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.
He stood waiting while the court-room emptied, then spoke to Jen's lawyer again. 'Lieutenant Bashir, there really wasn't anyone else, anything else, that'd support Jen?'
'No. Do you think I'd have used those two if there had been?' Bashir shook his head. 'I shouldn't have used them anyway. They just made the defense look bad. I should've known Carr would do her homework on them'
'Are things as bad as I think they are?'
Bashir lowered his head, avoiding Paul's gaze. 'Probably,' he finally answered.
Paul was still staring at Bashir miserably when he became aware someone had come up. 'Mom. Dad. I didn't know you were here today.'
'Civilians usually get Saturdays off up here,' his mother advised. 'We were in the back. Let's go somewhere.'
'I don't-'
'I'm sure you don't. Come on.'
They sat in a small dining area, Paul staring at a bulkhead with an incongruous scene displayed of mountains and meadows and billowing white clouds. Finally his mother spoke again. 'I wish there was something we could do.'
Paul nodded. 'I know. I wish there was something I could do.'
His father shook his head. 'I thought she did a good job on the witness stand, but she's really in a bind.'
'The charges include murder?' his mother asked.
'Yes, Premeditated murder.'
'That's a-'
'Death penalty offense. I know.'
'What about character witnesses?'
'Captain Halis testified in favor of Jen's character! If they don't listen to Halis, why should they listen to anybody?'
'Is there anything else that can be done?'
Paul shook his head and picked at the food his mother had made him order. 'No. Not now. Final arguments have been made. The members of the court will debate and discuss and vote, and when they're ready they'll announce the results.'
'Monday morning?'
'If they're ready by then.' He didn't say that he thought Carney had long since made up his mind and would push the others to reach a quick decision.
The conversation meandered for a while, Paul not really paying attention or trying to contribute. Finally his parents wished him goodbye and left to look up some old friends. He sat for a while longer, then called the brig to see when he could visit Jen. He couldn't. She'd be granted no more visitors until after the court-martial concluded.
Paul felt an odd sense of relief. He hadn't been looking forward to seeing her, even though he knew he had to if he could. What can I say? There are no words of comfort possible, and damn little words of encouragement I could legitimately offer. Jen might just start throwing verbal punches at me again. Could I blame her? But I can't even offer her that diversion.
He wandered down to Fogarty's and sat at a small corner table, nursing a drink. If it couldn't have been an accident, and Jen didn't do it, then how'd it happen? How'd she happen to survive by such a narrow margin, reaching safety just in time? Why didn't that after power coupling show any signs of trouble that we could point to in support of Jen's story?
Why do I keep circling back to the same points that the prosecution is using against Jen? Is there really no alternative here? Am I letting my love for Jen blind me to a very ugly reality? She's got a temper. She keeps a lot inside. Could she possibly…?
No. I have to hang on to that one certainty. There's nothing else left to hang on to.
As artificial afternoon began turning into artificial evening on the decks of Franklin, the number of people in the public areas started increasing. Paul knew many would recognize him, and that there was only place he could avoid them.
The first class petty officer standing the quarterdeck watch on the Michaelson saluted Paul aboard. 'The captain was wondering if I'd seen you, Mr. Sinclair.'
'Is he aboard now?'
'No, sir. The captain left about, oh, forty-five minutes ago.'
Paul sought solitude in one of the few places he might find it, heading for Combat. But when he got there, he saw Chief Imari already in the compartment with someone else. He turned to go, but Imari had seen him. 'Mr. Sinclair?'
'Yeah, Chief. I was just, uh, checking on the compartment.'
'Sir, Senior Chief and I,' Imari gestured toward Kowalski, who stood up so Paul could see him clearly, 'were just talking about Lieutenant Shen. How's it look, sir, if you don't mind my asking?'
Paul came inside the compartment and shook his head slowly. 'It doesn't look good. I don't know why, but it doesn't.'
Kowalski frowned at Paul. 'Sir, have they actually got evidence that Ms. Shen caused all that?'
'No. No, they don't. That's what's so frustrating.'
'Then how…?'
Paul sat down, rubbing his forehead. 'They had people, engineers, testify that it couldn't have been an accident.'
Chief Imari looked skeptical. 'How can you ever say something couldn't be an accident?'
'The equipment. They testified that the equipment couldn't fail that way.'
'Even that new thing? Chief Meyer mentioned the Maury had some new thing installed.'
'Yeah. Uh, SEERS. But the experts said that couldn't have done it because it was designed to prevent that kind of thing.'
Senior Chief Kowalski snorted in derision. 'I'm no snipe, Mr. Sinclair, but I never met a new piece of equipment that worked like it was designed to.'
Imari nodded in agreement. 'Right. Stuff's not that good.'
Paul nodded as well, though wearily. 'That's what I thought. But I've been over all the documentation on SEERS. There's nothing to indicate it might've been involved in what happened to the Maury. The experts said the thing was certified ready to install on the Maury. And on top of all the other safety features in an engineering
