Chapter Nine - "Turnabout"

Chapter 9 – "Turnabout…"

Naval Judicial Courts, Naval Station Yokosuka, Japan – Sept 10, 1994; 1212hrs.

Harm and Meg locked up as the Rear Admiral (upper half) looked over at them with a raised eyebrow and a barely sustained grim facial expression that threatened to break out in a smile. "Couldn't keep your nose out of that case, could you?" He smirked at them. Harm and Meg looked at each other nervously.

"No sir…" Harm said reluctantly.

"I did a little digging myself and I came up with a bit of an interesting find…" AJ grunted narrowing his eyes at the Lieutenant Commander, "It seems as though a Lieutenant Harmon Rabb Jr. and a Lieutenant Commander Toshio Nakamura served together in VF-241…and that was confirmed when Lindsey dropped that little bit of information out in the open in court today. I presume that you happen to know said Commander?"

"Yes, sir…he was actually my instructor at RAG before I got out to the fleet, sir. We served together in the Howlers, sir, in Desert Storm." Harm sighed as he looked out towards the windows of the building at Yokosuka.

AJ shook his head. "That does make every bit of information that you find tainted; Mr. Rabb?"

"It would, sir, if it was me who found that information…" Harm told him.

"It was me, sir, and my Uncle…" AJ's eyes widened in surprise as Meg informed him with a smile on her face. "And I have absolutely no connection to Commander Nakamura…" Harm looked over at her with a raised eyebrow and a smirk on his face; and gave her a hook'em horns sign behind his back that Meg could see just out of the corner of her eye. "At least…not yet…sir…" she decided to tweak her partner's nose. "So…any evidence that I find is still considered untainted, sir."

"I'm looking forward to seeing Krennick run rings around Lindsey…" AJ smirked at the both of them then turned to the Navy Commander who was hanging away from the group trying to give them some privacy to discuss things with the admiral. "Let's go get some lunch…Commander Nakamura, why don't you join us?" AJ hailed the commander.

"Yes, sir." Commander Nakamura came over to them.

"So…Commander, do you have any tips for keeping Rabb in line?" the RADM and the Commander headed off towards the stairs, as Harm and Meg looked at each other and Meg laughed at Harm. Harm was slowly starting to get the feeling that this was going to be a very uncomfortable lunch break.

"Oh, that hook'em horns sign…sir, that'd better not have been the European meaning…sir."

The galley at Yokosuka was well, pretty well stocked considering how many service-people served in US Naval Forces Japan and they were able to get a filling lunch. Evidently beef stroganoff was on the menu and Animal loaded up his plate. Hell if the cholesterol got him before the verdict did…maybe he'd be better off and added a few more Swedish meatballs to the side.

"So Mr. Rabb. Have you even started asking investigation questions yet?" AJ asked.

"Well, no, sir…we arrived shortly before Commander Krennick and Commander Lindsey. And well, the charges were laid out on the table on the TR and I had no choice but to suspend the investigation pending the outcome of the litigation, since Commander Lindsey had subpoenaed pretty much everyone who was involved directly with the events of the investigation."

"Understandable, Commander," AJ grunted. "Commander Nakamura…looks like Lindsey had a pretty strong case in the courtroom today…"

"I suspect so, sir." Animal stated as he looked over at AJ. He sighed. And Meg wished that she could comfort him, but that would be seen as tainting the evidence given so she withheld her inclination and just nodded at Animal meeting his eyes and trying to convey comfort that way. "It looks like they got me pretty good on hazarding, unless Allison has a rabbit in her hat that she hasn't pulled out yet."

A familiar grizzled, tough looking naval aviator wearing four rings on his service blues; white naval officer's cap nestled in the crook of his arm was walking past the table, he'd been counseled to not approach the defense or the prosecution, by Allison Krennick and went over to sit down at a table next to the door to grab a bite to eat. Harm looked over…jaw open. Meg looked over as well, which caused Animal to look over as well; he started to get up, but Harm pulled him back down. "Sir, he's probably a witness…which means that you'd taint the process if you went over to talk to him…"

"OK…Harm…" Animal subsided; he'd wait to talk to him until after the trial if he ever got a chance to, if he wasn't clapped in irons by the time Lindsey had finished with him.

