Survivors - Jean Lorrah [49]
There was also a roster of attendees. Near the top, among the A’s, was the name Darryl Adin. “This was a high-security meeting,” said the prosecutor. “All attendees were computer-checked by voiceprint, fingerprints, and retinal scan. As you can see, Darryl Adin was in attendance.”
He turned to the admirals who made up the jury. “So, ladies and gentlemen, if he were not charged with conspiracy, treason, and murder, Darryl Adin would still be guilty of gross neglect of duty, first for not informing the officers and Security staff of the Starbound of this vital information, and second for allowing his shipmates to attempt to fight off the Orions with only hand phasers, resulting in unnecessary injury and loss of life.”
From that point on, Yar hardly heard the proceedings. It was a foregone conclusion that Dare would be found guilty … for he was. The only reason he could possibly have allowed them to fight was to set up his own shooting-on stun, of course. And she had thought him a hero!
She had trusted him, with her life … with her heart.
A few times Yar felt Dare’s eyes on her-and when he drew her gaze she found his cold, hard, accusing. He whispered something to his attorney, who shook his head, but asked for a recess. When they returned, Dare’s face was shuttered, and his attorney’s was tight-lipped and grim.
The defense tried, but the evidence against Dare was indisputable.
The verdict came quickly, and Dare was consigned to a rehabilitation colony, where the doctors and counselors would try to find out what had turned a loyal Starfleet officer into a traitor. If they could, they would cure him and return him to society. If they could not, he would be confined there for the rest of his life.
Dare took the verdict and sentence quietly enough, although cold fury turned his ever-changing features as ugly as Yar had ever seen them.
To her surprise, his defense attorney called her that evening. Dare had asked to see her. “You don’t have to,” he told her. “In fact, I advise you to refuse.”
“No,” said Yar. “I want to see him. I need to ask him why.”
But it was Dare who demanded the moment they were face to face, “Why, Tasha? Why did you betray me?”
“What?” she asked, confused.
He was back in the tan prison coverall, but he did not look small or vulnerable now. His anger sustained him. “It had to be you,” he said. “Where was I when the message came about the Security briefing? In the shower? Gone for a bottle of wine? It was a Starfleet Security play/erase; the hotel records show only that there was one, not what it said.”
“Dare-I couldn’t have accessed your message!”
“Why not? You had examples of my voice on tricorder, and you know my ID number. Was it curiosity? Mischief? Did you not tell me about the meeting because we were enjoying ourselves, and you didn’t want our shore leave broken up a second time?”
“Dare-” she protested helplessly. Although she wanted desperately to prove the records wrong, she simply could not remember whether they had been together at the time of the Security meeting-which meant she could not dispute the evidence that he had been there. “Dare, the truth verifier-“
“You know how to fool a bloody truth verifier!” he rasped. His voice, although pitched low so as to keep the guards from interrupting, was harsh with the intensity of his emotions. “I taught you myself, damn you. I actually believed that you loved me. I never thought you would use what I’ve taught you, what Starfleet has taught you, to betray me! We were together at the time the meeting took place. Why didn’t you tell them? It’s my life against a reprimand to you for making me miss a meeting.”
“Dare-did you expect me to lie for you?” she gasped.
His eyes were almost black with fury. “What did they pay you, Tasha? What could the Orions possibly give you that would outweigh what you’ve found in Starfleet?”
Stunned at the accusation, she struck back. “That’s what I came here to ask you!”
His jaw set, and then his lips pulled back to reveal his teeth in