Chapter 9: Trials and Tribulation

The transit from Verdas wound up taking a little more than two days. Under ideal conditions the ship could have made the journey in a matter of hours, but a side effect of the damage it had suffered was that the supra-luminal propulsion system was working at diminished efficiency. If it had been a Cornerian ship they would have been stuck in orbit for several more days while enough systems were brought back online to allow for safe transit, but Kewan engineering seemed to follow a somewhat different design philosophy. Essential systems were kept as simple and straightforward as possible, to make them harder to knock out and easier to repair. The end result was that, although the Intruder's weaponry, combat shielding, and its sophisticated sensor and stealth systems were out of order until it could be fixed at a shipyard, the navigational shields and the propulsion system were operational enough that the corvette could limp back to the Kew system with minimal delay.

For Kursed, two days in close social contact with other people was far more than she was used to, and she kept to herself for most of the journey. To their credit, the members of Omega Squad did their best to give her as much privacy as they were able on the ship, but a good number of sections had been breached when she had launched her sole Nova Bomb at the corvette, so there was only so much space to go around. In addition, there were several rooms that housed those members of the ship's original crew in temporary confinement, and those were usually kept sealed to prevent the prisoners from attempting to escape or cause trouble. Three times a day, Shadow brought the prisoners the food and others things that they would need during their short stay in the temporary holding areas. The black fox continued to mystify her; he had shown himself to be perfectly capable of killing the crew without a second thought when he and his friends had been fighting to gain control over the ship, and she had half-expected him to either execute the prisoners or drop them off somewhere where they would be out of the way. Instead, he had kept them on the ship and had taken the responsibility of their care and well-being upon himself. The dual extremes that he exhibited made her more curious than ever about his background, and that provided her with something to occupy her mind during the otherwise-uneventful flight back to the major center of government in this system.

A little while before they were scheduled to arrive in Kew's orbit, Kursed got tired of waiting around with nothing to do and left the room that she had taken as her quarters to look for Shadow. Intellectually she knew that his real name (first name, at least) was Arlen, and yet she thought of him more through the alias that he had been using since they had first met. It seemed more appropriate, somehow, since he was secretive to an extreme about certain aspects of his past, and she had a strong hunch that he would be loathe to reveal much about it unless pressed.

She found him in the ship's small but relatively ornate lounge, just sitting in a chair and staring out at the viewport. Since they were currently in supraluminal transit, the view was a psychedelic swirl of Doppler-distorted light, but he seemed to draw some measure of peace from the view. He heard her come in as soon as the door opened, but didn't turn his head to look at her until her footsteps stopped and she was standing right in front of him. Then he simply lifted his gaze up to meet hers and asked politely, "Something on your mind?"

"Just bored," she answered. The look on his face suggested he didn't fully believe her, but he didn't press the point. She thought for a moment, and then asked, "I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me what the big deal is between you and Bertrand and Maltare?"

He was silent for a long moment, and she could sense him debating whether or not to tell her anything. Before he made up his mind one way or the other, though, the door to the lounge opened again and Sondra burst through in a hurry. Both foxes looked up at her as she skidded to a halt, and Shadow asked, "Why are you so excited?"

"Excited" was an understatement; the green-haired hacker was literally vibrating with eagerness, practically hopping up and down as she strode into the lounge and met Shadow's gaze with the widest grin he had ever seen on her face. Normally she had that expression on only when she had caused some sort of electronic mayhem, but there was no way for her to do such a thing on the ship without fouling up something vital, so he waited for her explanation.

Sondra was so exuberant that her words tumbled out in a rambling torrent. "Hey, boss, you just gotta see this!" she exclaimed. "When that whatcha-callit, that Nova Bomb, hit the Intruder, it overloaded the electrical system with the feedback surge and the computer shut down immediately to avoid getting fried, and so they never had the time to execute even the most basic security precaution, and we took over the ship so fast that they couldn't get anything up and running before then and…"

"What did you find?" Kursed said perfunctorily, causing the raccoon to stop for a moment and glare at her for interrupting. Kursed returned the glare in equal measure, and eventually Sondra shifted her gaze to Shadow and said, "There's a heavily encrypted database inside the computer's files, one that was separate from the regular operating systems. I just cracked it."