Private Room; Naval Judicial Courts, Naval Station Yokosuka, Japan – Sept 10, 1994;

"Hi…Dad…" the contempt was absolutely visible in the look on Commander David "Rabbit" Campbell's face. Commander Lindsey looked over at Commander Campbell's disrespect towards his father while in uniform, white-faced, expecting to see an explosion of epic proportions from the admiral, but all he saw was a sad look of disappointment in his progeny.

"Haven't you done enough damage? David…" Vice-Admiral Mitchell Campbell looked over at his son; a look of displeasure on his face. "The CNO told me to withdraw support from you. You need to stop this before it's too late."

"Well, gee, Dad…I guess I should have expected that…No, Hello, son, no good to see you…just criticism and judgment as usual; right, Dad, just as you usually did back home, huh?"

"David, you were always a bully in school, picking on weaker kids in your class and you've made your career out of being a bully, taking fine officers out by sneaky tactics in the Navy. You're making a ton of enemies and it's now falling back down on your head…"

"Oh, really. I see my lawyer running rings around the defense right now. Right now your golden boy is going to go down for a big fall…not the big hero now, is he?" David said; a smirk on his face. "Of course, you don't like the fact that your son wasn't the big hero that you were…do you. You dislike the fact that he wasn't able to win awards like you or any of your decorated officers that you treat like they were your own children…"

"I'm sure you did something…David…" the admiral stated; a hard look on his face.

"I'm done talking to you, Dad…" the familiar was dripping with disdain as he turned to Lindsey; "Commander, escort the Vice-Admiral out. He's finished talking with me."

VADM Mitch Campbell sadly looked over at David Campbell before he left the room, "I don't know where I went wrong in raising you…but I hope that a good man doesn't pay the price for what you've done today." and left the room.

Navy Galley; Naval Judicial Courts, Naval Station Yokosuka, Japan – Sept 10, 1994; 1315hrs

"I guess it's just about that time…" Animal stated; a sinking feeling in his gut. As they got to their feet, Harm patted his long-time mentor and friend on the back.

"Keep the faith, shipmate…" Harm stated…looking more confident than he felt at the moment. Hopefully Allison had all her ducks lined up in a row. Because right now it seemed like that Article 110 was going to be the hook that the prosecution hung their coat on and hopefully Allison had a strategy to counteract that.

When they walked back into the courtroom, it was quite the chilling experience as a whole set of goose bumps went through Animal's body. Their whole defense case rested on what witnesses that Allison had managed to find that would convincingly poke holes in the prosecution's arguments.

As the rest of the courtroom filed in…both the military audience members and the jury… the courtroom filled up. Meg could see that Animal looked extremely nervous. She leaned over the fence dividing the area between the defense and audience and whispered. "Sir…you need to not look so nervous…the jury might read that as a sign of guilt."

"I'll try…" Animal whispered over his shoulder; his tone not confident at all, but he squared his shoulders, put a scowl on his face and aimed it directly at Rabbit.

Allison walked in following Lindsey. She had a grim but confident look on her face. When they had sat down, the door to the judge's chamber opened and Judge Alberts stalked out.

"ALL RISE!" All the audience and court members stood as the Judge took his seat at the bench.

"Be Seated!"

"Defense Counsel…your first witness."

Krennick smiled grimly and then spoke "The defense would like to call Lieutenant JG William Harrison…to the stand…" Lindsey looked startled for a moment and then looked down at his copy of the witness list from the defense. His eyes widened as he noted that the Lieutenant JG was the naval aviator who was shot down and recovered through the efforts of Commander Nakamura. Oh dear god… that was going to be a big hit to their case. If anything it meant a spike through the heart. When the jury members see that the Commander was the key person in the recovery of the downed naval air crew, the jury was definitely not going to side with them.

Dollar walked up to the stand, smiling over at the defense table.

"Raise your right hand…"

"Do you swear to tell the court the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God."

