Destin seemed gloomier than ever. "No. I never received that information."
"Not in writing? Not in an email? Not verbally?"
"No."
"Did Lieutenant Silver ever indicate in any way that he had any equipment problems?"
"I received some status reports from Chief Asher."
"But not directly from Lieutenant Silver?"
"No."
"What was your impression of Lieutenant Silver as an officer?"
Destin looked stubborn as she replied. "He'd just come aboard and was still learning the ropes. I had a favorable impression overall."
"Based upon what factors, Commander?"
"His attitude, his bearing, his general approach."
Alex Carr looked momentarily puzzled. "Pardon me, Commander Destin, but that list lacks specifics. Is there any specific action Lieutenant Silver carried out while working for you which you recall favorably?"
"He'd only been aboard a few weeks."
Paul tried not to let his own reaction to Destin's attitude show. Great. I break my butt trying to do everything I should, and get chewed out by my department head. Silver coasts through his days, sucking up to his bosses, and they think he's doing great. Like Sonya Sindh said, it's not fair, but there's nothing we can do about that.
Commander Carr nodded in response to Destin's last statement. "What did Lieutenant Silver tell you about the accident in Forward Engineering?"
"He didn't know any more about it that anyone else."
"That's what he told you."
"Yes, and I believed it. Believe it."
"Even though Lieutenant Silver's enlisted personnel all say Mr. Silver did know something about it?"
"If I have the choice between believing one of my officers or an enlisted sailor, I'm going to make the same choice every time."
"What about one of your officers and almost twenty enlisted?"
"Same difference. You either trust your officers or you don't."
"Then you don't trust the enlisted in Lieutenant Silver's division? Yet you still allow them to run vital equipment?"
Lieutenant Commander Jones stood. "Objection. Trial counsel is harassing the witness."
Halstead gave Carr a sour look. "Sustained. You've made your point, Counsel."
Carr nodded. "Yes, your honor. Commander Destin, you returned to the ship on the evening of 19 September after you'd been paged and informed of the fire, correct?"
"Yes."
"About when did you return to the ship?"
"I got back about 2200. I remember because I checked the time just before I reached the area near the quarterdeck."
"Where was Lieutenant Silver at that time?"
Destin frowned. "I don't know."
"When did you first encounter Lieutenant Silver that evening?"
"About… maybe 2300. Maybe a little later. We were drafting our report on the accident and needed his input."
Commander Carr assumed her momentary puzzled look again. "Lieutenant Silver was the command duty officer, responsible for events on the ship, and was the main propulsion assistant, whose Forward Engineering compartment had just sustained serious damage, and whose leading chief had apparently died. Yet you didn't see him for an hour?"
"I assumed Lieutenant Silver was busy elsewhere. As you just pointed out, he had many responsibilities to deal with."
Carr leaned closer, her attitude now challenging. "Commander Destin, have you met anyone who saw Lieutenant Silver during that period? Anyone at all?"
Destin glowered back. "I haven't gone around asking."
"I can help with that, commander, because I have. No one saw Lieutenant Silver. Not on the quarterdeck, or in the wardroom, or in Damage Control Central, or anywhere near Forward Engineering. As his immediate superior, how do you explain that?"
"Objection." Commander Jones gestured toward Carr. "Trial counsel is citing matters not previously introduced into evidence."
Halstead cocked an eyebrow toward Carr. "Counsel?"
Alex Carr held up her data pad again. "I have sworn statements from every officer and chief petty officer on the USS Michaelson attesting to their inability to account for Lieutenant Silver's presence during the period from about 2200 to about 2300 the night of 19 September. With the court's permission, I'd like to have them entered into the record at this time."
Judge Halstead glanced toward the defense table. "I assume you mean every officer except Lieutenant Silver?"
"Yes, Your Honor. I apologize for the inaccuracy."
"I hereby order the statements entered into the record. Objection overruled. Continue, counselor."
Carr faced Destin again. "Commander? How do you account for Lieutenant Silver's disappearance during that period of time?"
"I can't. Ask him."
"I'm asking you, commander, because as his immediate superior you are responsible for his behavior and evaluating his professional performance. Do you, personally, believe a professional officer with those responsibilities should have been unseen and unheard from for an hour's time on the evening of a serious accident and death on the ship?"
Destin stared back, but finally shook her head. "No."
"No, you do not believe this was something which a professional officer should've done?"
"No, I do not."
"Do you like Lieutenant Silver, Commander?"
Destin flushed as she spoke through clenched teeth. "What are you implying?"
Commander Carr held up two palms in a calming gesture. "Nothing unprofessional, Commander. Not at all. I'm simply asking whether you, as the department head, liked having Lieutenant Silver as a division officer."
Commander Jones, halfway out of his seat to register another objection, sat back down.
Destin's flush faded a bit. "Yes. Lieutenant Silver has been respectful and demonstrated a pleasing personality. As I noted earlier, I've had no grounds for questioning his professional capabilities."
"Until now, Commander? You just indicated his disappearance for an hour that night was unprofessional in your opinion."
"Yes."
"The night of the accident, the data in the engineering logs was so severely damaged that it was unrecoverable. As chief engineer on the USS Michaelson, do you know of any accidental cause which would account for that?"
"The investigation of the accident found the cause of the data loss could not be determined."
"Yes, I know that, Commander. I'm asking for your professional judgment. Aren't those logs designed to survive the complete destruction of the ship?"
Destin made a face. "That depends how the ship's destroyed."
"Conventional explosion? Fire? Decompression?"
"They should be able to survive those."
"Then, again in your professional judgment, should the accident on 19 September have been able to destroy the data in those logs?"
Destin's lips pressed together in a tight line, then she shook her head. "Not to my knowledge."
"What sort of information would those engineering logs have contained?"
"Anything pertaining to the status and operation of the equipment in Forward and After Engineering."
"In other words, they would've told us if someone were working on the power transfer junction in Forward Engineering?"
"Yes."
"And if whoever was working on that equipment had disabled safety interlocks?"
"Yes."
"What does it take to disable those safety interlocks, Commander Destin? Could Chief Asher have done it by himself?"
Destin's mouth worked for a moment. "No."
"Doesn't the engineering system require authorization codes from an officer and an enlisted to disable safety interlocks?"
"Yes."
"Then an officer had to have been involved in assisting Chief Asher if he was working on the power transfer junction, correct? An officer in the engineering department?" Destin stared stubbornly past Commander Carr. "Commander Destin. If Chief Asher was working on the power transfer junction single-handedly, doesn't that mean he had to have disabled the safety interlocks, and isn't that only possible with the assistance of an officer from the engineering department?"