"Just like that?" he asked a little skeptically.

"Well, I was bored," she replied, "and I've been working on it for most of the trip back, ever since we got the computer back online. I discovered it when I was doing that security double-check you recommended."

When she didn't immediately say anything after that, Shadow raised one eyebrow and asked, "So what was on it?"

"Only everything anyone would want to know about the Purists and where they've all gone to ground." That simple statement caught the full attention of both foxes, and their gazes fastened immediately upon her face. She grinned at the sudden interest both of them showed in her discovery, and continued, "It seems that this ship, and several others like it, was being used as a go-between among the various places the Purists have gone into hiding, carrying orders and updates and the like. It also has the latest versions of their encryption codes, and records of where the major pockets of fugitives are." Sondra spared a moment to glance at Kursed and remark, "Incidentally, you must have really pissed someone off, because there's a standing order out to kill you, one way or another."

The blue vixen gave a thin, humorless smile at that revelation. "The price of success," she stated philosophically. "Death marks are nothing new to me."

"Still, you may wish to be a little more careful from now on," Shadow advised. "Maybe you should take it easy for a few days."

She whirled at that remark and glared at him menacingly. "I don't need you treating me like I'm helpless!" she snarled at him. "I can take care of myself just fine!"

He was taken aback by the venom in her voice, and she felt a little foolish for snapping at him the way she had, but there was no way she was going to apologize so soon after such a vehement outburst.

The tension between them was partly defused by Sondra clearing her throat to get their attention again. "I think we would want to have a meeting real soon, to discuss what we're going to do about this information. Right now we have an advantage because no one else knows we've captured this ship, but if we tell the wrong people, that secret could get out real fast, and then the enemy will take measure to correct this security breach."

"Good point, Sondra," Shadow told her. "Get everyone together and have them meet here in the lounge, and we'll go over our options before we drop back to normal velocity." The raccoon nodded and hurried back out the door, and Shadow turned to Kursed with narrowing eyes. "I can understand if you resent the implication that you can't take care of yourself, but there was no call to bite my head off the way you did just now. Whether you care or not, I consider you a friend of sorts and I don't want to lose any more friends or loved ones than I already have." He waited for an answer, but she remained quiet, since she didn't have anything to say in reply that wouldn't sound petulant or arrogant. After a moment, he changed the subject. "You may wish to at least sit in on this conversation, since it concerns you to a certain degree as well."

The door opened again and the rest of Omega Squad filtered in, with Dr. Bertrand, Amber and Matthew close behind. Shadow raised an eyebrow and said, "That was quick."

Sondra grinned again and replied, "We half-expected you would want a meeting to discuss our options beforehand, so everyone was already nearby. All they were waiting for was confirmation."

Everyone took seats or stood as the wished, and Shadow turned to address the whole group with his next statement. "All right people, the fun isn't over yet. The first order of business is what happens once we reach our destination; I have a feeling that Kew's air/space control is going to be very jumpy when a patrol corvette drops out into normal space in close orbit."

"I already have a comm protocol set up for when that happens," Sondra said. "Mike and I have been working on it when I wasn't cracking that database." Shadow nodded in acknowledgement of her forethought, and waited for the next question.

It came from Doctor Bertrand. "What about Matthew and I?" he asked. "What will happen to us?"

Shadow frowned in thought and didn't answer the question immediately. Finally, he answered a little slowly, choosing his words with care. "I'm pretty certain that the authorities will at least hear you out first, before they decide on anything. Doc, your case is already at least partially known to them because of Michael's condition, and I can say with relative confidence that you will be acquitted of any serious charges. I also think that Matthew will likely be acquitted as well, especially if his role in your extraction and Amber's location is revealed." His gaze turned to Kursed, and he asked her, "What about you, do you have any input to the situation?"

"I'm getting paid for retrieval only," she replied. "What happens during the arraignment is of no concern to me."

Shadow rolled his eyes at her reply, and returned his attention to Doctor Bertrand and Matthew. "I can't guarantee that you two will be paroled, however, since there's one individual, highly placed in the Senate, who has a one-slip-and-you're-history mentality, and he wields a great deal of influence in the current government." There was a small chorus of groans from the various members of Omega Squad seated in the room, and that got the attention of everyone else who wasn't in the know.

