Confrontations
"You have no right to hold me."
The voice was calm, this time. He had stopped shouting at least. Without his warframe, there was no way for him to get out but he just wouldn't shut up. Elder Hans was hardly the most patient of sorts, but he had simply waited until the Tenno who was the cause of this mess had finally calmed down enough to speak reasonably.
"I did nothing wrong." José had righteous indignation down pat. But again, he had finally stopped shouting, so Hans would try. One last time.
"Nothing wrong?" Hans inquired from where he stood on the far side of the room. The transparent partition between the two was intended for psychiatric patients. It had been needed to keep the three previous Elders from trying to tear the little fool's arms off and beat sense into him with them. "So it is perfectly justified to bring another weapon to a duel that you -you!- declared was Skana only."
"He was going to kill me." José declared with exaggerated patience. Hans understood exactly why the other Elders had left this one in his lap. This guy rubbed everyone the wrong way. Hans kept his temper although it was hard. He blew out a breath. He was done trying.
"Actually, no he wasn't." Hans said simply. José stared at him and Hans' smile was feral. "You killed someone who wasn't going to kill you." José scoffed and Hans shook his head. "So... You don't see anything wrong with what you did." This wasn't a question. "You lied and cheated and it was okay because it saved your life. Not that your life was in danger, but hey? Who cares? You won. He lost. Who cares about the rules, right?"
"You understand." José seemed relieved. "Good. Let me out of here."
"In a moment." Hans smiled wider but suddenly, the temperature seemed to plummet. José froze. "I need to explain something first. Several things actually. First and foremost, when you are released, you will leave this colony and never return."
"What?" José stared at the Elder who actually snarled at him.
"Shut up." Hans snapped.
"Wha-?" José stared, confused by the sudden change form respectful to utter disregard for his feelings.
"I said 'shut up', you little idiot." Hans retorted. "I can cut off the microphone and let you rant while I talk, but I want to be sure you actually hear what I say. Not that you will listen, but what the hell, I have to try. It is my job." José didn't move, his face slack. "Let me be perfectly clear. You are not welcome in this colony. By unanimous decree, you are hereby banned from entering any of the colonies administrated by the Elders. Feel free to go anywhere else you wish. If you try to dock with our colonies, you will be escorted away. By force if needed."
"You can't do that." José was beyond pale now.
"Oh, yes we can." Hans replied, his posture dismissive now. "It has been done, if not for a long, long time. Thing was, it was done for the same reason. A Tenno decided that the rules did not apply to him. Any of them." José was shaking his head but Hans did not give him the chance to speak. "The rules don't apply to you. You will kill anyone who you feel is a threat to you. Anytime. Anywhere. Fine. You will not do it in any of our domains."
"That is not-´ José tried again and again, Hans cut him off.
"Shut up!" The outspoken Elder was holding onto his temper by his fingernails. "You will listen and then you will leave and you will never return." José clamped his mouth shut and Hans nodded. "You spit on honor and on the Tenno Code because you can. So be it. Tenno are all that we have. All that we are. But you... You are better. You are so much better than any of us. Because you say so."
"That is not true." José declared and Hans cut the mic. José was walking back and forth now, obviously shouting again. Hans did not move, did not react and finally José sat, clamping his mouth shut. Hans reached out and clicked the mic on again. When the Elder spoke it was calm and considered, but rage sang underneath.
"Rules don't apply when you say they don't." Hans said quietly. "Well, now. You are free. Of all rules." José's face lit up but Hans cut him off again. "Now, before you start jumping for joy. Yes, you are outside the rules. You are not considered renegade." At that, José simply stood as if it wasn't getting through to him how badly he was screwed. Hans continued. "We could have declared you such. We probably should have since you don't feel that the Tenno Code is important. But that is not a step to take lightly, to set every Tenno against you and Sean argued against it." José's eyes went huge and Hans's smile turned malignant. "So, this is what we will do. You are free to go. You are free to do whatever the hell you want. No rules to hold you back. But... No rules to protect you either."
"No." José seemed to curl up on himself as realization dawned about just how badly he was screwed.
"But it is what you wanted." Hans' smile should have been locked up. "You can do anything you want. Of course, anyone else can do anything they want to you. Once you step off my colony, if you come back I can shoot you dead and no one will say a word except probably 'Thank you for taking out the trash'. Any other Tenno can do the same if they encounter you in the field. Questions?"
It was unclear if José could manage speech at the moment so Hans continued.
