Текст книги "Warrior: En Garde"

Автор книги: Michael A. Stackpole

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13

New Avalon

Cruris March, Federated Suns

22 January 3027

 

No, Major, I won't put you on the stand!" Leftenant David Lofton glared at his client. "Your story of what happened in the field that day is utterly unsubstantiated."

Justin stared into the mirror as his right hand labored to button his dress jacket shut. "Leftenant, you must allow me to testify on my own behalf. I read the text of General Courtney's speech at Andy Redburn's reception two nights ago. He already believes I'm guilty."

Lofton snarled in frustration. "What could you say? What could you add that would justify your giving Vitios a direct shot at you?"

Justin spun about. "Courtney is a commander of men. He's made battle decisions before. I served under him. I can convince him of my innocence. I can touch that chord deep inside every soldier who's ever had to make a decision that sent men out to die."

Lofton shook his head violently. "Are you mad? Recall, Major, that it was your unorthodox action on Spica that saved Courtney's command. If you and Colonel William Dobson hadn't flanked Liao's Blackwind Lancers, Courtney would have died without having to face the shame of being trapped by those Capellan units." Lofton cursed under his breath. "I wish Dobson hadn't died on Galtor. We could have used his testimony to your bravery."

Justin nodded slowly. "And I could have used his friendship."

Lofton shook his head. "Redburn was . . . is . . .your friend, and Vitios made mincemeat of him. He'll do the same with you, Major, and that's the reason I won't put you on the stand."

Justin tugged at the black glove on his left hand. "Absolutely?"

Lofton shrugged and picked up his briefcase from the table. "I think I made some headway with Redburn's cross-examination yesterday. He got a chance to use his wit, and it worked in our favor to delay until after Prince Davion awarded him the Silver Sunburst. I don't want to give Vitios a shot at you, Justin, because he'll hurt you badly."

Justin pursed his lips and nodded slowly. "This is your battlefield, David. Just remember I'm ready if you need reinforcements."

Leftenant David Lofton forced a smile and led his client out into the maelstrom. I hope, for your sake, Major, that this trial doesn't get to the point where Ineed your help.

* * *

"Objection, Your Honor!"

Courtney shrugged and looked toward Lofton. "Yes, Leftenant?"

Lofton adjusted his glasses. "If it please the court, the prosecution cannot use the holovid tapes of investigators on Kittery as testimony. To do so would violate my client's right to face his accusers. Because I cannot cross-examine those witnesses, their testimony cannot be allowed."

Vitios placed the tapes back on the desk. "Your Honor, though I would never think of denying Leftenant Lofton the chance to crush my witnesses—as he has so ably done thus far—I would hasten to point out that tapes have been allowed in court before." The titters that sprang up at Vitios's sarcastic reference to Lofton's inability to break witnesses died as the prosecutor's aide typed furiously on a keyboard.

Vitios turned to face the large viewscreen to the right of the witness stand. "As you can see, in the case of Muije versus Nebula Foods,the court allowed the plaintiff to present holovid tapes because of the prohibitive cost in time and money of bringing witnesses to the site of the trial."

Lofton's laugh startled the court. "Your honor, this is ridiculous. Muije versus Nebula Foodsis a civil case over two hundred years old, and this is a military trial! The plaintiff, in this case, is a member of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns." Lofton turned to face his adversary. "It strikes me that if Duke Hasek-Davion can afford to send his own hatchetman to persecute my client, he can damn well afford to send witnesses."

Courtney's gavel thundercracked silence throughout the courtroom. "That will be enough Leftenant! You, yourself, have reminded the Court that this is a military trial. Now the Court will remind you of the same and demands that you conduct yourself in a military manner!"

Lofton bowed his head, "Yes, sir."

Courtney drew his bushy gray eyebrows together in a way that filled Lofton with cold dread. "While your objection might have some merit in another case, or even at another point in this proceeding, it has no bearing here. The witnesses on these tapes are experts in their fields, and it would be well beyond your ability to impeach their testimony. The tapes contain information needed to adjudicate this case. Proceed, Count Vitios."

"No!" Lofton stalked forward. "Am I to believe, based on what you have just said, Your Honor, that you have already reviewed the tapes?"

Courtney nodded his silver-maned head. "I have, Leftenant Lofton, and I see no reason to let your objection stand. Overruled."