"Who is it?" Matthew asked nervously.

"Senator Frasso Vares," Shadow replied, and Kursed was a little surprised at the contempt and disgust that filled his voice.

"What's so bad about him?" she asked. "Can he not be trusted?"

"Oh, he can be trusted alright," Eilarra replied tartly. "You can trust absolutely that he will do whatever benefits him most, and if it involves stepping on some who are less fortunate, or in his way, then so be it. He offered aid and support to the Resistance during the latter portion of the insurrection, but when the Purists were garnering power and when they had the upper hand, he just sat on his oversized bottom and kept quiet." That outburst from the normally gentle-natured feline spoke volumes about the sort of person that this Senator Vares was.

"So," Shadow said in conclusion, "once we get back home we'll offload our prisoners, and then likely we'll have to answer to a review board, regarding our actions. We didn't exactly ask for permission before going off on this op."

"Why should you have to answer for anything?" Kursed asked. "You said it yourself earlier, the mission was time-sensitive and secrecy was paramount."

Shadow smiled thinly at her comment. "Some in the Senate will not see things that way. There are more than a few that view me as a loose cannon, and feel that I require strict supervision and close scrutiny. They'll likely be hopping mad once the details of our latest op come to light."

Sondra checked her chronometer and said, "Hey we've got barely an hour until we drop out of supralight. I think we ought to check all the systems and make sure everything we need will be ready. Wouldn't do to pull off such a wild success only to get vaporized by a defense satellite because we startled a jumpy traffic control officer, now, would it?" Shadow grinned at the thought of the ignominy of that particular fate, and shooed the raccoon out the door so she could go about the tasks that she had just described. Seeing that the meeting was adjourned, the rest of the group got up, stretched, and began filing out.

Shadow remained for a moment, longer, his expression that of a man facing a difficult and uncertain battle. Kursed approached him carefully and asked, "Are you alright?" in a tone far softer than he was used to hearing from her.

He looked up at her and cracked an insolent grin. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were worried about me," he quipped.

"Which just shows how little you know," she retorted. He looked at her for a long moment in silence, and she eventually conceded, "You're the closest thing I've had to a friend in a long time. I'd almost forgotten what it was like."

He nodded in reply and decided to confide in her. "I have no idea what's going to happen once we reach Kew, but I'm fairly certain it won't be pleasant. I'm worried, about my friends and about Amber."

"Right now fretting won't solve anything," she told him. "I think all you can do for now is wait and see what the future holds."

"I know," he murmured. "And that's the most frustrating part."

The corvette dropped back to sub-light velocities slightly less than an hour after the meeting was adjourned. As predicted, they were hailed immediately by a rather nervous air/space control officer who demanded to know the registry of the ship they were using. All of the crew and free passengers were on the bridge at the time and privy to the conversation, so they were able to witness the expert way in which Shadow negotiated them through the security procedures. He briefly explained the situation to the collie on the other end of the channel, letting the officer know that there were prisoners on board that needed to be taken care of, and obtaining permission for them to put the corvette into a repair berth at the shipyard while they made ready to transition down to the planet.

Shortly after that was settled, however, there was a second call, this one carrying the tag of a high-ranking government office. Shadow answered it again, and the screen resolved into the image of a human male wearing elaborate business attire that, from his expression, he found rather uncomfortable. Or maybe it was the message that he had to deliver that was the cause of the sour look on his face. "Mr. Barker, your presence is required at the Capital Courthouse at once."

"Right now?" Shadow asked, trying to stall. "I'm in the middle of something important at the moment."

"The message sent to me was quite insistent," the man replied. His expression softened a bit and he said, "Senator Vares has called for an inquiry into the circumstances of your recent activities, and has ordered that you and everyone else on that corvette, with the exception of your prisoners, be escorted to the Courthouse at once upon landing. That includes anyone whom you have rescued during your latest mission."

"Of course he has," Shadow replied through clenched teeth. "Is this for any reason in particular or just general meddling?"

"I didn't get any of the particulars," was the answer. "However, he did specify that the bounty hunter currently travelling with you should come with the rest of your party, as should Doctor Bertrand."

"How'd he know I was here?" Kursed murmured to no one in particular. She was already starting to dislike this Senator Vares, and she hadn't even met him yet. He was far too nosy for her liking, and much too controlling.

