Chapter 810

SENATE HEARING CHAMBER

PARIS, EARTH

People were filing in and milling around the chamber. The Starfleet contingent was standing behind the table talking when Commander Hotchner entered from the rear of the chamber. Hotchner had his arm in a sling with some kind of apparatus covering the arm like a cast with blinking lights. Captain Jacobs walked up to him, "It's good to see you, Hotch! How goes the recovery?"

Hotchner stood straight and to the unfamiliar, stoic. To his shipmates, he almost smiled. "Very well, thank you."

Dr. Mallard was also walking with him and said, "His prognosis is good for a complete recovery." The lack of a smile on his face was telling.

Jacobs looked at both, "What's wrong?"

Hotchner said, "The level of regeneration is high, and must be closely monitored. The equipment cannot be on a starship as the warp fields will interfere with the calibrations."

Jacobs looked at both again. "So, we wait."

Mallard added, "For six weeks."

Jacobs frowned. "Never leave a man behind."

"I'm afraid you'll have to Captain." Hotchner said.

"Ok, we'll figure that out later. For now, you are here. Have you been following the hearings?"

"Closely, Captain."

Jacobs indicated Cogley, "Good. Your observational skills will supplement Mr. Cogley's. I want you to sit on his other side."

Senator Jameson entered in the door behind all the Senator's benches. "Senator Jameson has entered the room. Let's all take our places." Jacobs indicated.

Jameson gaveled the room to order. He looked at a pad and said, "We have covered the first two missions that the Wisconsin performed. In order to frame the rest of the missions, I need to ask Captain Jacobs some questions."

Jacobs leaned forward to the microphone. He sat quietly. Something in the way he was sitting being ready for a question was unsettling to Jameson. Another awkward silence ensued. Jameson finally asked, "Captain Jacobs, how much do you rely on your officers for advice?"

Jacobs wasn't expecting this. "I rely on them a lot."

"More so than other Captains?"

Jacobs shook his head, "I couldn't say."

"It would seem to me that you should have all the answers already. You are the Captain after all, why ask their advice? Who is in charge?"

Jacobs squinted narrowly, "To answer your second question first, I'm in charge and the one responsible. In order to make the best decisions, I ask opinions of my senior staff."

"And they help you?"

"Of course. They are good officers. It would be foolhardy not to tap into their experience."

Jameson handled a pad. "It wasn't just you that decided to violate the Prime Directive in your mission to Tangia."

Jacobs shook his head, "We did not violate the Prime Directive. We were very careful to stay inside the Prime Directive."

Jameson looked at his pad, "It wasn't only once, but twice you violated the Prime Directive." There was a stir in the room.

Admiral Adama leaned forward and stated, "That mission was fully reviewed by myself and.."

Jameson cut him off, "And Starfleet Command. All of you are in this together."

Admiral Nogura said flatly, "Then let us tell the story, you mischaracterize what happened. You are prejudicing what happened."

Jameson asked rhetorically, "Then why did you convene a review board? Why the concern?"

Admiral Nogura stated, "That is standard practice on any contact with a civilization that hasn't been classified as star faring."

"Then you do admit that they weren't star farers!"

Nogura shook his head. "I think that Captain Jacobs needs to tell his story without you trying to testify for him, Senator." That elicited a few chuckles from the gallery. Jameson flushed with anger at that.

In the silence, Jacobs decided to start the story. "We were at warp proceeding to Tangia. While enroute, we picked up a Tangian transmission from a star system just behind us. After consulting with the staff, I decided to come about and proceed to the source of that transmission. We discovered a colony that had taken a hundred years to travel the distance of one light year at sub-light speed."

"That sounds like it would be too risky… Nobody would do that." Jameson said.

"It is on record in many ways. The Tangians decided to launch a mission. The whole world made the decision. It was going to be several missions, but they cancelled their space program after the first. The colony named itself the Planters, and soon found out they were the only ship to make it. When we came to the planet, we made the careful decision to contact them in accordance with the Prime Directive."

"That's not true, you blundered on their station and they caught you."
Jacobs shook his head, "No they didn't."

