" Let's put it up online." " Get the right monitor." "Welcome to sunny California, gentlemen." "I was starting to think we wouldn't be seeing you." "We're having the same thought, sir." "Long about Point Mugu." "Pax River, and Oceana, and North Island." "It's a mess out there, sir." "At least you won't have to wait." "Upgrade was finished three days ago." " Sure you don't wanna bunk down?" " No, thank you, sir." "Got a little waitress waiting for me at the Barefoot Bar." "Wouldn't want to ruin her evening." "Got your John Hancocks?" "That's one fully upgraded F-14 officially released to the U.S. Navy." "Say hi to China Lake for me." " You got it." " Will do, sir." " Wing sweep automatic." " Check." " Flaps down." " Check." "Tower, this is Navy jet 2348 ready for takeoff." "Roger that, Navy jet 2348." "You're clear for takeoff." "Cartwright, what the hell is this?" "I found it in the cockpit." "Hey, I don't leave my tools anywhere, Bob." "I guess the screwdriver fairy must have left it there, huh?" " Herskovitz borrowed that." " I had a buddy once." "Some idiot left a wrench in the cockpit." "It flew up while he was doing a loop and hit him in the face." "Man, that thunder is getting close." "That was the plane going to China Lake!" "Oh, college catalogue, Tiner?" " You cruising for coeds?" " I'm taking some courses, Gunny." "Looking for ways to make myself more valuable around the office." "They have a major in alphabetical order?" "Maybe improve your filing skills?" "I'm thinking about finishing up my bachelor's degree, then going to law school." "Wiggins file." "Has the meeting started yet?" "The admiral went up five minutes ago, ma'am." "Five minutes and twelve seconds." "You owe me a buck." "Mic, what are you doing here?" " You're three hours early for lunch." " Yeah, but who's counting?" "You want to come back later?" "Maybe wait downstairs?" "All right, now that we're all here, we'll get started." "First up is the F-14 crash at Frohl Technologies, which was in the midst of a third party aircraft upgrade." "Rabb, you and Lieutenant Roberts will handle the investigation with the assistance of the Frohltech representative." "You're the Frohltech representative?" "My firm's on retainer." "Who would have thought we'd be working together?" " Yeah, who would have thought?" " Good to see you, sir." "Mic's fine, mate." "Admiral, do we have the aircraft's heads-up display recorder?" "No." "It was burned up with all the rest." "Preliminary reports are inconclusive, but they're leaning toward pilot error." "I see it had been raining, sir." "Now, Commander Urquizu was a good stick." "Second in his class at Top Gun." "Forty missions over Kosovo." "It would take more than a rain to trip him." "Well, he had more than a little rain, mate." "They'd been ferrying planes back and forth for three days." "Brumby, I'm sure your employers would love to blame two aviators rather than a faulty upgrade, but I think it's a little premature to be..." "Well, it looks like you two guys are gonna save the government a lot of time and money." "How's that, sir?" "Have a debate instead of an investigation." "I should have thought of that years ago." " What's the matter?" " What's the matter?" "Surprise, I moved to America." "Surprise, you're my new brunch date." "Surprise, we're working together." "You made me look stupid in there." "I didn't feel like discussing business last night." " Or this morning." " You should have warned me." "I didn't wanna mix business with pleasure." "Cut back on the surprises, Mic, or there won't be any more pleasure." "No worries." "It won't happen again." "You're all invited to a sneak preview of my latest project." "The re-election of Congresswoman Bobbi Latham." "When Bobbi Latham learned there wasn't enough money to buy Michigan students their own textbooks, she said no." "When she learned the Pentagon wanted $40 billion for the flawed Spyglass Surveillance System, she said no." "She's leading the fight against military spending." "Our current prosperity should be an opportunity to build our schools and our cities, not to throw money away on unneeded and overpriced weapons and military hardware." "I'll work for you, the people of Michigan." "Paid for by the committee to re-elect Bobbi Latham." "On second thought, maybe you're not my target audience." "Renee." "Excuse me." "Thank God none of you live