"I see," Shadow replied to the man on the other end of the channel. "We'll be on our way down there in a few minutes." The man on the other end gave a half-salute and closed the channel.

Shadow turned to see Kursed giving him a mischievous look as she asked, "So, your full name is Arlen Barker?"

"That's right; don't wear it out," he replied. "Now you see why I usually prefer to go by Shadow." He sighed and turned to the rest of the group and said, "Well, we knew there would be complications from rushing out without telling anyone, and this looks like it."

"This doesn't sound so bad," Amber said from the back. "I mean, won't he understand that it was worth the risk?"

Shadow shook his head at her reasoning. "The only thing on his mind right now, I imagine, is that we didn't get permission from certain members of the Provisional Senate - him included - before we went on this mission. The stated reason is that technically I'm just a private citizen and they don't want us messing up any official military operations; but I think that for him at least, it's all about control."

With that unhappy thought in mind, the entire group started for the docking bay where the Infiltrator rested. Michael had spent some of the time in transit making repairs to the systems, but there were still quite a few things that were best handled by professional mechanics in a fully equipped workshop. The shuttle was in good enough condition to ferry everyone down to the planet's surface, however, so there was no need to wait for ground control to send a shuttle up to fetch them.

Kursed opted to take the Cloud Runner down herself, rather than let it sit in the Intruder's docking bay. There might have been trouble in finding a place to park it, of course, but she was adamantly against leaving her starfighter up in orbit when she had no way to reach it that wouldn't depend on someone else's good graces. Long years of experience had taught her that the times she would most need the fighter would be the times it would be most difficult to reach. Fortunately for her, there was space available near where the Infiltrator touched down. Near the tarmac, she could see a trio of official-looking black hovercars waiting to convey the group to its destination. She climbed out of the cockpit and leapt nimbly to the pavement before the ground crew had gotten the debarkation ladder into position. She waved it away brusquely and fixed the crew chief with a withering stare. "If I find so much as a scratch when I get back, I'll come looking for you," she warned him.

The hound's head jerk once in a nervous nod as he replied, "Yes, ma'am, it'll be in perfect condition when you return." She gave him a thin, humorless smile in reply and started walking towards the line of vehicles at the edge of the landing field. Shadow, Zeke, and Edgar had already climbed into the first one, and Matthew, Dr. Bertrand and Michael were getting into the second one, which left the last one for her, Eilarra, Amber and Sondra. Kursed wasn't happy about sharing the same space with the raccoon hacker, since Sondra seemed to take a perverse delight in baiting her, but for once, she didn't have any smart remarks or inflammatory quips to offer. The relative silence seemed to make things all the more ominous.

The convoy proceeded to the Courthouse without incident, each vehicle pulling up by the front entrance and disgorging its passengers before leaving to allow the next one in line to pull up. When they were all assembled, a small group of security agents led them into the building and to the guard checkpoint. Each of them had to check all weapons on their person at the entrance and then pass through a scanner to see if they had any hidden weapons that they hadn't bother to inform anyone about. Eilarra, Sondra, Michael, Dr. Bertrand, Matthew, and Amber all passed through without any pause or incident. Zeke experienced a slight delay as they double checked to make sure he wasn't carrying anything incendiary or explosive, and then Edgar was waved through; the scan on him came up clean. Shadow was next in line, pulling out his oversized energy pistol and laying that and the long knives he used on the table. He started to pass through the scanner, but it beeped and the guards sent him back to the drop-off table. A couple of minutes later a small pile of assorted knives, a pair of tiny and easily-concealed laser pistols, a multi-function tool and one midsized sword in a simple scabbard lay on the table beside the items he'd left initially, causing Kursed to shake her head in a combination of amazement and amusement at the small arsenal that he'd left behind.

Finally it was her turn, although she didn't have nearly the concealed armament that Shadow had. She laid her stun pistol and a compact but powerful hand blaster on the table and unbuckled the utility belt that carried the more specialized and esoteric implements of destruction that she employed in her line of work. She didn't leave her staff behind though, since hard-conditioned instincts shrieked against leaving herself completely unarmed and she doubted the scanner would flag something as exotic as a Cerinian Battle Staff. Her hunch was borne out as a green light flashed on the scanner as she strode through it and the guards waved her along. She hurried to catch up with the rest of the group, giving Shadow a mischievous wink and observing, "You must have a very tough time at public transit hubs."

