Burden of Proof ps-2

by John G. Hemry

  She smiled. "I walked. After I convinced my department head I could really use some time ashore. Interested in lunch?"

  "You bet. We've got 'til 1300."

  "I've got less than that. I have to be back on the Sorry Maury by 1230."

  "Okay. Quick lunch. Let's hit some vending machines."

  Paul filled Jen in on the events of the morning, then spread his hands. "I wish I knew what the members of the court were thinking."

  "I know what I'd be thinking. Do you ever get the feeling Silver's been coasting on being an admiral's son?"

  "The thought had crossed my mind. I've also been wondering how much being a Navy officer was really his idea in the first place. He sure doesn't act like he wants the job."

  "You may be right, especially with a daddy like Vice Admiral Silver, who might've just expected his son to follow in the family footsteps. Or else." Jen looked away, her face troubled. "Speaking of fathers, I do have some news you need to know. My father's been tapped as a defense witness."

  "Oh, great." I'll be sitting there looking at Captain Shen staring at me from the witness stand as he answers questions about whether or not Lieutenant Silver's to blame for that accident. "And my captain wants me in that courtroom."

  "Captains in front of you and captains behind you. I'd dodge, if I was you."

  Paul laughed briefly. "Immediate evasive maneuvers! Brace for collision!"

  "Abandon ship?"

  "No, I think I'm supposed to go down with it."

  "How do you go down with a spaceship?" Jen asked. "Unless you're in a gravity well."

  "I'll let you know. Does this mean you've talked to your father?"

  "Uh-uh. Strictly intelligence collection using secondary but reliable sources. Speaking of intelligence collection, how are you and that hot little commander getting along?"

  Paul frowned. "You mean Commander Carr? She's way out of my league, Jen, even if I wasn't taken. How would I ask a commander on a date?"

  "Oh, you've wondered about how to do that, huh?" Jen giggled. "I'm just teasing. The commander's married, in case you haven't noticed the ring."

  "No, I guess I hadn't. I haven't really looked at her that much — "

  "Uh-huh. Sure. But I'll pretend to believe you."

  Before Paul knew it, Jen had to head back for the Maury. He was halfway back to the courtroom himself before he realized Jen's bantering had driven thoughts of the trial from his mind for a while. Thanks, Jen.

  Chapter Eleven

  The first prosecution witness called after lunch was the first to be wearing civilian clothes. "Special Agent Sullivan, you are assigned to the staff of the fleet commander as a representative of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service?"

  Sullivan nodded as he answered. "Yes, I am."

  "Did you conduct a search of the stateroom formerly occupied by Lieutenant Silver onboard the USS Michaelson?"

  "I did, along with Special Agent Connally."

  "Can you summarize your findings?"

  Sullivan nodded again, then consulted his own data pad. "Most of the material belonging to Lieutenant Silver in that stateroom was of a personal nature. Clothes, toiletries, that sort of thing. We found twenty-two data coins, of which eighteen contained various professional and personal files along with computer games, music and assorted other software. Four of the coins were totally blank."

  "Excuse me, Special Agent Sullivan. Totally blank?"

  Another nod. "Yes. Not unused, because then they'd have had all the formatting on them. They'd been scrubbed clean. Nothing was recoverable on them."

  "The data on them had been deleted, then."

  "No. If it'd been deleted, we could've recovered it. These had been wiped by software designed to render the contents unrecoverable."

  "Did you find that particular software?"

  "No. It wasn't in the stateroom."

  "What else did you find?"

  Sullivan consulted his data pad again. "One of the larger drawers assigned to Lieutenant Silver contained a quantity of unopened official mail for the main propulsion officer."

  "Unopened?"

  "Yes. Stuff like software updates for systems, safety advisories, technical manual updates and revisions, that sort of thing."

  Paul stole another glance at the members. This time he caught Captain Mashiko's brow lowering in a sign of disapproval. Let's see Scott Silver explain that.

