Chapter 815

SENATE HEARING ROOM

FEDERATION CAPITAL

PARIS, EARTH

Eli Gold shuddered when Kang referenced the God of Jacobs. That was just what he was looking up the night before. Gold was curious about the reference. He went on the net to see what it was about. He typed in 'Klingon proverbs' and got way too many. Then he added 'Klingon proverbs 16:7'. There weren't any exact matches. Gold was frustrated that he could not get a good answer. He heard Senator Jameson exchanging words with the Klingons and Starfleet about Jacobs. Jameson was being contentious.

Gold kept scrolling down until something leaped out at him. The Bible had a book in it called Proverbs. He clicked on that and read.

'Proverbs 16:7 When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.'

That was what Kang was referring to. Kang was right. Jacobs had a way about making peace with his enemies. Would he make peace with Jameson? Where did this go? Jameson's hatred for Jacobs was so evident, Gold could not see Jameson making peace with him. But there was that verse. There was still talking going on, Jameson was snapping and yelling, Jacobs was very calmly responding. Occasionally Admiral Adama would say something, then Senator/Admiral April. Strange, Gold was thinking of Senator April more as retired Admiral April, first Captain of the Enterprise.

Jameson and Jacobs. Evil and Good. You could not help but see it. Maybe the average person couldn't see it, but all that Gold had done over the years he could see it plain as day. Gold had been reorganizing his files for some reason between 'Classified' and 'Unclassified' of all the things he had done for Jameson and his organizing Jameson's…. organization. It was really like an old mob crime family. A well-organized crime family. And Gold had kept it running for Jameson. Gold on an impulse typed in 'what happens to evil in the Bible' and looked at the results. Psalm 37:9 popped up and said, "For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth."

Gold's blood ran out from his hands. He clicked on that and the whole chapter 37 came up. He read it through and all he could see was Jacobs and Jameson, good and evil. And Jameson trying to destroy Jacobs. Practically each verse was how God was going to protect those that trust in Him. Gold not only saw it, he believed it. This too also applied to what was happening just as the verse Kang referred to. Gold was watching it happen right in front of him. Time after time Jameson was thwarted in trying to destroy Jacobs. Pete Mitchell was supposed to bring Jacobs down, instead he apologized to Jacobs, in open session, on full broadcast. Jameson had tried to make it sound like Jacobs was holding secrets from the authorities, when it was revealed that Jameson had done it after all. Jameson was going to be destroyed. Kang was right. And Gold was tied to Jameson.

Gold was trying to think on how he could separate from Jameson. Not now, not during the meeting. Something was said in the hearing that made him blink and start to listen.

Jameson asked Adama, "Speaking of contracts, I'm interested in your handling of Starfleet contracts at Starbase 5. You breached the contract with Titan Nanotube…."

Adama sternly said, "No, I did not. Titan wasn't delivering the nanotube on time. We needed nanotube right away…"

Jameson pointed his finger at Adama, "There were ways you could stay in the contract."

"No, there were not. I needed the nanotube immediately, and Zur mining could get me some right away."

Jameson asked, "What did you need all that nanotube for?"

Adama patiently explained, "For the hidden fleet. We used it to net comets to help camouflage the ships."

Jameson shook his head, "And you needed it so fast you couldn't wait for Titan to ship it in?"

"No. They were already behind on scheduled deliveries. We needed this now."

"And Zur could deliver." Jameson asked sarcastically.

"They not only delivered; they delivered immediately." Adama stated with a matter-of-fact look.

"We never got a copy of that contract with Zur." Jameson said.

"It was a handshake agreement." Adama said.

Jameson laughed. "A handshake agreement? I cannot believe it."

Adama looked dryly at Cogley. Cogley nodded. "I brokered it."

Jameson eyed Cogley. "How can we possibly review a handshake agreement?"

Cogley said, "I represent Zur mining as well. It's simple. We gave Starbase 5 as much nanotube as they needed and they would give us Titan's shipment when it came in. Even swap, ton for ton."

Jameson was about to say something when Adama quickly added. "Before you ask about quality, the nanotube that Zur gave us was superior to the material that Titan supplied." Adama turned around to the CEO of Zur who was sitting in the gallery. "Far superior."

Jameson snapped, "That is your opinion! I want only facts."