"I usually use private transportation," he replied in a deadpan tone. He looked up as they approached a set of massive, ornate wooden doors and sighed in resignation. "Time to face the music," he said, in a world-weary tone that put her on guard.

The doors swung slowly open, admitting the group into a cavernous, arching room that had a heavy, brooding feel to it. Seated at the far end was an older, darker-skinned human wearing what appeared to be a variation on a judge's robe, and a rather irritated look on his face. Off to the right was a mix of eight individuals in formal attire, foremost among them a heavyset human in his middle years, with a sour, imperious expression on his face. This was someone used to getting his way, by fair means or foul, and the gimlet stare he was directing at Shadow as the black fox walked stoically down the center aisle to the witness podium left no doubt about his intention here. There was no doubt in Kursed's mind that this was the infamous Senator Frasso Vares; just looking at him made her hackles go up.

Amber, Matthew, and Doctor Bertrand were directed to wait outside in the common area. The rest of the group, her included, took seats in the front row of the audience section, and the bailiff - a broad-shouldered bear with dark brown fur - announced the beginning of the proceedings. "All rise; this hearing is now in order, Adjudicator Joel Brontson presiding." Shadow was sworn in with little preamble, and Senator Vares stepped out to act as an inquisitor/prosecutor. Shadow met his spiteful gaze with a neutral expression and a steady, unblinking stare of his own. After a few moments, Vares turned to the group he had left, presumably a jury, to address them: "Ladies and gentlemen, I have long said that allowing this miscreant to remain free and unrestrained was a mistake of grave proportions. Now my predictions have come to pass; this… person… has acted in a capricious and precipitous manner, without regard for existing protocols, and risked undoing everything that we have spent the last six and a half months trying to build."

We? Kursed heard the thought echoed in several minds, some of whom were sitting next to her. She tried to get a better read on Vares himself, to see where he was trying to go with his line of rhetoric, but the impressions she got kept shifting, like an oil slick on water, preventing her from clearly seeing what actually lay beneath the surface. Apparently the "truth" was a somewhat flexible concept to this career politician. Also apparent to her, he did not have completely unanimous support in the members of the assembled jury. In the background, Vares continued his calumny until the Adjudicator cut him off; "Senator Vares, we did not come here to listen to another speech over old news. Either get to your point quickly or I will strike this inquiry and declare the matter closed."

Vares was irritated at being interrupted, but his outward demeanor did not indicate anything of that feeling. "Yes, Your Honor," he replied unctuously. He turned back to Shadow and began his line of questioning. "Mr. Barker, is it true that you undertook a covert operation without informing members of the Senate beforehand?"

"I left a message that I had something urgent that I needed to take care of," Shadow replied. "I don't have to let the Senate know every detail if I so much as sneeze anymore."

"That may be so," Vares answered with a sneer, "but now your rash and impulsive actions may have provoked the remaining elements of the former administration, and risked triggering reprisal attacks for you actions."

"I weighed my options very carefully, Senator," Shadow said in a low voice, almost biting out each word. "This mission required secrecy and speed, and there wasn't time to wait for the Senate to get around to formally okaying it when they felt like doing so. I was only made aware of it at all because of a security leak from the compound, and if we delayed any, it was entirely possible that the forces stationed there would discover the leak and be put on high alert. And if they found the source, they would certainly take measure to silence him."

Vares waved a hand in dismissal and continued, "Leaving that discussion aside, is it not also true that you solicited the help of an outside agent, one bounty hunter named Kursed?"

"No, I did not," Shadow answered evenly. "We met by happenstance on Verdas, and decided to work together to further a common goal." He didn't add that he had all but threatened to take her out of the equation if she didn't work with him, but that was neither here nor there. "I don't see what bearing that has on the matter at hand anyway," he added. "As a matter of fact, I haven't even heard the reason why I'm here in the first place. What have I been formally charged with?"

"Nothing, yet," Adjudicator Bronston said. "This is simply a hearing to determine if you and your friends have acted outside of you're allowed discretion. Although," he continued, turning his gaze back to Senator Vares, "I have yet to hear of any compelling reason to make me believe that they have."