* * *

The courtroom lights came back up as the image of the last Hasek-Davion expert faded from the viewscreen. Vitios, poised perfectly in the center of the courtroom, opened his hands to include the whole audience. "In short, Your Honor, the witnesses have confirmed that Major Allard's Valkyriewas damaged by autocannon and laser fire, as he has maintained. They found enough chemical residue and spent projectiles from an autocannon to suggest, as Major Allard reported, that he tried to evade the 'Mech shooting at him. But, because of their inability to recover data from Major Allard's damaged battle-recorder, they have no way of verifying this claim to have fought off a Rifleman.In fact, given the evidence in the field, they have concluded that he faced an UrbanMech—the lightest 'Mech known to carry an autocannon."

"Objection! The prosecution is making a statement, not asking a question. This is neither the time nor the place." Wearily, Lofton stood and leaned over the defense table, supporting himself on his two hands. No one in the courtroom could fail to read the exhaustion in his slumping frame or the nervous tic tugging at the corner of one eye.

"Sustained." Courtney looked over at the Corporal acting as court stenographer. "Strike those comments. Count Vitios, please call your next witness."

The Count graced Lofton with a sly nod of the head, then smiled cruelly. "The prosecution calls Quintus Allard to the stand."

Justin's father marched stiffly down the aisle from the gallery, anger flashing like lightning from his blue eyes. He allowed himself to be sworn in as though it were the most onerous task he'd ever been asked to perform. He glared at the prosecutor.

Vitios smiled almost graciously. "State your name for the record, please, and your position."

Quintus's nostrils flared. "Enough games, Vitios. I'm here. I'm your Judas, so just get it over with."

Vitios nodded curtly, then looked to Courtney. "Your Honor, you can see that this will be a hostile witness." With the judge's nodded acknowledgement, Vitios started in. "You are the head of the Davion Counter-intelligence Division, are you not?"

"Among other things, yes." Quintus spat out the words as though they were poison.

Vitios smiled without compassion or sympathy. "In your capacity as Acting Minister of Intelligence Information and Operations, did you attend the interrogation of a captured Capellan MechWarrior by the name of Lo Ching-wei?"

"Yes."

"In this interrogation, did you identify him as a member of the Yizhi tong of Shaoshan? And did you identify him as one of the people who claimed some knowledge of the ambush in which your son was injured?"

Quintus tightened his grip on the witness box railing to white-knuckled intensity. "Yes, to both counts."

"What did he identify as the type of 'Mech that destroyed your son's Valkyrie?"

Pain creased Quintus Allard's face as the answer came reluctantly from his lips. "An UrbanMech."

Justin quickly whispered something to his lawyer, and Lofton stood. "Objection, your Honor. This is hearsay evidence."

Vitios wheeled and stabbed a finger at Lofton. "Are you doubting Quintus Allard's sworn word? Obviously, this man is fighting me as hard as he can, and yet you object?"

Lofton removed his glasses and leaned toward Vitios. "Need I remind you, my Lord, that it is not the veracity or credibility of a witness that makes his testimony admissible or not."

Courtney's gavel slammed into the bench and broke the tension much like the bell ending a round of a prize fight. "Leftenant Lofton, return to your place. Overruled!"

"Overruled!" Lofton grabbed for a stack of law disks and would have thrown them at the judge except that Justin restrained his arm. Lofton snapped around and stared at his client as though he'd stabbed him in the back. Justin merely shook his head resignedly. Lofton sank mutely back into his seat.

Vitios turned again on Quintus Allard. "Lo Ching-wei also surrendered the identity of an agent within the Federated Suns forces in Shaoshan, did he not? What was the designation the tong gave to this agent?"

Muscles bunched at Quintus's jaws. "They called him Ivory."

Vitios closed his eyes and clasped his hands before him like a man in prayer. "And what is that designation in Capellan, Minister Allard?"

"Xiangya."

Vitios smiled. "Louder, please. I did not hear it."

"Xiangya!" Quintus raked his fingernails over the oak railing. "There, I've said it. Is that enough?"

Vitios's dark eyes snapped open. "No, that is not enough. In the interrogation, Lo identified the agent, didn't he? He identified him as your son, Justin Xiang Allard, didn't he?"

Quintus bit back angry tears. "Yes, he identified him as my son."

"But you were not satisfied with this identification. You directed a full-scale investigation that included a sweep of the Kittery base computer for security codes. What was your son Justin's activation code for his 'Mech?"

Quintus stared up at the ceiling. "Zhe jian fang tai xiao."

Vitios closed on him. "In English, Minister."