Allison stood up and walked around the defense table to approach the witness stand. "Lieutenant JG Harrison, you were the naval aviator in command of Fast Eagle 114, the F-14 that was shot down, is that correct?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"What happened when you ejected…"

"Well, ma'am, when the firelight came on and the Commander's RIO told me that my starboard; my right engine was on fire …my controls were sluggish and I was losing hydraulic fluid…it was only a matter of time before my controls would seize up and the aircraft would become un-flyable. At that point I made the command decision to punch out as soon as I felt the stick start to become unresponsive. When that happened, I gave the command three times as per protocol to eject. And my back-seater and I ejected."

"When you reached the ground, what happened?"

"Well, we gathered our survival items and hot-footed it to try to get some cover. Of course, ma'am we had to bury our chutes so that the NKs wouldn't be able to find them. We made sure to cover any identifying features with face paint and made our way up to cover on higher ground."

"How long was it before the Angel flight arrived?"

"It was at least five hours maybe five and a half hours before Angel flight managed to get to us. I assume the Commander managed to round up the people necessary that would get us out of there."

"Which Commander? Lieutenant?"

Dollar pointed at the defense table, directly at Animal. The members on the jury nodded – that meshed up with what they saw under the uniform, the lumpy misshapen left shoulder of Commander Nakamura…the lumps were bandages.

"Could it not have been Commander Campbell?" Allison asked, looking directly over at the prosecution table at Commander David "Rabbit" Campbell.

Dollar shook his head. "No ma'am; it was not Commander Campbell."

"But Commander Campbell was in charge that night. Shouldn't he have been the one to order an Angel flight?"

"Ma'am; I can't answer that because it will put me in jeopardy of disrespecting a senior officer."

"No matter, Lieutenant JG Harrison, thank you for your testimony." Krennick stated.

"Prosecution…do you have any questions for the witness…" Lindsey looked over at Campbell, Allison had outmaneuvered him with asking the question that he was going to pose to the witness. Lindsey looked over at Allison and then at the witness then got up out of his seat.

"Lieutenant JG. You owe Commander Nakamura your life. That would probably mean that you're quite indebted to him."

"No, sir I'm grateful that he came out to pick me up from atop Hill 175, but be indebted to him? We're supposed to rescue our fellow man if he is downed in combat."

"So if there is a requirement that one must rescue one's fellow man if downed in combat, would not Commander Campbell be obligated to send out an Angel flight?"

"…yes…"

"No further questions…" Lindsey stated.

"Your Honor; two further questions for my witness in redirect." Allison stood up. "If you had a requirement to rescue your fellow man and you failed to meet it, you would be derelict in your duties, would you not?"

"I'm led to believe so, ma'am."

"And would you say that Commander Nakamura met those duties by personally being on that Angel flight to come rescue you and your backseater?"

"Yes ma'am; without question."

"No further questions, Your Honor." Take that, Teddy…Allison thought grimly. "Defense would like to call Lieutenant Kevin Colesworth to the stand."

"Your Honor, are we going to hear from each and every one of the people on board the ship? That would take the entire year to adjudicate this case." Lindsey asked.

"Prosecution counsel, I personally would like to hear what Lieutenant Colesworth has to say." The judge looked over at the prosecution table with a saturnine stare. "Perhaps you will grant me that latitude?"

Suitably chastised, Lindsey sat down with a "Yes, Your Honor. No disrespect intended."

"Good…very well…Lieutenant Colesworth…please take the witness stand."

"Lieutenant Colesworth on the night of 29 August 1994, you were as the events were stated by your front-seater; you ejected from Fast Eagle 114, and sought cover when you reached the ground after burying your parachutes. Did you at any point believe that Commander Nakamura had skipped out on you?"

"No: ma'am. Not then…not now…not ever."

"There is an element of trust between aircrew too in order to fly together, is that correct?"

"Yes, ma'am. You have to trust your fellow aviators to watch your six and make sure that they'll do everything that they can to help you when you get into trouble."

"Do you feel that Commander Nakamura did everything that he could to help you when you got into trouble on the night of 29 August 94?"

"Ma'am. He sustained two severe wounds in his shoulder and a bullet graze to the head trying to help recover us. He got shot for us, ma'am. With all due respect, ma'am…what do you think?"