"Here is your reason, then, Adjudicator," Vares said acerbically. "Two days after this miscreant and his little group of vigilantes left this system there was a series of attacks on various civilian targets all around the planet. I think it's abundantly clear that they were in retaliation for what his little mob of vandals did when they were on their quest of vengeance. After over six months of calm and peace, he wants to reignite hostilities and plunge us back into a state of war again!"

The room erupted into barely controlled chaos at that statement, people shouting questions and counter-arguments at each other until the bailiff bellowed a call for order. Slowly, almost grudgingly, the crowd subsided into quiescence, although there was a susurrus of voices that could be heard whispering in the background. Adjudicator Bronston glared down at Vares and said harshly, "Senator, I would caution you to not make any more inflammatory remarks like that again in the course of this hearing. Unless you have proof of intent, you will refrain from making any additional accusations of this nature that are not borne out by evidence."

Vares opened his mouth to protest, but the Adjudicator cut him off with a warning glare, and he sullenly assented, "Yes, Your Honor."

The Adjudicator leaned back in his seat and addressed his next question to Shadow; "Mister Barker, under the circumstances present at the time, do you think you should have done anything differently?"

"No, Your Honor," shadow replied promptly. "As I said before, speed and secrecy were essential to the operation. If I had asked the Senate to make it an official mission, it would have certainly taken a lot longer for it to be approved, and there was also the possibility of the Purists learning of our intention and preparing an ambush to welcome us."

"Are you accusing someone in the Senate of treason?" Vares asked indignantly.

"No, but if the shoe fits…" Shadow shot back. The exchange was prevented from continuing any further by the pounding of the Adjudicator's gavel on the dais, and Shadow decided to clarify his statement. "It doesn't necessarily require an enemy agent in the Senate body to learn things; someone could make a slip of the tongue in an unsecured area, or a listening device could pick up on the discussion. And there was also the guarantee that if we waited for official sanction, we'd be waiting for weeks before we got it." A murmur of agreement echoed through the room at this statement; one of the truisms regarding the Senate was the more voices that had to be heard on any given idea, the longer it took for anything meaningful to be decided, by orders of magnitude. "Given the risks, we decided that the gains were worth the risks of proceeding without formal support, especially once you consider that in doing so, we were able to rescue my sister in the process."

There was a sharp collective intake of breath at that statement, and one of the members of the tribunal board leaned forward and asked, "Lady Amber is alive and well?"

"She's waiting just outside the courtroom," Shadow said evenly. "As it turned out, if we hadn't proceeded when we did, we would have probably missed her and she would still be in enemy hands."

Vares snorted contemptuously at that statement. "You can't possibly have known at the time that she was there."

Shadow glared at him and retorted, "Senator, how many times have I made a snap decision with no supporting evidence at the time and found justification for it later?"

Vares waved off that remark dismissively and said, "My point still stands; you are a loose cannon, an unrestrained agent of chaos that is much more likely to prolong this conflict than bring it to a close. And I think our great society deservers better heroes than a maverick with a hair trigger temper, a pyromaniac, a sociopath, and an anarchist."

"Hey, what about the rest of us?" Michael whispered in an aside to Eilarra, who snickered at the comment but strove to present a straight face to the rest of the people in the room.

Vares ignored him and continued, "And what about your association with this bounty hunter, hmm? An individual with even more questionable motives and loyalties than your own? How do you justify associating with this sort of scum?"

Kursed's ears flattened against her skull and she glared at Vares for that comment, but Shadow kept his gaze locked on the human's and responded, "I have found her loyalties to be quite consistent and predictable, and I would much rather associate with her than with you, Senator."

"Oh, I see," Vares replied. "Of course, I should have realized this." His gaze seemed to soften, but it was a false sympathy, a condescending one. "I can understand your desire for… companionship… after the tragic demise of your wife, but I think you venture too far in consorting with a person of this caliber."

"How dare he…" Kursed growled, starting to rise from her seat. Eilarra placed a warning hand on her shoulder and shook her head in mute warning, and the vixen stopped where she was, but if looks were laser beams, Vares would have had a hole burned through his chest by then. Her relatively quite fuming was drowned out by the bedlam that erupted at Vares's latest statement, with some of the jury demanding that he be silenced and others shouting for him to clarify his remark.