Jameson tapped a couple of buttons and said, "The Planter's commander says differently."

The viewscreen showed Paoto sitting in a dull room talking to the camera. "We looked up just after sunset when the station was passing overhead and noticed it was brighter than normal. We were concerned that maybe the station was venting, so we started checking the external cameras. One of them caught two frames of the Wisconsin warping out."

Jameson said, "You were caught."

Jacobs said, "No I wasn't. You aren't playing the whole tape."

"I am playing the relevant part."
Jacobs looked at Adama. Admiral Adama said, "The Planters followed up with us. They mentioned that your office wanted them to come here and testify, but since they were unwilling to leave, they basically answered your questions."

"I did not…."

Adama said, "Not only that, but you promised with their cooperation they would get a colonist package from the Federation."

There was a stir in the room once again. Jameson blurted, "Not true!"

Cogley said, "Good thing this isn't a real court of law, that would be called witness tampering."

Before Jameson could answer Adama pushed a button and said, "This is the rest of Paoto's statement."

"Of course, we didn't know it was the Wisconsin. We thought it might be a lens flare or something. We were not thinking aliens. By the way, Senator Jameson, I know that my answers are not what you wanted, and this will probably mean we will not get that colonist package, but my team was prepared to colonize this world without external help. Our integrity means more than lying to please a benefactor."

Jameson was flushed with anger. "I still say you were caught."

Jacobs continued, "The evidence and testimony does not show that. It does show the character of the Planters. And, frankly, it shows the character of you in the way you characterize the original question."

Jameson ignored the accusation, "You mean the Tangian colony."

Jacobs shook his head, "One of the sociologists can explain better. The point I'm getting at is that the Planters colony is not representative of the Tangian population. They did not take a cross section of their population, but their best and brightest."

Jameson scoffed, "So what?"

Jacobs said, "Your charge is that we interfered with a world that according to the Prime Directive says no formal contact. My crew and I determined that they fulfilled first contact requirements."

"You are playing loose with the wording of the law." Jameson said.

"Not so. Starfleet makes first contact practically every day with a new species. The vast majority of those are out in deep space, where two interstellar ships meet. The prerequisite of interstellar travel is well known."

"It is."

Jacobs said flatly. "There is no denying that they have traveled to another star. At great risk. They fulfilled the requirements."

"But they don't have warp drive!" Jameson said.

Jacobs countered, "Not all races have warp drive. Starfleet has come across races whose methods of propulsion still evades us. Are we not to contact a more advanced race because they do not have warp drive? The requirement was interstellar travel. Period. The presumption is that for a species to travel interstellar distances they will be ready to meet aliens."

Senator April started his time. "And that is why you made the decision for first contact?"

Jacobs nodded. "I avoided detection the best I could until my staff could confer. We eventually decided to make first contact. We followed protocols and quickly made some new friends. Planters' world is a friend to the Federation."

April nodded, "That's all in the report, Captain. The big question I've wanted to ask you was why did you make contact?"

Jacobs leaned forward, "That is what we do. We seek new civilizations. Right there on Planter's world was a new civilization. Add to that the apparent mystery on how they got there."

Jameson grumbled, "He just wants to contact primitives."

April turned and said, "Excuse me, Senator Jameson, this is my time and that is unfounded and uncalled for."

Jameson glared. April continued, "How did first contact go?"

Jacobs said, "It went well. We contacted them first by radio, then we flew a shuttlecraft down to meet them in person. They were able to fill in what happened to them."

Senator Bim Freshligm raised a hand to Senator April. "Senator Bim Freshligm wants to use a little of my time. Go ahead Senator."

"Thank you, Senator April. Captain Jacobs, your first team had mainly humans, right?"

Jacobs nodded, "Primarily, yes."

"Why not any other species?"

Jacobs said, "In first contact scenarios, it's generally best to try to limit the differences. Tangians mostly resemble humans. Humans and those that can pass for humans easily are what we chose."

"I notice no Tellarites were on the mission."

