The second day of the trial was much the same as the day before, where they called up some more witness. Kate spent most of the morning in a blur. At times, she would listen to what was going on around her then other times would go off into some other places; where everything was ok and what was happening wasn't.

After lunch, Maxine was called to the stand. For some unknown, reason Kate felt like she had to pay attention to whatever Maxine would say. Maxine was sworn in under oath.

"Commander White, what is your relationship with Lieutenant McGregor?"

"My relationship with Lieutenant McGregor is professional."

"Commander what is your professional relationship with her"

"As the Commanding Officer of Navcom Cairns, I am her boss."

"Commander White, we know on the day in question on which Hammersley returned to base after picking up Lieutenant McGregor's mother and her male friend, who was later id as Adam Gardner. There was a man found with a gun on the grounds by some sailors who informed you there was others. Now I know from your statement, that the Hammersley helped bring in the others that were on the grounds as well. You were informed that there were two targets, who were they?"

"Agent Murphy from the AFP, while interviewing the one we had in custody found that they were to kill the man that Ms Cruise and Captain Roth had arrested and were transporting via Hammersley back here to Cairns. They also got orders to injured Lieutenant McGregor then, later on, once at the hospital kidnap her."

"How did you react to this information at that time?"

"I was shocked. Lieutenant McGregor is a fine officer, in fact one of our best and I felt its totally odd that someone would want to do this to her."

"From your statement Commander White, you instructed Hammersley to help look for these other gunmen that you were told were on base. Was Lieutenant McGregor part of the party that did the searching?"

"Yes, she was. When I came out to speak to Mike once the base was all clear, I found Lieutenant McGregor in full boarding gear with some of the crew."

"When was the next time you saw the Lieutenant?"

"The next time I saw Lieutenant McGregor was at about 1100hrs that same day, when she along with several crew members came to my office after me stating that they all had to attend. That was the officers involved in the search for the gunmen."

"How did she seem when she entered your office Commander?"

"She looked a little pale and tired. But often after a busy and long patrol, it is nothing new to see her looking tired or any of the other crew as well."

"While she was in your office, Agent Murphy mention to the room about the Lieutenant being on the hit list, how did she react to that, from your point of view?"

"When it was mention that Lieutenant McGregor was also a target she went pale as she started to shake her head and her hand went to her mouth. She looked petrified."

"Now Commander, how did she react later on went Agent Murphy asked her if she knew an Adam Gardner?"

"She started crying, she slid down the wall of my office repeating the words "no, please no". She was only whispering them, but the room was silent, everyone was able to hear her. She went from being petrified to being very upset, as she was starting to calm down, we were informed that Adam had been release. Kate then got upset again and even more so than before."

"What was your reaction to what was happening?"

"At the time, I was concerned for her as I had never seen her this way. When her name was first mention in the hit list, I was surprised that the Hammersley Coxswain and Commander Flynn were not totally surprised by her reaction. Later on, once it was noted that Adam was the one behind it all, I was even more surprised at how she reacted. I had never seen this officer loose it not like this. When Commander Flynn was giving Kate some support, I allowed this to be done, but I was also not happy with the way Commander Flynn was talking. I wanted answers to our questions, but at the time I was not thinking as clear. Without knowing what I knew now, I should not have reacted the way I did to how he was dealing with the situation. He knew how far she could go and we were already past that point where she would talk. But Agent Murphy and I kept asking and in the process Commander Flynn and I got cross with each other over it. We even yelled, for which later on once I had been filled in, I then apologised to both of them. I felt I could have dealt with it a little better than I did. But I have never had an officer react like she did to just a name. Maybe my fear of the unknown and the fact this was something I had never seen from her put me off. But I have learnt from it"

"When did you find out why Lieutenant McGregor reacted the way she did?"

"About four days later when the police handed over the interview she had done with them. When reading it, I was shocked at what she had been put through. To me, it explained why she reacted the way she did. And also explained why she never spoke of her past before she joined ADFA."

"Thank you, Commander. What would you say of Lieutenant McGregor's reputation is like within the Navy?"