Emerging over all of this, however, was Shadow's voice, as the black fox snarled at the senator and rose to his feet, saying, "Senator Vares, you may insult me, you may mock me, you may accuse me of all sorts of things, but don't you dare patronize me, and above all don't bring Selene into this! She had more courage in one finger than you have in your whole being, and to insinuate that I…."

Shadow was cut off by the pounding of the Adjudicator's gavel and a call for order; "Sit down at once, Mister Barker."

"But you heard what he said!" Shadow said as he turned to face the Adjudicator, ears still flattened against his head, but fortunately no longer snarling.

"Sit down at once or I will have you cited for contempt of court," the human warned.

"Yes, Your Honor." Shadow had to struggle visibly to bring his emotions under control, but he complied with the order and sank back into the chair.

Adjudicator Bronston then turned to Vares and said, "And as for you Senator, I think you have said quite enough. Your vendetta against this young man is well known, and I maintain that it was a mistake to allow you to participate in these proceedings at all. We have learned all that we can of value from this, now we will retire to deliberate and render a verdict." He pounded the gavel again to punctuate his statement, and he and the rest of the jury rose and recessed to private chambers to deliberate. The rest of the people in the courtroom, including Kursed, Shadow, the rest of Omega Squad, and even Vares were escorted outside the room to wait in the atrium for the rendering of the final verdict.

They waited for a half an hour before they were called back into the courtroom, with Amber trying to calm her brother down in the meantime, and meeting with only limited success in that endeavor. It was just as well that he and Vares were separated, since in the state he was in at the time, violence was a very real possibility. When the bailiff called them back in, however, Vares was conspicuous by his absence, and Shadow seemed a little calmer than when he left. He stood in front of the panel of jurists, and listened while they rendered their verdict.

Adjudicator Bronston stood to give the verdict: "Mister Barker, it is the decision of this court, upon reviewing the accounts presented and the guidelines established for this situation, that you did not act outside the discretion allowed to you in your latest mission." Shadow breathed a sigh of relief at that pronouncement, but the Adjudicator wasn't finished. "However, it is also the decision of this court that, for the immediate future, you and your team should seek Senate confirmation and sanction before undertaking any more covert operations in any venue."

Shadow looked a little disappointed by that restriction, but knew better than to actually say anything that could jeopardize his position. He was too cautious, however, to simply take that verdict at face value. "If I may ask, Your Honor; why the restriction?"

"There are certain political considerations that require a degree of civil stability," Adjudicator Bronston said wearily. No doubt he was expecting a protest over this matter. "I understand and appreciate how much you and your friends have already done and endured on our civilization's behalf, but for the moment, it would be better if you kept your activities to a minimum for now."

Shadow nodded briefly. "I see, sir. I'll abide by the ruling of this court." He almost snickered at the surprise on the Adjudicator's face; apparently, he had been expecting more of an argument. Shadow thought for a moment, and then asked, "What about Doctor Bertrand and Matthew? Is the court going to rule on their disposition today?"

"We need to call in your sister and would like you to remain on hand for testimony, but everyone else here is free to leave if they so desire," was the answer. "This will simply be to determine if they were coerced into aiding the Purists against their will, and given what you have told us about Bertrand's situation, I have little doubt that this will be a quick hearing."

One of the guards at the door on the far end of the room opened it to call Amber, and the rest of Omega Squad, along with Kursed, filtered out after she had come in. They were allowed to retrieve the gear they had left at the security checkpoint, and everyone except the blue vixen went their separate ways after exiting. Kursed was about to head towards the bounty office to see if she could still collect the reward for finding Bertrand, but before she even got a block away from the courthouse, she became aware of the approach of another individual intent on getting her attention. She casually strolled around the corner and waited for her follower to come after her, then grabbed him by his shirt collar and pressed him against the brick wall.

"Why are you following me?" she growled. "Don't you know how dangerous that can be?" As she asked him this, she pulled the small blaster pistol from its hidden sheath under her sleeve and pressed the barrel of the weapon into the human's sternum to emphasize her point.

