Retrieval Saga
Prison Break
Chapter 1: Life Trials
Cental Station
Main Brig
Matt was trying to think of ways to keep himself entertained. Being stuck in a cell while waiting for your trial can be so boring. The only other guy in there was a symbiote with a restraining collar holding him to a clone body made for symbiote prisoners. "What are you looking at, Mr. Slimey?" said Matt. The symbiote waggled its tongue at Matt. Matt wasn't that familiar with the etiquette of some aliens, but he knew when he was being mocked. "You're so lucky I can't reach you right now," he said. Matt did see a way. A guard had fallen asleep near the symbiote's cell and had left his plasma stunner on. Matt, with a little flick directed a little bolt into the symbiote, who yelped and glared at him, while he did a innocent expression. Another guard came in and kicked his companion awake. "Traveler, you got some visitors," he said.
Chip walked in with Draco dragging a metal crate behind him. Matt gave the crate a nervous look, especially since it had air holes in it. "What are you guys doing here?" asked Matt. "We're going to help you with your case," said Chip "And we've brought a friend. Experiment 192, Sue, the lawyer experiment." Matt gulped, "Isn't she the one who tried to eat the prosecution at Jumba's trial?" he said, looking in one of the holes. "Don't worry, she's been in the EARWAX group for a while so she's a lot more docile. Draco, think you could wake Sue up?" Draco reluctantly took a broom and poked the straw end through one of the air holes. Matt watched with horrified fascination as Draco had to drag the broom back and when he got it back, it was a lot shorter...and covered in slime. "So...exactly how docile is she now?" he said. As the box opened, he jumped behind his bunk.
"Don't worry, she's nice to her client, but don't let her near your wallet," said Draco as he ripped off one side of the crate. The experiment side wasn't as ugly as Matt had thought. She resembled a large blood-red weasel with sharp fangs. She had a tie-like mark on her stomach and tapered ears, along with two of the blackest eyes Matt has ever seen. "Erm...hello," said Matt, not taking Draco's words seriously. His foot still ached from the last time he had. He waved briefly before hiding again. "May I?" asked the experiment to the guard. He nodded uncertainly and he opened the cell door for her. She walked in and sat on top of the bed Matt was cowering behind. "Hello, my name is Sue, I was designed by Jumba to act as his attorney in legal matters so this case won't be too hard." "Why can't Chip be the lawyer?" he asked slowly. "Well, I could," said Chip, "but my specialty is in scientific matters. Legal issues aren't in my bailiwick." "But they are in mine. And fortunately, Chip has been able to provide me some information that will help your defense," said Sue as she opened her briefcase.
Matt peered. "Hey Chip, I told you to keep your...thing out CPS's private files," he said spotting several classified files and glaring at Chip before shrugging. The symbiote laughed and threw a glob of slime at him, missing and hitting Sue instead. The experiment growled and threw a glob of her own slime back. It didn't seem acidic, but it was apparently extremely uncomforting to touch, judging from the way the symbiote squirmed. Matt watched. "I like her." he said with a smirk.
"Now back to business," said Sue, "It seems that most of the charges against you, from what your friends have told me, can be filed under 'temporary insanity', would you agree with that?" Matt carefully thought of that and said, "We both agree."
"There are also charges of property damage, specifically those of Sy-Yong and the Exo-Gene space station." "That wasn't my fault," said Matt, "It was mostly those destroyers that blew up Sy-Yong and I was running from them. The space station, that was an accident, I was also running for my life and protecting someone."
Sue carried on, "Gross negligence on the Maelstrom star." Matt stayed silent about that except to say, "That was...someone else."
"And also there's the assault charge on Neilsson." When Matt looked nervous, Sue said, "Don't worry, we've prepared for that one." "While I was sorting those files, I came across his registration form," said Chip, "There's a copy of it right there." Matt looked at it. "I KNEW IT! I've only been a dragon for a fortnight and already I hate these Huntsclan smegheads," he said, reading his background. "And there's more," said Chip, "Look at the part where it's signed and count the number of stamps." Matt looked. "Wow...that's a lot of stamps," he said, counting, "That's about 15...so?" "I checked the rulebook and it's missing a few stamps. Not to mention the name of the official whose name is there doesn't have the same handwriting." Matt looked at the form. "Hah...we got him hook, line, and sinker," he said.