"I deserved that…" Commander Krennick smiled. "But I needed to hear it in your own words, Lieutenant."

"Yes ma'am…He went over and above the call of duty, ma'am. He risked his own life for us."

"What did he do to sustain those wounds?"

"He made a damned near suicidal stand, telling us to get to the helo along with the Marines who came with him and put himself in the line of fire in order to keep us safe. And then he went berserker on the North Korean forces that attacked us. He drew their fire and inflicted heavy casualties on their forces…"

"So in your opinion he met the requirement that one must rescue one's fellow man if downed in combat."

"Over and above, ma'am, without question."

"Thank you, Lieutenant, Your Honor; I reserve the right to redirect."

"Granted; any questions, Prosecution?" The judge asked. "I must warn you, any attempt to smear the witness will result in contempt of court, you were treading the line with your previous questions…"

"Lieutenant, Would you say that you were in mortal danger while on the ground at Hill 175?" Lindsey said. "…especially when the shooting started in earnest?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you said that Commander Nakamura did what amounted to a Rambo-like stand in order to save you and your fellow aircrew member? How many North Koreans would you say there were?" Lindsey walked over to the witness stand; his gold rings on his service dress blues looking rather intimidating to the Lieutenant.

"Objection, calls for speculation." Krennick growled.

"Your Honor, her witness was at the site of the incident, I'm sure that he could give a rough guess as to how many North Koreans were attacking at the time."

"I'll allow it, but get to the point!"

"How many North Koreans were there…"

"I'd say there were over two hundred North Koreans on that hillside."

"Two hundred North Koreans. That is fact; in fact, the total number of North Koreans present on that hill there was two hundred and sixty. Out of that number 180 were killed outright; one hundred and fifty by this man alone." Commander Lindsey stated looking over at Commander Nakamura. "That wasn't a rescue; that was a massacre."

"OBJECTION!" Allison jumped out of her seat, "COUNSEL is EDITORIALIZING!"

"SUSTAINED! BOTH COUNSELS APPROACH THE BENCH!" Judge Alberts snapped. "Prosecution, if you editorialize one more time, I'm throwing your case out the door. Am I understood? Now is your line of questioning going anywhere… other than as a platform to pontificate!"

"Yes, sir…"

"Well, then you'd better get to it quickly."

Allison went to sit down and Lindsey started again, "Did you see any danger to the helo, Lieutenant?"

"Not until the Marine to the right of me yelled out that there was a North Korean armed with an RPG aiming directly for us?"

"And what happened?"

"Commander Nakamura, who was decamping from his position and coming back towards the helo, swung his M4 with his only good hand and shot the RPG wielder. One handed shot from two hundred meters away with a single 5.56mm and the shot caught the RPG wielder in the forehead and took him out."

Lindsey knew that he'd been castrated as far as his argument was concerned regarding tarring Nakamura as a perpetrator of a massacre; so he conceded the point to Allison and said, "No further questions."

"Redirect, Your Honor?" Allison got up to slam the point home. "Lieutenant Colesworth, would you say that the actions of Commander Nakamura were reckless?"

"No… ma'am. He saved us all…if he hadn't shot the RPG holder, the NK would have turned us into hamburger."

"Would you consider him a hero…in that he saved all of your lives?"

"Yes, ma'am; with out question!" Rabbit was starting to turn red in the face…they had done so well before recess and now they were getting their asses handed to them.

"No further questions, Your Honor…and the Defense would like to call Captain Thomas Boone to the stand." Harm looked over to the aisle to see Captain Thomas Boone, his father's wingman walking tall and proudly to the witness stand. "Captain Thomas Boone, please raise your right hand, Do you swear to tell the truth; the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you; God?"

"I do…" Boone's twanging accent rang loud and clear.

"What is your relationship to the defendant…" Allison Krennick asked CAG Boone. Harm's eyes widened as he looked over at Meg in absolute disbelief. Animal nor Boone had never told him that Animal had known the CAG.