"I merely seek to pass along some information to a worthy hunter," he said. "It has come to the attention of… someone I work on behalf of, that you have taken up an association with a certain individual. He believes that you should be informed about just what kind of person you are working with."

"Flattery won't get you anywhere," she told him coldly. "Tell me what you came to say, and then make yourself scarce."

"If I may, milady?" he said, indicating his left jacket pocket. He slowly reached his hand inside and pulled out a small data screen, then just as carefully handed it over to her.

"Is that everything, then?" she asked. He nodded, and she told him, "Then go." She waited until he was far away and out of sight before she glanced down to see what the data screen's readout had to say. When she read what was on it, her eyes widened in shock for a second, and then narrowed in anger. Without further ado, she turned back towards the front entrance of the courthouse, and crossed the street lo wait for Shadow without catching the attention of any of the court's security personnel.

She didn't have long to wait; like the Adjudicator said, the hearings were short. After about fifteen to twenty minutes, the black fox and the red vixen exited the building and came walking towards her location. Amber saw her first and waved a greeting, but Kursed didn't return it; instead, she waited for them to come to her. As Shadow came within reach, she pulled the blaster, stuck the barrel against his stomach and said, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't glaze your gallstones."

"Because I no longer have that particular organ?" he replied. The levity of his answer was belied by the wary look in his eyes and the sudden tension in his frame. For a second, Kursed wondered if confronting him this directly was a good idea, or even a safe one, but she was in too far to back out now. Amber's eyes widened with fright at the sight of the weapon the other vixen had pulled on her brother, but she had no formal combat training, so trying to wrest the gun out of the bounty hunter's hand would likely be a futile effort. Shadow's eyes narrowed slightly and he asked, in as even a tone as he could muster, "What's this all about?"

"Explain this," she said sharply, thrusting the data screen into his face. He pulled his head back so his eyes could focus on the readout, and she could feel the shock and dismay radiating off him once he saw what was on it. The data displayed on the screen was a detailed description of the deaths of several prominent figures of the resistance movements that had opposed the Purist regime when it was still in power, and it implicated him in all of them.

Amber grabbed the screen out of the bounty hunter's hands, unwilling to believe that her brother could actually be responsible for the heinous acts it described. She looked up at him after reading it, eyes wide with shock and glimmering with tears. "It's not true, is it?" she pleaded. "Tell me it's not true!"

"I'm sorry, Amber," he said softly. "To a certain extent, it's true." He looked up to Kursed and asked her, in a different tone of voice, "Where did you find this?"

"I didn't find it," she clarified. "It was handed to me, by someone who said that he worked for someone who wanted me to know just who I was working with." She paused for a second and saw suspicion creep into his eyes. "I take it you have a guess as to who this mysterious organizer might be?"

"I can think of two possibilities off the top of my head," he replied in a soft, yet harsh tone of voice. "This information is supposed to be classified; the man who showed it to you is now guilty of a first-class felony."

She gave him an acid look. "So, you admit that you were the one who killed these people?"

"It was me, and yet it wasn't me," he replied.

"Care to explain that?" Kursed was definitely not in the mood for riddles or evasive answers at the moment.

"I suppose I must," he said resignedly. "But not here. Let's find a place away from prying ears first." He looked over to Amber, who was still somewhat in shock at his admission. "You should probably hear this too, sis. You deserve to know."

"Start walking," Kursed said. "I know of a good spot where we can have this discussion in private." The three of them began heading towards a secluded area of a nearby park, all of them preoccupied with their own thoughts. Kursed was surprised by Shadow's admission of guilt, and much more reluctant to trust him after what he had hidden from her. Amber was dismayed, and hoping fervently that her brother had a good explanation for what she had seen on the data screen. But probably the most heavy-hearted of them was the black fox himself, who was preparing both mentally and emotionally to recount the darkest days of his life.

Author's Notes: Okay, I'm not completely happy with this chapter. I had a bunch of different ideas for how the hearing/trial would play out, but a lot of them conflicted and it was difficult to hammer enough of them together to create a coherent narrative. Regardless, I think the basic idea came through. Stay tuned for the next chapter: "The Awful Truth".

Some people have been asking, "When is Fox going to make an appearance?" Well, there are a few more chapters to go before that happens, but rest assured, dear readers, Fox will be making an appearance here shortly.