by Chris Hechtl
“I am the advocate of the accused. Whose side do you think I'm on, Commander? I don't care if anyone threatens me. If they do, it just pisses me off and makes me damn sure I’m going to try harder to get my client acquitted. Now, you were saying?”
“For a lieutenant commander, you've got balls,” the commander growled as he stormed off.
AJ grinned. “You have no idea,” he murmured.
@
True to his word, Commander Chedwiggen filed charges on the illegal surveillance, but without the evidence to prove the charges, he was ignored. Horatio offered his recordings as evidence. Copies were made and attached to the charges. The copies were threatened to be leaked to the media unless the trial was fair from that point on. Admiral Shren threatened to counter with blackmail charges. The commander arranged a meeting between the admiral and defensive team.
“I don't know why we're here. You want this in person? Well, here it is. If you continue to threaten to release those recordings, I will have you all up on charges,” the admiral said balefully.
“Well! This is certainly off to a fun start,” Doctor Bullettine said dryly.
“Why is he even here anyway?” the elf demanded.
“I decided to stick my nose into it. I do that,” the psychologist replied with a shrug. “I'd think you'd be used to it by now,” he drawled. The elf glared at him.
“Look, we're here at the commander's behest to work out a compromise. No more games. No more surveillance. No more handcuffs. Treat our client with the respect he's earned. No more crap in the courtroom.”
“I can't control what ONI does.”
“No, but you can slap their hands. From you, it will stick, sir,” Commander Chedwiggen stated. “And you can't tell me that they aren't handing over those recordings to the prosecution. Captain Rising Tide and his team should be charged with ethical violations and face a court-martial as well.”
“You can't prove that, any of that, Commander. And I remind you to watch your tone.”
“Sure, fine, we can play that game. I'll just release this to the media and see what the court of public opinion says,” Benny stated in exasperation. “Come on, this is a waste of time,” he said, turning away.
“You can't do that; there is a gag order,” the JAG insisted.
Benny turned back to him. “On evidence related to the trial and charges in place, not this. This is new evidence of gross misconduct on your part.”
“Fine.”
“You are saying you will call off the dogs?”
“I'll do what I can.”
Benny looked at Bull and then the commander. He shook his head. “Not that we can believe you at all,” he replied.
The elf's eyes flashed. “That is enough. I am the Judge Advocate General!”
“Then maybe you should read up on the impartial part of your job description, plus a few other articles, Admiral. Ones on ethics might be a good idea.”
“Get out of my office,” the elf fumed.
Once they were out of the office, the defense team waited until they were at the lifts before they began to talk.
“He's not going to let up,” Benny said quietly to the commander. The commander turned to him. “This isn't our first go-around on this subject, Commander, believe me. They keep trying different ways to record our sessions with our client. Usually they succeed.”
“His cell is monitored as well,” Doctor Bullettine said, adjusting his glasses. He took them off, pretended to wipe them and then put them back on. What he was really doing was turning his system back on.
“And you are recording things too I take it?” the commander asked as they walked through the outer office area.
“Of course. But mine is for scientific benefit,” Doctor Bullettine replied with a smile.
“Of course,” the commander sighed.
“So, if you want to talk strategy, we have to do so in private. They haven't been able to bug our offices yet, though they've tried.”
“What about keeping our client in the loop?”
“That is tricky. I think he knows what we're doing. He seems to have faith in us.”
“Well,” Commander Chedwiggen said, “hopefully, his faith isn't misplaced. I used to believe in the system, in how it was supposed to work. We military personnel, we took the job and take our oaths seriously. At least, I thought we did. Now, I'm not sure.”
“Welcome to the real-world, Commander.”
“Hey, I thought I'd left cynicism and this crap behind when I left the special ops community,” the commander drawled.
“You were in spec-ops?” Benny asked curiously.
“You mean you didn't know? It's in my resume.”
“We knew you were in something, but it was blacked out on your bio. ONI?”
“Perish the thought. No, I did some counter-insurgency work with ONI, but I kept my hands clean.”
“Good to know,” Doctor Bullettine murmured as the lift car opened.
@
“You need to call off the dogs,” Admiral Shren said to Admiral Hill.
“Call off the dogs?”
“Stop the surveillance of the defensive team and stop the crap with Horatio.”
“I take it your meeting didn't go well?” she asked mildly.
“No. It isn't just that either. My yeoman informed me I've had calls from reporters regarding Commander Steele.”
“Commander Steele—the name is familiar,” the Neochimp replied thoughtfully.
“She was the former JAG assigned to the commodore's case. I leaned on her; no, I came out and told her to throw the case. She resigned. She's writing a tell-all book and an advance copy was leaked. A group of reporters called for confirmation on some of the details. They started with just asking if the meeting took place as scheduled. My yeoman gave a resounding no comment.”
The Neochimp's brown eyes flared in annoyance. “Oh, wonderful! And I'm just hearing about this now?”
“You've got everyone else under surveillance, I thought you had my office bugged too,” the elf replied in a disgusted tone of voice. “Are you trying to convince me you don't?”