in Michigan." "What?" "Lunch is off?" "Oh, no." "Let me guess." "Zimbabwe in five hours." "Well, you're close." "San Diego in four." "Oh, that's good, Harm." "The sooner you tell your mother, the better." "Renee, mom's in Europe." "And look, I'm not even so sure I was going to tell her." "I mean, what am I gonna say?" ""Hey, Mom, Russia was great." "I got to ride in a helicopter." "Oh, by the way, when dad was a POW there, he lived with a woman, they had a son." "I met him." "Real nice guy." "So how was your trip?"" "Did I ever tell you the story about my old actress roommate in L. A?" "She had this fiancé." "And one day he decides he's had it." "He is moving back to Indiana or Idaho." "Well, it was one of those "l" states." "Anyway, he wants her to marry him and to come with." "So she asks me." "Is she a good enough actress that she should stay in L.A." "Instead of going and being with the man she loves?" "Okay, well, she was the worst actress I had ever seen." "But I didn't want to hurt her feelings, and so I lied." "And she stayed." "And he married somebody else." "And the last I heard, she is still living in that same apartment." "Look, your mom was tough enough to raise you on her own." "She's not gonna break." "And for all you know, she might actually be happy that your dad found a little bit of joy after all of his pain." "Let's have lunch." "You can drive me to the airport afterwards, okay?" "Yeah." "It's a big contract, sir." "Upgrading a hundred and thirty F-14 Deltas into F-14 Echos on a deadline, I've been the NAVPRO in charge of quality assurance since the project started." " What are they doing?" " New turbine blades, automatic flight control systems, you name it." "Tell me about the night of the crash, commander." "I never should have let those guys go." "They were just plain beat." "Anything else make you question their fitness to fly?" "The younger one, Berke." "He was anxious about getting home." " What about the aircraft?" " Work was done." "Checked by Frohltech." "Double-checked by me." "And by him." "Wilson!" "The test pilot." "They're investigating." " Too bad about those boys." " Yes, it is." " You checked out their plane, correct?" " Six or eight times." "A functional test flight after each job was done." "Then prior to pickup, a full card test flight." "Two full hours." "That's the drill." " What do you fly, commander?" " Fourteens." "Or I used to." "Well, it's a shame to have you on the ground then." "You ever get the itch, we'll take one up." "Well, if you can find the time." "You fly every aircraft half a dozen times, huh?" "Asked and answered, counsellor." "My FCF card's on file." " I'll be here if you got more questions." " Thanks." "Yeah, I worked on that plane." "It's all in the report." "Well, I'd like to hear firsthand exactly what you did on them." "Turbine shroud, blade upgrade like all the others." "That one needed a main-mount brake assembly." " And everything was fine?" " Looked okay to me." "And to Holtsford." "And the test pilot." "Wilson, yeah, he doesn't seem the type to let anything slide." "Wilson?" "Yeah, that's an understatement." "You know what pilots use for birth control?" "Yeah, their personalities." "What's the difference between a pilot and a jet engine?" "A jet engine stops whining when it lands." "Look, I feel real bad about what happened." "So, what are you doing to this one?" "Replacing the heads-up display computer." "Our HUD would sometimes jitter so bad we'd shut it off mid-flight." "Yeah, we removed and replaced a lot of HUDs for that reason." " Oh, yeah?" "Where's the CSD?" " What's that?" "You're missing a CSD." " What's a CSD?" " Constant-speed drive, sir." "It supplies electrical power." "A bad CSD could account for the loss of control that caused the crash, sir." "An upgraded F-14 was due for pickup, but it had a faulty CSD, sir." "Commander Holtsford pulled a replacement from the mishap 14." "What did he replace that one with?" "A CSD from another aircraft that had just come in, but without cannibalization paperwork, test procedures or inspection." "He lied to us." "He's probably responsible for the death of those two aviators." "Dereliction of duty at least, sir." "Maybe negligent homicide." "All right." "Inform the convening authority a court-martial's in order." " Aye, sir." " Aye, sir." "Oh Bud, see if Holtsford's records have come in