"Yes, sir, we had our difficulties." Trip stared back at Commander Sinclair's impassive face. "Like I've explained, we go back to the start of the NX Project, but any friendship has its ups and downs. When the probe hit and we were sent into the Expanse, Cap'n Archer was under a huge strain – it was bound to tell sometimes."
He knew this was necessary; the defense exposed the bad stuff first and dealt with it out in the open before the prosecution could jump out with it like it was something that someone had tried to keep covered. But that didn't make it feel any better to stand here and say it, especially with the two people you were damning sitting there listening to every word.
Okay, they knew why you had to do it. And they knew he was telling the truth. But sometimes the truth is the hardest thing in the world to hear.
"Can you explain to the court in what way it affected your relationship?"
"Well – he had all that weight on his shoulders, he didn't have the time to be what you'd call a 'friend' anymore. All he cared about – all he could afford to care about – was how well you were doin' your job. An' in my case, that was keepin' the ship runnin'.
"I'm not sayin' he didn't care about Lizzie. He'd met her, he knew her, I know he did care. But he had to shut that side of things away so he could do his job properly. We all knew he had to do it, an' we knew why, but it – it didn't make him easy to work with sometimes."
The word obsessed hung in the air. Like driven and unapproachable.
"And your working relationship with Lieutenant Reed? I understand it had been largely amicable up till then."
"It suffered some," he said in a low voice. "He – he probably coped the best of all of us with the Expanse. And it – sometimes I suppose I kind of envied that."
"Did you envy him for any other reason?"
"I guess so," he mumbled, hating himself for how petty it sounded now. "A little bit. I knew even at the time it was mean, but – England hadn't been attacked. An' he hadn't lost anyone."
"And what was the outcome of this – 'envy'?"
"I – I got pissed off when he tried to talk to me about how to cope with losses when he hadn't had any. It got to the point for a while where I just didn't want to talk to the guy, except when I had to. He was always tryin' his best to help, an' I – I didn't react real well. By that time I was so tired most of the time I didn't know how to react to anything."
"And what would you say your opinion was of his technical abilities?"
A weary smile. "I wouldn't put him in charge of Enterprise's warp engine, but short of that I'd trust him with pretty well anything around the ship; there's a desk an' a big welcome waitin' for him at Starfleet R&D whenever he gets tired of keepin' Enterprise safe while we're explorin' the stars."
S'Hella stood up. "Objection, your Honor. Non-responsive, speculation and conclusion. Motion to strike the answer after 'around the ship'."
Judge Augustine nodded. "Granted. Everything after 'around the ship' to be stricken from the records."
Sinclair inclined his head, accepting the correction before turning back again. "Commander Tucker, please can you give the court your opinion of Lieutenant Reed's record of following orders?
"Lieutenant Reed's one of the most conscientious guys I know. You tell him to do something an' he'll do it or bust himself open tryin'."
"Thank you, Commander." The attorney paused. "Now, would you please explain to the court how you came to have discussions of a technical nature with the Chief Engineer of the Vakhlas?"