Jacobs nodded, "As of this mission, the Tellarites in my crew did not fit this first contact mission. I did not want to surprise them with too much. I also did not include the Andorians for the same reason. Or Saurians for that matter. Even in the Federation, some people still have problems with interacting with kinds of races that do not remotely resemble humans."

"But they are humanoid."

Jacobs nodded, "A term very broadly used. The way you are using it now is basically a being two arms and two legs standing erect, mostly. It's sometimes applied to Edosians, but I don't think that a three armed or legged man will go over well on first contact with biped humanoids."

Senator April looked at Senator Bim Freshligm. "Senator, do you have further questions on my time?"

Bim Freshligm shook his head, "No, I do not. I did not mean to imply anything against Captain Jacobs. From what his testimony about his former Navigator, I know he does not have anything against Tellarites. I merely wanted to know why no Tellarites were on the first contact mission."

Jacobs added, "Thank you, Senator."

April looked at the tablet. "Please go on with your narrative."

Jacobs sighed. "We had a good meet and greet. We decided to bring down fixings for a picnic for the entire colony, and they were introduced to the concept of the transporter. After their initial shock of meeting aliens for the first time, they were introduced to some of the more exotic members of our crew, including Tellarites." Jacobs said with a nod to Bim Freshligm. "The Planters were fascinated by our crew. During this time, an idea formed with me to offer to bring some of them along to our investigation of Tangia. They may have cultural or even technical expertise that can help the investigation. We left an away party behind with provisions and we took Paoto and Lrnta and another couple with us to Tangia."

"Entering their system, we came across a few of their probes they sent out into their solar system. The technology level was consistent with early to mid-twenty-first century Earth. Before going to Tangia, we stopped by their Moonbase to see what we could learn."

"What did you learn, Captain?"

"Basically, the indications were a classic, regressive society."

April asked, "Could you explain that?"

Jacobs looked at Hotchner. "My Chief Science officer could do a better job. Commander Hotchner?"

Hotchner leaned forward. "It was a textbook example of a society that advances to a point then starts to withdraw into itself for some reason. They stopped launching manned and unmanned probes. Once all the manned deep space flights were done, they shut down their moonbase. After we started investigating Tangia itself, we discovered they did not have the capability for spaceflight for decades. The whole cause of us being tasked to Tangia was because Tangia stopped their high-powered radio transmissions. I'm skipping to the conclusion, but the planet at its most advanced was probably early twenty-first century with notable exceptions."

Jameson started with his time. "All fine. So they turned selfish and stopped flying."

Hotchner shook his head. "No, Senator, they did not. You mischaracterize what happened."

Jacobs said, "Is there a question, Senator?"

Jameson glared at Jacobs. "I'm interested in the contact you had and the virus you captured."

Jacobs nodded, "First the virus. It's standard procedure once we come across a disease to get a sample for study later. In this case, Tangia was suffering from what appeared to be effects of a pandemic. Naturally, we took procedures to keep us from getting contaminated…"

Jameson interrupted, "But one of your crew nearly died."

Jacobs nodded, "Yes, one of our crew nearly died. He was bit by a snake that was host to the virus."

"He should have had better protection."

Jacobs squinted. "He had on a full EVA suit suitable for spacewalking. The fangs of the snake were so sharp to go through all layers and into his leg. It was a desert dwelling snake and we theorize the snake's fangs were designed to go through the thick hide of desert animals."

"Designed? You mean evolved." Jameson added trying to bait the Captain. "Or is that part of your religion?"

Jacobs answered. "My beliefs have been on record. It is well to know that many secular scientists use the term 'intelligent design' to describe the intricacy and delicacy of biological systems. Senator, do you wish to burn time discussing snake fangs or go on to what happened to the mission?"

There were chuckles in the audience. Jameson felt a flash of panic. "Go on."

"Mr. Denozzo was infected with snake venom and the virus. The snake venom was counteracted quickly, but the virus was not. We eventually found the solution in one of the plants."

Jameson added, "Which one of the indigenous people gave to you. After seeing a shuttle land and you walk in spacesuits."