from BUPERS." "On it, sir." "Commander Rabb." "Congresswoman Latham." "I didn't realise I was on your whistle-stop tour, ma'am." "You are." "I've come for any report you picked up in the Frohltech investigation." "Now, what makes you think I would give you files from an active case?" "We're investigating a Naval officer assigned to Frohltech." "Lieutenant Commander Bob Holtsford." "His attorney's been in contact with me." "I'm holding a Congressional hearing on waste and fraud at Frohltech." "Lieutenant Commander Holtsford's agreed to testify." "In exchange, I'm giving him full immunity from prosecution." "Immunity?" "You can't do that, Bobbi." "I'm gonna nail this guy." "Is that an order, commander?" "Look, Holtsford is probably responsible for the death of two good men and he needs to pay for it." "No, no." "What he needs to do is help me expose the waste and incompetence at Frohltech." "This isn't about this case at all, is it?" "Frohltech has the contract for the Spyglass project, your big campaign issue." "For good reason." " It's a $40-billion waste." " Don't make speeches to me." "If there wasn't an election, there wouldn't be a hearing." "I didn't want your subordinates hearing me call you an ass." "Holtsford didn't set the system that caused that plane to crash." " Frohltech did." " Let us convict him." " Then you can have him." " For what?" "Conditions at Leavenworth?" "Come on!" "He's not gonna talk without immunity." " It's the best way." " This is the quickest way." "The best way is to nail Frohltech and Holtsford." "Oh, come on." "Listen, you've done this a thousand times." "This is the battle we lose to win the war." "This is not my war." "How many Frohltech planes are supposed to fall out of the sky before it is?" "Holtsford has his immunity." "The papers are signed." "Fine." "But I'm gonna be there." "Enter." "You wanted to see me, sir?" "Oh, yeah." "Come on in." "Have a seat." "Doctor Walden's son, Danny, mentioned that her birthday was coming up." " So I thought that..." " I'd love to see what you got her, sir." "Well, if you insist." "That's a really big book, sir." "Complete works of Shakespeare." "She said she wanted to make it her mission to read all the classics she missed out on as a pre-med student." "Permission to speak freely, sir?" "Sure." "While this gift is very thoughtful, it might be a little too thoughtful." "Maybe something more romantic like cooking her a candlelit dinner." "More romantic?" "If I could write the beauty of your eyes and in fresh numbers, number all your graces, the age to come would say this poet lies." "Such heavenly touches ne'er touched earthly faces." "Sir, please disregard everything I just said." "Bobbi, Commander Rabb." " Great to see you again." " Congressman Porter." "I'm afraid you're here on a fool's errand." " Which would make me the fool?" " Oh, she's fantastic." "I wish our party had 10 like her." "This time she's taking off after a good and valuable corporate citizen, I'm afraid." "Valuable to Congressman Porter." "You see, Frohltech's in his district and people are major campaign contributors." "Legal contributions, from a company that helps keep America strong and free." "Did you know what Spyglass will do, commander, unless Congresswoman Latham manages to use this hearing to kill it?" " I'm aware of it, congressman." " It's gonna change air warfare forever." "Satellites that can read the label on Castro's cigar, deployable to any target area, all sending real-time data to our bomber pilots." "So those pilots can tell the difference between a school bus and a tank" " without exposing themselves." " If it worked, which it doesn't." "She even opposed spending the money to build a prototype." "Because once you've spent the first few billion, it just never stops." "Why don't we go hear what the gentleman has to say, shall we?" "My client agreed to testify at a public hearing only." "We're entitled to interview him first, so we know what to expect." "There's got to be some limit." "There is." "When we've heard enough." "I've got my immunity in here too right?" " As long as you tell the truth." " That's why I'm here." "I thought you were here to avoid a court-martial and a jail sentence?" " I did exactly what Frohltech expected." " Go on." "They never had enough manpower to upgrade a hundred and thirty F-14s in 18 months." "So they had to cut