S'Hella rose from his chair to make the prosecution's Closing Statement, his face set in lines of grim determination, and Jon's stomach clenched. Now for it.

"May it please the Court, Counsels for the defense," the attorney began.

"Before the Court are two felony counts alleged against Captain Jonathan Archer and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed. Count 1 alleging Second Degree Murder and Count 2 alleging Voluntary Manslaughter.

"For the purposes of this hearing the prosecution has the burden at this Article 32 hearing, to elicit evidence that there is reasonable cause to believe Second Degree Murder in Count 1, Voluntary Manslaughter in Count 2, or both were committed, and there is reasonable cause to believe the defendants, Captain Jonathan Archer and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, committed the crimes, or either of the crimes as alleged, and as such, the matter should be referred for a General Court Martial.

"That burden we accept, and submit that we have met.

"The crime of Second Degree Murder requires the act of killing another person with intent or reckless disregard that serious harm or death may occur, but without pre-meditation. Put another way, it is a killing that was the result of an act that was intended to cause death or serious harm by reckless disregard that death or serious harm will occur.

"Sub-Commander T'Pol testified Enterprise intercepted an automated distress call from the Vulcan ship Seleya, and that Captain Archer made the decision to go to the ship and render aid.

"When Enterprise reached Seleya, the ship was found to be heavily damaged and located in an asteroid field containing the substance trellium. Other than the automated distress call Enterprise could not raise the crew of the Seleya.

"Sub-Commander T'Pol testified that Captain Archer, herself, Lieutenant Reed, and the MACO, Corporal Hawkins boarded Shuttlepod One for the trip over to the Seleya.

"Sub-Commander T'Pol testified that she had served on the ship for over a year as its deputy science officer under Captain Voris before joining the Vulcan consulate on Earth.

"Sub-Commander T'Pol testified that the last information was the Seleya had been attempting to chart the thermobaric perimeter of the Expanse when they were pulled into the Expanse itself by some kind of subspace eddy. No further transmissions were heard from them.

"The reasonable inference that may be drawn from Sub-Commander T'Pol's testimony to this point is that Captain Archer, Lieutenant Reed and Corporal Hawkins were aware that the Vulcan High Command had received no information from the Seleya since it entered the Expanse and they should expect the worse possible situation.

"The prosecution submits, and stipulates, that the crew of the Seleya was seriously affected by exposure to the trellium.

"But–", and his tone hardened, "we also submit and argue, that the crew's exposure and their reaction to the trellium, does not constitute a defense to or justify the actions of Captain Archer and Lieutenant Reed in destroying the Seleya and killing the crew.

"Sub-Commander T'Pol testified that at every meeting with Seleya crewmen she, Captain Archer, Lieutenant Reed and Corporal Hawkins were able to meet, stop, and or deflect the attacking Vulcan crewman with less than lethal force, by stunning them.

"Sub-Commander T'Pol did not once testify that the stun setting on their weapons did not work on the Vulcan crew.

"Sub-Commander T'Pol testified that at one point she had to order Corporal Hawkins to put his weapon back on the stun setting after she observed him changing it to kill. In

"Sub-Commander T'Pol testified that after making their way to the control room Lieutenant Reed and Corporal Hawkins were able to secure the hatch to the room without any problem.

"Sub-Commander T'Pol testified that Lieutenant Reed encrypted the door's locking code without any problem, even though this was Vulcan technology.

"Sub-Commander T'Pol testified that she ordered Lieutenant Reed, a highly experienced armory officer, with engineering experience, to realign the actuator circuits to allow her to control the bulkheads."

Up till this moment he'd been sonorous, very much aloof from the statements he was making. Now, however, a glance of almost venomous contempt flickered towards Malcolm, and a scathing note entered his voice.

"At no time did Lieutenant Reed indicate that he was unable to realign the actuator circuits.

"At no time did he indicate he was unable to carry out the order to him made by Sub-Commander T'Pol.

"At no time did he ask for additional instruction on the actuator circuits.

"At no time did he ask Sub-Commander T'Pol to review his work.

"At every step of the way Lieutenant Reed never indicated that realigning the actuators was beyond his abilities.

"And Sub-Commander T'Pol, at that point in time, had no reason to believe he could not carry out her instructions, as he had just shown by encrypting the locking mechanism on the door to the control room – a piece of Vulcan technology – successfully.