Quintus lowered his head and stared bitterly at Vitios. "This room is too small."

Vitios smiled. "This room is too small. This phrase has another meaning among the Yizhi tong, doesn't it?"

"Yes. It signifies that the speaker fears that someone is listening in on the conversation, and the phrase is a warning to be careful."

Vitios turned to point at Justin Allard. "And this phrase—of all the possible codes he could have used—in either Capellan or English, is the one he chose. Ironic, isn't it, that he chooses an enemy expression for caution as the password to his 'Mech."

"Do you expect me to respond to that?"

Vitios shook his head. "No, I suppose not. I withdraw the question. I am finished with this witness."

Leftenant Lofton leaped to his feet. "I have only one question for this witness." As he started to phrase it, Quintus slowly shook his head. Justin clutched at his lawyer's sleeve, but Lofton marched straight into the trap, heedless of the warning signs. "Mr. Allard, do you believe your son is a traitor?

Quintus looked down at his shoes. "I don't know. I just don't know."

14

New Avalon

Cruris March, Federated Suns

30 January 3027

 

David, you mustput me on the stand!" Though speaking in a low tone, Justin's voice seethed with anger and filled the prisoners' holding room. "I need my chance to speak."

Lofton shook his head. "It will do no good."

Justin smiled coldly, but his brown eyes had become dark slivers of fury. "Oh, it willdo some good, David."

Lofton's nostrils flared. "Since when have you become a lawyer? Do you think I'm oblivious to what's going on out there? They might as well have strapped you to a K-F drive and jumped you straight into the grave. I look at you and see an officer who cared for his men and who tried to normalize relations with a conquered people. I see a man proud of his mixed heritage, and I see a man who's been decorated for bravery .. ."

Justin thrust his right hand at the Lieutenant. "You see that, perhaps, but you stand alone. To them, out there, I'm the rogue. They gave me everything: a name, a place to live, a career, and their trust. The problem is that they're so used to hiding the skeletons in their own closets that they imagine everyone else is, too. My case gives them a chance to direct their fears and hatred at a living target. Well, I'm ready to shoot back, David, and you have to give me the chance."

"Justin, Vitios will crucify you. You saw how he forced your father to say things he didn't want to say. You heard how he twisted the interpretation of your normal behavior to look like the sinister machinations of a master spy. What can you do on the stand that will help you?"

Justin shook his head. "Nothing."

"Exactly . .."

"Nothing but point up what an absolute travesty this whole trial has been from the start."

Lofton thrust his face at Justin. "No! If you go rogue in that courtroom, if you sink down into the pits with Vitios, they'll kill you. Treason is still a capital offense, Justin, and if you anger enough people out there, you'll be dead."

Justin looked up and met Lofton's concerned stare with a blank one. "David, put me on the stand, or I'll find a lawyer who will."

David Lofton slowly straightened up, then rebuttoned his dress jacket. "Very well, Major, you'll have your wish." Lofton stared down at his client. "One thing, though. When I told you what sort of officer I had for a client, you said I was alone in my opinion. Don't you believe in yourself?"

Justin shook his head slowly. "The only thing I believe right now is that I made a mistake in leaving my mother's people to live with my father."

* * *

Lofton turned from his client and returned to the defense desk. "Thank you, Major Allard, for your cooperation." Without looking up, he added, "I am finished with this witness, Your Honor."

Courtney nodded. "Your witness, Count Vitios."

Vitios stalked Justin Allard like a tiger that has tasted human flesh. He stopped his pacing directly before the witness box and met Justin's hot glare with one of arctic frigidity. "What comes to mind, Major Allard, when someone calls you 'yellow?' "

"Objection!" Lofton vaulted out of his seat and stepped toward his client. "The prosecutor is insulting my client with irrelevant questions."

Vitios shook his head. "I will show relevancy, Your Honor."

Courtney waved Lofton back to his bench, then turned to Justin. "Answer the question, Major."

Justin let the hint of a smile flicker over his lips. "Generally, I would assume that someone who called me 'yellow' was accusing me of being a coward, but when a small-minded bigot like you uses the term, I assume it is a racial slur."

Vitios stepped back. "Quick to take offense, aren't you, Major?" Justin opened his mouth to reply, but Vitios started another question first.

Lofton smiled and split the confusion with a loud voice, "Objection. My client has not had a chance to answer your question."

Vitios, slightly off balance, growled. "I withdraw the question."