corners." "They made that clear to everybody." "No." "They sent out a memo?" ""Don't fix the planes?"" "No, but they hired inexperienced mechanics." "I've seen personnel that didn't know which panels to remove for pre-flight." "If this is so widespread, why don't we have planes crashing left and right?" "And why can the only crash that's occurred up till now be traced directly to you?" "Because up until now they've been lucky." "Frohltech has one message for its employees:" "Those aircraft go out the door or you do." "They have too few personnel, too many aircraft." "Only one way to meet those quotas." "Cannibalize parts, falsify reports, gun deck inspections, so that Frohltech can fulfil this job and get the next one." "Why didn't you say something, commander?" "That's why you were there." "To look out for the Navy's interest." "I've been passed over twice for commander, sir." "I'm out of the Navy next year." "Frohltech offered me a good-paying job." "All I had to do was make sure those aircraft got out the door on time." "The next time that we go out to lunch, we have to go to some place that has vertebrates on the menu." "A.J., where is your sense of adventure?" "Well, my dear Dr. Walden, I was a Navy SEAL." "I've eaten bugs and bark, but at least I could tell which was which." "Oh, by the way." "Don't make any plans for your birthday." "My birthday?" "Are we doing something?" "Rooms have been reserved, maître d's have been bribed and opera glasses have been purch..." "Oh, did I say opera glasses?" "I'm afraid you did." "That sounds wonderful, A.J." " Hello, Harm." " Ma'am." "Sir." " I'll call you." " Okay." "Commander Rabb, your Moscow Herald, sir." " Oh, thanks, Tiner." " Any good news, commander?" "The caviar crop is up." "The rouble is down." "So are casualties in Chechnya." "Any word from Sergei?" "Not for two weeks." "He's still flying air recon." " They reopened the Lindbergh case?" " Worse." "Three Navy divers stole 80 lobsters from underwater traps." "One of Singer's cases." "She's out sick." "Sounds tough." "Hope you crack it." "Have you tried buttering up the judge, ma'am?" "One more word from either of you, I'm bringing you both up on charges." "Oh, she's reaching her boiling point!" "Sir, it's gonna be justifiable homicide." "Gentlemen, we maintain a harassment-free workplace." "Colonel, I expect a Marine to have a tougher shell." "Commander, you just came from debriefing Lt. Commander Holtsford?" "Yes, sir." "The man is despicable." "But if half of what he says is true, sir..." "So is Frohltech." "Yes, sir." "My office." "Aye, aye, sir." "So, what's the problem?" "You got stock in Frohltech?" "No, sir." "Admiral, if Frohltech is responsible for the crash of that F-14, sir, they should be held responsible." "It's just that my investigation started this ball rolling." "You did a good job." "Sir, if Spyglass works, it could save a lot of lives, if this hearing makes Frohltech look bad, they could lose their funding." "Have a seat." "We don't make procurement policy here, commander." "That's at the Pentagon." "Well, I got..." "Sir, I just feel that we need to consider the consequences of our actions." "Well, it's hard to know the consequence of any action." "You know, if they'd have had Spyglass 30 years ago..." "It might have saved your father." "It could have saved a lot of lives." "Or maybe not." "So, what do you want to do?" "Lt. Commander Holtsford, would you please describe the working atmosphere at Frohltech?" "It was very high pressure, ma'am." "Finish the contract on time." "Avoid the late completion penalty at all costs." "Even at the cost of safety?" "Heard a lot of talk about time and money, not too much about safety." "Yet you went along with this depraved attitude because you wanted a job?" "Yes, sir." "That's right." "Who would you speak to about this job?" "Was it the head of Frohltech's aeronautics division?" "Jim Hepperly?" "No, sir." "He didn't like to get his suit messy." " Nobody ever saw him including me." " Mr. Porter, you will get your turn." "I believe I should take my turn now, Madame Chairwoman." " I think not, congressman." " I have important new information that bears directly on this witness' testimony." "If you'll only let this witness..." "This witness doesn't deserve to testify!" " You, sir, are out of order!" " Madame chairwoman, he is." "Lieutenant Commander