Jacobs nodded, "That was unavoidable. Fortunately, I passed us off as coming from a country far away. They bought it as the main power there, the 'Central Authority', had some relatively advanced technology in their living memory. To those people, there was no difference between a helicopter-like thing and our shuttle. The people were generous and their cure worked."

"The cure allowed us to have normal clothes on future landing parties. We found much more evidence of Cdr Hotchner's regressive society."

Bim Freshligm asked, "How bad? You mentioned something about a totalitarian government."

Jacobs summed it up. "Yes, to sum up the situation, the Tangian government engineered the virus from snakes, caused an outbreak, scared the world to take a vaccine that ultimately killed off the undesirable part of the population, caused the 'chosen remnants' to live in walled-in cities, and with the dwindling resources, killed anyone that wasn't healthy enough to contribute."

The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Jacobs continued, "The undesirables that didn't get killed off by either the virus or vaccine had a natural immunity. They are growing, thriving. They are at a more primitive level, but are growing."

"What about the 'Central Authority'?" Jameson asked.

"They are dying. Something is happening to their birth rates. Their birth rates are dropping, and they are killing off people who they think cannot contribute their worth."

Jameson shifted tablets. "Yes, I remember you stealing babies. We should add kidnapping to the charges."

April said, "Captain, please explain."

Jacobs took in a big breath. "During our investigating time, we got word back from the Planters. One of the mysteries was that they were not having babies there. It was only a year, but no pregnancies. Our medical team determined that their extended time in suspended animation made them sterile. This means certain death to the colony. At the same time, we discovered that the Tangians were taking babies with birth defects and quite literally throwing them away."

Jameson scoffed, "You exaggerate."

"Not so, there is something particularly evil working there. It went beyond killing the babies."

Jameson squinted his eyes at the Captain. "Evil, how can you determine it?"

Cdr Hotchner said, "Quite easily, Senator." This startled everyone. The Vulcan continued, "If the objective were to simply get rid of babies they could not afford to care for, they could easily kill them with some form of medicine, then dispose of the bodies. They were not doing this. They were taking the babies alive and throwing them into incinerators. We found no evidence that they killed the babies before throwing them into the fire."

The crowd was hushed once again. Jameson said, "Who are you to judge that society? Did that justify your interference?"

Jacobs kept an even, steady look at Jameson. "We did not interfere. We saw an opportunity to help the Planters and save some babies."

"By playing God."

Jacobs raised an eyebrow. "It's interesting that you say that phrase being an avowed atheist. I was not playing God. We came across a number of babies that we could cure, save them from being killed at the hands of the 'Central Authority', and help out the Planters populate their world."

"SO, you admit to interfering with the natural evolution of the Planters! You never should have taken the babies there."

Jacobs shook his head, "Starfleet does humanitarian missions all the time. We save worlds from extinction…"

"Worlds that have had first contact." Jameson added.

Jacobs said, "Planters' world did have first contact, Senator. We were just talking about it earlier. You were mad that I made first contact." More chuckles from the audience.

Jameson was fighting back panic. He never had these feelings before in hearings. He controlled the hearing and he was the one who destroyed people. Jameson not only could not read people, but now he was getting trapped by his own words.

"If there is any evil here, it is you, Captain! You went against the Prime Directive! You went against the normal progression of two worlds!"

Cogley pointed at a box on the pad. The box was a ruler on how to gauge the strength of responses. Jacobs saw to be aggressive. "Senator, are you arguing that I'm evil by trying to save fifty innocent babies from death, and help out a society that has had first contact with their full survival? By that extension, you are arguing that when we have the power, we should sit on our heels and do nothing while babies are being killed and another society goes extinct. I ask the committee, to which choice is evil?" The room was silent once again. Jacobs continued. "I made the choice, so if anyone is to suffer the consequences it is I, the Captain. You asked earlier about how my leadership functions on the ship. In a decision this momentous, it would be foolish not to get the best advice you can, and I did."

