Burden of Proof (26 page)

"It's not. Luck has nothing to do with it. Three months away made me sure of one thing. I want to be with you because of who you are, Paul Sinclair."

"And I want to be with you because of who you are. Don't look at me like that. It's true. The last three months have helped me realize how important you are to my life. You're my anchor."

"Your anchor? That's certainly a lovely analogy. Are you saying I'm really heavy and tie you down? That I'm often filthy and snag objects as I drag along the bottom? That you're chained to me and straining to break free?"

Paul grinned. "My spiritual anchor. I'm only chained to you by chains of love."

"Oh, gag me. Good thing I haven't eaten yet."

"I love you, Jen."

She eyed him, smiling slowly. "I love you, too. We're both in uniform, so you'll have to consider yourself mentally hugged and kissed." They started walking. "I heard there was a fire on the
Michaelson
."

"Oh, yeah, there was a fire."

"Has anything else happened since I left?"

"You might say that."

It took Paul a few minutes to outline events, then Jen shook her head. "For heaven's sake, Paul! Can't I leave you alone for more than five minutes without you getting involved in a court-martial?"

"You were gone for three months," Paul pointed out. "That's a lot more than five minutes."

"The principle's the same." She gave him a suspicious look. "You haven't mentioned something, yet. What is it?"

Paul sighed and passed over his data pad. "This is the investigation initially conducted to determine the cause of the accident and where the fault lay."

"I have to read it all?"

"No. Just the summation and the name at the end."

Five minutes later, Jen slammed down the data pad. "Great! My father. And he blamed
you
."

"Not in so many words."

"He didn't have to." Jen shook her head and sagged onto a nearby bench. "When you met my father he joked about my high standards and past boyfriends not lasting long. Remember? That was always my decision, but some of them also ran head-on into my father's standards for me, which frankly seem a lot more restrictive than my own."

"Oh. I'd wondered why he didn't recuse himself from the investigation. Now I'm wondering even more, if he goes after your boyfriends."

"My father should have refused to conduct this investigation because he couldn't be impartial. But he didn't, because sure as hell he honestly believes he was impartial. You just happened to not come out all that well in the investigation. He could swear to the truth of that without hesitation." Jen rubbed her face with both palms. "Now I also have to worry about him getting charged with some kind of dereliction of duty."

"What? You mean for going into the investigation biased?
I
wouldn't charge him, if that's what you're thinking."

"I don't think you're that big an idiot."

"I love you, too. As for anyone else . . . intent counts a great deal in violations like that. If your father honestly believed he was being impartial, if he thought he had no bias, then he didn't intend conducting an investigation improperly. His personal judgment could be questioned, but he didn't set out to break any laws."

"Good. Not that you're a lawyer or anything, but I appreciate your telling me that." Jen slumped a little more. "Obviously, you found evidence enough to charge this Silver guy. Is that based upon my father's investigation?"

"Uh, no."

"You found evidence he hadn't uncovered?"

"Yes."

Jen stared at Paul. "Oh, is he going to be pissed."

"That's what I figured."

"You haven't talked to him since the investigation?"

"Would you have in my place?"

"No way." She suddenly looked tired. "I knew Chief Asher. He was good people."

"That's what I hear."

"The first priority is finding out for certain if this Silver killed him through sheer careless stupidity. That's all that matters."

"It's not an open-and-shut case, Jen. A lot of it's circumstantial."

"All the more reason to dig as deeply as we can to find the truth. The
Mahan
's in port. Let's go over and talk to my father. Don't look like that. We'll work it out. My dad's a reasonable man."

This time the sharply turned out ensign on the quarterdeck of the
Mahan
looked startled when Jen asked to speak to the captain. After a call to Captain Shen conducted in whispered tones on the quarterdeck's end, the ensign beckoned to his messenger of the watch. "Escort these two officers to the captain's cabin."

Paul tried to keep his breathing steady, tried not to think ahead, until they were ushered in to the captain's cabin and faced Kay Shen once again. Captain Shen looked steadily at Jen for a long moment, not offering them a seat.