Adama nodded and typed on his pad. Soon a report popped up on the overhead screens. "Not my opinion. This is a report from Starfleet Bureau of Standards. There is a lot of technical lingo, but bottom line is that in every way Zur mining nanotube far exceeds Titan Nanotube. In a random sampling of Titan's stock, it was substandard to Starfleet specs. If anyone got hurt, it was Zur mining. I want to thank Zur mining for their help and their good quality product."

CHIEF EXECTUTIVE'S OFFICE

TITAN NANOTUBE

IN EARTH MEDIUM ORBIT

CEO Oswald Welch came out of his chair so fast he actually jumped off the floor yelling, "STELLA! Get me that worthless lackey of Jameson's!"

Stella walked in with her datapad. "You mean Eli Gold?"

"Yes! We are being discussed in the biggest news event of the year and we are getting slandered!"

Stella typed a couple of things on her pad. "If the hearing is still underway, he will not answer a call. I'll message him. What do you want to say?"

SENATE HEARING ROOM

FEDERATION CAPITAL

PARIS, EARTH

Gold's communicator buzzed and he opened it to read the message. It was from Titan Nanotube. "GOLD! DON'T LET THEM RUIN ME LIKE THIS! GET JAMESON TO ADMIT SOMETHING, ANYTHING THAT MY PRODUCT IS GOOD! I NEED THIS NOW! IF YOU DON'T, I'LL BE RUINED."

Gold remembered well all the issues. Titan was indefensible. In fact, Titan had intentionally given nanotube that had failed specification testing to Starfleet. Whenever a random sampling was done, it was done before shipping to Starbase 5, and not so random. Inspectors were ushered to the crate to be sampled. Gold typed quickly a reply. "ok".

Gold knew he was in the video feed. So might as well make it look good. If it looked like there was a small argument, even better. He leaned forward to Jameson and whispered, "Senator, remember there are other contracts we want to talk about. Do not spend any more time on this."

Jameson was instantly angry. He turned to Gold and angrily whispered, "I'll do what I want when I want. Just shut up Eli."

Gold stood back up. He looked on the communicator for the files related to fixing the nanotube inspections and put them in the 'Unclasssified' folder.

Jameson turned around and looked at Cogley, "Mr. Cogley, you represent other corporations on Starbase 5?"

Cogley's eyes narrowed. "Am I now a witness instead of council?"

Jameson slowed down. "Are you hiding anything?"

Cogley said, "As you ask for corporation representation, if I represent them, I'll answer. In the meantime, you are asking council for testimony, that is improper."

"This is not a court of law! This is a hearing!"

Cogley nodded, "Then subpoena me, and I'll testify." There was a slight chuckle from the gallery.

Jameson tapped a few buttons. "Admiral Adama, you cancelled contracts with the following corporations with Starbase 5. Shortly after that, you started receiving material from a few other corportaions, why did…"

"Because they were in breach of contracts, and we needed supplies immediately because of the impending Klingon attack." Adama said.

Jameson took a deep breath in and started a question, just then Adama interrupted, "And Mr. Cogley came to us with evidence that they were cheating us."

Jameson looked aghast. "How did Mr. Cogley determine that?"

Adama tapped a few buttons, and spreadsheets started appearing on the screen. "Mr. Cogley just presented the evidence. These reports that are being shown here prove the companies were embezzling money and kickbacking to somebody. We were never able to find out who."

Jameson asked, "How did Mr. Cogley get the books from the companies?"

Nogura leaned forward and said, "Quite simply I was suspicious of some companies that were acting as middlemen. There were several companies that we identified as being middlemen between a local company and Starbase 5. When the matter was raised to me, I recognized certain companies were chaired by former Starfleet personnel and also represented by Mr. Cogley. Rather than us requesting the books from private companies, it seemed easier to supply Mr. Cogley with the relevant information that was given to Starfleet, and let the companies make their decisions."

Jameson looked at Cogley, "You made the decision?"

Cogley sat impassively. All was silent until Captain Jackson said loudly, "I think if you want him to answer that, you got to subpoena him."

Jameson was about to snap at Jackson, but the gallery chuckled. There was something about Jackson's humor that endeared him to the gallery. "Mr Nogura, why."

"Admiral, Senator. You've made that clear before." Nogura said, to some more chuckling from the gallery.

Jameson said sarcastically, "Admiral. Why did you make Starfleet info available to Mr. Cogley's corporations?"

Cogley corrected. "I represent them, they are not mine."

"Who owns them?" Jameson asked.

Jacobs remined impassive. Cogley stated, "Which one?"