"First of all, I was his executive officer under Hank Kleeman when Animal; Commander Nakamura, here, was a Lieutenant JG on the USS Nimitz in VF-41 Black Aces. But prior to that, I taught this young whipper-snapper how to fly during my stint as an O-4 introductory jet pipeline flight instructor at Pensacola; never seen such a natural stick in the Buckeye. And I knew for a damned fact that he was going to be a damned good naval aviator; he's certainly shown so…considering his rank now…" Tom looked over at Animal with a look of pride. "Shows my hunch was right."

"So…you've never seen him be reckless or careless with an aircraft?"

"Never." Tom Boone's answer was almost immediate. "He was methodical and precise in his walk-around checking every possible location on the aircraft; I had no problems with him at all during flight training though I've had a lot of problems with other aviators whom I've trained. Some of the cone-heads, uh, students, don't understand things as quickly and if things get a little too lively in the cockpit, they get a helmet fire meaning they get all confused and get information overload. Commander now; Ensign at-the-time Nakamura on the other hand gobbled up the flight training syllabus and he had absolutely no questions at all about any of the flight maneuvers that I trained him on and he executed them with precision. And he had that kind of attitude towards flying the F-14 as he did during jet flight training at Pensacola. He was and still is a naval aviator who knew his limits and the limits of his aircraft."

"Thank you, Captain Boone." Allison went to sit down.

"A few questions if you don't mind." Commander Lindsey got up, "You say that he knew the limits and the limits of his aircraft?"

"Son, if you don't know what the aircraft's envelope and your personal flight abilities are, then you don't need to be wearing naval aviator's wings. A naval aviator doesn't doubt his own abilities to get back aboard the boat. Second guessing yourself in the office just gets you dead when your office is the cockpit of an F-14. When Commander Nakamura flamed out in the wire…he knew exactly how to get his F-14 back aboard the boat and was operating within the margins; the outer margins maybe but within the margins of flight safety. And a naval aviator needs to know how to get his aircraft safely aboard in all conditions."

"Even if there were several tankers aloft that could have prevented that situation?"

"Even if…"

"And what do those parameters of even if consist of."

"Commander, if your air to air refueling nozzle malfunctions and won't come open to give you juice, are you going to sit there and go, Oh, dear, guess I'd better eject? If the tanker's drogue fails, are you going to sit there and go Oh dear…I guess I'm up a creek now? If you can't get aboard the boat while you're on vapor, turn in your wings because you don't deserve to call yourself a naval aviator."

"So you would say that he did it right even if he by-passed two fully operational tankers which by all accounts were able to give fuel past his trap time and did so to various other aircraft, and got his aircraft in such a low state as to flame out in the wire?"

"Well, Commander, he saved the fuel for other aircraft that had drivers who may have needed it more. You're damned right that he did it right. And he got aboard; that tells me everything I need to know."

"Oh…one more thing…Captain?" Lindsey asked. "Have you ever found yourself in a low fuel situation like that where you've flamed out in the wire?"

"Twice in my career…the first was over Hanoi…in Sixty Nine." He looked over at Harm who was sitting in behind the fence behind the defense table "The second was over the Sandbox in Ninety-One. I got aboard because I had faith in my abilities that I was a good enough aviator to do what I said I could do…"

"And if you couldn't? Sir."

"Then I'd be turning in my wings, because I'd certainly wouldn't deserve to wear'em!"

"No further questions."

"Captain Boone, I have one more question." Allison smiled with a shark like grin at Lindsey, "Would you say that Commander Nakamura has that same faith in his abilities as a naval aviator?"

"I'm absolutely certain…because I trained him that way!" And with that he nodded to Commander Nakamura.

That got a number of nods; from those wearing gold wings in the jury box, which put a look of consternation on Commander Campbell's face.

"Thank You; CAG Boone for your testimony"; CAG Boone went to sit down in the audience…beside Harm.

"Sir, you didn't tell me you knew Commander Nakamura…" Harm whispered.

"He and I go back a long ways…not as long as your dad and me; but he was a helluva stick, Commander…and what he taught you in RAG, Rabb, I taught him in flight-school." Tom whispered back.

Allison Krennick turned towards the door, "The defense now calls RDML James Elwood Pointer, COMBATGRP2 to the witness stand."

