'About a week earlier.'
'You hadn't checked the compartment that day?'
'No, sir.'
'Even though you'd been on duty since that morning?'
Paul's teeth were hurting, now, from the way his jaw muscles were clenching. 'No, sir.'
'Had you inspected any compartments on the ship that day?'
'Yes, sir, I had.' The reply sounded too sharp, too defensive. Paul tried to moderate his tone. 'I always conduct a walk-through of the ship on my duty days.'
'You check every compartment.'
Paul felt his teeth grinding painfully together and forced them to relax. 'No, sir, not every compartment.'
'Why not?'
How do I answer that? Because the officers who taught me how to stand duty didn't check every compartment? Because I didn't think it was necessary? Maybe because I didn't think. 'I… no excuse, sir.'
Captain Shen kept his eyes on Paul. 'This isn't the Academy, Lieutenant. You're expected to provide explanations for your actions. Or your inactions. Why hadn't you inspected Forward Engineering that day?'
Paul felt a stubborn anger rising. 'Because officers in the duty section do not routinely check every single compartment. I was going to the quarterdeck where eight o'clock reports were going to be presented. Chief Asher would have informed us of any problems in engineering spaces at that time.'
'So you effectively delegated the responsibility.'
'No, sir.' Paul almost spat the reply. 'I delegated the task. I am well aware that I cannot delegate responsibility.'
Captain Shen stared back impassively for a moment, then made some more notations. 'When was the last time the fire suppression systems in Forward Engineering had been tested?'
'I don't know, sir.'
'Why not?'
'I'm the Combat Information Center Officer, sir. I do not work in Engineering. If I need that information I will ask the appropriate officer or enlisted in the Engineering Department.'
'You don't think you needed that information the day of the fire?'
'It would've been irrelevant, sir. The fire suppression systems didn't work. Knowing when they were last tested wouldn't have helped me handle the situation or put that fire out.'
'If you'd familiarized yourself with the date the systems were last tested, and discovered they were overdue for a test in time to take corrective action, couldn't that have prevented the fire from causing such extensive damage to the compartment?'
Paul stared, momentarily at a loss for words. They hadn't been tested recently? Nobody's said anything about that. 'I… was unaware of that, sir.'
'Then you admit your lack of knowledge regarding a critical compartment on this ship could have negatively impacted on the emergency?'
Paul almost snapped out an angry, 'Yes, sir,' then found himself hesitating again. Wait a minute. Think before you speak. That's practically a confession of wrongdoing he's asking me to make. Did I fail that badly? How come nobody on the ship has acted like I screwed up and helped make that emergency worse? 'No, sir.'
'No.' Captain Shen pursed his lips, and made another notation. 'Are you sure you don't want to reconsider that answer?'
This time Paul recognized a technique he'd seen Sharpe employ with suspects. Imply you know something you don't really know, and let them implicate themselves. Were those fire suppression systems really overdue for a test? He never said they were, he just implied that. Why's he trying to nail me? Well, it doesn't matter why, because it's not happening. 'No, sir, I do not.'
'Very well, Mr. Sinclair. There's no further need for you.'
Something inside Paul made him answer in a calm, firm voice. 'As a witness, you mean, sir.'
'Yes. Send in the next witness.'
Paul had intended going back to his stateroom, but found himself so worked up over the interview that he started roaming the ship to burn off his anger. Interview? Hell, that was an interrogation. What's he up to? Reason slowly asserted itself. Maybe he's doing his job. Which is finding out what happened and why. For all I know every other person going in there is getting the same treatment. Judging by the way the officers on the Mahan acted, Captain Shen's always a hardass.
He's Jen's father, for Pete's sake. Jen can be really tough, too, but she's always fair. Why assume the worst?
The next several days were frustrating. Paul, used to being on the inside of investigations, could only watch from the sidelines as witnesses disappeared into the wardroom and various specialists came aboard to check the damage and other systems on the ship.
'What're they finding out, Paul?' Mike Bristol asked on Friday.
'Damned if I know.'
Randy Diego looked around conspiratorially. 'I heard they couldn't get anything out of the engineering logs. The taught us those logs are hardened against all kinds of stuff, so how'd that happen?'
Paul saw everyone was looking at him for an answer. 'I don't know! Look, guys, I'm not in on this. I don't know any more about those logs than you do.'
'I saw Jill Taylor leaving the wardroom after she'd talked to Captain Shen,' Randy continued. Paul nodded. As Electronic Materials Officer and a skilled specialist, Ensign Taylor would be a logical person to ask about the condition of the engineering logs. 'Boy, did she look mad.'
Bristol looked intrigued. 'Do you know why?'
'No. She didn't say anything and I didn't ask. Even I know not to cross Taylor's path when she's that pissed off.'
Paul saw them looking at him again. 'Captain Shen's questioning is, uh, really aggressive. That's about all I can say.'
After two more days of questioning and bringing in people to check over different parts of the Michaelson, Captain Shen left, leaving in his wake no clues as to what his conclusions would be. The first couple of days after that, everyone kept checking their messages for reports the investigation had been completed, but after another three days they'd gone back to concentrating on whatever individual crisis of the day had popped up in their areas of responsibility. Which, naturally, was when the text of Captain Shen's report arrived on the ship.
Paul started to read slowly through the report, fighting off a powerful urge to skip directly to the conclusion. But the urge triumphed partway through the dry and detailed description of the fire suppression systems in Forward Engineering. Paging rapidly forward, Paul went straight to the conclusions. In light of the lack of evidence of other causes, the damage to engineering records must be laid to an unusual combination of shock and effects of the fire… Recommendation: Conduct testing to determine if systemic fault exists in log protective mechanisms… The initial explosion occurred in the power transfer junction for Forward Engineering. The cause of the explosion cannot be reliably determined due to massive damage to the area… Recommendation: Review fault limits on power transfer junctions… The state of the engineering logs prevents identification of what Chief Petty Officer Vladimir Asher was doing in Forward Engineering… no evidence exists of deliberate misconduct on his part… death judged instantaneous…
Paul shivered as he read that finding, breathing a prayer of thanks, then went back to skimming the conclusions.
Reactions of Damage Control personnel were appropriate… their response time was within standards set by Damage Control instructions… actions of command duty officer were appropriate to the circumstances… actions of other officers reflected occasional hesitation in responding… inadequate inspection and monitoring of shipboard conditions prior to accident… no cause for misconduct finding, but enhanced training and supervision
