Court: Please state your name and occupation and duties at the time.
Hilders: Liam Hilders, Void-Traffic Manager on Ghian station. I was working on the observation deck, overseeing the scope operators.
Court: Do you operate the sensor arrays yourself?
Hilders: Not normally. Well, only if we're short-handed or sometimes if someone on the team is on a break.
Court: Are you saying you were understaffed? It seems odd that you should be carrying out the work of lower ranks.
Hilders: No sir, I'm not normally understaffed.
Court: And on this day?
Hilders: Normal, sir.
Court: In your pre-court submission you claim you were working a scope.
Hilders: Yes, sir, but not because we were understaffed. One operator was on a break, and I dropped into his seat. I often do that. It means I can double-check the situation as relayed to my own screen.
Court: I see. Tell us what was on your sensors
Hilders: We had a normal traffic situation and were expecting the transport from Trants. The only unusual thing were the rocks coming in from the belt. But even they were not that unusual.
Court: These are the rocks that turned out to be the Ursidae ships?
Hilders: Yes.
Court: Why were your suspicions not aroused by these rocks?
Hilders: The belters would sometimes sling rocks into long orbits to get them back to ore processors further in-system.
Court: Surely that's a traffic hazard.
Hilders: Yes sir it is, but they normally advise us when they're about to do it.
Court: Did you have such an advisory?
Hilders: No sir.
Court: Interesting. What is the standard procedure when unexpected rocks appear on your sensors.
Hilders: We dispatch an SDB to intercept.
Court: Had you dispatched a System Defence Boat to intercept these rocks?
Hilders: No. Sir.
Court: Explain yourself.
Hilders: I have no excuse sir.
Court: The court appreciates your candour, yet we would like to hear your rationale and reasoning.
Hilders: Sir. I. My wife is an engineer on one of the SDBs.
Court: Continue Mr Hilders.
Hilders: She told me that the SDB crews are run ragged sir. They don't have enough boats to do the duties, and the crews. Well, they've been thinned down. They don't have full relief crews on any of the boats. Her boat has missed the last two maintenance periods and it’s the same story for most of them.
Court: Was your wife's SDB on duty?
Hilders: No sir.
Court: So, if not your wife, what was the reason for failure to order an intercept.
Hilders: It didn't seem warranted sir. The belters have forgotten to file flight paths before, that happens sometimes. These rocks weren't on one of the usual orbitals but it wasn't far out. I assumed they'd just forgotten to file, and anyone that sloppy might have got the orbital wrong too. It made sense.
Court: And the SDB?
Hilders: I wanted to let them have a rest. I didn't want to scramble them for a bunch of rocks that weren't a danger to anyone.
Court: But they weren't rocks.
Hilders: No sir.
Court: You saw these rocks on your screen?
Hilders: Yes sir.
Court: And what happened when the freighter appeared.
Hilders: It exited jump right on time, within a few kilometres of the point.
Court: You saw it on your screen?
Hilders: Yes sir. The transponder on the ship was broadcasting and our active sensors registered a L'Ouverture class liberty ship a few seconds later. It's all in the recording.
Court: The court is not ignorant of that fact Mr Hilders. Might I remind you, we are here to ascertain your part in the affair, and what you perceived and understood at the time. It is you that the court needs to understand, not the intractable recordings.
Hilders: Yes sir, sorry.
Court: Tell the court what happened next.
Hilders: The rocks changed vector. I saw it straight away. They'd turned towards the Dunning-Star, the transport. I hit the alert, and focused my sensors on the rocks. There was a lot of interference, which I think was the camouflage. But I could see there were at least three ships. Then I saw them launch missiles at the transport.
Court: Then what did you do?
Hilders: I warned the Dunning-Star, then I vectored the duty SDB onto the Ursidae, and then put out an all-points-assist request.
Court: The Dunning-Star was destroyed.
Hilders: Yes. Three home fleet ships responded to my all-points broadcast, but the Ursidae turned out-system and jumped before any Naegarn fleet ships got close enough to engage.
Court: Thank you Mr Hilders. Do you have anything else to add?
Hilders: No sir.
Court: Very well. Mr Hilders retire from the court while we confer.
Verdict: Guilty of gross dereliction of duty. Mr Hilders to be stripped of all rank and privileges and to serve a sentence of not less than ten years in a penal battalion, followed by termination from the service.