"Sub-Commander T'Pol testified that when she attempted to access the controls alongside the actuator circuits she received an electric shock, which would not have happened if they had been correctly aligned. Lieutenant Reed knew or should have known that if he was unsure of how to align the actuators he could ask the Sub-Commander for help, and she would have complied – or in fact he had failed to properly align the actuators and hoped it would go unnoticed. But he did not. His actions were grossly negligent and in wanton disregard for the safety of the crew of the Seleya!"

Jon spared a glance for his tactical officer, trying to catch his eye and wishing it was possible to put an unobtrusive, supporting hand on his arm. Don't listen to this, Malcolm. It's bullshit.

Reed was simply sitting there. Watching the prosecutor steadily. His eyes were the pale gray of icy pools on a night of killing frost.

"Lieutenant Reed's grossly negligent actions in failing to properly realign the actuators began a cascading series of events that led destruction of the Seleya and ultimately to the destruction of the ship when Captain Archer ordered him to destroy it. It was Lieutenant Reed who recommended that the power grid be overloaded to destroy the Seleya and kill its crew!"

Vulcan or not, S'Hella's righteous indignation was gathering way fast now, though as he turned his head to take in the other murdering Human who'd brought about more than a hundred needless deaths he infused his tone with grievous weight, as though it pained him to bring such an accusation against an officer who should have known so much better. "The prosecution submits that Captain Archer's obsession with the mission had created a callous monster without regard to life. His dislike of Vulcans exacerbated his callousness towards the Seleya crew and led him to issue the order for the ship to be destroyed, leaving no possibility whatsoever that any member or members of the crew could recover and regain control of the vessel. He is complicit and responsible for the actions of Lieutenant Reed.

"Captain Archer acted in a wanton and reckless disregard for the safety and lives of the crew of the Seleya, whose safety rested in his hands, by ordering Lieutenant Reed to overload the power grid, destroying the Seleya and killing its crew."

He took a breath to calm himself before continuing in a more measured voice, "The destroying of the Seleya was not necessary to the completion of Captain Archer and Enterprise's mission.

"Therefore, the Prosecution submits that it has met its burden of proof in this Article 32 hearing, that the evidence supports that there is reasonable cause to believe Second Degree Murder of the crew of the Seleya was committed, and there is reasonable cause to believe the defendants, Captain Jonathan Archer and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed committed the crime, and as such, the matter should be sent for a General Court Martial.

"Further, the facts above support a finding that there is reasonable cause to believe that Voluntary Manslaughter in Count 2 of the Crew of the Seleya was committed, and that there is reasonable cause to believe that that Captain Archer and Lieutenant Reed committed the crime, and should be held referred to a General Court Martial.

"Voluntary Manslaughter is perpetrated in the heat of passion. Heat of passion refers to the emotional state of an individual who has been strongly provoked to violence, which leads to his act of killing.

"It is clear from Sub-Commander T'Pol's testimony that the Captain and Lieutenant Reed were reacting to the extreme violence of the Seleya's crew," he granted loftily, this hardly being disputable given the weight of the evidence from his own witness.

"But, that did not justify the actions of either Captain Archer ordering the destruction of the Seleya, nor did it justify Lieutenant Reed in suggesting the ship's destruction, and then carrying out the order.

"Captain Archer and Lieutenant Reed were subjected to extreme violence throughout their movement through the Seleya, but that violence did not justify killing the crew by causing an overloaded of the power grid, which would destroy the ship and kill the crew after they departed in Shuttlepod One." He glared at them, his face a picture of reproach. "Though they were strongly provoked to violence, they could have departed from the ship without destroying it and killing the crew.

"Captain Archer, Sub-Commander T'Pol, Lieutenant Reed and Corporal Hawkins could have escaped from the Seleya without destroying it, and that is the issue. There was no need to destroy the ship to escape. But for being strongly provoked by the trellium affected crewmen, they would not have destroyed it.

"The Prosecution submits it has meet its burden of proof to support a finding that there is reasonable cause to believe that Voluntary Manslaughter in Count 2 of the Crew of the Seleya was committed, and that there is reasonable cause to believe that that Captain Archer and Lieutenant Reed committed the crime, and should be held referred to a General Court Martial."