Heritage

Heritage (Chapter 60)

Chapter 60: Ethan

The guards walk me through the same large wooden doors as before, putting me on display for all of the onlookers in the courtroom. Not a single pair of eyes bears any kind of compassion for me.

They hate me.

No doubt it's due to the UEDF's influence.

The greatest thing about Earth is also its greatest flaw: Absolute unity. Earth maintains the idea of a freedom, so long as it's what they say.

I can't say that everyone is bad in this flawed system. I've met a lot of genuinely goodhearted people over the years. They're simply ignorant of the truth.

The guards haul me up to a table, placed just in front of the audience seats; Peter is already standing there, waiting for me. The guards leave the restraints on me as they walk to the left side of the courthouse so that they can keep an eye on me. The special counsel handling my case enters the room and takes their respective seats.

"All be seated," The bailiff says and we all sit down as well.

The judge begins to speak "Good morning everybody and thank you for attending. Today, we will be commencing the court case of General Ethan Blake. Though this is a high-profile case, I would request that everyone remain quiet during the proceedings. If I am forced to call order to the court too often, I will remove everyone from the courtroom and conduct this case privately,"

The crowd stays silent at his request.

"That being said, let's get started. This case will begin with opening statements from both the prosecution and defense. Prosecution, you have the floor first,"

A tall, thin, young man with too much oil slicking back his hair stands up and steps to the center of area.

He turns to the jury "Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, General Blake," He starts, pointing a bladed hand towards me.

"General Ethan Blake has been accused of espionage, treason, hacking into government secrets, and the cold-blooded murder of a government defense agent just trying to do his job and stop these mad acts against our great establishment. I intend to prove just that today. This once great, applauded General, decided to fall from grace and join our enemies. I also aim to prove that; his egregious acts start with the fall of the great Poseidon academy ship. A ship that held thousands of blossoming military officers whose lives were cut short from an attack by Sekrid soldiers. I ask all of you to please, set aside your celebrity wonder towards this man, and see him as just that: a man. Thank you, your honor," The prosecutor finishes, taking his seat.

The judge motions a hand towards Peter and he stands up, moving to the same position as the prosecutor.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the prosecution asks that you see my client, General Ethan Blake as simply a man. It seems to me that this is the furthest from the truth given everything they've stated. You see, the prosecution wants you to put my client on a pedestal; that gigantic pedestal with which we judge all men and women of his status. With this pedestal come all of the benefits and all of the consequences of being recognized as a hero. Those consequences being that my client is to be judged harsher than anyone else would be judged normally. Because when you're on that pedestal, you're suddenly not allowed to make mistakes. But, as the prosecutor has stated, General Ethan Blake is just a man. He is a man who has seen many horrific things in his great service to our establishment. He is a man who was taught that when you recognize a threat, you remove it. General Ethan Blake did just that. He saw a man threaten his family with death and decided his best course of action was to remove that threat, regardless of the consequences, just as his training has wired him to do. I plan to prove that fact today and disprove any wild accusations against my client are untrue. For that, I have no need to wow you ladies and gentlemen. Just show you the truth. Thank you, your honor,"