The door swung open and Pointer leveled a malevolent glare at Rabbit before nodding to Commander Krennick and a further nod and a smile to Animal.

"Admiral, you served with Commander Nakamura for quite a long time. You were the DCAG on the Nimitz when he was what you would call a second year Lieutenant JG; is that correct?"

"Yes, Commander." Pointer replied giving her a nod.

"What were your impressions of Lieutenant JG Nakamura?"

"Highly trained; exceedingly well-focused, dedicated; and professional; an asset to any squadron that he was with."

"In fact, you recommended him to VF-101 to train up and coming F-14 aviators; is that correct."

"Yes, I signed his recommendation as the secondary signature. The CAG and his squadron CO, Tom Boone at the time signed him over to the VF-101 with the fact that he'd be passing along his knowledge to the new trainees."

"And I can see from Commander Nakamura's personnel file that he excelled as an instructor training the likes of Lieutenant Commander Rabb here in flying and fighting in the F-14 Tomcat."

"Yes, he did."

"That one night on his first cruise with the Black Aces, did he ever have trouble getting aboard the aircraft carrier?" Allison figured that she'd better get that out in the open before Lindsey could run with it.

"There was one night that we had out in the middle of the Med; blue water ops, out of range of any land fields. We call it the turn in the barrel; because it's a nasty situation to be in. Every single one of our aircraft had three or four passes or even more to try and get aboard; seas were absolutely rough. And CAG was telling us, "Holy geez; it's not a night for nuggets to be making passes tonight but then we realized that we had Nakamura up there who was probably sweating like nobody's business…because he went up before the weather socked us in. He made pass after pass trying to get aboard. He had to tank twice. On the eighth pass, he decided that he wasn't going to make it aboard if he kept trying to watch the ball which wasn't helping any because it was going up and down. And he came in low…we almost thought he was going to ramp-strike…or visit the spud locker with fatal consequences. But by fortuitous coincidence, the boat hit a trough and our ramp went down, giving him enough clearance to get aboard...trapping the number one. I remember that one because he was our last trap of the night. And it demonstrates the dogged persistence of our naval aviators; because we didn't lose a single aircraft that night. I did notice however that he didn't get out of the aircraft for a long time. You do what you have to do in order to get aboard. On a steady sea, spotting the deck can kill you. But on rough seas, you're at the mercy of Mother Nature. What we do isn't natural. You're flying a forty ton hunk of air-grade aluminum towards an area that looks like the size of a postage stamp at three hundred knots. He made it aboard…and he went up the next night…and trapped on his first pass…so it wasn't his lack of skills that made him have to do eight passes the previous night, it was the weather. Our aviators train the hardest for this kind of eventuality. And they know that if they have to, they'll do everything in their power to make it in."

"Admiral, thank you…on the night of 29 August 1994, what did Commander Nakamura say to you?"

"Commander, what Commander Nakamura told me when I stormed into the CAG Bridge to ask Who was the mealy-mouthed SOB…who left my men out there to die? Commander Nakamura told me to my face that I did, sir…On Commander Campbell's orders…and then he said to me: I'm asking CAG for an Angel Flight to go rescue them and I will personally be on that flight. And Commander Nakamura was on that flight and he got my men back including himself."

"So, you feel that the tape that Commander Lindsey played is a forgery; a fake?"

"Objection, Counsel knows that the Rear Admiral cannot determine that…" Lindsey objected.

"Sustained." The Judge stated simply.

"All I know is that, that man…" the admiral looked over at Animal…nodding to him, "…took responsibility for something he should not have had to, and damned near risked his own life to save the men that were left behind on that hill…because somebody was too much of a coward to come forward and lied to protect his own rear-end."

"Objection…Witness is smearing my client."

"It's not smearing if it's the truth…Commander!" snarled Pointer.

"Admiral…I'll beg of you to remember that this is my courtroom! Please don't do that again or I'll have to find you in contempt of court."

"I apologize, Your Honor…" The look on Admiral Pointer's face said that he wasn't sorry in the slightest. His contempt for Commander Campbell showed no bounds.

"Would you say, Admiral, that Commander Nakamura disrespected Commander Campbell at any point in the events of that night?"

