Eric Flint - The Rats, the Bats and the Ugly

Mike could tell by the judge's expression that she'd hit exactly the right chord. Well, Tana always did her homework carefully. She always did her dirty work carefully, too. Still there were some surprises awaiting Her Nastyship.

She pointed to Fitz. "We have a man on trial here, a man who is very good at manipulating the masses for his own evil ends. Conrad Fitzhugh has abused the trust that the army and the people of Harmony and Reason have placed in their officers. We will display to you evidence, hard evidence, that can but lead you to one conclusion: This man is a spy, and a traitor who abused his rank to pursue his own goals, the goals of self-enrichment, at the expense of the lives of the men and women of our great armed forces."

She went on in this vein, in a very convincing, indeed, heartfelt style for some time. She didn't actually say much, but that was plainly secondary to her purposes.

Brigadier Charlesworth was an impressive witness. He was a heavily decorated divisional commander. He had been assaulted, with a deadly weapon, in front of equally impressive witnesses.

Ogata stood up to cross-examine. "Please show us the scars, Brigadier."

"What?"

"The scars of this assault with a deadly weapon," said Ogata.

"Objection!"

"Overruled. Continue."

"Did you in fact sustain any flesh wound from this assault?" asked Ogata. "If so, is there any reason that you cannot show the scars to the court? Is it perhaps actually on your buttocks?"

"Objection!"

"Sustained. Will the defense refrain from insulting the witness. He is a distinguished officer."

Ogata turned to the judge. "Your honor, I can only imagine one other place that the witness could be injured that he would be reluctant to show us the scar," he said, without even a hint of a smile. "Therefore it seemed a polite alternative to the other possible question. Less embarrassing for the witness. I would not ask a witness to show his buttocks or any other part of his body that he or she considered private to the court. But in the interests of justice the scars from the wound should be displayed."

The judge nodded. "I take your point, Lieutenant Colonel Ogata. Brigadier. Would you mind?"

"There isn't a scar," said Charlesworth grumpily.

By the look on Tana's face she'd have given him one. "Your Honor," she said, "I am afraid that proves nothing. Major Fitzhugh thrust a deadly weapon into the witness' stomach, with the intent to do grievous bodily harm, if not to kill the brigadier."

"I see," said Ogata. "A thrice-decorated combat veteran, a martial arts expert, would of course have no idea how hard to strike to inflict bodily harm. Is that what you're suggesting? That's ridiculous, Major."

"Are you going to continue your cross-examination of the witness?" asked the judge dryly.

Ogata nodded. "Yes, Your Honor. Tell me, Brigadier, about the preparations for this plan for the attack on Sector Delta 355."

"That's classified material," said Charlesworth. "I cannot divulge war plans."

"Even details of long-completed plans-which, according to you, were entirely disrupted because of Fitzhugh's actions?"

Brigadier Charlesworth nodded. "If it hadn't been for Fitzhugh, we'd have gone considerably further in our advance. He aided the enemy with his actions."

"He did, did he? Well, Brigadier, I put it to you thus. The reason you cannot reveal details is not because these are classified documents. It's because there was no plan. There is no evidence of any preparation at all at Brigade headquarters."

"Objection. This is conjecture."

"On the contrary," said Ogata, icily. "I have an impressive list of some one hundred witnesses who will testify that Brigade headquarters was in fact asleep, bar the guards."

"The planned assault wasn't due for another two days, man!" bellowed Charlesworth.

"I see. Despite the fact that the force field went down at 06h29 of that day, a crucial and deciding factor in this campaign. Are you claiming that Fitzhugh engineered this plan going into effect two days early?"

"Fitzhugh engineered that the force field should go down then. It would have been a much more general collapse, but the weapon was triggered too early. And I can't tell you more because the information is classified."

"How convenient, Brigadier," said Ogata. "It may interest you to know that we have expert testimony on force fields, and the possibility of 'bringing them down' from the outside. We have considerable evidence that the force field was collapsed from within, and that far from interfering with your plans, all that Major Fitzhugh did was to make the Fifth Infantry Corps take action on a target of opportunity, which you'd been ignoring."

"That's nonsense," blustered Charlesworth. "And no one knows more about Magh' equipment than the military. There was certainly no 'target of opportunity.' We respond to those."

"I would like the panel to note that Brigadier Charlesworth has stated under oath that a target of opportunity is responded to. I'll be calling Colonel Abramovitz, of Eastmoreland 2nd Conscript Regiment, and your Communications officer, Lieutenant Mussy, to the stand to prove that this is not in fact the case. Now, Brigadier, I would like to ask you about the operational capability of your command."

"Objection. This has nothing to do with the case," snapped Tana.

Ogata fixed her with his icy stare. She did not wilt, although any lesser mortal might have. "I thought the charge against Major Fitzhugh claimed that he had damaged the military operational capacity of the 4th Division. It therefore seems a sensible question, Your Honor. Entered as evidence we have a statistical analysis of the brigadier's command effectiveness: measures of territory lost, human, and materiel losses. I thought in the interests of legal economy, as the brigadier features as the least successful divisional commander on the front, he could clarify certain matters."

By the time that Ogata had finished with Brigadier Charlesworth his credibility as a witness, and his ability as an officer, were in severe need of reinforcements. But Ogata made sure that when they moved to help, they too became targets. "So, Lieutenant Colonel Nygen. You did not actually go past the old second line of trench defense at Sector Delta 355?"

"I'm a senior officer," answered Nygen. "We don't go into front-line positions."

Ogata looked askance at him. "According to the information available, the new front was approximately thirty-six miles from you. Yet you've testified that Major Fitzhugh 'was endangering the troops' by 'attempting to lead them to their destruction.' You must have remarkable eyesight, Lieutenant Colonel."

"Naturally, I had reports from officers in the field. This is the way the military works, sir, which you rear echelon chaps may not understand. A commander can't be everywhere and see everything. We learn to rely on the chain of command."

"Thank you for informing us, Lieutenant Colonel," said Ogata. "So, please tell me which of your officers told you Fitzhugh was attempting to lead your troops to destruction, and endangering their lives?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Burkoff," replied Nygen.

Ogata raised his eyebrows. "Who just happens to be the only officer who died during this attack. I have spoken to every other officer who participated in this attack. I have a list of witnesses here who are prepared to state that they did not inform you of anything of the kind. I also have Lieutenant Colonel Burkoff's wireless operator as a witness, who will confirm that the lieutenant colonel never contacted you."

"Objection, Your Honor," said Tana. "This is not the issue here. The issue is that risking three thousand men outside of the military chain of command can be considered as an attempt to lead them to their destruction. Anyway, in whom do we trust? Some conscript Vat radio-operator or a well-respected officer?"