you specifically state that the SASAL ship's course would place it in what you referred to as a 'perfect firing position'?"

"I may have. That's all theoretical. You have to look at all possible alternatives. I didn't say the SASAL should was
going
to fire on us."

"Didn't a subsequent recommendation to maneuver from you make reference to confusing the SASAL ship's firing solution?"

"Possibly. That's, again, a possible alternative. I didn't say that was what was happening. I said we needed to maneuver, and that was one possible reason."

"When Captain Wakeman asked you if the SASAL ship was armed, what did you reply?"

"I said we had no information to that effect."

"Didn't you actually say you could not confirm the SASAL ship was unarmed? Isn't that the same as telling Captain Wakeman the SASAL ship could have been armed?"

Garcia was reddening even more, just as Paul had seen him do so many times when his temper flared at his subordinates. "No. Different emphasis."

"Didn't you tell Captain Wakeman that the SASAL ship was on what you called a 'perfect firing approach'?"

"I may have. That's meaningless unless the ship is armed to fire upon you. And I didn't tell Captain Wakeman that the SASAL ship was armed."

Garrity shook her head. "No. You told him you couldn't confirm it was unarmed. What about the transients your watch standers reported and which you passed on to Captain Wakeman?"

"What about them? You pick up transients all the time. A lot of it's just noise from our own gear because the stuff's so sensitive."

"But you reported those transients to Captain Wakeman. According to the ship's log, you stated those transients could represent detection of charges leaking from shielded weapons. Isn't that correct?"

"Yes. Of course. It was my job to report that. And when Commander Herdez, she's the
Michaelson
's executive officer, asked if they were definitely from weapons, I said no."

"Then, if I may summarize, during the approach of the SASAL ship, you made repeated references to firing runs and firing solutions, told Captain Wakeman you could not confirm the other ship was not armed, and reported the detection of what you said could be indications of weaponry being charged. Commander Garcia, what conclusions did you expect Captain Wakeman to draw from all that information?"

"It's not my job to second-guess what the Captain will do with the information I give him."

"Would you agree that the information you provided would have led a reasonable person to conclude that the
Michaelson
was in imminent danger of being fired upon?"

"Objection." Wilkes waved toward Garcia. "The question requires that the witness speculate as to the state of mind of another person."

"I will rephrase the question. Commander Garcia, if you had received the information you in fact provided to Captain Wakeman, would you have concluded that the
Michaelson
was in imminent danger of being fired upon?"

Garcia stared back at Garrity, his face redder yet, his lower lip and jaw thrust forward. "No. I would have factored that information in with everything else."

Garrity met Garcia's gaze calmly, then turned away. "No further questions."

Judge Holmes looked toward Wilkes. "Does trial counsel wish to redirect?"

"I do. Thank you." Wilkes came forward again, smiling encouragingly at Garcia, who responded by visibly relaxing a bit. "Commander Garcia, how did Captain Wakeman respond to your reports on the SASAL ship? Did he ask for further information or assessments from you?"

"Uh, no. No. Captain Wakeman didn't."

"Did Captain Wakeman ever ask you for your assessment as to whether the SASAL ship was
actually
on a firing run or
actually
preparing to fire?"

"No. No, he didn't."

"Then he reached his own conclusions. The decision to fire, the assessment that the SASAL ship was a threat to the
Michaelson
, came entirely from Captain Wakeman?"

"Yes. That's right."

"No further questions."

"Commander Garrity?"

"No further questions."

The judge turned toward the members. "Admiral Fowler, do you or any of the other members have any questions for Commander Garcia?"

Fowler rubbed his chin with one hand. "I'm a little curious on one point, Commander Garcia. When you were talking about the
Michaelson
's orders you said it wasn't your job to offer unsolicited advice to Captain Wakeman. Right? But you advised the captain to maneuver the ship. You did that repeatedly, you said. Wasn't that unsolicited advice?"

Garcia hesitated. "No, Admiral. Sir, when we were talking about the orders I was talking about being the Operations head and offering advice on general operations, and then when we were encountering the SASAL ship we were at general quarters and I was in charge of CIC. So that was different, sir."

"How?"

"Well, it was a specific situation, sir."

Fowler glanced at the other members. "Anyone else? Captain Feres?"

"Yes, please, Admiral. I have one question. Commander Garcia, wasn't all that talk about firing runs and positions also a form of unsolicited advice? Wasn't that intended to convey something to Captain Wakeman?"

"Sir, like I said before, I had to let Captain Wakeman know possible alternatives. I wouldn't have been doing my job if I hadn't told him these things were possible."

"But you yourself never believed the SASAL ship was on a firing run?"

"No, sir."

"Why didn't you convey that belief to Captain Wakeman?"

Garcia hesitated again, this time longer. "I . . . suppose . . . there wasn't sufficient time before Captain Wakeman reached his own determination."

Captain Feres tilted his head slightly, regarding Commander Garcia for several seconds in silence before speaking again. "Thank you, Commander."

Paul glanced over at Lieutenant Sindh.
I wonder if she's remembering the way Garcia kept harping on firing runs and positions? He sure didn't sound so certain there wasn't any threat back then. But Feres certainly made Garcia look bad with that last question. Or I guess Garcia made himself look bad, and Feres just pointed that out
.

Fowler looked around again. "I guess that's it. No more questions from the members at this time."

"At this time? Very well." Judge Holmes focused on the witness stand. "Commander Garcia, you are temporarily excused. Please ensure you are present for the remainder of this court-martial in the event you need to be called again. As long as this trial continues, do not discuss your testimony or knowledge of the case with anyone except counsel. If anyone else tries to talk to you about the case, stop them and report the matter to one of the counsels."