Jameson shuffled a tablet, "Let's start with Zur mining. I see they supplied the Starbase with more than nanotube."

Cogley stated, "After Zur discovered wholesale embezzling at High Desert Mining, they contacted me wishing to petition under Federation law to get the contract at High Desert Mining vacated. Once vacated, Zur supplied the necessary material the Starbase needed, at cost, on demand. Bottom line, the Starbase got what it needed to prepare for the attack."

Gold remembered that well, all too well. He had fought a losing battle trying to keep Jameson's corporations' contracts in place. The colonial courts made that impossible. Any court would have done the same. Starbase 5 was a goldmine for Jameson in kickbacks.

Jameson shook his head, "That does not make sense. Why would a company do that? No profit?"

Cogley thought a bit. "You are asking me a question best answered by the COO of Zur mining. May I call Mr. Shoor."

Jameson hammered the gavel. "I did not call Shoor!"

Cogley said, "You asked why they would do that. I'm having them answer. Is there a problem, Senator?" April looked amused at the exchange.

Jameson exclaimed, "The witness hasn't been cleared!"

Cogley stated, "He doesn't need to be cleared, I'm calling him."

Jameson leaned back and asked Gold, "What do you know about him?"

"Former Starfleet, extremely scrupulous, principled, and he is eager for a fight. Do not underestimate him." Gold said almost blandly. He did not expect Jameson to take his advice.

After Shoor was sworn in, Jameson said, "An Andorian on a desert world? It must be difficult."

Shoor looked sternly. No answer. Jameson said, "Anything to say?"

"Senator, you did not ask a question, and I am not in the mood for small talk. You are out for yourself, and I do not want to give you anything I do not have to."

"But you gave Starfleet a lot, didn't you?"

Shoor resisted looking at Jacobs. He kept his gaze on Jameson. "I did. We were in the fight for our lives. It did not matter if the company went bankrupt, I would rather run the company bankrupt and be alive than have a healthy balance sheet and be dead. Ask your chief of staff, he was there."

There was a sudden shift in the room. Gold suddenly felt all eyes fall on him. He remembered that time well. Yes, it was a struggle for survival. It took Gold a while to wake up to the reality, then after he was motivated helping prepare for the invasion, the reality took on a whole new dimension when the attack came. To be in fear of your life is something quite different than any other fear. Jacobs' statement on being threatened by professional killers is right. What was the worst Jameson could do? Throw him in jail? Jameson would never get it.

Gold was looking at the other executives he came to know. He had grown to respect them and what they did. Charles Biddle at Eagle was a good guy. Gold remembered working the sewers with the COO of Windtalker communications, Howard Walker. Gold saw all of them look at him at the statement. Gold nodded acknowledgement. Jameson said, "Mr. Gold is not a witness."

Cogley said, "I'd like to call him as a witness."

Gold started moving and Jameson said, "You cannot call my chief of Staff!"

Cogley argued, "He was there. He would have a proper frame of reference for others on the committee. He was able to know what these people were thinking."

"I'd like to hear Mr. Gold say what he experienced on Starbase 5." Shoor said.

Howard Walker said, "I got to know him quite well. He was a big help to us."

Matt Axelson added, "He was. And the colony would welcome him back in an instant."

Gold was taken aback. It was all complicated, but the emotion of euphoria on surviving had passed. They were saying now honestly that Gold was valued. They did not have to add that to what they said about Gold, but they did. Jameson snapped, "He is not a witness!"

Senator April said, "I move to subpoena Mr. Gold to answer questions from the committee."

It was rapidly seconded and the committee voted on it. Bim Freshligm was the last and was thinking seriously about it. Finally, Bim Freshligm voted against it, making a party line vote and shooting down the motion.

April asked, "Since you are all here, could you describe what was the concern for you? Why did your companies do what they did?"

Walker started, "First, this was all coordinated by the colonial army. We came up with a general strategy, and each of us decided how we could contribute. Windtalker communication decided to wire the entire city with fiber and secure transmitters. We made the civilian city of Starbase to have a highly resilient, secure network. This network provided service to teams in the city fighting Klingons and information into the command center in the bunker."

Shoor added, "For that matter, in addition to supplying Starbase 5 with the raw materials, we also supplied whoever needed raw materials also. Zur mining also made the bunker complex to the north of the city for the use of the civilians."