"I'm disappointed, Jen." Captain Shen shook his head to underscore his words. "You had considerable time to rethink this relationship. I expect better judgment from you."

Jen glared back at him. "What does that mean?"

"It means you'd benefit from my guidance in this situation, young lady."

"Are you under the illusion that I'm some piece of property which belongs to you? That I'm incapable of acting independently?"

"It's no illusion that you're still young and in need of guidance."

"I don't believe this. I'm an officer, Dad. I could've ended up sucking vacuum on my last cruise if a back-up seal had failed while we were doing emergency repairs. Repairs
I
was overseeing. I am
not
a child in need of 'guidance' on how to live my life."

"You're disproving that little speech by your own actions, by letting your emotions get in the way of your judgment, Jen."

"Of course I'm deciding this based on emotions! You don't decide to forge a serious relationship with someone else based purely on logic! Or have you forgotten that?"

"I haven't forgotten that this young man has displayed a serious lack of judgment of his own which has no relation to what is going on between you. If he's incapable of carrying out his duties properly, and if he responds to corrective advice by attempting to besmirch the reputations of other officers -"

"
He
is standing right here! If there's something you want to say to Paul, say it to
him
!"

Paul, already upset over the fight he was witnessing, felt his guts tighten as Captain Shen whirled to face him.
Gee, thanks, Jen
. Not wanting to give Captain Shen the initiative, he spoke quickly. "Sir, follow-on investigation revealed -"

"Oh, yes." Captain Shen frowned at Paul. "Follow-on investigation. You didn't want to accept the results of my investigation so you cooked up something that blames someone else."

"That's not true, sir!"

"Now I'm a liar, huh?"

"No, sir! I -"

"Mr. Sinclair, I don't want to see you on my ship again, and I'd thank you to stay away from my daughter from this point forward."

Paul felt his face flushing with anger. "Sir, Jen is the only person who can tell me to stay away from her."

"Wasn't my order clear enough for you?"

"That's not a legal order, sir, as you're well aware. I'm under no obligation to obey it."

"A sea lawyer." Captain Shen faced Jen again. "That's what you want? A damn sea lawyer?"

Jen's eyes were hard. "
I'll
decide what I want, dad. Let's go, Paul." She came to attention and saluted formally. "By your leave,
sir
."

Captain Shen snapped a fast, angry salute in reply. "I expected better of you."

Not replying, Jen led Paul out of the stateroom and out to the
Mahan
's quarterdeck, the surprised messenger of the watch hastily following them all the way, then onto the dock. They walked in silence for a few minutes, Jen moving quickly with her face tight, Paul knowing she needed time to deal with the scene they'd just left. Finally, she erupted. "I cannot believe this! Who does he think he is? Who does he think I am? Who does he think you are? Say something, Paul!"

"Which question am I answering?"

"You don't have to answer any of them." Jen's face shifted from pure rage to a mix of anger and sadness. "I can't believe it."

"I'm really sorry, Jen."

"For what? You didn't do anything."

"I've come between you and your dad."

"No, you haven't. Stop it, Paul Sinclair. Right now. Stop thinking what you're thinking."

"What is it I'm supposed to be thinking?"

"I know you. You're thinking you've come between a loving father and his daughter, and maybe you ought to step aside for a while so they can be a happy family again. No, no, no. You did nothing wrong, here."

"Jen -"

"Paul, have I ever hesitated to tell you when I thought you'd screwed up?"

"Uh, no. You're pretty straightforward about that."

"You didn't come between my dad and me. He did. He's making totally unreasonable demands on my life. Again. He's trying to treat me like his little girl. I'm
not
a little girl."

"I've noticed that."

"Then you've also noticed that I don't let anyone push me around. I do things for you because you don't act like it's some sort of obligation for me to do whatever you want. Like I need a firm guiding hand to keep me from veering from stupid decision to stupid decision. I can't believe my dad actually thinks he can do that! I'm so mad I'm tempted to haul you off to the nearest chaplain and get married as fast as we can, only if we did that it'd just seem like it was confirming my dad's belief that I'm a hormone-addled lovesick loose cannon." She subsided for a moment, then spoke in a quieter tone. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to endure that. I should've known it'd be a disaster."

