'But, Lieutenant, by your own admission, it is not something you'd never consider. Not something you'd never do. Can you disagree with what I'm saying?'
Jen looked as if she were choking but her voice was clear. 'No, I cannot. But I swear I had no such relationship on the Maury with anyone.'
Commander Carr watched Jen for a long moment, then turned away. 'No further questions.'
Lieutenant Bashir stood again. 'Lieutenant Shen, let's get this out in the open. Did you have any personal reasons to dislike or even hate any members of the Maury 's crew, officer or enlisted?'
'Not that much, no.'
'Did you want even any single one of them dead?'
'No. They were normal working relationships. I didn't hate anyone on the ship.'
'Did you have any reason to want any of them dead?'
'No.'
'Thank you, Lieutenant Shen.'
Judge McMasters gestured toward the members of the court. 'Captain Carney, do the members of the court wish to question Lieutenant Junior Grade Shen regarding her testimony?'
Captain Carney frowned and looked to either side. 'I, um, what else can we ask?'
Lieutenant Kalin looked beseechingly toward Jen, ignoring Carney. 'Lieutenant Shen, can you provide us with any alternate explanation for what happened to the USS Maury?'
Jen stared back, then shook her head. 'No, ma'am.'
'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.'