  "Lieutenant Silver hadn't been opening his official mail and passing on the materiel in it to his personnel or entering it into the engineering system?"

  "No. We found no trace of opened official mail. You know, envelopes that hadn't been discarded, contents of opened mail in the files or drawers, that sort of thing."

  "I see. Anything else, Special Agent Sullivan?"

  "Lieutenant Silver's data terminal contained numerous pieces of personal software. Mainly games. That's unauthorized, but it's not all that unusual on ships."

  "Thank you, Special Agent Sullivan. No more questions."

  Lieutenant Commander Jones didn't bother getting up. "No questions."

  "I have some questions," Captain Mashiko stated. "Special Agent Sullivan, this unopened mail in Lieutenant Silver's stateroom. It was in a drawer?"

  "That's right."

  "How was it stored in there? Filed neatly?"

  Sullivan twisted his face in thought, then shook his head. "No. It looked like it'd just been tossed in."

  "How old was the oldest unopened mail?"

  "Let's see." Sullivan checked his data pad. "The oldest date was 22 August."

  Mashiko looked as if he were tasting something unpleasant. "According to the charges, Lieutenant Silver assumed duties as the main propulsion assistant on the Michaelson on 20 August. Is that correct, Commander Carr?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Special Agent Sullivan, what sort of games did you find on Lieutenant Silver's terminal?"

  Sullivan consulted his data pad again. "I can list them by title if you want. Essentially, they were all action games. Twitch and shoot stuff."

  Paul felt like smiling, but repressed it. Shoot 'em up games are common enough on the ship, but the existence of lots of those games alongside unopened official mail creates a strong image of an officer playing games instead of doing his job. Which matches what I know about Scott Silver. Dammit, I shouldn't be taking any pleasure in this. Besides, even if that convinces Captain Mashiko to vote for conviction on the charge of dereliction in performance of his duties, that still leaves all the other charges against Silver and the rest of the members to convince. If I know anything about Herdez, she's wishing she could get Scott Silver alone for twenty minutes while she reamed him out for not doing his job. But what about the rest?

  Captain Mashiko cast a long look toward the defense table. "The members have no more questions."

  Paul knew the next prosecution witness, even though he wasn't from the Michaelson.

  "If the court pleases," Commander Carr asked, "trial counsel would like to stipulate that Chief Warrant Officer Rose is one of the top software engineers on Franklin Station, and in the Navy as a whole."

  Judge Halstead gave Rose a skeptical look. "I might agree to so stipulate if Warrant Rose can fix my case management software so it doesn't lock up almost every time I try to update my files."

  Rose looked up at the judge. "Milcourt version 9.5, sir? I can fix that."

  "See me after the trial. Does defense counsel have any objection to the stipulation?"

  Lieutenant Commander Jones shook his head. "No, Your Honor. Warrant Officer Rose's qualifications are known to me."

  "Then the court stipulates that Chief Warrant Officer Rose is an expert software engineer."

  Commander Carr nodded to acknowledge the ruling. "Thank you, Your Honor. Warrant Officer Rose, during the evening of 19 September the engineering logs on the USS Michaelson were so severely damaged that no data could be recovered from them. Have you examined those logs?"

  "Yes, ma'am, I have."

&n
bsp; "What was your conclusion?"

  "The damage to the logs was caused by a hacking program whose name I've provided to the court but otherwise prefer to keep confidential. It's very hard to detect when this program has been used, but it leaves a couple of markers for those who know where and how to look."

  "You're saying the damage to the engineering logs was deliberate."

  "Absolutely, ma'am."

  Paul glanced over at the members to see how they were taking Rose's testimony. He couldn't decipher the poker faces they were wearing, but they were definitely all paying very close attention. Paul shifted his gaze to defense table, where Lieutenant Silver displayed every appearance of being horrified by the revelation.

  "Could you tell the time-frame in which the engineering logs were deliberately damaged?"

  "Yes, ma'am. The hacking program activated at 2235."