Holtsford." "Did you know that Jim Hepperly kept a tape machine in his office?" "You heard I'm testifying?" "Gonna put me through the wringer, I guess." " I imagine so." " Could be tough on you too." "What are you talking about?" "I figure my testimony's gonna have a big effect." "One way or the other." "Just say what you came to say." "I came to say that what I say is up to you." "You've got $40 billion riding on my testimony." "What's it worth for me to deliver the right testimony?" "Get the hell out of my office." "We'll take a recess." "Well, how bad is it?" "Extremely bad tells me nothing." "That is extremely bad." "All right." "Cancel the Shriners and get me on Larry King." "My opponent already has his press release out." "I was either the accomplice or the dupe for a lying extortionist, he doesn't know if voters should be more concerned about having an unethical congresswoman or a stupid one." "You just cancelled the hearing half an hour ago." "Welcome to the beltway." "Harm, look." "I'm sorry about the way things turned out." "It was all for nothing." "What?" "You're backing off Frohltech?" "Backing off?" "Try wind sprinting away." "You know that Holtsford's accusations are true." "Frohltech is responsible for the crash of the F-14." "It doesn't matter." "If Holtsford said it, it doesn't count." "His immunity still does." "So I don't get Frohltech and you don't get him." "Oh, I don't know about that, Bobbi." "When Porter asked Holtsford if he'd ever spoken to Hepperly about a job, he said nobody ever saw Hepperly including him." "He obviously saw him when he went to his office" " to shake him down." " After extortion and negligent double homicide, what's hyperbole?" "He was under oath." "It's perjury." "Making his immunity null and void." "Congratulations, commander, you got your little fish." "Nice job, commander." "Looks like we got a court-martial on our hands after all." "Thank you, sir." "The first thing to do is get you back to Frohltech so you can pick up where you left off before Congresswoman Latham ambushed us." "If Colonel MacKenzie is through with her lobster poachers, she can defend Commander Holtsford." "Actually, sir, I'd like to defend Commander Holtsford." "I've spoken to the commander." "He's accepted my offer, sir." "I'm sure Colonel MacKenzie would be more than happy to prosecute." "They say hearing is the first thing to go." "I don't like him and I certainly don't respect him, but as you're very fond of saying, admiral:" ""Everybody deserves a vigorous defence."" "I see." "Am I correct in assuming that the name, Frohl Technologies, might come up at some point in your vigorous defence?" "Well, there's a strong possibility, sir." "Commander, this court martial is being convened for the purpose of establishing guilt or innocence of Lieutenant Commander Holtsford." "Period." "There are other venues to expose corporate misdeeds." " Congressional hearings, 60 Minutes." " Understood, sir." "Commander, a defence attorney must have his client's interest, and only his client's interest in mind." " Am I clear?" " Absolutely, admiral." "Good." " Yes?" " Danny Walden to see you, sir." "Send him in." "That'll be all, commander." "Thank you, sir." " Hello." " Hey, there." "What are you doing in the neighbourhood?" "Well, I'm here to enlist." "No, not really." "I'm just kidding." "No, actually, it's about your plans for my mom's birthday." "Oh, well, here." "Have a seat." "She didn't want to say anything, but we have this thing where we go to have dinner at the Willard Hotel every year." "It's something we used to do with my dad." "Oh, no problem." "I'll just make our date for another night." "Well, no." "I have a better idea." "Why don't you join us at the Willard?" "That would be my pleasure." "Great." "The last time I was here, Mr. Cartwright, you were working on an aircraft with a missing CSD." "Temporarily." "It was replaced." "You said then that used parts were often swapped around." "Well, yes." "Sometimes Bob Holtsford would tell people to do stuff like that." "Always Lt. Commander Holtsford?" "Never anybody else?" "Not that I know of." "You were the mechanic Lt. Commander Holtsford had remove the CSD from the mishap aircraft?" "It was my second day." "Navy guy tells me to do something, I do it." "Have you been asked to do that again?" "Nope." " Have you seen anybody else do