“You’re welcome. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, would you mind telling me what you’re doing here?”

“Just following orders, sir.”

It was obvious that Kirk didn’t care for that answer. “Permit me to rephrase, Lieutenant: Why did Commodore Reyes insist that I take you on our search-and-salvage to Ravanar?”

Xiong sensed that the bridge crew were all eavesdropping intently on his conversation with Kirk. Tuning out distractions, he reminded himself that the key was never to lie, but simply to omit all but the most basic of facts. “I helped set up the outpost on Ravanar, Captain.”

“The report from Lieutenant Commander T’Prynn indicated that the prospecting camp was a cover for a listening post.”

“Yes, sir.”

“But you’re an A&A officer.”

“I’ve always considered that designation to be sort of a misnomer, sir. I really deal in xenoanthropology and—”

“My point,” Kirk cut in, “is that an A&A officer isn’t normally dispatched to set up listening stations.”

“That’s true, sir.”

Kirk’s frustration began to seep through the polite veneer of his officer’s training. “I know it’s true, Lieutenant. What I want to know is why you, an A&A officer, were assigned to help set up the post at Ravanar, and why I’m taking you back there.”

“I was available,” Xiong said. “And I’m good with tools.”

The voice of Vanguard Control squawked from the overhead speaker. “Enterprise, you are passing through spacedock doors. Stand by to clear spacedock in twenty seconds.”

“Acknowledged, Vanguard,” Leslie said.

Jabbing one of his seat-arm controls with his thumb, Kirk said, “Bridge to engineering. Ready for full impulse, Scotty?”

“Aye, Captain,” said a man with a heavy Scottish brogue. “Standing by. Just give the word.”

“Good work,” Kirk said. “Bridge out.” He closed the channel and looked back at Xiong. “I don’t like secrets on my ship, Mr. Xiong. My orders are to get you to Ravanar and send a landing party with you to the surface, and that’s what I’ll do. But I’m not going to place my ship or my crew at risk without a good reason, and if you can’t or won’t give me one, their safety comes first. Do I make myself clear?”

“Perfectly, Captain.”

“Enterprise, you have cleared spacedock. Releasing helm control back to you.” The gentle curve of Vanguard’s massive top section filled the main viewer past its edges.

“Enterprise confirms helm control,” Leslie said. “Setting course one-one-nine mark two-six.”

“Confirmed, Enterprise . The lane is clear and you are free to navigate. Safe travels. Vanguard out.”

“Helm,” Kirk said. “All ahead, full impulse. Maximum warp as soon as we clear the shipping lanes.”

“Aye, sir,” Leslie said, and then he submerged into his duties.

Kirk pulled himself away from running his ship long enough to glance at Xiong and say, “Dismissed.”

Walking up the stairs to the turbolift, Xiong was intercepted by Spock, who gave him the boilerplate instructions for getting a berthing assignment from the quartermaster and an ETA of seventy-seven hours to Ravanar. Stepping into the turbolift, he indulged in a moment of cynical optimism. Seventy-seven hours…. If I don’t get stuck rooming with another Tellarite, maybe I’ll actually get some sleep this time.

“This board of inquiry is now convened,” Desai said, the echo of three sharp double tones from her judge’s bell silencing the susurrus of whispers.

She presided from the head of a small table in the middle of a small and sparsely appointed wardroom. A handful of department heads were in attendance, including T’Prynn, who sat alone at the far end of the table. Reyes sat with his JAG defense counsel on Desai’s left.

“Lieutenant Moyer,” Desai continued, “are you ready to proceed with depositions?”

Holly Moyer, a youthful attorney whom Desai had recruited, represented the JAG Corps. “I am, Captain.”

Turning to the opposing counsel, Desai said, “Commander Liverakos, I see you’ve submitted no requests for deposition interviews. Are you ready to proceed?”

The short, slightly built man frowned. Despite his overall boyish mien, his salt-and-pepper goatee gave him a certain gravitas. “Captain, we move for a postponement of this inquiry, pending the conclusion of the Enterprise’s on-site investigation. Any testimony collected prior to that will be merely speculation and hearsay.”

“Commander, I’ve already instructed Lieutenant Moyer to restrict her questions to those establishing the status of the Starship Bombay prior to its final departure from this station. As for the Enterprise’s investigation…” Desai tossed an ephemeral, scathing glance at Reyes. “I was not apprised that such an investigation was under way.”

“The Enterprise left spacedock forty-two minutes ago,” Liverakos said, “en route to the last known location of the Starship Bombay.”

“So noted,” Desai said. “Regardless, I will be asking Lieutenant Moyer to begin her interviews as soon as possible, in order to complete our review of the Bombay’s recent service history. I suspect that we’ll have a lot of data to analyze once the Enterprise returns and Captain Kirk files his report.”

“With all due respect to this board, Captain,” Liverakos said, “the recent service history of the Bombay, including the logs of her senior officers, are all available by subpoena from the Vanguard operations center. There’s no need to conduct face-to-face interviews.”

“Your ‘respect’ is touching, Commander, but I remain the arbiter of whether individual testimony is necessary to a full and proper investigation of this case.”

Liverakos opened his satchel and removed a sheaf of paper. Holding it up, he said, “May we confer in private?”

Desai sighed, then got up and motioned to Moyer and Liverakos to follow her away from the table. The two attorneys joined her in the corner and leaned close to converse sotto voce. Liverakos handed her his stack of paper. “Under Code Five, Section Twelve, Article Four-thirteen of the SCJ, I move for a summary termination of these proceedings.”

Moyer stared at him, astonished. “Four-thirteen? Are you kidding? It’s the basis for the inquiry.”

“It also sets the criteria for determining whether such an inquiry can or should be convened,” he said, then listed the actionable causes specified by the Starfleet Code of Justice: “Negligence, incompetence, sabotage, and dereliction of duty. You don’t have evidence for any one of them.”

“Hence we inquire, Mr. Liverakos,” Desai said. “Which should explain why this is an inquiry and not a court-martial.”

“It’s neither, Captain.” His tone remained just civil enough to skirt a contempt charge without stepping over the line. “It’s a fishing expedition, and you’re using the looser standards of an inquiry to see if you can build a case for a court-martial. If you were conducting a criminal investigation, your witnesses could invoke their rights of silence, counsel, and freedom from self-incrimination. Instead, you’re end-running all those protections by holding an ‘inquiry’ and compelling these people to testify under oath, with little recourse to their rights under the SCJ or the Federation Charter.” Handing a copy of his motion to Moyer, he concluded, “In my opinion this inquiry is a civil-liberties violation, and I, for one, consider it a disgrace.”

I knew there was a reason I liked this guy, Desai mused as she perused his briefing. It was exactly what she had needed him to do. Her superiors had demanded she hold this inquiry, and it was her duty to carry it out in good faith. However, it was no mistake that she had assigned her best, most aggressive defense attorney to represent Reyes and the crew of Starbase 47. Moyer was a quick-minded, efficient prosecutor, and Desai had needed someone just as talented and driven to oppose her. Liverakos had proved her faith to be well justified.