Jacobs looked at all the senators. "The decision I made was this: to put an operation into play that we could get the babies that we could cure, do so without revealing ourselves as aliens, and give them to the Planters. This would be all in accordance with the Prime Directive."

Jameson said. "That is risky. What would most Starfleet Captains choose to do?"

Jacobs shook his head, "As I said before, I have a tough enough time answering for myself, not for the hypothetical Captain."

"Your operation was fraught with problems!"

Jacobs said, "It was complex, and made even more difficult because the transporters could not be used easily. We initially landed using shuttles but Commander Santini was able to modify the pattern enhancers to make limited use of the transporters. We landed, infiltrated the walled city, grabbed the babies, and got them back to the transport site."

"I read that one of your officers passed herself off as a Tangian. How did she do that?" Jameson asked.

Jacobs said, "Lt Maya. She can change her shape for a brief amount of time."

Jameson shook his head, "I wasn't aware of a race in the Federation that could do that."

Jacobs said, "There isn't. She is the last of her kind."

"I want to meet her."

Jacobs stayed quiet. Jameson ordered, "I want to meet her!"

Jacobs answered. "First, Senator, while you are the chairman, you are not the dictator. I'd be happy to ask her to come if the committee wants her to come, but it must be the committee's decision."

Jameson fumed. Senator Bim Freshligm said, "I'd like to meet her also. She was on your first contact, and I have seen her name in other missions."

Jacobs was thinking rapidly. He glanced at Cogley, who gave a very slight nod. "She is a good officer and has been key in many places."

April was looking around and caught the look between Cogley and Jacobs. "Captain, what are her strengths?"

Jacobs was not sure where this was going. "She has many. If the committee thinks her testimony is relevant, then call her as a witness."

April said, "I move that the committee call Lt Maya as a witness."

Bim Freshligm said, "Second."

Jameson was bewildered. He was thinking to call her just to push Jacobs around, but it happened so fast that he felt like the carpet got pulled out from underneath him. "All in favor say 'aye'."

The motion carried unanimously. Where was this going? Jacobs turned to Lt Jareau and gave the order. Jameson continued, "In the meantime, you had a firefight with the Tangians."

"Yes sir."

"How many did you kill?"

"None, Senator." Jacobs answered.

"I find that hard to believe."

Jacobs explained, "We had our escape planned for this contingency. We had explosives planted, detonators, and we were using our firearms. While they were not Tangian, they were of that technology level and would not lead them to thinking aliens were the cause. As you have seen, the Badgers are good marksmen."

"Was that your plan? To have a shootout?"

Jacobs shook his head. "No Senator, it was not. We had to get through that last checkpoint exiting the city. We intended to smooth-talk our way through the gate, but things fell apart and a fight happened, cars were coming and we had to delay them."

"By shooting at them."

Jacobs said, "There was no danger to them. I test fired one of their weapons at a car nearby. The bullet at close range did not penetrate the windshield. We fired some rounds at the cars, obviously they got the message because they stopped and waited for backup. In that time, we made our escape."

"What about the stowaway girl?" Jameson asked. "She was not part of your plan. You took someone from Tangia that was not meant to be taken. She could have been their next Marie Curie, or Joan of Arc."

Jacobs eyed Jameson evenly. "You refer to Erily. Erily is an exceptional young girl. She was the only Tangian that we know of that figured us out. It is common for children to see through our disguises, she went one step more. She saw and tracked the Wisconsin for a couple of nights."

April was genuinely surprised, "How?"

"Her bed was near a window. At night she would stargaze. She knows her local stars quite well. She spotted us as something not normal, and noticed as the night would go on, the Wisconsin did not move with the other stars. We were in Standard Orbit holding position with antigravity, so we would not move relative to the surface. She saw this over long observation times."

Jacobs shifted. "Erily figured out that we were spacemen, and were going to make a play for the babies. She spent a lot of time caring for the babies and ran into us when we were doing our survey. As I said before, she knew who we were pretty much right away. When the truck came to haul the babies away, she hid in the truck and we didn't discover her until too late."

"You should have stuck to your plan and left her behind. You forever changed the course of that planet." Jameson added, "If you never took on this plan of yours, she would still be on the planet she was meant to be on!"