that?" " Nope." "What about sign off on work that hasn't been done?" "Nope." "Except of course for a Lt. Commander Holtsford, right?" "Oh, yeah." "Him." "You did a good job cleaning this place up." "Did I?" "Yeah." "It's almost a total whitewash." "Though you may have missed one spot." "That crater out there." "You fill that in yet?" "Hey, commander." "You still turning over rocks?" "Oh, the worms have a lawyer." "I'm calling it a day." "Unless you've seen anything sloppy in the upgrade programme?" "Rabb, everything looks beautiful from 20,000 feet." "Right." "Say, is your offer still good from the last time?" "You want to go up?" "It's either that or watch Shamu eat fish guts for lunch." "Got one they just finished working on." "Ferry crew won't be here until tomorrow." "Oh, man, it's good to get out of the office." "This is my office." "Oh, damn, son." "You fly like you've never been out of the cockpit." "What do you say we take her out over the water?" "No time." "Got to be back by 4." " You got to be somewhere?" " No." "Frohltech closes down the airstrip 1600 sharp." "Why, you can't take it back a few minutes late?" "Do that and they fine me 500 bucks." "Never happen, never will." " What are you doing?" " Nothing." "That was an uncommanded pitch." "We have CSD contamination." " CSD?" "Pitch stabilisation system!" " Cutting it!" "No good!" "Cutting off stab systems!" "Switching to emergency hydraulic control!" "Too late to eject!" "Two and a half negative G's." "Master reset!" "No good!" "Those damn idiots keep doing this!" "Holy cow." "You faked it." "You son of a..." "We land, you run." "And you better be fast." "Now you know how they felt." "You could have killed us." "So how did it feel, knowing you were gonna die because "those idiots keep doing this"?" "I can't help you." "You know what's going on down there, Wilson." "I won't testify." "They'd never let me fly again." "Flying is my life, boy." "All right." "But you tell me where to look for what I need." "This is a fishing expedition, Your Honour." "Intended to harass and embarrass my client." "On behalf of Frohl Technologies," "I move to quash the defence subpoena." "Producing maintenance, planning, and budget documents would harass and embarrass your client?" "Well, first of all it will take a boxcar to haul them all to Washington." "And that's embarrassing?" "It's harassing." "And second, those documents contain trade secrets, classified data and insight into Frohltech's competitive bidding for government contracts." "The disclosure of which will be an unfair boon to its competitors." "The interest of justice would override any commercial considerations, ma'am." "What interest of justice?" "There's no indication how any of this is relevant to the guilt or innocence of Holtsford, which reinforces the company's claim that the subpoena is solely intended to harass and embarrass Frohltech." "I grant it would be embarrassing to be found complicit in the crash of the F-14 that killed Cdr." "Urquizu and Lieutenant Berke." "Budget document will tell you that?" "If it indicates that Frohltech wouldn't or couldn't run the upgrade programme with an acceptable standard of care and safety, yes." "Your Honour, nothing contained in any document would absolve Lieutenant Commander Holtsford of responsibility for his own actions." "There's no allegation that anyone from Frohltech management was even present when the defendant ordered the installation of untested used parts in the aircraft that crashed." "I believe it's customary in a tag team situation to slap your teammate's hand before switching." "Exactly what are you looking for at Frohltech, Commander Rabb?" "Ma'am, I intend to show that the company created an atmosphere where negligence was the norm." "And that it coerced its employees, including Lt. Commander Holtsford, into placing productivity before safety." "Your Honour." "It doesn't fly, commander." "Short of a gun being pointed at his head, the defendant is still responsible for his own actions." "The motion to quash the subpoena is granted." "We will continue with the trial of Lt. Commander Holtsford alone." "Discussing strategy?" "Yeah." "He wants Italian." "I want Chinese." "Do what he wants." "Why should outside of the courtroom be any different?" "Excuse me?" "You're walking a Frohltech party line, Mac." "Making a scapegoat out of Holtsford." "I'm supposed