  "At 2235 on the evening of 19 September." Carr looked directly at the members. "According to previous testimony, Lieutenant Silver's presence could not be accounted for from about 2200 to about 2300 that evening. Was Lieutenant Silver logged on to the Michaelson 's system when the damage occurred?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "Objection." Jones pointed to the witness. "Warrant Officer Rose can only testify to what he knows, which is that someone using Lieutenant Silver's account and password was logged on at that time."

  Commander Carr nodded. "Defense counsel is correct. I'll restate the question. Warrant Officer Rose, was someone using Lieutenant Silver's account and password logged onto the Michaelson 's system when the damage occurred?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "This hacking program you described. How would someone acquire it?"

  "Off the 'net, ma'am. Anyone can find stuff like that if they look for it, which is why I don't want to name the program here."

  "Warrant Officer Rose, four data coins in Lieutenant Silver's stateroom had been rendered unreadable. Are you familiar with software which does this?"

  Rose shrugged. "Ma'am, there's a number of programs out there that can do that."

  "Where would you get them?"

  Another shrug. "You can buy them, like the government does. We use that type of software to wipe hard drives or data coins that are being disposed of. But there's a number of versions available free on the 'net as well."

  "The ability to render data unreadable, then, while still allowing the coin to be reused in the future, requires software for that purpose."

  "Of course."

  "Then Lieutenant Silver must have had such software in his possession."

  "At one time, yes, ma'am."

  "Warrant Officer Rose, you're responsible for updating fleet guidance on software which is allowed on military and government systems. Is software capable of rendering data unreadable authorized?"

  "Not unless it's the government's program, and only system administrators are supposed to have that one." Rose shook his head and looked weary. "Let the average user get his or her hands on that stuff, and they'll destroy critical data or wipe their hard drives without knowing what they're doing. Users do enough damage without allowing them to have software designed to cause damage."

  "Thank you, Warrant Officer Rose. No more questions."

  Lieutenant Commander Jones stood up but stayed at the defense table. "Warrant Officer Rose, I'd just like to clarify a few points. Is there any evidence you are aware of directly tying Lieutenant Silver to the destruction of the data in the engineering logs?"

  "You mean something with his name on it, sir? No, sir."

  "Is there any evidence Lieutenant Silver actually possessed the program which did that damage?"

  "I'm not aware that anyone found that program in his possession, no, sir."

  "Warrant, do you ever have data on file which you'd prefer no one else ever saw? Personal matters, perhaps?"

  Rose grinned. "Everybody does, sir."

  "Then even if Lieutenant Silver had somehow used unauthorized software to render the four data coins found in his stateroom unreadable, that doesn't mean whatever information those coins once contained bears on the charges against Lieutenant Silver, does it? Those coins could've contained anything."

  "Yes, sir, they could've. We have no way of knowing. Unreadable means unreadable."

  "I'd also like you to restate one point, Warrant Officer Rose. If the system shows an individual was logged on at a certain time, that doesn't prove that person was the one who logged in, does it?"

  Rose shook his head, looking annoyed. "No, it doesn't. People are too careless with passwords."

  Paul tried not to show his dismay. Jones zeroed right in on the weakness of the case against Silver there. We know someone did it, but we can only infer it was Silver. There's no way to prove it, even though it's easy to speculate one of those unreadable coins once contained the program that allowed Silver to damage the engineering logs.

  "No further questions."

  "Does trial counsel wish to redirect?" Judge Halstead asked.

  "Yes, Your Honor," Commander Carr stood, though also remaining at her table. "Warrant Officer Rose, we have established that a spare controller for the power transfer junction was present with Chief Asher in Forward Engineering. The chief engineer of the USS Michaelson has already testified that it required authorization codes from an officer and an enlisted to disable the safety interlocks on engineering equipment. Would those authorizations, and who entered them, have been recorded in the engineering logs?"

  "No question. Yes, ma'am."