Jacobs shook his head. "I will concede nothing. She knew about us, she wanted to go with us, and to leave her behind would have caused the damage to that society you are afraid of."

Jameson shot back, "What about her disappearance?"

Jacobs looked at him. "What about it?"

"Her disappearance will have questions. They will be concerned for her."

Jacobs stated, "Not likely. She was one in an orphanage of thousands. They have destroyed the family. She has never met her parents; the state takes them right after birth. The state raises them up and by the looks of it, kids are largely neglected."

"A moral judgement from you."

Jacobs shook his head. "Not so. Instead of having parents per kid, they have kids per caregiver. Children are denied the one thing they need to flourish."

Jameson said, "What's that?"

"Love. The Central Authority by their actions look at people as resource users. That's one reason why they underwent population decrease and population control. The Central Authority regularly kills off people who they feel will use resources ineffectively. If you are handicapped in any way, they 'recycle' you. That's how we got the babies. We literally took their trash out. Erily sought us out and once she found us, it was literally past the point of no return."

"Just admit it Jacobs, you didn't have the heart to leave her behind." Jameson accused. "You are listing facts that came to factor after your decision."

Jacobs thought quickly. There was no way to see how the answer would play out. He looked at Cogley. Cogley handed him a pad. Jacobs looked at the pad. "With the committee's permission. I'd like to show you something."

The committee nodded. Jameson said, "Go ahead."

Jacobs pushed a couple of buttons. On the screens overhand a video started playing. Jacobs said, "This is what I saw on Tangia." The cities were vacant, being abandoned for years. There were some places of broken windows. Many doors were broken in. Inside one of the buildings the shelves were empty, trash on the floor. The scene shifted to inside the walled city. Buildings that looked similar to barracks that weren't well cared for. Some people shuffling around going from one place to another. The hospital looked dingy and primitive. Many of the lights were out, paint peeling off the walls. The room of the rejected babies that were crying, nurses indifferently walking past. One young girl about five years old was next to one of the cribs comforting a baby. The girl was dressed in tattered, old clothes. "That girl is Erily." It was obvious that she was concerned for the kids. The scene shifted to one of the orphanages. The room looked like a dingy warehouse with cots in rows and columns. Hundreds of kids clothed in worn-out clothes. The clothes looked like they were decades old. The scene shifted to outside a factory where people were shuffling presumably going to work. In the distance a limousine approached and drove past. "That car contains members of the 'Central Authority'." The people barely acknowledged the presence of the car, only to get out of the way. The scene shifted to out in the country, showing fields with crops growing. It was apparent that the crops were not well cared for.

Bim Freshligm asked, "Was that inside the walled city?"

"No, it was not. They grew their food outside. They would harvest it and then bring it inside for processing."

"Something I'm missing. Why the walled cities?"

Jacobs explained. "The Central Authority claimed that there were enemies to them outside the cities and needed the wall to protect the people."

"Yet their food came from outside." Bim Freshligm said.

"Not only that, but there were some people that lived in government housing outside the cities near the fields. It is one of many inconsistencies."

"Why all the pretense, it doesn't make sense." Bim Freshligm asked.

Jacobs turned to Hotchner. Hotchner stated, "It served the purpose of always having an enemy to protect against. The people were willing to sacrifice their freedom for security. It followed also with the virus. The people were taking the good vaccine to prevent them from getting the virus, but the Central Authority was still pumping out the virus into the atmosphere to infect anyone else. That was their way not only to keep the fear going but to also keep the population under control."

The images kept coming. Rundown infrastructure. Rusting equipment. People wearing tremendously worn-out clothing. Back to pictures along the border of the city. A walled city with guard towers.

Senator Hermann, from Jameson's party, asked, "That sounds like a nightmare. That place looks like a prison."