to make him a scapegoat." "I'm prosecuting him, remember?" "You should work on your good loser skills." "A little premature, counsellor." " Gunny." " Sir." "Gunny, I've been thinking more about this law school stuff." "Whatever you put your mind to, Tiner." "Well, it's not that, Gunny." "When I first joined the Navy, I thought I would be seeing action." "Being a lawyer, it's too calm." "Too peaceful." " Calm and peaceful?" " Just look at this office." "No conflict." "No confrontation." "Everybody's so pleasant." "Tiner, it would be a crime to deprive the legal world of your uncanny powers of observation." "Thank you, Gunny." "I finished the final upgrade on that aircraft on the 24th." "But it still didn't have a CSD." "When Lt. Commander Holtsford told me to pull one out of a plane that had just come in," "I refused." "I said we should order a new one." "What did Lt. Commander Holtsford say?" "That that would take too long." "And we couldn't afford to wait." "What happened next?" "I don't know exactly." "I was working the night shift." "When I left at midnight, there still wasn't a CSD in that aircraft." "I got in the next afternoon at 3, there must have been one because Wilson had just taken off for a test flight." " Three?" " To your knowledge there were no new CSDs in stock anywhere in that facility?" " That's correct." " Do we still have the card of Wilson's test flight?" "The only place it could come from would be a plane?" "Yes, ma'am." "It's in here, sir." "Reports taking off at 1505 and doing a full card test flight." "The whole checklist." " Yeah, you know how long that takes?" " I don't, sir." "Two hours." " Jack Wilson here." " Wilson, it's Commander Rabb." "I've been expecting to hear from you." "I need you here." "Already bought my plane ticket." "I'll testify." "But it means I'll never fly again." "I signed off on the full card test flight." "But I did not do the full post maintenance checklist." " Did you check the CSD?" " No." "It seemed to be working." "The plane was flying." "What about the emergency generator?" "No." "I only checked the major primary systems." "The emergency generator should have kicked in when the CSD failed, correct?" "That's right." "Then why didn't you check everything you were supposed to check?" "Because I didn't take off until after 3:00." "Frohltech closed the airstrip at 4:00 sharp." "Not even when an aircraft was due for pickup and needed to be tested?" "That's right." "They don't care about aircraft at Frohltech." "They care about money." "How do you know that?" "They overscheduled me that day, ma'am." "Overscheduled me a lot of days." "I had three test flights to complete starting at noon." "No way I could finish by 4." "Everybody knew that." "Still they shut down the damn strip." "The aircraft that crashed took off at night." "After 4 p.m." "They always open up the strip to meet a delivery deadline, to avoid paying a penalty." "I don't care about the money." "I just wanted to keep on flying." "The defence renews its request for the production of maintenance, planning and budget records from Frohl Technology, ma'am." "No objections, Your Honour." "So ordered." "Here you are, ma'am." "He probably got stuck in traffic." "He has a cell phone." "Which he's not answering." "Could be out of range." "Forty-five minutes." "It isn't like him." "You know, you're right." "He's a big boy." "Let's just enjoy ourselves." " He gets here when he gets here." " Okay." "I'll drink to that." "Henry Clay brought this recipe for Mint Juleps from Kentucky in 1850." "I've never tried it." "You know, until last year, Danny would only order the burger and fries." "You know, I think that's the special on the menu." "Let's go find him." "Did you have to subpoena everything?" "Yeah, I should have just demanded the criminally-negligent-policies files." "I think I found something, sir." ""The employees are complaining..."" ""Because they disbanded the commissary softball team."" " Never mind." " Orders for drill bits." "Employee's dental records." "Division manager's expense accounts." "They swamped us." "The old lawyer's trick." "So we go back to the judge with a motion to compel a more specific production of records." " Who ordered the pizza?" " What are you doing here?" "I should ask you the same." "I'm an officer of the court out for the truth." "My compliments on your client's