"That's okay, Jen."

"No, it's not. You're upset, aren't you?"

"Yeah. You might say that."

"You should've slugged him."

"Jen, that really would've been a bad idea."

"I know that! Promise me something, Paul."

"What?"

"Whatever happens with this, we will not let it define our relationship."

"Your dad hates my guts and thinks I'm a lousy officer."

"What does your dad think of me?"

"He's never met you!" Paul mustered a small smile. "Though he's heard a lot of good things about you."

"You're lying to your father?"

"No! Be serious, Jen. In any case it wouldn't matter what my dad thinks . . ." Paul grinned. "Point noted."

"Good. Let's go get some dinner."

"Okay. You deserve a homecoming celebration better than what you've had so far. But tell me about that stuff you mentioned to your father. Emergency repairs? Sucking vacuum?"

"Oh, that." Jen gave Paul an arch look. "It's kind of like firefighting. It comes with the job sometimes. So when's the court-martial? Will you be there?"

"It starts next week. And, yeah, I'll be there. Captain Hayes wants me in the court room as an observer."

Jen laughed. "Garcia's still your department head, isn't he? I bet he's really happy about that."

Paul grinned. "Oh, yeah. It's not as if Chief Imari can't handle everything for a few days, and it's not as if I won't be coming back to the ship after court proceedings are over each day. But I'm the blankety-blank Combat Information Center Officer! Not a blankety-blank JAG! It's not my fault I got assigned ship's legal officer duties. Hey, that reminds me, guess who one of the members of the court is?"

She shrugged. "I can't imagine."

"Herdez."

"Herdez? Good God. I was thinking of trying to drop by the courtroom, but now . . ."

"Jen, she liked you."

"She ran me ragged! Don't say it. I know I once told you that was Herdez's way of rewarding people. Give them more to do! But she didn't do it to me as a reward."

"Then why did she?"

"Damned if I know. Here you are, going back to a court-martial, and Herdez will be there. Old home week. Speaking of home, did you get a room for us, yet?"

"Well, sure."

She glanced around to see if they were being watched, snuggled close for a moment, and grinned at him. "Dinner can wait. Let's you and me go celebrate my homecoming right now."

Paul smiled back and nodded. "Sounds good to me."
No wonder they compare the ocean to women. Moods change in a heartbeat, and all you can do is try to keep up. Not that I'm complaining
. It was the next day before Paul realized Jen had avoided telling him anything about the hazardous emergency repairs she'd overseen on the
Maury
.

* * *

The courtroom in which Lieutenant Scott Silver would face a general court martial wasn't the same as that in which Captain Wakeman, former commanding officer of the
Michaelson
, had once also faced a trial. Other than that, though, to Paul it appeared identical to the other courtroom. The judge's bench, set higher than the other seats and tables in the room, rested in the front. A table had been set up on one side of the room, facing the area in front of the judge's bench and draped with a navy blue tablecloth. It had five chairs, one for each member of the court. Two doors in the back of the court room were for the judge and the members respectively to use. Facing the judge's bench and to either side were the tables for the defense and the trial counsel. After a gap of a couple of meters, rows of chairs for spectators were lined up, with a clear path down the middle for those entering the court through the front door.

Paul hesitated in the entry, memories of Wakeman's court-martial filling his mind.

"Looking for a seat?" someone asked behind him.

Paul simultaneously slid to one side and spun around to offer apologies to whoever had been held up by his blocking the door. One certainty in the life of a lieutenant junior grade, though less so than for an ensign, was that just about anybody in authority you encountered would outrank you. "My apologies, ma'am."

Commander Carr smiled impishly. "Nervous? Don't be. This is my show. I'm glad your captain agreed to let you be here as an observer. Do me a favor and sit right behind my table. I may have some questions for you as the court-martial progresses."