Aftermath by Ann Aguirre Page B

there, she was promoted in the Armada, based on her sexual relationship with Commander March.”
    Ms. Hale calls, “Objection! My client’s scores in the combat jumper training program are part of the court record. She took first or second in all trials, and no other jumper possessed her combination of real-world skills. Point in fact, she earned that rank. They had severed their sexual relationship by the time he became her commanding officer.”
    Wentworth levels a cold look on the prosecutor. “Sustained. Please cleave to the facts, Mr. Prosecutor. I will not have a smear campaign in my courtroom.”
    “My apologies, Your Honor.” By Latimer’s expression, that little slap on the wrist doesn’t matter because he’s about to bring out the big guns. “At any time, Chancellor Tarn, did you give First Lieutenant Jax authority to make such an enormous decision, either tacitly or by express statement?”
    I see regret in Tarn’s eyes, just before he says, “No, I did not.”
    “Your witness, Ms. Hale.”
    She doesn’t look worried as she approaches. “You said earlier that you enjoyed a professional relationship with Ms. Jax, is that correct?”
    “It is.”
    “Would you say you are intimately familiar with the way her mind works?”
    Tarn looks uneasy, as if he suspects my barrister of hiding barracuda teeth behind her friendly smile. He’s not wrong about that. “I’m not sure I would use the word ‘intimate.’”
    “Then you can’t be sure what meaning Ms. Jax may have extrapolated from your instructions?”
    “I suppose not.”
    “Therefore, if you’re admitting reasonable doubt about what significance she took from your communications, then you must also concede reasonable doubt about her execution of said instructions.”
    “Yes,” Tarn admits, wearing a look of relief.
    I guess he didn’t want to see me spaced. Part of me thinks I deserve to be. I have a lot of blood on my hands, so much that I don’t know if I’ll ever feel clean. It doesn’t matter what I intended, only what I did. I remind myself of the lives I saved, but they’re intangible. There’s no roster anywhere of People Jax Saved , unlike the list of the dead on those lost ships.
    “And did you, at any point, tell her, ‘If we fail here, all is lost’?”
    “Yes. Those are my words. About—”
    “Can you say with complete certainty that she didn’t have those words in mind when she acted to defend Venice Minor?”
    Tarn shakes his head. “I cannot.”
    “That’s all.”
    “The witness may step down.”
    His six guards come to escort him from the room. Vid- cams whir, trying to get a shot of the departing chancellor’s expression. People will be speculating about his opinion of the cross-examination, but I already know he’s glad she cast some doubt on his denial. He likes me well enough; he thinks I served to the best of my ability—and the sad part is . . . I did .
    I drift during the prosecution’s closing arguments. According to Latimer, I’m the worst butcher who ever jumped; small children ought to run in fear of my shadow. It’s odd to hear myself painted this way. I used to be the party girl everyone loved to hate, and now my reputation’s even worse. I don’t kid myself—even if I walk out of here, I won’t be free. This will follow me.
    Then it’s my barrister’s turn to try to make the jury look somewhat less judgmental. The older woman on the end looks like she’d happily space me herself.
    Ms. Hale turns to the judge. “Your Honor, in closing, I wish to call on precedent. In the case of Conglomerate v. Kernak, it has been found that an agent of the government, acting on behalf of said government, can be judged an autonomous authority in certain extreme situations. As with Jacob Kernak, I present that Sirantha Jax found herself in a circumstance where there was no alternative and as an agent for her government, she took action to minimize the loss of life.”
    “Objection. Ms.