"After going over the tape, and the events that transpired that night…there is no question that Commander Nakamura did not…Commander Campbell failed to order in a rescue helo to the co-ordinates of the beacons, then he proceeded to cover-up what he did by falsifying the tape…"

"OBJECTION…HEARSAY!" Lindsay leapt to his feet.

"Overruled." Judge Alberts stated. "You opened that door when you presented your own tape. Prosecution; Now Defense, I hope that you have the evidence that you claim that you have…to support the witness's accusations that the tape that he played in court before the recess was falsified or I will have to charge the Admiral with contempt of court."

"Yes, your honor. Does the Prosecution have any questions to ask the witness?" Allison smirked at Lindsey.

"No Defense Counselor, we do not, however we'd like to move that the witness be struck from the record as hostile." Lindsey stood up again.

"Denied." Judge Alberts stated. "The witness's testimony implicates tampering in the tapes and I certainly hope that you are playing the correct tape because if not, your client will be charged with tampering with government property…as well as several government statutes under the Uniform Code of Military Justice including Article 105 Forgery! Witness, you may step down from the stand…but be warned that you will be taken into custody if the claims by Defense cannot be met."

"Yes, Your Honor…" Pointer aimed a wink at Animal as he stepped out of the witness box and headed out the door of the courtroom.

"So…do you have the witnesses to corroborate your accusation?" The Judge pointedly asked Krennick.

She replied with a smile, "Yes, Your Honor, I do… Thank you, your honor…Exhibit A, I'd like to submit into court, the tape that was used to doctor the recording…" Krennick said as she brought over a cassette tape in an evidence bag. "It contains the phrases that Commander Campbell wanted in place of the radio calls that actually took place on the early morning of 29 August 1994." Commander Campbell looked over at Commander Lindsey in shock, but kept his mouth shut or he'd be implicated immediately.

"Objection, Tainted Evidence," Lindsey hopped up again like a jack-in-the-box. "How do we know that's not a forgery in itself?"

"Overruled…I'd like to see if the Defense has arguments that support that assertion."

"And to further elaborate on that the defense would like to call Communications Tech First Class Thomas Braid to the stand." If Commander Campbell could sink any further into the seat, he would have disappeared behind the edge of the table. After Braid made his oath to court he sat down in the chair.

"CT1 Braid, Can you tell me exactly who gave you this tape…" She held up the tape of transmission calls that Campbell had wanted spliced in.

"Commander David Campbell, ma'am."

"Can you identify him in this room today?" Krennick asked the CT1.

"Yes, ma'am…" and he pointed directly at the prosecution bench at Commander Campbell… "That's the officer who handed me that tape."

"Objection…facts not in evidence…"

"Overruled." And Lindsey subsided with a look of sullen resistance.

"As a matter of fact, I can play that tape right here…to show that it is the exact same modulation and pitch as the Commander who is present here today." Krennick stated aiming a deadpan stare at Lindsey.

"Very well…" The judge gave his assent. "Master at Arms; get a recorder to play that tape." It was about five minutes until the Master at Arms came back with a tape player to play the tape."

When Krennick hit play on the recorder…it was clear that the first nail went into the coffin of Campbell's case as the judge gave Krennick a nod. Each of the phrases was like a nail slamming in to seal the coffin lid shut on Campbell's career and his life as a free-man.

"Combat Fast Eagle 104, Confirmed Orbiting, Angel is on its way…"several permutations at different volume and pitches and sounding excited or less so followed. Campbell sunk deeper into his seat as the jury members fastened looks on him.

"Combat Fast Eagle 104, Hold your position…and cover 114...Angel will be inbound in one five."

"Combat, Fast Eagle 104, your transmission is breaking up…"

"Combat Fast Eagle 104, hold your position…"

Each had several permutations…as if the recorder of the recording was testing out several different ways of saying it and it included the last loud "Combat Fast Eagle 104…Hold Your Position…"

The members of the jury nodded to themselves…as they fixed disgusted looking looks on their faces.

Turning off the tape recorder, Krennick turned to CT1 Braid who was still sitting patiently on the witness stand.