“A certain Naga might. I personally don't, I've got too much on my plate to process as it is,” Admiral Hill replied with as much dignity as she could muster. “Okay, I'll order my people to back off and then ease back in with passive monitoring only after a couple of days. They'll keep their distance.”
“Damn it …”
“I'm not going to let them off the leash, Admiral. You and I both do not want them to start carrying messages to the media for their client. And I know your captain needs all the help he can get.”
“It isn't doing him any good. They know he's listening so they plan around that. They are laying traps for him. He's been wise to stay out of most of them, but it only takes the wrong move and he'll tank the case. Again. None of us want that.”
“Okay. I've got orders to follow, Admiral; I have to follow them.”
“Passives then but I mean it. We can't afford any more screwups or looking like this is a kangaroo court.”
“It already is. But I get your meaning.”
“Good. Out,” the diminutive admiral growled as he cut the circuit.
Chapter 34
On Saturday, Horatio finally got a chance to see a vid screen in the mess. It'd been weeks since he'd seen a vid screen; the last time he'd seen the one in the mess working had been before some idiot had broken it. The new screen had an acrylic box around it to protect it.
Not that it was worth watching he thought absently. The news was banned because the correctional officers didn't want the prisoners to get riled up by greater events. Not that it helped, they still got news from visitors and letters. The more one tried to keep something a secret, the juicier it was and the more people wanted to spread it.
Despite the news being an open secret and the occasional grumbling, they stubbornly only allowed children's shows on the screen. Horatio kept a wary eye on those around hi
m, but he couldn't help but get sucked into a childlike skit involving a pair of thieving Neobears and a game warden. One of the bears took to a tree for a nap after eating the contents of a picnic basket, while the other went off to do his business in the woods.
When the game warden arrived, he looked up to the fuzzy rear end of the bear and heard the snoring. “It's got to be a fallow bear. Hang on, I've got this,” he said, loading rubber bullets into his gun.
“This should make him fear humans. It's the best medicine to keep him away,” the warden said as he lined up on the bear.
The shot changed to him slowly squeezing the trigger. The round went off with a crack. The bear yelped and clutched at his ass with both paws, overbalancing and falling out of the tree. He groaned on the ground.
“Oops,” the ranger chuckled. “Ha, bear! Ha! Go on!” he said, waving a hand and the rifle as his Neodog partner barked and made more noise. “Ha!”
The bear sat up and groaned, rubbing his rear end. “What'd you do that for?” he demanded. “Damn that hurt!”
His smaller partner came out of the brush and saw the bigger bear rubbing his large rear end. “Yogi, did you get a boo-boo? I told you not to sleep up there,” he said.
The wardens stopped and scratched their heads in confusion.
That earned a groan and chuckle from the audience. Horatio shook his head. He looked up to see a couple people watching him. One prisoner spoke with another, eyes intent on Horatio. Horatio decided to give it up, so he policed his tray and then left before they could get stupid.
@
Horatio was given the news about the nanotech bomb plot from his civilian counsel at their next opportunity. “Obviously, no leads. The prevailing theory is someone wanted to make a statement about nanotech, but it obviously backfired.”
“Which leads to one suspect, Childress,” Doctor Bullettine stated. “I can see what he was trying to do, unite everyone against us—against our client and the Federation based on the use of nanotechnology.”
“Yes. That is the prevailing theory in those with half a brain. Too many people are buying into the theory that the mutinous faction was involved,” Commander Chedwiggen said, eyeing the admiral.
“I doubt it. If they'd send a bomb anywhere, it would be directed to Childress not to a food-loading dock,” Horatio replied with a sniff. “What gets me is they have been declared in a state of mutiny yet they call those who oppose them the mutinous faction?” he demanded.
“I know, hilarious, isn't it? I've been trying to get some information on them, but so far, not much luck,” Benny replied.
“Gentlemen, little ears are listening so let's focus on the case, shall we?” Commander Chedwiggen urged.
“Right. He wants us to discuss case strategy in front of the cameras. Nice,” Benny said sarcastically. Horatio just shook his head.
“I didn't mean … ah hell,” the commander grumbled. He frowned as Horatio tugged on his ear. A sudden thought occurred to him, and he looked up. “You think we can get a room swap?”
“I doubt it. You can try. See if there are rooms available. Can you sense anything, Admiral?” Doctor Bullettine asked, turning to the admiral.
“There are ODN cables but no active electronics in the room other than our own. I can detect them in the next room however; the wall is not shielded. All of the bugs are there against that wall,” Horatio stated, pointing to a wall behind the commander. The attorneys turned to look at the wall. “Most likely they are using membranes to transfer the audio to another location without using an electronic microphone. They could get away with a pinhole camera and an ODN cable in hopes of getting past my implants.”
“In other words, they are learning,” Benny said.
“Or we're getting paranoid,” Doctor Bullettine said, “not that we are. Even paranoid people have real enemies.”
“Correct. So, let's see if we can get another room. Barring, that I'm going to start bringing in a damn scrambler system,” the commander growled.
