"You were there. You can't provide any other possible cause?"
"I don't know of one, ma'am."
"Do you agree with the expert witnesses offered by the trial counsel that it should've been impossible for that engineering equipment to fail catastrophically by accident?"
"I… as far as I know that is correct, ma'am."
"You can't offer any alternative explanation?"
"I don't know of any specific alternative explanation. It had to have been an accident but I don't know how it happened."
"Lieutenant Shen, you're hanging yourself!"
McMasters frowned but before he could say anything Captain Carney had interrupted, speaking sternly. "Lieutenant Kalin, I understand your desire to fully question this witness, but we have a responsibility to avoid emotional outbursts."
Kalin ducked her head. "My apologies, sir."
"Anyone else? Anything?"
Commander Bolton leaned forward this time. "Lieutenant Shen, can you explain why you are here? In this court-room, charged with these crimes?"
Jen shook her head slowly. "No, ma'am. I cannot explain it."
Bolton stared earnestly at Jen for a long moment, than sat back again. "Thank you, Lieutenant."
Carney looked up and down the members' table again, then looked back at the judge, avoiding looking at Jen as he did so. "I guess that's it. I have no questions."
Jen stood up and walked back to the defense table, where she seated herself. Paul could see what perhaps no one else could, the way Jen's right leg was trembling with suppressed emotions.
McMasters watched her all the way back to the defense table, then looked at Lieutenant Bashir, who stood. "The defense rests."
"Very well. Commander Carr, is trial counsel prepared for closing argument at this time?"
"Yes, Your Honor."
"Please proceed."
Commander Carr looked toward Jen, watching her steadily for a long moment, while Jen gazed back at her. Then Carr walked a couple of steps away from the trial counsel's table, facing the members as she spoke. "Your Honor, members of the court-martial, on 21 February 2101 the USS Maury suffered awful damage to her engineering compartments. Sixty-one members of her crew died outright. Eight more suffered injuries so serious they have required extensive reconstructive surgery. A ship of the United States Navy was so grievously stricken that there were fears the ship would be lost.
"You've heard the testimony of experts on the engineering systems of the USS Maury. It couldn't have been an accident. You've heard the testimony of the Maury' s captain. She received no warning of any safety problems from her chief engineer or from any of the automated systems designed to prevent such a tragedy. Long ago a famous dictum was set forth — when you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains must be the truth. The Maury 's trauma, the deaths of so many of her crew, couldn't have been an accident, so they must have been caused by deliberate sabotage."
"Who could have sabotaged the ship? Again, the experts testified that it would have required an insider, a very capable engineer, someone familiar with the engineering systems on the Maury, someone trusted by the other engineers so she could secretly do what was needed to cause those systems to destroy themselves as well as the lives of those shipmates who'd placed their trust in her. Someone who somehow survived the devastation, who should've been at her own duty station and died with her shipmates, but survived, reaching safety just moments before disaster struck. You've been told that officer was ordered aft, but the equipment she was supposedly personally ordered to examine for problems has been determined to have been in perfect working order prior to the explosions on the Maury."
"There are no alibis that can be corroborated by any living witness, by any surviving records, by any memories of those on the Maury who survived. There are no other possible explanations for what happened to the USS Maury except deliberate sabotage. Sixty-one officers and enlisted personnel of the Maury were murdered. The ship was severely damaged. I ask you to bring to justice the only one who could possibly bear responsibility for those acts, and to find Lieutenant Junior Grade Shen guilty on all counts and specifications for the criminal offenses with which she is charged."
The courtroom stayed silent as Commander Carr stepped back to the trial counsel's table and took her seat.
Lieutenant Bashir stood, walking to a position in front of the judge's bench, facing the members of the court-martial. "Your honor, members of the court, a terrible tragedy took place. The USS Maury was badly damaged and many members of her crew died. But condemning one officer who survived that horrible event will only compound the tragedy.
"Trial counsel has spoken of facts and proof. But the facts are that proof of these charges doesn't exist. None of the expert witnesses could explain how Lieutenant Shen could've carried out her alleged sabotage. None of them could point to her and say, 'she did this and she did that and those actions caused this tragedy.' They couldn't do that because there is absolutely no proof Lieutenant Shen was in any way responsible what happened. On the contrary, her actions following the tragedy ensured the survival of twenty-one enlisted personnel in the after portion of the Maury who might otherwise have died."
"Lieutenant Shen's own captain testified that she believed Lieutenant Shen to be innocent. There's no evidence to the contrary, just supposition piled upon supposition. No evidence of her guilt. No evidence of a motive for such an act except some gossip from a single fellow officer. The entire case against Lieutenant Shen is circumstantial. You're being asked to convict her of these horrible crimes based solely on the suspicion that she might have somehow been involved even though no one can say how she might have carried out these crimes. This is no basis for convicting anyone of murder, let alone an officer with an unblemished record, an officer who has given her best to the Navy, an officer who has earned the trust and the praise of her captain. Lieutenant Shen is not guilty of these crimes she's been unjustly charged with, not responsible for what happened to the USS Maury. The government has failed to provide any real evidence of guilt. I ask you to find her not guilty as to all charges and specifications, because Lieutenant Shen is not guilty."
Lieutenant Bashir walked back to the defense counsel's table.
Judge McMasters looked around the silent courtroom. "It is Saturday. I don't know how long it will take the members to render a verdict, but the Judge Advocate General has directed that courts are not to be convened or conducted on Sundays except in the case of emergencies. Therefore, this court will now close, and reopen at 1000 on Monday."
Chapter Thirteen
As people began leaving the court-room, Commander Carr hastily scribbled something on her data pad, then glanced over at Lieutenant Bashir. He frowned downward as he read the message, then spoke in a voice just loud enough for both Jen and Paul to hear. "Trial counsel wants me to know she asked the question about a relationship with another officer serving on Jen's ship purely on speculation. She had no information from anyone on whether such a relationship had actually existed."
Paul took a deep breath, trying to wash the lingering sense of numbness out of his body. "Did Carr have to tell you that?"
"No, she didn't. She has to ensure I have access to witnesses and evidence. She's not under any obligation to tell me this. She wanted you both to know that none of your confidants had betrayed you."
"Why did she have to ask that question?" Paul knew his voice sounded ragged, and struggled to get his voice under control. "For God's sake, why did she have to ask that question?"
Bashir looked away for a moment before answering. "Because Commander Carr believes in what she's doing."
Jen said nothing, staring straight ahead. She didn't try to look at Paul as she was escorted out again. Commander Herdez gave Paul a grim nod of farewell and joined those leaving.