'And who is this other source who can confirm that information?'
'A warrant officer, ma'am. Not a cop. Someone who works in computer support.'
'How fortunate your warrant officer's not a cop.' Carr leaned back again. 'If it's true…' She stared grimly at nothing for a moment. 'What do want to do, Lieutenant Bashir?'
'Reopen discovery. Get a court order to access that web site. A sealed order so we don't have to worry about the site being purged before we can get to it.'
'Judge McMasters isn't going to take kindly to the idea of reopening discovery. We've had final arguments. The members of the court are working on their decisions.'
'The judge'll agree to it if trial counsel supports the motion.'
'I represent the government, not Ms. Shen.'
Paul spread his hands, his face pleading. 'You represent justice, ma'am. Don't you? If this evidence disproves the government's case-'
'That's a very big 'if' right now, Mr. Sinclair.'
'You promised me if I found any evidence that might exonerate Jen that you'd give it a fair evaluation.'
Commander Carr visibly winced. 'Me and my big mouth. A lawyer should know better than to make promises. Paul, it's not my job to help exonerate Lieutenant Shen.'
'Is it your job to convict someone by ignoring evidence which might prove her innocence?'
Carr's face reddened and hardened. 'I don't like being accused of misconduct.'
Paul dropped his gaze, took a quick breath, then looked back up at her. 'My sincere apologies, ma'am. I didn't mean to imply misconduct. I know you wouldn't… I just… dammit, ma'am, I really admire you.'
Her expression softened, though still plainly aggravated. 'And you think I'm letting you down. Or letting down Lieutenant Shen.'
'Lieutenant Shen is the most important thing in the world to me, ma'am.'
'Oh, for…' Carr covered her eyes with one hand. 'That's a low blow, Mr. Sinclair. Throwing young love at me. It doesn't conquer all, you know.' She dropped her hand and gave Paul a rueful look. 'But it does conquer my better legal judgment in this case. As far as moral judgment goes, I don't mind telling you I've hated every moment of this case. Sorry, Paul, I've seen it as necessary in light of the evidence. But I haven't enjoyed it. All right. We'll go to the judge and see what we can do.'
'First thing in the morning?' Bashir asked, clearly elated.
'No. Right now. Stand by while I get back into uniform. We need to get the wheels turning on this, and authorization to crack that site, as soon as possible.' They all stood, but Commander Carr leveled a finger at Paul. 'Not you, young lover. This is for professionals. Go home. Or to your ship or whatever. And don't breath a word of this to Lieutenant Shen or anybody else. Not a word. If anything gets out prematurely it could cause the judge to rule against this and let Lieutenant Shen stand or fall on what defense she's been able to present thus far. Understand?'
'Yes, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am.'
'Don't thank me. I'm also doing this for myself. I really don't want to convict an innocent person. Lawyers have souls, too.'
'Or so it is rumored,' Bashir murmured.
'As if you have room to talk. Let's go get Judge McMasters and probably get our ears pinned back. Remember, Sinclair, not a word.'
'Yes, ma'am.'
'And be prepared to find out this site doesn't hold anything that makes a difference. Or it might hold something that hurts Lieutenant Shen, if you missed a word like 'impossible' anywhere in there.'
'Yes, ma'am.' But it's not like I have a lot to lose at this point. Bashir gestured Paul out, giving him a confident thumbs-up as Paul left. Now all I have to is wander around until Monday morning, not talking to anybody about this, trying to get some sleep despite everything, trying to not think about it. What was that old Eskimo spell for changing rocks into gold? All you had to do was stare at the rocks for an entire day and never think of walrus.
In the morning, Paul tried to make it look as if he had indeed slept the night before, but his efforts didn't really convince even himself. I've looked better than this after a night of partying. He started for the courtroom, but almost immediately stopped as his data pad beeped urgently. High priority message. Let's see. Court proceedings postponed for twenty-four hours. Is that good or bad?
He dialed Lieutenant Bashir's number, but only got the answering machine. The official court number provided no elaboration on the brief message. Court would resume the next day. Assuming it wasn't rescheduled again.
Frustrated, Paul walked to Bashir's offices, but he was told the lieutenant was unavailable. Same for Commander Carr.
If only I knew whether this meant good news or bad news. Or just the postponement of the inevitable.
Judge McMasters looked around the courtroom. 'This proceeding will come to order. I wish to apologize first to all concerned for the postponement of these proceedings. Matters came to my attention that had to be dealt with prior to the members of the court rendering a verdict.'
Paul studied the faces of the members, but he saw nothing there but the same uninformed interest most of the rest of the people in the courtroom were displaying. Jen hadn't looked at Paul since she'd been brought in by her guards, sitting perfectly erect in the posture of someone awaiting the impact of bullets from a firing squad. Lieutenant Bashir hadn't looked at Paul, either, concentrating on something on his data pad and ignoring Paul's attempts to get his attention.
'At the request of both trial counsel and counsel for the defense, discovery in this case was reopened and a warrant issued to access a site believed to contain evidence pertaining to these proceedings which had not previously been disclosed. Lieutenant Bashir?'
Bashir rose. 'Your Honor. The web site in question was accessed in the early morning hours yesterday. Based on initial review of the materiels therein, court proceedings were postponed twenty four hours to allow Commander Carr and myself to study the documents in detail and confirm their authenticity.'
'It's my understanding that the documents were indeed authentic?'
'Yes, Your Honor.'
Commander Carr, until now silent, rose briefly as well. 'Trial counsel agrees that at this point in time the documents appear authentic, Your Honor.'
Lieutenant Bashir walked out from behind the defense table, holding his data pad. 'I would like the documents from that site to be entered into the official record of this proceeding.'
McMasters eyed Carr again. 'Trial counsel?'
'Trial counsel has no objection.'
'Then it is so ordered.'
Lieutenant Bashir turned to face toward the members of the court. 'If I may, I'd like to ensure the members understand a critical point regarding evidence in a criminal proceeding. All evidence that is 'reasonably available' must be shared with the defendant in order to ensure an effective defense against any charges. That standard is set by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Failure to provide the defendant with evidence which would serve to rebut criminal charges is a very serious matter.'
McMasters looked from Bashir to Carr. 'I assume this means the documents uncovered do indeed pertain to the issues before this proceeding?'
'Yes, Your Honor,' Bashir replied. 'They most certainly do. The site contained a number of memorandums, some with attachments, written over the course of the past year by individuals dealing with the office of the Assistant Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Development. All dealt with the status of the Ship's Efficiency Engineering Regulatory Systems, or SEERS. As previously established during this proceeding, SEERS is the new equipment which was installed on the USS Maury prior to her last underway period.'
Bashir raised the data pad, no longer looking at it himself. 'All of those memorandums were warnings from personnel involved in the development and testing of SEERS. Warnings that the system had not successfully passed all of its tests. Warnings that, contrary to the information presented during this trial, SEERS itself posed a threat of causing serious damage to a ship. Warnings to those responsible for overseeing the program that it was not ready to be installed on ships such as the Maury.'