John Jervis of Indefatigable Fabrication stated, "Committee, I'm John Jervis. COO of Indefatigable Fabrication. Indy was providing whatever products Starbase 5 needed first. Next priority was to provide whatever products that the civilian command needed. Last priority, but not least, was to provide Zayin Arms with whatever material they needed for their program. I'm proud to state that we were able to meet all requests prior to the invasion. I'm also proud of every single employee for recognizing this was our survival and they worked as much as they could physically."

An older, crew-cut fit man stepped up to the table. "Matt Axelson, non-currently serving Marine. I was purged when this committee disbanded the Marines…"

Jameson interrupted, "We didn't disband, they transferred into Starfleet Security."

Axelson was having none of it. He was apparently ready. He held up a sheet of paper. "This is the letter I got concerning the disbanding of the Marines. It acknowledges that it happened, and it also thanks me for my service before kicking me out. Senator." Cogley took the letter and scanned it and put it up on the screens. Axelson looked directly at Jameson. "And you were on the committee at the time, Senator Jameson." April was covering up his mouth stifling a laugh.

"As I was going to say before being rudely interrupted with a false history by Senator Jameson…"

Jameson said, "I will not let you say falsehoods."

"Fine, stop me if I say one, but I have not yet, Senator. As I was saying. One of the big projects Zayin Arms took on was to issue every Starbase citizen with a clean record a type II civilian Phaser."

"I heard about that; you can't do that!"

"Yes, we can and we did. I checked it out with Mr. Cogley and under Federation Law, there is no problem. The goal was to make Starbase City as tough to take over as possible. We also supplied Starbase 5 with as many parts for their own weapons as well as the civilian side."

Charles Biddle stepped up and said, "Charles Biddle, Eagle Transport. We helped the evacuation of civilians as well as shipping whatever needed around the system for Starfleet."

Jameson snapped, "You are the people who didn't let Mr. Gold leave."

Biddle said, "Absolutely." Looking up at Gold he continued, "Mr. Gold, I know you cannot talk right now, but I also know how you pitched in and helped. Thank you for your service." Addressing Jameson. "Why should I give passage to him when all our outbound seats were taken up by women, children, and infirm?"

Jameson opened his mouth and Biddle cut him off. "Because he is from the central government? Because he works for a Senator? If so, then we would be giving preferential treatment to somebody. I was determined that the evacuation would be the order that I just said. Mr. Gold would take his chances because we still had hundreds of women and children who could not get off planet. Also, Eagle was not the only transport service off the planet."

Jameson said, "Mr. Gold couldn't get a ride off planet with anybody!"

"Exactly, so why are you singling Eagle out? Is it because I'm here?"

Jameson snapped, "You've entered into contracts with the Federation for shipping antimatter. I'm beginning to think that you had an unfair advantage in getting that contract."

Biddle answered sternly, "Those are with the Federation, and they come through Starbase 5's system. They stem from a test flight that we did for Starfleet in shipping antimatter."

"Why Eagle?"

Biddle said, "Because the amount of antimatter was very large, it was needed at the Starbase immediately, and we could do it. Nobody else stepped up to the task. What is your interest in how we got the contract? You are Starfleet Oversight, not Unfair Practices."

Jameson turned red. "Because Starfleet asked you specifically."

Adama leaned forward and said, "Eagle Transport was chosen and provided the service at-cost. The billing has been reviewed. During transport, they lost a container, which puts them significantly at loss."

Jameson said exasperated. "It doesn't make sense to me that Eagle would do that."

Biddle said, "The Owner of Eagle has not wanted to deal with Starfleet for their own reasons. This job came up as part of Starbase 5's readiness, and it needed to be done quickly. We agreed as long as we would turn no profit so as to remove any chance of being seen as defrauding the government."

"But why…."

Biddle said sternly, "Because we were in a fight for our lives. Most every citizen at Starbase 5 was doing whatever they could, sacrificially, to help prepare for the invasion because if we didn't, we'd be dead."

Jameson sat there fuming. April picked up the questioning. "Just to be clear, the owners of the corporations represented here saw that it was a total commitment to prepare for the coming Klingon invasion. So the owners, who hadn't previously done business with Starfleet, started doing business at cost?"

Biddle shook his head, "No sir. We started in at cost, but because of things happening, such as the destruction of my containers, and the use of one of our ships to supply the hidden fleet, we operated at a loss."