"No," Justin interjected. "I'd like to answer it. I understand, Count Vitios, why you hate the Capellan Confederation. I know your family died in a Liao raid on Verio. I know the attack came after insurgents had poisoned the local garrison forces and I know you've been looking under beds and in closets for Capellan spies ever since. I've heard your hatred of me in everything you've said since we first met after the battle of Valencia on Spica. Your blind prejudice disgusts me."

"Does it, now, Major Justin Xiang Allard?" Vitios returned to the prosecution table, picked up a file, and began to flip through it as he spoke. "You associate with known Liao agents. You speak their tongue and are accepted in their homes. You use a catch phrase from a tong as your 'Mech's personal security code. You abandon your men to a Liao ambush during an exercise you never wanted to participate in to start with! Forgive me my blind loathing, Major, but something here stinks, and the facts say that it's you!"

Vitios slammed the folder back down on the desk. "Major Allard, you nearly cost the Federated Suns over forty-eight million C-bills in equipment, the lives of thirty MechWarriors, and the world of Kittery. You sold out the people who accepted you as one of their own and who gave you everything you have! You betrayed everything that humans hold sacred anywhere in the Inner Sphere, and you betrayed your honor as a MechWarrior!"

The prosecutor raked fingers back through his thin brown hair, and wiped flecks of spittle from the corners of his mouth. "You take the stand and have your attorney feed you questions so that you can trot out your unsubstantiated fabrication of a battle with a 'Mech three times the size of your Valkyrie.Then you ask us to believe that story. But I know the real truth, you lying son of a Capellan slut, and so does everyone else in this courtroom!"

"Enough!" Spoken in a voice born to command, that single word silenced the uproar that had seized the spectators. The attention of everyone in the courtroom turned toward the bronze double-doors at the rear of the room, and the spectators were riveted by what they saw. Flanked by Ardan Sortek, Quintus Allard, and CID guards, Prince Hanse Davion strode smartly into the room. "I have heard enough!"

Hanse pushed open the low wooden gates and admitted himself to the center of the courtroom. He looked at Count Vitios, who seemed to recoil from the cold impact of the Prince's gaze. The Prince then looked up at Major General Courtney. "I would address the court."

The judge nodded nervously. Hanse turned slowly, then pointed at Count Vitios. "You are, without a doubt, the most shameless creature it has ever been my sad duty to acknowledge as a subject. Your very manner is offensive to me and any clear-thinking person alive today. You do not wear your bigotry like a uniform; it has utterly consumed you and poisoned everything you do. I accepted you as prosecutor as a favor to Duke Michael Hasek-Davion, but I do not owe him enough to put up with you any longer. You will leave New Avalon tonight!"

Hanse turned so that he could address both the Tribunal and the gallery of spectators. "As I have watched this trial, it appears to be an indictment of a whole nation, not an adjudication of the guilt or innocence of one MechWarrior. This trial, and the manner in which it has been conducted, is an example of power and hatred run rampant. Leftenant Lofton's valiant attempts to win justice for his client have been crushed by the vilest of legal trickery. I call this whole procedure a mockery of everything the Davions honor and hold dear."

Hanse smiled, as he turned toward the Tribunal. "Certainly, you must recognize that there is no solid proof of Justin Allard's guilt. The facts—those few that the Count has actually managed to present—are all circumstantial. Yes, Allard's Capellan middle name may be close to that of the tong designation for an agent, but would he or his spymasters have been stupid enough to choose such a codename? Have enough respect for House Liao to dismiss that idea immediately."

Hanse shrugged. "Perhaps Major Allard did display poor judgement in moving off to investigate the UrbanMechhidden further ahead. And yet, if he believed his men were faced with a possible ambush, this might have been the most prudent course of action. Strip him of his command, as you must, but is a simple act of negligence to cost him his life?"

"No command!" The Prince's words had hit Justin like a meteorite and visibly crushed him. He leaned forward heavily, hands pressed against the dark wooden railing of the witness box, staring at Hanse Davion's back. At Justin's outburst, the Prince spun around to face him. Justin gestured with his right hand at the crowd. "Do not spare me the full depth of hatred that these people—your people—feel for me. They look at me and see no further than the shape of my eyes or the color of my skin. All my life I have fought against the legacy of having a Capellan mother. I became more loyal to House Davion than anyone else I knew because I hoped—prayed—that what I held in my heart would make me like everyone else in my flesh. But that did not happen."

