Judge Margaret Halloran took the bench at 9:01. She was an experienced commercial judge who had presided over enough emergency corporate disputes to dislike theatrics on either side. She said at once that the hearing concerned the factual basis for the temporary order and whether it should remain in force. She would not be conducting a full trial about eight years of company practices in a single morning, and she expected the parties to distinguish the ownership dispute from the wider allegations.
Warren's attorney began with the story his client had repeated to the press. An unidentified individual, he said, had entered Summit's headquarters with a suspicious executive credential, claimed authority over the company, and proceeded to interfere with established management. The company's CFO had submitted a sworn statement supporting the allegation that the credential was false. Pending a more thorough review, the attorney argued, the temporary order was necessary to prevent corporate assets and voting rights from being exercised under a tainted acquisition.
Daniel watched Warren listen. The CEO sat with his hands folded, his expression controlled, but his heel moved beneath the table in a steady impatient rhythm. He did not look at Therese, who sat behind Daniel holding her notebook. He did glance at Silas twice, and both times the CFO lowered his gaze.
"Ms. Orser," Judge Halloran said, "your response."
Rory stood with a single folder. She began not with Warren's insults but with the signed purchase documents, the settlement confirmation, and the nomination agreement. The fifty-four percent acquisition had closed through documented transactions involving identified sellers, verified funds, and counsel for both sides. There was no evidence that Daniel had obtained the shares by displaying a badge to anyone, genuine or otherwise.
"The badge was a means of entering the building," Rory said. "It was not the mechanism by which my client acquired the company. The petition blurs those two questions. But we can resolve the badge question as well."
She placed an authenticated copy of the access-control log before the judge. At 8:51, Daniel Carter's temporary credential had scanned as valid, with executive authorization issued by the board office. At 8:52, a security administrator had entered a manual override that changed the result to denied. The same log recorded the credential identifier, the issuing authority, and the account used for the override.
Judge Halloran studied the document. "The system initially accepted the credential?"
"Yes, Your Honor," Rory said. "It was then disabled by a manual administrative action. The question is not whether the computer found a forgery. It did not. The question is who ordered the administrator to change a valid status."
Warren's attorney suggested that administrators were entitled to suspend credentials when they suspected misuse. Rory agreed that legitimate security concerns could justify temporary restrictions under proper policies. The problem was that Warren had not offered a factual basis for the suspicion, had been told that the badge was authorized, and had refused the available means of verification. More importantly for the immediate case, the badge's validity was independently confirmed by the board's issuing records.