Shoor said, "We operated at a huge loss. Our stock has been depleted, and some of our machinery has been ruined. Add to that, we wore out a lot of mining equipment in digging the bunker for the civilians, and digging the resupply bunkers on the Starbase 5 moon for Starfleet. Much of this we did not bill, because the services came up at a last minute, and we just did what was needed for the Starbase."

April was genuinely surprised. "I have not heard that. Do you have an account?"

Shoor nodded and tapped on his pad. The spreadsheets came up on the screens. The committee was looking at them in wonder. Bim Freshligm asked, "You lost that many drones?"

Shoor nodded, "Yes. Those losses were a good example of something that was needed right then, and we supplied."

Bim Freshligm asked, "What is the state of your company?"

"It will take a while to rebuild, all our stores as I said are gone. We spent a lot of money getting material put on Eagle's return flights after dropping off evacuees. Zur is significantly in debt right now."

Bim Freshligm asked, "And the owner wanted this?"

Shoor said, "The owner knew that you can't take money and property into death." Shoor looked at Gold. "Some people figured that out." Then Shoor looked at Jameson, "And some people will never figure that out."

April asked, "To the COO's represented, how many of your corporations lost money in supporting Starbase 5's buildup?"

They all raised their hands. April continued, "And what Mr. Shoor said about the owner of Zur applies to the owners of your corporations?"

Jacobs really had to stifle a smile, they all replied "Yes". If the committee only knew that it was not separate owners for each corporation, but one for all of them. And it was Jacobs. That fact was not for public knowledge, and Jacobs and Cogley had worked hard to keep it that way.

April said, "So Starfleet and the civilian city got a lot of benefit without paying fair market share for it. Senator Jameson, I fail to see why you are concerned."

"I'm concerned that…" Jameson started.

"They are not adequately compensated for what they provided? I could not agree more. This is something that we should address. Would each of you please send us a detailed accounting of what you supplied against what you were compensated?" April asked.

Cogley said, "The accounting has already been done. We will provide that along with detailed accounting in our dealings with the corporations that had contracts cancelled. It will prove not only that embezzlement was happening, but also to the extent. Perhaps an investigation can be done to see where the money has gone."

"Do you have an idea where it has gone?" April asked.

Cogley looked directly at Jameson, "I have suspicions, but this is a hearing dealing in fact. I have no facts as to where it has gone." Jameson felt uncharacteristically concerned about Cogley's statement. It was like Cogley was looking into his soul. Gold knew that it would not be hard to find the money trail to Jameson. Gold was Jameson's lackey, and he was over in Starbase 5 trying to get the contracts reinstated. It's not going to be hard for anyone to put that together.

Jameson said, "Moving on from that…"

April interjected, "Not so fast. One more question relating to this. We have heard that everybody was concerned about the Klingons invading. So much that we have corporations that not only passed up a chance to get profit, they incurred much debt. We also know that the citizens of Starbase 5 were frantically working to prepare for the invasion. So much to the point that Zayin arms gave every citizen a phaser. That is amazing."

April sat quietly for a moment. The whole room became quiet. "I can think of times in history where there was an invasion that was met by huge resistance. The Alamo for instance. They evacuated the women and children, but the men stayed behind to delay Santa Anna long enough for General Houston to prepare his forces deeper in Texas. The story of the 300 Spartans led by King Leonaidas holding back the Persians at Thermopylae. Others as well, but I can't think of them right now."

Jameson said boringly, "Get to your point."

"In those cases, people did the extraordinary because they knew they were under a lethal threat. They sacrificed what they had to protect others. They knew that the enemy was coming." April looked at the witness table, full of Starfleet and the COO's of corporations that were instrumental in defending Starbase 5. "How did they know that the Klingons were coming?"

Jameson said sarcastically, "The Klingons did attack."

April nodded, "Yes, we know that looking back. Hindsight is sometimes 20/20, but sometimes in this town we still need glasses." The room chuckled at that. April turned to Jameson, "It's amazing you say that, because just a few weeks ago, you were arguing that the Klingons were not going to attack at all, then you argued that they were going to come to Earth."

Jameson got angry and defensive, "I said…"

April held up his hand, "It's on the record, and my question isn't directed about you. It's about them." April motioned to the witness table. "How did they know the Klingons were going to attack? To the point they sacrificed fortune and life for defending others?"

There was a stir in the room. April asked, "Who would like to field that question? How did you know the Klingons were coming with the certainty that you had?"

Adama leaned forward and said, "As commander of Starbase 5, I suppose the story should be told by me."