filing system." "It looks like it's somewhere between Dewey decimal and chaos theory." "Well, things are much less orderly in the private sector." "I was at corporate headquarters when they were pulling this material." "Yeah, you help them mix it and stir it, Brumby?" "As a matter of fact, yeah." "The whole top corporate echelon was there helping out." "But even with all that help one file still accidentally fell behind a desk." "Luckily I found it." ""Report costs and benefits," "F-14 upgrade programme risk reward analysis."" " Thanks, pal." " Just doing my job." "As an officer of the court." "What is it?" ""Due to the necessity of underbidding the original F-14 manufacturer, this programme must be considered a loss leader, one we lose money on as we expand into a new area of Pentagon procurement."" "Just some dry accounting stuff." ""Nevertheless, we can limit our downside exposure by limiting the parameters of our infrastructure support." "By tightly controlling man-hours and parts expended, we can hold our losses to a tolerable level." "While this would increase the risk of catastrophic aircraft incident, it would be less expensive to compensate the government for one or two such losses than to raise our standards of service."" "Two pilots' lives are worth less than doing the job right?" " They calculated that?" " I love Washington." "You don't get this with a pizza in Detroit." "Danny?" "Danny?" "What are you guys doing here?" "What are we?" "What are you doing here?" "Dinner at the Willard, remember?" "Well, I thought maybe you guys wanted to be alone." "That's why you didn't answer the phone?" "I turn off the ringer when I do my homework." "Next time you decide to be thoughtful, be a little more thoughtful and pick up a phone." "I'm sorry, you guys." "I didn't ruin your night or anything, did I?" "Just you wait until you have a son." "Then you'll know." "Boys are always running off." "I couldn't keep track of him then." "You can't keep track of him now." "I'm lucky if I see him one night a month." "Mom?" " Hi!" " Hi!" "Hey." "Well, I hope I'm not too late for the showing of the bathtub photos." "I wouldn't show those pictures to your mother." " I thought you were in Europe." " I was." "Can't I stop by on my way home and say hello to my favourite son?" "Your only son." "Frank gave me a diamond in Venice and we renewed our wedding vows." "It was really quite romantic." "Maybe you should ask Frank where he got the ring." "Well, Trish, it was wonderful meeting you." " You don't have to go, do you?" " Yes, I do." "Sorry." "You don't have to go." "Yes, I do." "You hang tough, sailor." "Okay." " She's keeping you on your toes?" " Oh, she's doing her best." "You know, Harm, I haven't talked to you since you came back from Cuba or Russia." "I've been meaning to talk to you about the trip." "Yeah, I can't wait to hear about your meeting with Castro." "Oh, yeah, yeah." "Well, that was interesting." "I meant Russia." "Russia." "You know, Harm, after you came back that last time when you told me you had proof your father was dead" "I grieved again after all those years." " Oh, I'm so sorry, Mom." " No, something good happened." "It helped me move on." "You see," "I've always held myself back a little." "One last sliver waiting for your father." "But now, that's all in the past." "I've accepted it." "So my life is better." "Thank you." "Well, you can tell me all about Russia over dinner." "Yeah, it was uneventful, really." "Nothing important happened." "It's all over the front page, Harm." "Congresswoman Latham." " The smoking-gun Frohltech memo." " Good." "That doesn't change anything about Holtsford." "He's still guilty." "Well, a little less than he used to be." "Wilful dereliction." "Six months' hard labour." "Negligent homicide." "Two years." "Eighteen months." "Deal." " stemming from an F- 14 crash at their Oceanside facility in July." "While admitting no guilt," "Frohltech accepted additional supervision of its F- 14 upgrade programme and received a $ 10 million fine and a public reprimand." "Meanwhile, it and the Pentagon both pledged continued support for the proposed Spyglass project." "Ten million dollars." "It's a traffic ticket." "You did what you could, Harm." "Life goes on." "Well, for some it does." "I'm on my way to a memorial service for Commander Urquizu and Lieutenant Berke." " You busy?" " No."