Hilders: Liam Hilders, Void-Traffic Manager on Ghian station. I was working on the observation deck, overseeing the scope operators.
Court: Do you operate the sensor arrays yourself?
Hilders: Not normally. Well, only if we're short-handed or sometimes if someone on the team is on a break.
Court: Are you saying you were understaffed? It seems odd that you should be carrying out the work of lower ranks.
Hilders: No sir, I'm not normally understaffed.
Court: And on this day?
Hilders: Normal, sir.
Court: In your pre-court submission you claim you were working a scope.
Hilders: Yes, sir, but not because we were understaffed. One operator was on a break, and I dropped into his seat. I often do that. It means I can double-check the situation as relayed to my own screen.
Court: I see. Tell us what was on your sensors
Hilders: We had a normal traffic situation and were expecting the transport from Trants. The only unusual thing were the rocks coming in from the belt. But even they were not that unusual.
Court: These are the rocks that turned out to be the Ursidae ships?
Hilders: Yes.
Court: Why were your suspicions not aroused by these rocks?
Hilders: The belters would sometimes sling rocks into long orbits to get them back to ore processors further in-system.
Court: Surely that's a traffic hazard.
Hilders: Yes sir it is, but they normally advise us when they're about to do it.
Court: Did you have such an advisory?
Hilders: No sir.
Court: Interesting. What is the standard procedure when unexpected rocks appear on your sensors.
Hilders: We dispatch an SDB to intercept.
Court: Had you dispatched a System Defence Boat to intercept these rocks?
Hilders: No. Sir.
Court: Explain yourself.
Hilders: I have no excuse sir.
Court: The court appreciates your candour, yet we would like to hear your rationale and reasoning.
Hilders: Sir. I. My wife is an engineer on one of the SDBs.
Court: Continue Mr Hilders.
Hilders: She told me that the SDB crews are run ragged sir. They don't have enough boats to do the duties, and the crews. Well, they've been thinned down. They don't have full relief crews on any of the boats. Her boat has missed the last two maintenance periods and it’s the same story for most of them.
Court: Was your wife's SDB on duty?
Hilders: No sir.
Court: So, if not your wife, what was the reason for failure to order an intercept.
Hilders: It didn't seem warranted sir. The belters have forgotten to file flight paths before, that happens sometimes. These rocks weren't on one of the usual orbitals but it wasn't far out. I assumed they'd just forgotten to file, and anyone that sloppy might have got the orbital wrong too. It made sense.
Court: And the SDB?
Hilders: I wanted to let them have a rest. I didn't want to scramble them for a bunch of rocks that weren't a danger to anyone.
Court: But they weren't rocks.
Hilders: No sir.
Court: You saw these rocks on your screen?
Hilders: Yes sir.
Court: And what happened when the freighter appeared.
Hilders: It exited jump right on time, within a few kilometres of the point.
Court: You saw it on your screen?
Hilders: Yes sir. The transponder on the ship was broadcasting and our active sensors registered a L'Ouverture class liberty ship a few seconds later. It's all in the recording.
Court: The court is not ignorant of that fact Mr Hilders. Might I remind you, we are here to ascertain your part in the affair, and what you perceived and understood at the time. It is you that the court needs to understand, not the intractable recordings.
Hilders: Yes sir, sorry.
Court: Tell the court what happened next.
Hilders: The rocks changed vector. I saw it straight away. They'd turned towards the Dunning-Star, the transport. I hit the alert, and focused my sensors on the rocks. There was a lot of interference, which I think was the camouflage. But I could see there were at least three ships. Then I saw them launch missiles at the transport.
Court: Then what did you do?
Hilders: I warned the Dunning-Star, then I vectored the duty SDB onto the Ursidae, and then put out an all-points-assist request.
Court: The Dunning-Star was destroyed.
Hilders: Yes. Three home fleet ships responded to my all-points broadcast, but the Ursidae turned out-system and jumped before any Naegarn fleet ships got close enough to engage.
Court: Thank you Mr Hilders. Do you have anything else to add?
Hilders: No sir.
Court: Very well. Mr Hilders retire from the court while we confer.
Verdict: Guilty of gross dereliction of duty. Mr Hilders to be stripped of all rank and privileges and to serve a sentence of not less than ten years in a penal battalion, followed by termination from the service.
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