Anger flashed through Hanse's blue eyes, and his face registered pain at the bitter rage in Justin's voice. "Beware, Major. I offer you your life!"

"Ha! Life? For what? So that I can continue to protect these ungrateful slugs who fatten themselves in the Federated Suns core while their countless countrymen work and sweat and die to keep them safe? Do I want to live to protect animals like Vitios there ... so that they can continue their witchhunts?"

Davion's ice blue eyes flared. "Don't push me, Major. I'm being generous with you. Do not presume, however, that I owe you even as much as the life I offer you."

For a half-second, Justin's eyes closed, then they jerked open. The pain of a lifetime showed in them and seemed to flood through the room. Justin smashed his black-gloved hand into the witness box railing, shattering it.

"What you offer me is as much a life as this is a hand! You flatter yourself to imagine I might be grateful." Justin stared at Hanse Davion, fury making his eyes shine with a malevolent light. "What is it, then, Prince Davion? Do you want to keep me as you do Ardan Sortek? Is not one captive MechWarrior enough?" Justin spat on the floor. "The life you offer me is as shallow as House Davion's conception of justice!" His anger spent, Justin cradled his lifeless arm against his chest and trembled.

Immobile as a statue, Hanse Davion stood within the silence that settled heavily over the room. Finally, he nodded slightly, the motion growing as he gathered his thoughts. "Very well, Justin Allard. I will give you what you most desire."

The Prince turned on his heel and stared up at Courtney. "Sentence him as you will. It makes no difference. I will strip him of his rank and commute any sentence to a lifetime in exile." The Prince turned again, this time picking out Quintus Allard among the crowd. "You, Quintus Allard, no longer have a son named Justin. He no longer exists, and no one will ever speak his name to me again."

Finally, Hanse Davion set his malachite gaze on Justin Allard himself. "I give you back your Capellan name, traitor. Justin Xiang, there is no place for you in the Federated Suns. You will be taken to any world willing to accept you, as long as it is beyond the borders of the Federated Suns." Hanse's head dropped for a moment, then came back up. "And if you wish to learn the true depth of justice in the Federated Suns, return here and we will drown you in it!"

* * *

Ardan Sortek and Andrew Redburn stood in the control tower, watching while the DropShip Sigmund Rosenblumaccepted its final passenger. As Justin Xiang passed up the ramp and into the ship's dark interior, Redburn turned from the window. "I'm sure, Colonel Sortek, that Justin—I mean Major Allard—did not mean what he said in court."

Ardan Sortek smiled knowingly and rested a hand on Redburn's shoulder. "No need for you to apologize, Leftenant. There was a time when I, too, believed that I was wasting away here on New Avalon. I went back into the field, but after a harrowing adventure or two, I realized that a man at peace with himself can be useful anywhere." He looked out as the DropShip's engines ignited and the egg-shaped ship slowly shuddered skyward. "Your friend has a lot of pain in him, and he'll not be satisfied until he can deal with that. I take no offense at anything he said while so sorely troubled."

Redburn nodded. "It's a waste of a damn good MechWarrior."

Sortek shrugged. "On Solaris VII, he'll be with plenty of his own kind." Sortek's next words caused Redburn to smile. "And while he's trying to sate that anger, I imagine he'll be hell on wheels there on the Game World."

"But I know he's innocent, Colonel Sortek, and when I return to Kittery, I'll get the evidence to prove it. His Valwas empty of LRMs after the battle. No UrbanMechcould have survived that barrage. It had to have been a Rifleman"

The smile drained from Sortek's face. "I suppose they've not told you about your new assignment, have they?"

Redburn froze. "I was told that I'd ship back to Kittery and resume command of the training battalion."

Sortek shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and shook his head. "Eventually you'll get there, Leftenant. But first, you and I will be shipping out to the Lyran Commonwealth. I've got inspections and official functions to attend. Now that you're a hero, we'll give a lot of influential people a chance to have their holographs taken with you."

Redburn frowned with puzzlement. "Isn't there someone else, say, from Redfield or from Galtor, who could go?"

Sortek shrugged and led the other man to the elevator. "Nothing more stale than yesterday's heroes. Besides, some people want to know how this training battalion idea is working out. Lots of resistance in House Steiner to MechWarriors trained in anything other than the Academies. Your men, and their performance against the Liao ambush, are hot right now."

Redburn nodded, but barely heard the words. Good luck, Justin. I know that deep in your heart you’re one of us. Somehow, I'll find a way to prove it.