The heavy doors of the 235th Garrison Military Court have been bolted shut, barring the gaze of the curious public. Inside, in a stifling silence, the trial of Colonel Vladimir Udrish, the erstwhile chief of the Hydrometeorological Service, unfolds in absolute secrecy.

There is a foul scent of scandal in the air, though the details are kept under lock and key. The charges? An abuse of official powers and an attempt at forgery—crimes that would make any honest constable shudder. When pressed for a word, the Colonel’s solicitor remained as silent as a grave, and the representatives of the Ministry of Defence, acting as the aggrieved party, refused to utter a single syllable to the press.

For the uninitiated, this Service is no mere gathering of cloud-gazers. They are the keepers of the sea's secrets, the watchers of the ice, and the heralds of the storm, providing the army with the vital intelligence needed for the movement of troops, the firing of great guns, and the soaring of aircraft.

Alas, this is not the first time the rot has reached such heights. One recalls the grim fate of Sergei Travin, the former head of Navigation and Oceanography, who in the year 2019 was cast into a colony for seven long years after plundering some seventy million rubles from the public coffers. It seems the temptation of the loot is a siren song that many a soldier cannot resist.