  "Then by destroying the data in the engineering logs, whoever committed that act ensured we could not identify that officer, the officer within the engineering department of the USS Michaelson, who provided an authorization to disable the safety interlocks."

  "That's correct, ma'am."

  "How often are the engineering logs backed up, Warrant Officer Rose?"

  "Once a week at midnight, ma'am. The process is automatic."

  "Once a week at midnight. They're backed-up to a separate storage area?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "Then it's reasonable to conclude that whoever destroyed those records was attempting to conceal something which had occurred within the last few days, isn't it?"

  "Yes, ma'am, it is."

  "No more questions."

  Captain Mashiko leaned forward. "Warrant Rose, is there any other possible explanation for the damage to those logs? You are positive the damage was deliberate and caused by destructive software?"

  "Yes, sir, I am."

  "Do you know why this deliberate destruction was not detected in the initial investigation?"

  Rose looked a bit uncomfortable as he answered. "Sir, not all experts are created equal. I know the sailor who checked for the cause of the data loss for the initial investigation. He's not bad, he's really very good, but he's not as experienced as some other people. Like I said earlier, you need to know exactly what to look for to spot the evidence that this software had been used."

  "And the investigation's expert didn't know what to look for."

  "He does now, sir."

  Captain Mashiko smiled for a moment. "Thank you, Warrant."

  Paul watched Rose leave, exchanging brief nods as Rose walked out of the court room. Clever. Carr could've brought out that stuff about the interlock authorization and the recent time period during her first questioning of Rose, but she waited so she'd have something else to toss in front of the members after the defense counsel brought up the lack of evidence proving Silver did the damage.

  Commander Carr stood. "The prosecution has one more witness. Captain Richard Hayes, commanding officer of the USS Michaelson."

  Paul stared at her, then looked toward the back of the court room as Captain Hayes came walking down the aisle. Why the hell didn't somebody tell me my Captain was testifying?

  After Hayes had been sworn in, Commander Carr took her usual position in front of the witness stand. "Captain Hayes, on the night of 19 September 2100, you were paged to return to your s
hip."

  "That's right. I was informed there'd been an explosion and a fire, which was still being fought at that time."

  "Who informed you of that, Captain? Who paged you?"

  "Chief Petty Officer Imari, the in-port officer of the deck."

  "Did you speak with Lieutenant Silver at that time, sir?"

  "No. I assumed he was engaged with dealing with the shipboard emergency."

  "You then returned to the ship."

  "Yes. As fast as possible." Hayes' face had grown progressively grimmer, apparently due to recalling the events of that evening.

  "What did you find on the quarterdeck?"

  "Chief Petty Officer Imari was fielding calls and information, and relaying those to Lieutenant Silver."

  "Then Lieutenant Silver briefed you on the current situation, sir?"

  Captain Hayes frowned. "He tried when I told him to, but he didn't seem to have a handle on a lot of things. General impressions, but few details. I finally told Chief Imari to give me a rundown."

  "Can you give an example of this lack of detail on Lieutenant Silver's part?"

  "Certainly. The, uh, teams sent to assist us from other ships. All Silver could tell me was that some had come aboard. Chief Imari told me what ships they'd come from and what they were doing. She knew the Midway 's people were setting up a temporary airlock to assist our own Damage Control team, for example."

  "Did Lieutenant Silver tell you the accident had taken place in Forward Engineering?"

  "I didn't need him to tell me that. Chief Imari told me when she paged me."

  "Did Lieutenant Silver tell you a piece of equipment in Forward Engineering wasn't operating properly?"

  "No."

  "Did Lieutenant Silver tell you he'd acquired a spare for that piece of equipment and passed it on to Chief Asher?"

  "No."

  Paul felt like flinching every time Captain Hayes bit off a reply. Each "no" came out harder. I do not want to be chewed out by this man. I'm sure I will be someday, but now I know it's not going to be any fun.

  "Did Lieutenant Silver then or later tell you that Chief Asher could have been in Forward Engineering, working on that piece of equipment?"

  "No."