Big Doors

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine. This is an AU story.

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Starburst

Tasha wasn't sure why, but her gut instinct was telling her something wasn't what it was supposed to be. She doubted anyone, least of all Admiral Brand, would have noticed, but Tasha knew Wesley well enough to realize he was uneasy.

She'd asked Picard for permission to sit in on the hearing, and he had granted it. Now, she was glad she had. There was definitely something going on.

Tasha had learned long ago to read people, mostly as a defensive tactic to overcome her ingrained instinct to suspect everyone. Wesley was easy because she'd known her honorary little brother for so long, but there were very few people she couldn't figure out to some degree.

The squadron leader, Nick Locarno appeared to be at ease, but Tasha's instincts told her he was hiding something. Jean Hajar, the squadron navigator, gave off the same sense. Sito Jaxa, a Bajoran cadet, was more like Wesley - nervous and uncomfortable. She also noticed that both Wesley and Sito appeared to get more uncomfortable when Locarno blamed the crash on their deceased classmate's erratic flying.

As soon as the hearing was over, Tasha cornered her friend. She was aware that he'd been avoiding everyone from the Enterprise, and she had no intention of letting him avoid her.

"Wesley, can we talk?"

"Sure."

"Alone." Tasha nodded to the grounds.

"All right."

Tasha led Wesley to a small, secluded area of the grounds. "Found this when I was a cadet. It's a great place to study."

"What's this about?"

"Wesley, what's really going on?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Wesley, I know you, and I know something was making you uncomfortable in the courtroom. I know there's something that Locarno didn't tell us."

Wesley didn't respond.

"Wesley, I know you were close to the cadet who died in this accident. And I noticed you seemed particularly upset when Locarno said he'd caused the accident. He didn't, did he?"

Wesley's head dropped. "I don't know," he whispered. "It all happened too fast - anyone could have hit anyone - I told him it was stupid - Josh and I did -"

"You told who? Told them what was stupid?"

"Locarno. It was his idea."

"What was?"

Wesley swallowed hard. "The Kolvoord Starburst."

"Please tell me you're not saying what I think you're saying."

"Locarno wanted to do something big and fancy to close off his career, so he came up with the Starburst. What could be a better finale than something that hadn't been done in a hundred years? Jean - Hajar - she was all over it. The rest of us weren't sure, but they talked Sito into it, and then the three of them leaned on Josh and me, wouldn't let up until we said yes. I caved first," he admitted. "Once I wasn't backing him up, Josh just couldn't deal with it anymore. Ever since the accident, I've been trying to get them to tell the truth, but they won't do that either."

"Have you been talking to all of them together?"

"Yes, why?"

"I can read people, Wes. Sito Jaxa's almost as uncertain as you are. Talk to her in private. Wesley," she added, because she could see he was wavering, "your friend isn't here to tell his side of the story. It's up to you to tell it for him. You already let Locarno talk you into one bad decision. Don't make that mistake again."

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Tasha spent the brief minutes before the next step of the trial analyzing the cadets again. She read no visible change in Locarno or Hajar, but Wesley and Sito seemed even more nervous, and were shooting each other subtle glances.

So they had spoken, and by the looks of it, come to some sort of agreement. The only question was what they had agreed to do.

Admiral Brand called the hearing to order and called Wesley to the stand. She prepared to show the data from the flight recorder, and asked him to describe what was happening.

"Are you ready, Mr. Crusher?" she asked.

"Yes, sir." The video started, and so did his narration. "This is the beginning of our run toward Titan. I'm on the right wing."

"Where is Mr. Albert at this point?" she asked.

"He was on my port quarter, approximately fifty meters away. We've just received the signal to begin the diamond slot formation. That's Cadet Locarno coming into view. We're in a twenty degree turn around Titan. We should be coming out of Titan's gravity well about now."

"That is the extent of the data we were able to recover from the flight recorder," Brand explained as the video cut to static. "Mr. Crusher, would you describe what happened after you left orbit of Titan?"

"Once we cleared the moon, Mr. Locarno led us into a Yeager loop." Wesley fell silent, glancing from Sito to Tasha and then back to Sito, and at that moment Tasha knew what he was going to do. "We completed the loop and afterward broke formation and attempted a Kolvoord Starburst."

The courtroom erupted in gasps and stunned exclamations.

"It's true, sir." Sito rose and moved to stand next to Wesley.

"Would one of you like to explain why this wasn't mentioned yesterday? Or, for that matter, in any of your reports?"

Wesley and Sito exchanged a look, and she spoke. "Cadet Locarno pressured us to cover it up, to omit part of the truth. At first, we allowed ourselves to be manipulated. Cadet Crusher had the most doubts about it, and yesterday he persuaded me to go along with him in telling the truth. The accident wasn't Josh's fault. It was all of ours."

"Mr Locarno, you are the leader of Nova Squadron." Brand turned her attention to him. "Do you have anything to say? Mr. Locarno?"

"No, sir."

xxxxxxxxx

"Formal reprimaind, and revocation of flight privileges." Wesley recited his disciplinary sentence in a monotone. "Could've been worse. We all should have been expelled. We would have, if not for Nick asking to take responsibility for all of us."

"Didn't your navigator, Hajar, get all her credits from this year canceled?"

"Yeah, so?"

"You and Sito didn't. And that's not because of anything Locarno did. It's because of what you did. I don't think you would have been expelled. Hajar, maybe, but not you. Admiral Brand recognized that it took guts to do what you did."

"How do you know that?"

"Like I said, Wesley, I can read people."

I know I deprived Picard of his speech, but honestly I like this version better. Wesley was so uncertain, I always thought a good push in the right direction at the right time would have gotten it through to him. Tasha being more of a sister figure instead of a parental figure probably helped too. As for Sito, I felt like someone had to back Wesley up and I picked her because she seemed more uncertain about the lie than Hajar. Also, her personality in "Lower Decks" seemed to fit.

Please review. I only got one review for the last chapter and I'm kinda disappointed!