“That'll be interesting to get through security. Make sure it works,” Benny said with a shake of his head.
“Yeah,” the commander drawled as he thought the problem over as he headed to the door. He hesitated, grimaced at a thought, but then shook his head again as he yanked the door open and looked at the guard. “We're going to play musical rooms,” he said.
“Sir?”
“I don't like the décor. So, let's find another room. Which are empty?”
“Um … two …,” the guard pointed to a door down the hall.
“Perfect. Let's go over to that one,” the commander said, pointing to a room with someone in it.
“Sir, someone is in there.”
“We'll talk them into swapping,” the commander replied.
@
“They are on to us,” an ONI tech said with a shake of her head. “Again. I don't know how the hell they can do it; it's like witchcraft!” she grimaced. “Unless we wire every conference room, I think we're going to have to abandon this project.”
“Not up to us. See if we can get in there and set up a microphone on the nearby wall. Obviously, we can't drill holes, no time and that'd be noticeable.”
“With the rooms occupied?” the female tech said, waving a hand.
“Frack. Damn it!”
“Yeah. Like I said.”
“Well, smartass, I'll let you tell the brass we didn't get what they wanted,” her partner said.
“Oh, hell no!” she replied, eyes wide.
@
The following week the judges and prosecution again disagreed on calling Horatio by his new rank. Admiral Thurgrad and Captain Rising Tide insisted he was still a commodore. Admiral Silvestri and Colonel Talia remained silent on the subject as they listened to the defense and prosecutor hash out the problem again in an Article 39a hearing.
It came down to not so much a lack of respect for him or his uniform but the fact that the prosecution didn't want to legitimize the ansible promotion. They were calling into question everything from Admiral Irons to Pyrax. Both parties were given a week to assemble their evidence.
“For us, it is clear, cut and dried. They don't want to allow electronic testimony? That throws out most of their case,” Benny stated.
“Except for witness testimony,” Commander Chedwiggen pointed out.
“Which can be torn apart. And remember, we can put witnesses on the stand to verify the Federation.”
“Such as?”
“Admiral Zekowitz for one. His flag lieutenant also came to Pyrax. Lieutenant Si I think her name was?” Benny said. Horatio nodded. “Then there is the admiral here and the people from Pyrax who came with him.”
“Some are here. Some went to the station,” Commander Chedwiggen stated. “I can put them on the list. Getting them here in time might be a problem. They also do not have anything to back them up.”
“That's their case in a nutshell. It's not about what happened at the station; this is a vendetta to prove that the ansible was faked. Without the ansible, the order to relieve Childress is invalid. To prove that, they have to also destroy your promotion,” Doctor Bullettine said with a shake of his head.
“I know,” Horatio stated. “So, we fight it, just like before.”
“The problem is they've seen our hand. We each know what the other has and have been preparing for it in round two. Something tells me it's not going to be as easy this time around,” Benny said with a shake of his head.
The introduction of electronic evidence proving Pyrax as well as witness testimony set off a series of motions and hearings to deal with the situation. All of the testimony had to be during the Article 39a hearing.
Horatio rubbed his brow as he tried to keep track of it all. It was like a series of nested subroutines, one triggering another which triggered another, and so on and so forth.
“In a two to one ruling, we have tentatively allowed witness testimony and all verified electronic files to Pyrax to be
used. However, we cannot rule on the existence of Admiral Irons since he has not been met by anyone except the accused. None of this has any bearing on the charges related to the Harbor Station incident.”
The ruling went on to separate a lot of the testimony about the Harbor Station since Captain Clayton and others were not available to testify. It also tabled the debate about Horatio's rank once more.
“So, in other words, no side won and we're back to square one. I wonder if they realize that?” Benny murmured.
“Of course not. Because then, they have to admit that the ansible is there and that Admiral Irons' orders were also legitimate. Cute,” Horatio murmured in an aside to his counselor.
“I know, sir.”
“Okay, so my question to you, what is your plan to deal with it?” he asked.
He grimaced. “I ….” Eventually he flinched under the admiral's gaze.
“Don't have one,” Horatio filled in for Benny.
“Lower the voltage or at least the glares and tones,” Doctor Bullettine said softly and urgently from behind them. Horatio turned slightly. “Seriously. We didn't know they'd go this far. I think they shot themselves in the foot by trying to exclude the evidence.”
“Okay, so what about more witnesses who were in B-102c and can testify to seeing the ansible platform?”
“That's possible. We can't say anything about what they saw for recordings from it of course, hearsay. But we can draw on witnesses who saw the platform. Good call, sir,” Commander Chedwiggen stated.
“Court is now in session. Captain Rising Tide, are you ready to proceed?”
“Yes, sir,” the high elf said, rising from his chair and smoothing his coat. “The prosecution calls …”
@
Horatio was surprised when he entered the mess Friday evening and the news was on the vid screen. He took his tray, went through the line, and then took a seat at a far table. He ate quickly and mechanically as he listened to the idle chatter during the commercials and the star system news on the vid screen.