"In that case, if there isn't anything else, your trial should be swift and easy," said Sue as she put the papers back into her briefcase, "I will see you in court." Matt shook her paw and was slightly disgusted by the slime that she left on his hand. He settled for throwing it at the now sleeping symbiote, to his pleasure getting a glob right in the guy's throat...or whatever a symbiote had for one.
--
Council Halls.
Matt was grinning happily as he was led towards the defense side of the court. As he walked along he saw Neilsson, wearing a cast on his nose. Matt gave him a smirk for good measure before sitting down. Sue soon arrived, now wearing the upper half of a business suit. She sat down next to Matt and said to him, "Remember, no matter what accusations they use, keep your temper." Matt shrugged. He tended not to get mad, he liked the getting even part better.
"All stand!" called the bailiff. Everyone in the room stood up as a door opened. Three people came through a door, a man, a splitter, and a froglike creature that Matt recognized as the same kind of alien as Grey Matter. "What kind of alien is that?" he whispered to Sue. "That's a Galvan, they're the most intelligent species in the galaxy" she whispered, "They may be small in scale, but they have the corner of most technology markets." Matt nodded. "I met Ben's version of one." he said. "Who?" asked Sue. Matt was about to go on before the Splitter said, "Be seated." Everyone quickly sat back down.
The human stood. "The person on trial is Mercenary Matthew Lynch. Prosecution, your opening statements?" Neilsson walked forward. "This young man is guilty of several charges, including destruction of company property, endangerment of lives, and conspiracy with individuals who are a known threat to the galactic order," he said. His stern demeanor was slightly dampened by the currently nasal quality of his voice. Matt sorely wished for something to hit Neilsson and was shocked when something did. Morph had, earlier at Matt's request, booby-trapped Neilsson's chair which now went off. Matt smirked
As Neilsson cried out in disgust at the disgusting slime that was covering him, the Galvan said, "May I remind you that this is a court of law and it is not April Fool's Day?" Still, he could not hide the amused smirk on his face.
Neilsson glared and carried on. "This so-called professional has caused more problems between him and his sister then he has solved. Sy-Yong is the only one we know of, how many do we not know of?" he said. "My client has told me all of the incidents he has been involved with and has given satisfactory explanations for them," said Sue. Neilsson smirked. "His explanation, you mean," he said with a sneer, "Could he possibly explain why he chose to keep an artifact of obviously magical origin and try to sell it in a pawn shop?" Matt glared. "HEY, IT LOOKED NORMAL!" he yelled. The Galvan glared at Matt till he sat back down, "Sue, control your client or he will be removed." Matt gulped. It wasn't a figure of speech. As Matt sat back down, Sue said, "The crystal in question could have had a similar appearance or energy reading as a nonmagical crystal of value. As my client said, he had no idea that the crystal had any magical values."
Neilsson frowned as the council members nodded. "Fine. Next is the incident with the Maelstrom Star. I believe no clear report was ever admitted," said the human council member. "There's nothing to reported," said Matt firmly, "Someone gave us the wrong address and went to there only to have that meteor storm hit us. The reason I escaped was because I got lucky." Neilsson smirked happily. "I read the report for the ship's check. The damage was more consistent with fire damage then with meteors. Care to explain?" he said, displaying pictures of the damage. "I don't know, they were probably there when I got on." "You flew a ship that was in disrepair," said Neilsson, not showing any belief. "Maybe they had budget cuts," said Matt. Matt continued, "Arkeas and his crew were freelancers. In those days, most freelancers weren't allowed to buy from the mercenary company suppliers." Neilsson glared. "No further questions," he said.
Suddenly they heard a sort of gurgling sound. "He's got a weapon!" cried Neilsson. "That would be my stomach," said Matt, "that stuff they gave me isn't really filling." "The defense requests a short recess for lunch," said Sue. "Request granted," said the splitter council member. The crew met up just outside. "Hah, you think Leyton could get Sue on the payroll? She's ripping Neilsson apart," said Techo with glee. "By the way, what was that slime that was sprayed on Neilsson?" asked Chip. "Don't worry, it was just some unrefined Snootonium," said Draco. "Where'd Morph get that from?" The gang looked at Morph who was studiously inspecting the interior of his nostrils with his finger. "I think I lost my appetite," said Matt. "Mine too," said Chris, as he pushed his sandwich away. "Wait, mine came back," said Matt as he grabbed the sandwich. As Chris attempted to strangle Matt for stealing his sandwich, Neilsson went by, looking surprisingly pleased for a loser. "Eat that while you can Lynch. Your next meal will be prison rations," he said.
