Carter Blake felt like a fish out of water, the kind that had been caught while father and son were on a fishing trip, and would be gutted in a few minutes just for the sake of pulling innards out on the outside for fun and education of the youngster. The last time he’d graced a courthouse … he shuddered … public defender that had been assigned by the state, cheap suit and quick trial that had turned ugly really quickly. This time the suit wasnt much better and he had a sinking feeling that the greasy lawyer from Wolfram and Heart was playing on an entirely different team. Apparently some corporate big-shot from Chimera was due to take the fall for the Aquatica disaster and they planned to throw the book at him, nailing him for destruction of company property, criminal and corporate negligence … he’d lost track of the charges … but the stock price had crashed soon after and German investors had swept in and bought a controlling stake in the company. Rumblings had begun above board level, as Vorschlag Industries slowly brought their own men and women into key positions to consolidate the deal. When they said a “controlling interest” they didnt mean anything but an iron grip of the reins.

Nine months ago lawyers had contacted Carter to draw him into the upcoming trial. They had taken a statement and at the time seemed quite pleasant - taken him out on the company dime and provided a generous meal and beer allowance. The week he’d been having he’d not thought twice about taking them for every penny their deep corporate expense accounts would pay out. He’d woken up the next morning in a hotel room by room service, bringing him a generous breakfast and a letter explaining that they’d contact him later if needed.

“Later” turned out to be twelve weeks, when he caught a private investigator poking around his affairs, boat charter, licenses, paperwork … there had been a fight and the greasy little man had repeated something that Carter though he’d remembered saying while half-drunk. The addition of a little more leverage ()as it turned out, violence working nicely) the investigator had seen a transcript of the drunken discussion. Once again betrayed by lawyers. Carter kicked the guy one more time and left.

Last week the bank had foreclosed on his loan citing credit instability in the market as a whole. They shut him down. Then a letter had arrived giving him a court date. There was no question the two were connected.