"You didn't follow him?"
"No, ma'am. Chief Asher had made it real clear he didn't want to share anything with me."
"You had no idea why he was upset?"
"Not then, ma'am, no. Not an exact idea. I do know whenever I hear a fellow enlisted say 'just do it' he or she's repeating something they've been told by an officer."
"Objection." Commander Jones pointed at Sharpe. "The witness is speculating about matters beyond his factual knowledge."
"Sustained." Judge Halstead gave Sharpe a hard look. "The witness is reminded he is to testify to what he saw or heard and is not to speculate as to the meaning of those things."
"Aye, aye, sir."
Despite Sharpe's dispassionate reply, Paul could have sworn he caught a glint of satisfaction on his face. You did that on purpose, didn't you, Sheriff? You weren't sure it'd come out in questioning, so you went ahead and said it even though you knew you shouldn't. Well, I'm not going to rat on you.
Commander Carr tapped her data pad. "I have the text of the investigation done on the accident on the USS Michaelson. It doesn't contain the information you just provided about Chief Asher. Why isn't that information in the investigation?"
"I don't know, ma'am. I submitted a statement."
"A sworn statement?"
"Yes, ma'am. Witnessed by Senior Chief Kowalski of the USS Michaelson."
"What became of that statement?"
"I don't know, ma'am. I submitted it."
"Thank you, Petty Officer Sharpe. No more questions."
Lieutenant Commander Jones approached Sharpe in an almost wary fashion which somehow made Paul think of a mongoose closing on a cobra. "Petty Officer Sharpe, had you ever seen Chief Asher angry before the evening of 19 September?"
"Of course, sir. Chief Asher was human."
"What sort of things made him angry on those earlier occasions?"
"The usual, sir. Personal problems, problems with enlisted junior to him, problems with equipment, problems with people in other divisions, problems within his duty section, problems with officers." Another low chuckle briefly sounded through the court room.
"Then Chief Asher could have been angry for any of those same reasons that evening, couldn't he?"
"No, sir."
"Why not, Petty Officer Sharpe?"
"Chief Asher shared problems like that with me. We were friends. Whatever was bothering him that night wasn't the usual stuff, or he'd have told me."
Jones seemed to have tasted something sour. "No further questions."
Commander Carr smiled at Judge Halstead, "No redirect, Your Honor."
Paul wondered why Carr's smile seemed happy as well as polite. She sandbagged Jones, didn't she? She could've had Sharpe tell the court that bit about Asher being unhappy for an unusual reason, but she left it out in hope Jones would ask a predictable question that'd let Sharpe say it. Tough and sneaky. I definitely don't want to cross swords with Commander Alex Carr.
The next witness was Lieutenant Mike Bristol. Commander Carr questioned him about his knowledge of the spare. Yes, the ship's supply system had been asked about the status of a spare controller for the power transfer junctions. No, none had been available onboard, but some were available from the station supply depot within three or four working days. "Wasn't your ship due to get underway on Monday, Lieutenant Bristol?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Then three or four days wouldn't have cut it, would it? Was there any way to get that spare part over the weekend?"
"Yes, ma'am. You can ask the station authorities for an emergency parts draw. That needs the ship's commanding officer's approval for the request, and it needs to go to the station's senior duty officer."
Commander Carr paced back and forth before the witness stand. "Then that spare could've been acquired over the weekend. Officially acquired in time to install it. But to do so Lieutenant Silver would've had to get his commanding officer's approval, and his commanding officer would've had to make an emergency request of the station."
"Yes, ma'am."
"In other words, he would have had to inform his superiors of the situation."
"Yes, ma'am."
"If the court pleases, I have a copy of a revised report from the physical investigation of Forward Engineering following the accident, and will quote from the revised conclusions: 'Initial investigations had focused on searching for unexplained fragments in the debris that might have represented explosive devices or sabotage, and upon analyzing remnants of equipment for evidence of the cause of the explosion. Based upon information supplied by shipboard personnel, fragmentary evidence from the compartment was reanalyzed and confirmed that pieces of two controller units for the power transfer junction were present.' This report confirms that by Saturday 19 September a spare was onboard the USS Michaelson." Carr tapped her data pad a few times. "Lieutenant Bristol, I have displayed here a picture of the package for a controller spare. Do you recognize it?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Why?"
"Because I share, I mean I shared a stateroom with Lieutenant Silver. On Friday night, Lieutenant Silver had a package like that under his desk."
"Friday night the 18th of September?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Paul couldn't hide his surprise. I never thought of asking Mike about that. But it makes sense. Where else would Silver have kept the part until Saturday?
"You didn't comment on it?"
"No, ma'am. There's not a lot storage space on the ship. If parts get drawn but need to be stowed for a few hours, it's not unusual at all for officers to park the parts in their staterooms."
"Lieutenant Silver had the part on Friday night. When did you notice the part gone?"
Mike Bristol twisted the corner of his mouth. "I know it was there when I went to sleep. I'm pretty sure it was there in the morning."
"Then Lieutenant Silver had it overnight before providing it to Chief Asher."
"Yes, ma'am."
"No more questions."
Lieutenant Commander Jones took up position directly in front of Mike Bristol. "Lieutenant, are you certain the box you saw under Lieutenant Silver's desk was that part?"
"Yes, sir."
"You couldn't have been mistaken? It couldn't have been something close to that part's package in appearance?"
Mike Bristol shook his head. "No, sir. I work with spares a lot, and Commander Sykes, he's my boss, he says I need to be able to look at a box and know what's in it. I pay attention to boxes, sir."
"You said you were 'pretty sure' the box was there the next morning. You're not certain?"
"I can't claim to be one hundred percent certain, sir. But I'm ninety percent sure."
"Is being ninety percent sure you have the part needed to fix something the same as being one hundred percent sure?"
Mike Bristol flushed slightly. "No, sir."
"No more questions."
Then came Lieutenant Fung, the officer from the station supply office. Yes, the part had been drawn late on Friday afternoon. Yes, it had definitely been Lieutenant Silver. "He had this big sob story. I really don't remember why I agreed to let him draw the part. He's really persuasive, I guess."
Commander Carr nodded. "Then Lieutenant Silver got the part without requesting an emergency parts draw, which would have required his captain's signature?"
"That's right, ma'am."
"At what time did Lieutenant Silver receive the spare controller?"
"According to our database, the part was logged out at 1630."
"1630? Then Lieutenant Silver had the part as of 1630 on Friday the 18th of September?"
"That's right, ma'am."
"Which, as a petty officer from the Michaelson previously testified, is at least half an hour prior to knock-off ship's work. Thank you."