Jacobs nodded quietly. "This was Erily's world. Now here is where she lives." He touched a button. Videos and images showed the Planter's colony. In the distance was the landing strip with the shuttles parked. In the foreground were temporary shelters. Green grass everywhere. Trees were spread around making a pleasant, shaded area. One building was under construction. Garden plots were behind some of the temporary shelters. Erily comes running out of one of the shelters up to Lrnta and jumps up and gives her a hug. Lnrta hugs back. Finally, a photo showing all fifty couples holding one baby each. Paoto, Lrnta, also had Erily in the front. "This is the Planters colony when we left."

Senator April asked, "I read your report, tell us in your own words how your mission ended."

Jacobs stopped the show with the Planters portrait on the screens. "We evac'd the babies and our own personnel up through the transporter enhancer. It was concealed in a field of something akin to corn. I was the last to transport up and the only things left behind were the enhancers."

Bim Freshligm asked, "I'm not familiar with them. What are they?"

Jacobs stood up. "They are basically a pole with a light on top. It is of course more than that but basically that's what they look like. At the bottom of the pole is a case roughly the size of a large suitcase which contains most of the electronics. We fixed thermite grenades inside each one to burn after the last use. Once I beamed up, the thermite would burn all the equipment beyond recognition."

"What was left behind was numerous bullets, no casings because we were using caseless ammo, some holes and damage used by explosives. The explosives were fabricated with materials that was consistent with their science so there would be nothing unusual in the residue. A few stolen vehicles which we torched to destroy any evidence. And lastly our transport site that had the destroyed transport enhancers."

Jameson said, "They could recover the debris and reverse engineer them, or at least discover the science far exceeds theirs."

"I think not. Thermite burns at over 2800 degrees centigrade. That will not only melt steel but burn it. Each handheld grenade is sufficient to completely destroy the equipment. Two grenades would completely destroy the electronics inside one of our shuttles. We used four. One for each enhancer." Silence. Jacobs continued, "We left some surveillance satellites in orbit to listen in to their dwindling radio capability along with optical, IR, and radar surveillance. There are also three Command and Control Satellites in high orbit with interstellar communications capability."

"Enroute to Planters world the medical staff triaged and operated as necessary on the babies. Most of the operations were minor. All were successful. Once we arrived, the colonists adopted the babies and we left an interstellar communications package behind for them."

Jameson said, "Why do that? They are primitives."

Jacobs shook his head. "Not so. The Planters learn fast and they are also part of the interstellar community. It was a trade."

"What could they possibly give us?"

"Information. We gave them access to the Tangian satellite system. We saw an opportunity to use a colony of scientists who know the culture to monitor and report what they see." Jacobs said.

Admiral Nogura added, "Captain Jacobs' deal with the Planters put us years ahead of where we could be. We now have somebody that can give us insight as to the culture behind what is going on. Also, they are extremely motivated to find out what is going on. They were also given a complete copy of what we discovered at Tangia's internet backup facility. The information they are giving us is invaluable and remarkable." Nogura touched a couple of buttons on his screen and a list came up. "This is a list of papers that have already been written in the Federation on just the data that Planters have turned up in the first month since the Tangian visit."

April asked, "What makes Starfleet assess that they are part of the interstellar community?"

Nogura turned to Jacobs, "I think Captain Jacobs' initial assessment of first contact with the Planters was correct. That colony fulfilled the intent of the Prime Directive. They completed an interstellar journey. They were prepared to survive and meet any unknowns. They were also prepared to die for what they believed, that the colony could be founded. They proved that they were ready to meet other civilizations. They are part of the interstellar community."

Jameson sarcastically said, "And how would they defend themselves against hostile races like the Klingons?"

Everyone looked at the Klingon delegation. Kang looked angry. Kor looked amused. Gorkon smiled then stood up, drawing attention to him. "We now have come from not being a threat to being hostile? Which is it, Senator? Are we a threat? As for the Planters' world, I have the authority to state that the Klingons will not do any harm toward Planters' world. We recognize them as autonomous, independent from Tangia and the Federation. We also look on with great respect for what Captain Jacobs did in saving those babies. Planters' world will be considered neutral territory by the Klingon Empire."