"She is a highly regarded officer. She was the top of her class through ADFA. She always works hard to achieve the best results. She received the Sword for best Navy cadet in her last year at ADFA. This is shown in the success rate she and Commander Flynn have with Hammersley. She always works hard to get the best out of herself. And she also works hard with her team to get the best out of them as well. To me personally, she is the best Lieutenant that I have ever had the pleasure of working with. She follows orders brilliantly. I personally can't think of anything negative to say about her."

"Thank you, Commander White. Your honour, that is all the questions I have."

"Thank you, Mr Sims. Mr Watson, your witness now", replies Judge Brown

"Thank you, Your honour. Commander White, has Lieutenant Kate McGregor ever lied to you?"

"Not that I know of?"

"Commander White, would you not call keeping her relationship with Commander Flynn under wrap as lying?"

"Until the day with the AFP, I had no idea there was anything more than a professional working relationship between the two. And if they were in a relationship at that time, no one knew anything of it. No questions had been asked, so I would say she was not lying, because I had not been informed of anything to say otherwise."

"Commander White, on that day would you say the Lieutenants reactions were fake, that she was acting and they were not real? That, in fact she was looking for attention?"

"No, she was not faking. And if anything, Lieutenant McGregor hates attention being brought on to her. Even when credit is due, she always deflects it to the crew as well. What I witness was not fake at all."

"Commander White, have you ever heard rumours or been told that the Lieutenant has slept with her superior to get a promotion?" Maxine tried to cover her cough of surprise.

"If that was the case, she would already be CO of Hammersley."

"What do you mean already be CO of Hammersley, Commander White?"

"Well if she was sleeping around for promotion, then she would be CO, as Commander Flynn is only there as a replacement due to the other Commanding officer of Hammersley is being Court Marshalled. She would have taken over the helm 12 months ago, if that was the case. But it is not. She is not the type of person to do that."

"Commander White, would you be surprised to know that nine years ago the Lieutenant had a relationship with her instructor while attending a course at Watson's Bay."

"Yes, I would be surprised at that information."

"And would you been even more surprised that it was with her now Commanding Officer, Commander Mike Flynn?"

"I would say it is interesting but if it did happen, no one knew about her being with someone. But I do know around that time, that Commander Flynn met someone very dear to him. And that person has held his heart since."

"And what makes you say that Commander White?"

"I have known Commander Flynn since I was 18. A good 25 odd years now. As his best friend and having once been his girlfriend when at ADFA, I knew when he returned from Watsons Bay and came to visit me because my second husband had been killed, that he had found the one but he refused to talk about it. I never asked about it again." Surprisingly, the reaction Mike was expecting from Kate when Maxine said this, was not what he expected. She looked at him and Mike took her hand. Kate could see the love in Mike's eyes.

"So you are saying, you had no idea of Commander Flynn and Lieutenant McGregor's previous relationship?"

"No"

"So I could say that, Lieutenant McGregor can in fact lie and act. Hiding a relationship from the Navy must be a hard thing to do and would require a lot of lying. So, she in fact she could have been sleeping around and no one would know about it. Because of her good acting skills." Kate is shocked by this. So is Mike.

A few more questions are asked of Maxine but Kate has tuned out. How dare they bring up that. How dare they think I am just as bad as my mother. God, this is not going to be easy. Bringing up our relationship like that. God, I just hope when I am on the stand I can handle the questions that are asked of me without losing it.

Mike was thinking to himself while listening to Maxine. I can't believe Maxine is doing this for us. She has lied about not knowing about us. She did now. I only put the paper work in to the brass after everything went to custard, to see if they would approve it. I just hope they don't bring up the paternity of Ryan in all of this. As that could cause a lot of heart ache for Kate. She does not need to be dealing with that on top of all this. But I have not told her yet, only because Maxine refuses to do the test to find out. She knows I was a perfect match with Ryan with the bone marrow but I did not tell her my fear that maybe that one night 20 years ago would result in Ryan.

Before long, the court was adjourned for the day.

Everyone headed home. Mike and Kate thanked Maxine for coming and being a witness. Maxine said it was the least she could do.