Jurassic War
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United States. The indictees were to be questioned by a senate committee and prosecutors and detained at a federal jail for trial.
Halfway’s lawyer visited his small cell. “I’m innocent. Get me out of here, post bail or something. I’m a war hero,” Halfway pleaded.
“I can’t do that,” the lawyer said. “They’re charging you with war crimes. It’s like a tribune, just like for the war criminals after War World II. You’ll have a judge, a jury and several senators and attorneys acting as the prosecutors.
It will be one big hearing in a large crowded courtroom, and TV cameras will be set up, millions of people will be watching. You’ll have your representatives and the rest of the indictees will have theirs.”
“What if I’m found guilty?”
“You’ll get either the firing squad or prison.”
“How long will this trial last?”
“It could last up to a year.”
“I’ve stayed here that long?”
“If we lose, you’ll be here ‘til they give you the firing squad or prison.”
“I’m paying you over a million dollars and you better win.”
“I’ll do my best, but I can’t guarantee a win. You’re charged with murders and conspiracy. Thousands of civilians died in that bombing,
and and some were women and children. The government is looking for
someone to take the fall.”
“I was a soldier just following orders.”
“I hope the jury see it that way. I’ll try to persuade them.”
Sally visited Mark. Crying, she said, “This is all of Halfway’s fault.
That madman! You didn’t kill anyone. You were just his advisor.”
“So was Larry, but the prosecutors don’t see it that way,” Mark said.
“All I can do is pray and hope I’m found innocent.”
A few months later the trial began. The people in the court stared and listened patiently to testimonies of the indictees, political figures and military personnel who were involved in the war. The indictees
were rigorously questioned by the senate committee, and continually
harassed by the press as they were led back to their cells.
Halfway and Standwall were bitter when Johnson, Mark, Clover, and Chun testified, placing some of the blame on Halfway. Johnson suffered a heart attack when the senate committee questioned him. He died on the stand.
Mark broke down on the stand, blaming himself and Halfway. He had a nervous breakdown and was immediately sent to a mental hospital
for observation.
After Clover was questioned, he was afraid he’d be convicted of the bombing as a lot of the blame was put on him. He was considered the
one who’d been in control of the missiles. He committed suicide in his cell by taking a cyanide tablet that one of his military friends sneaked in.
After Chun was questioning, he felt, like Clover, that the majority of the blame was placed on him. Instead of committing suicide he pulled a ninja trick. He escaped from the guards while they led him back to his cell.
He went to China, became a monk in whereabouts unknown.
On every question the committee asked Standwall, he took the fifth, got out of line and praised Halfway many times on what a terrific
general he was which irritated the committee. Halfway looked proudly
at Standwall as he was praised.
On being questioned, Brason pretended to be senile. He couldn’t remember anything of what occurred during the bombing. A doctor he’d
paid, diagnosis him of having Alzheimer’s disease.
The committee questioned Nails about her activities during the bombing, and where her husband had been on the night of Dickerson’s
death. She told them that she wasn’t married to him at that time and took the fifth.
Larry told the committee that he was only advising about the type of dinosaurs, and took the fifth on many questions about, Halfway, Mark
and Standwall.
Being a senator, Hutton took the fifth on every question asked about the bombing.
Since Jack was the former Secretary of Defense, they questioned him the most. He repeatedly told them he wasn’t involved in the decision, saying only Halfway and the former President were.
Since Bob was the chief of staff during the bombing, the committee questioned, him on what role he’d played and what advise he’d given
Brason about the bombing. Bob took the fifth.
During questioning, Halfway shifted the blame onto Jack. He told the committee, “The order to bomb L.A. was given by Jack. I objected
to the order, but Jack stepped over my head and ordered Clover and
Chun to bomb. I was ordered by Jack to tell the press and my staff
that I was in charged of the entire operation and if I didn’t comply
I’d be fired.”
Hearing Halfway’s testimony, Jack stood up irately in front of the crowd in the courtroom, calling Halfway a liar, then charging and
attacking him on the stand, throwing punches wildly until the court deputies quickly grabbed and escorted him out of the courtroom. Halfway smirked.
The outburst surprised the crowd and disrupted the proceedings. The crowd became loud and the judge had to discontinue court for the day.
The press had a field day with Halfway’s testimony and Jack’s outburst.
Now all fingers were pointed at Jack as being a violent man and the main cobra of the bombing operation.
Halfway’s strategy worked. Some of the blame was taken off him by the public and the press. He felt that, after what happened in court, it would be impossible for him to be convicted of murder.
With the former President’s memory lost, Mark’s mental condition, Johnson’s and Clover’s deaths, Chun missing, the rest of Halfway’s
staff and Bob taking the fifth, it was impossible for the committee
to prove that Halfway was lying about Jack.
The committee finally called all its witnesses in the trial, which lasted nine months. The jury took three weeks to reach a verdict. They found Mark, Brason, Larry, Nails, Bob not guilty. Halfway, Standwall, Hutton and Chun were found guilty of conspiracy and each sentenced
to sixty years except for Chun, who was still missing.
Halfway was satisfied that he wasn’t convicted of murder, but he wasn’t satisfied of being convicted of conspiracy. He cursed at the judge, jury and the committee, calling them jackasses and traitors as he was escorted back to his cell.
Jack was found guilty of conspiracy and the murder of the people who were killed in the bombing. The jury sentenced him to death by firing squad.
He was stunned when he heard the verdict and fainted in court. He was to go before the firing squad in six months.
Halfway, Standwall and Hutton served two years of their sentence in
a country-club prison. They were pardoned by Cornball, who’d became
President of United States with the help of campaign funds secretly
backed by Halfway. Immediately after they were pardoned, Trown was
assassinated by the man, who killed Dickerson, and that man was Standwall.
Jurassic War
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