Jameson muttered, "Klingons saving babies…"

Gorkon shot right back. "Senator, you obviously believe the Klingon Empire to be barbaric. There is no honor in slaying innocent life. I look at you as barbaric for arguing that they should not be saved."

Jameson squinted, "Do not come as the moral victor. Klingons never would have saved those babies."

Gorkon smiled, "Are you now defending Jacobs' in his saving of those babies? To which is it, Senator? You change sides like the flip of a coin. Perhaps the Klingon Empire will go save a batch of babies like what Jacobs did just to prove a point."

Jameson snapped. "You can't! The Prime Directive…"

"Is your law, not ours thankfully. To have a law that prevents you from doing right. That is insane. And you call Klingons Barbaric. Senator Jameson, to which side will you stand? Defending Jacobs in the rescue of the babies, or attack him and his decision and side with us barbaric Klingons?"

Jacobs shared a knowing look with Cogley. Jacobs wanted to smile but could not. Not without ruining this moment.

Jameson looked at the time. "We will pause for an hour break. After that we expect Lt Maya to testify." He said menacingly.

Everyone stood up and started milling in and out. The Starfleet contingent huddled up quickly.

Nogura started, "Good job Josh. And all of you. I think this was a win. How do you read them Sam?"

Cogley nodded, "We did not hurt ourselves. I think Josh is good. It is interesting, the weakest point of the case was his decision to take Erily. That was nicely handled and I was watching the expressions of the Senators. You were successful in making the connection with them. I doubt that Jameson will even get a motion against the operation in any way. What about you, Commander? You're an expert in body language also."

Hotchner nodded, "I agree. I also saw something in Senator Jameson I have not seen before."
Jacobs asked, "What?"

Hotchner said, "Panic."

SENATOR JAMESON'S OFFICE

Jameson threw the pad against the wall, shattering the coverglass. "WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THERE?"

Gold was calmly looking at what was happening. "You got out what happened on Tangia."

"But I can't pin Jacobs down. He is so slippery!"

Gold shook his head. "No, Senator he is not. He is hitting you back head on. Not sliding past."

"What should I do?"

Gold thought for a while. This is remarkable. Jameson asking him for advice. "You don't really need my advice, just stick to your plan. You are getting in trouble when you go off plan."

"But I did go according to plan!"

"Not really. You got distracted with the issue of Lt Maya. Why?" Gold asked. "We never discussed the secondary officers on the Wisconsin before. Why now?"

Jameson said, "From what I read I find her interesting. I wanted to meet her."

Gold said, "Sure, you thought she was strikingly beautiful, and you actually thought you could use the committee to meet her."

"I DID NOT! How dare you…"

Gold had tapped a couple of buttons and interrupted Jameson by showing him a picture. "Remember her?"

Jameson saw the face as familiar. "Yes. Sort of."

"Agent Martel. Federation Intelligence Directorate. Code name Tiger. You saw her picture in a briefing and decided to call her in for testimony. Same exact setup."

"So?"

"It was a waste of time. It was apparent to everyone that it was you just using your position. Fortunately for you, it was closed session so the public never saw you make a mess of it."

Jameson snapped. "I never…"

"You did, not only her but there was Lieutenant Commander.."

"Enough! I get your point."

Gold said, "Forget the past and chewing me out over what is happening. We now have less than a half hour to come up with questions that will not make you look foolish."

EAGLE POINT RESORT

LA RONGE, SASKETCHEWAN

Mitchell was fixing himself a sandwich. All was quiet in the suite. Mitchell said to the lawyer, "You know, everything that Jameson has tried to do so far has collapsed on him. I know this woman he has called. It's not going to go good."

The lawyer turned around, "How so?"

Mitchell started eating his sandwich. "Maya is smart. The problem with Jameson is that he thinks he is the smartest person in the room. I guarantee you with Maya he isn't." Mitchell chewed on his bite for a moment thinking. "What's the guarantee on how it's going to go when I'm called up?"

"You will perform or you will go back to jail."

Mitchell said, "I'll say what I can. But Jacobs and company have proven effective deflecting attacks. Including direct attacks from your boss."