"CT1 Braid, Can you tell me what exactly Commander Campbell wanted you to do?"

"Commander Campbell wanted me to swap out the transmissions that he had made and to muffle the transmissions that Fast Eagle 104 had made. He wanted to make it sound as though the transmissions were breaking up."

"And you provided him with that doctored tape?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Are you aware that that is contravening statutes on Tampering with Government and Military Transmissions?"

"Yes, ma'am…"

"And you did it anyway."

"Yes, ma'am."

"What did you do after you transferred the doctored tape to the commander?" Krennick asked the communications tech first class.

CT1 Braid replied, looking over at Krennick, "Ma'am, I brought the tapes, the original transmission tapes as well as the tape that the commander asked me to use to doctor the original tapes that I had secured before-hand believing that this was a suspicious order to the Admiral's chief of staff and asked to speak to the Admiral when he returned from the hospital ship. The Chief of Staff ordered me to stay present while she went to let the admiral know that I wanted to speak with him. There was no way that I was willing to tamper with the original tape, so I gave the commander a doctored copied tape. When the admiral returned, I gave the tapes to the JAGs who were present with him."

"No further questions, your Honor" Krennick said knowing that those two particular JAGs were Meg and Harm who had brought the tapes that CT1 Braid had given to them to her.

The judge looked over at Lindsey; "Prosecution. Do you have any questions for this witness?"

Lindsey thought to himself I could throw in a token cross examination of this witness and throw doubt on the legitimacy of the witness, but it is just delaying the inevitable conclusion of this trial. Commander Campbell was toast. If Krennick wasn't bluffing; and judging from what I could see, she wasn't; the chances of Commander David Campbell walking out of this courtroom today a free man were about the same chances as a snowball surviving the fires of hell. David Campbell looked at him expectantly. Lindsey shook his head and Campbell looked as though he was about to lose his composure, "No, Your Honor, the prosecution has no questions for the witness…"

"Thank you, CT1, you may step down." Allison said. "Your Honor; Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, the only reason why CT1 Thomas Braid is not being charged here today with communications fraud is the actions that he undertook before giving the accuser the doctored tape. He secured the original transmission, opted to make a copy of the tape to doctor; secured the accuser's tape of transmissions he wanted the original tape doctored with and upon transferring the doctored tape to the accuser he notified the Admiral's chief of staff as to what the accuser did and brought the original transmission tape and the tape of transmissions that the accuser wanted the original tape doctored with to the admiral so that it could be entered into evidence. These actions were what ultimately saved CT1 Braid's career. These pieces of evidence, I will now hand to the court for record. Also for record, I am also providing an audio analysis that will clearly show where the breaks in the tainted transmission occurred." She handed over a folder with a detailed analysis and the CV's original transmission tapes to the court officer. Krennick turned to the accusers table, "the accuser will however try to blow smoke and say that these original tapes are also suspect…so we have brought in a highly classified government agency whose job it is to oversee all military transmissions and keep a record for posterity. This copy of the transmission is in a tape that is set to corrupt itself if any tampering occurs. As such, contained in this tape are the authentic transmissions that happened on the early morning of 29, August 1994 between 0030 and 0230 hrs"; at this point Uncle Ollie stepped up to the bench.

"State your name…"

"Agent Oliver Smith…" Uncle Ollie used the general name that any government agent used when they didn't want to have to identify them-selves in court.

"Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God…"

"I do…"

"Please be seated." The Master at Arms motioned the witness to the bench after he took the oath.

Krennick motioned to Uncle Ollie; "Agent Smith, It is known that you cannot divulge the organization that you are working for; it is black and therefore cannot be indicated for the public record today. However rest assured, it is well noted that he is working for the government. The tapes that you have cannot be tampered with?" Krennick looked at him in question.

"They are foolproof; if any tampering occurs, it will corrupt the tape and turn the transmission into a garbled mess."

Allison nodded as she walked over to the witness stand. "And you certify that they are the authentic transmissions from the early morning of 29 August 1994."

"Yes."

Commander Campbell looked over at his attorney, Commander Lindsey who had a forlorn look on his face. The case that had started out so strongly, looked like it was going to implode in his face.