"We'll see who's next meal will be prison rations," said Sue as she leafed through her papers, "I don't he has anything he could throw at us without us countering." Matt looked at Neilsson who was talking to someone on his comm. "I dunno...I have a bad feeling about this," he said.
--
When the trial was continued, Neilsson started straight off. "The prosecution calls John Dante to the stand," he said. Matt turned to see Captain Dante strolling in. "I don't believe it," he said. "Is there a reason that you would bring a captain of the Hamstervielian Empire here?" demanded the human council member. "There is, indeed," said Neilsson, "There is one more crime Mr. Lynch has committed that he hasn't revealed to anyone else: homocide." This sent a large amount of buzzing throughout the courtroom.
Matt stood up. "YOU LITTLE ASS! YOU'RE DEAD MEAT!" he screamed, almost reaching Neilsson when a security droid jumped on him. Neilsson wasn't fazed at all. "Now then, I believe that you and your brother were employed by Exo-Gene a few years back." Dante nodded. "Yes, we were head of security at a facility called 'Lab One'," he said. Matt's eyes widened. "Wait, Lab One? Back at..." His voice trailed off. "I'm sure you remember that very well," said Dante, "but for everyone else, let's watch this little video, shall we?" Matt sat back horrified as various grainy holograms displayed his desperate fight against Dante's older brother in the facilities main reactor room. He turned away at the point where Dante ran into the ion blade. It was also where Neilsson cut off the recording. "There we have it," he said, smirking at Sue nastily. "Let's see your little mutant worm you out of that," he mouthed.
"I'm sure my client has a perfect reason for that," said Sue, "Right, Matt? Matt?" Matt didn't respond, he was apparently in shock. "Mr. Lynch, if you don't make a response, your silence will be interpreted as a guilty plea," said the Galvan council member. Matt spoke slowly, "It was an accident. He was insane...he'd already crippled the safeties on the reactor. I grabbed the nearest object...it was his weapon...before I knew it...that happened."
The three council members spoke with each other and then the human said, "We will now consider our verdict." Neilsson couldn't resist smiling at Matt and Sue. "First you, then that freak of a crew," he said before sitting back. A few minutes later, the three council members returned. "We find that the defendant had given reasonable enough excuses for his misdemeanors," said the splitter, "However, we find him technically guilty of manslaughter." Matt simply slumped as the council continued. "Usually manslaughter carries a 5 cycle sentence on a penal colony. But given your...unusual abilities, you will be transferred to Kryos Maximum security for no less then 8 cycles," the human said before saying, "Court dismissed." Sue glared daggers at Neilsson, who looked like his birthday had come early. "However," said the Galvan, "We would like to question Neilsson about his registration form." Suddenly Neilsson's birthday party seemed more like a funeral.
Matt, despite his situation burst out laughing. "Serves you right, smeg features," he called as two security officers headed for him. "Don't worry, Matt," said Chip as he was dragged past him, "We'll find a way to get you out. Just keep your chin up." "Ow, my chin!" said Matt as he was accidentally whacked into a wall. "I'm not sure, but I have a good feeling it has something to do with Splicer's trial coming up," said Techo. "Splicer gets a trial? Why isn't he being sent straight to jail?" said Draco. "He has the right to a fair trial," said Techo simply. "I wonder if Silvia will be here?" wondered Chris out loud, "I wonder what she'd look like in a suit?" Kala glared and kicked Chris on the shin. "I think Matt would tell you to focus, then he'd do this," she said and blasted Chris with a plasma blast.
There's the first chapter of a new story. This story make seem bleak now, but it'll definitely get better and a lot more interesting later on. There's also going to be some important revelations in this story so you don't want to miss anything. Sue was designed for me by Xelku9, there's a picture of her on his page on deviantART. Keep an eye out for the next chapter and please review.