"Additionally, you are barred from trading with any Tenno who adheres to the Code. Any who do so will be reprimanded and/or sanctioned if discovered. We have also determined that since you cannot be trusted to back up any Tenno in the field, none will ever be assigned to work with you." Hans wasn't sure if José heard that, but he was enjoying this far too much after all the crap he had been forced to take from this fool. "This is what you wanted. No one holding you back. Well, no one will. Anyone who meets you out in the system will be well within their rights to not talk to you or work with you. Or shoot you on sight. You might very well have no backup ever again. I sincerely hope you enjoy working alone and looking over your shoulder. That is all you will get from now on. You wanted freedom? You got it. Get off my colony and don't ever come back." Hans turned to go but paused as José made noise that was somewhere between a sob and a groan.
"I will appeal to the Lotus." José managed.
"Feel free." Hans didn't even turn. "She is the one who pushed the last part. She cares for us all but there are limits. We have free will. She doesn't want you dead, but you are a risk to any teammates who might work with you. The needs of the many in this case highly outweigh the needs of the one. Especially when the one is an ignorant arrogant fool who couldn't care less about the rest of us. So now? No one will work with you. Go on." The door on the other side of the partition clicked unlocked. "Get lost. I have no idea what will happen when certain people -like Sean- find you out there. Frankly? I don't care. You are no longer my problem."
"You can't do this to me!" José was halfway to screaming. "I HAVE RIGHTS!" Now he was screaming.
"Your rights end at my nose." Hans left the room and didn't flinch as a black form entered the other door. A short, sharp scream sounded and then Nikis stalked out, dragging the fool by one ankle. José was actually blubbering. Nikis ignored him as the Nekros dragged him away. Mavri was standing with several other Elders and Hans moved to join them as Nikis hauled the struggling José towards a door that led to the landing bays. Only after it closed behind Nikis and José did Hans speak again. "Killing him might have been kinder."
"He used up any goodwill any of us might have had." Mavri said quietly. The others nodded. "Now the hard part."
"I do not like this, Mavri." Hans started off and the others followed. "The person Sean was paid for what he did. The new brother had a right to a new life. This is wrong."
"We cannot stop a reasoned request for information." Mavri said heavily. "Or we are no better than any number of regimes in history who declared certain information unacceptable. Censorship for its own sake is wrong."
"Yeah." Hans slumped a bit and one of his colleagues put a hand on his arm. He smiled at the female Elder and she smiled back. Neither was happy. But then, something else percolated. Something was happening ahead of them. "What the-?"
"Oh shit." Mavri was hardly the only Elder to speak that when they saw the crowd in front of the records facility. And the white Loki Prime who stood between them and the doorway, his Bo Prime staff drawn and ready. "Sun."
"Ah..." Hans stared from one Elder to the others and they all looked at him. All of them looked as if they might have to change their pants. Hans slumped. "My colony." He said softly. "I will handle it."
"Not alone." Mavri promised, moving to stand beside Hans who smiled in thanks. The other Elders moved to flank them and Hans smiled at them, but it faltered as he took a step towards the mess.
"What is happening here?" Hans put enough command in his voice that several in the crowd stepped back from the confrontation with Sun.
"Um... Elder." One of the ones in the group looked grateful. "He is blocking the door."
"I can see that." Hans said with a sigh. "The question is 'Why is he blocking the door?'. What did you do?" The mournfulness in his tone had several people in the crowd shuffling.
"They demand access to the secure partitions." Sun spoke and it was as if a dark cloud had swept over the lights for a moment. "They will not get that."
"The secur- Oh no. Don't be fools." Hans said quietly. "I have had my fill of fools today and I know you lot have to be smarter than the one Nikis just dragged to his ship to throw off the colony. The secure partitions are secure for a reason. You do not want to know what lies within. Hell, I don't. What little I know gives me nightmares."
More than one in the crowd was bothered by Hans complete sincerity but several others were pushing forward towards Hans while trying to avoid Sun's line of sight. Hans bet Sun marked each and every one though and their actions in the future would be watched closely. Before any of them could speak, Hans raised a hand.
"You ask for information, that will be allowed. But the contents of the secure partitions are not for public consumption. This is not censorship." He pleaded. "It is for your protection! You do not want to know what lies within those walls. You do not!" He slumped a bit. "I wish I didn't."
"Be careful what you wish for, Elder." Sun's comment might have been meant offhand. It might not. More than one of the crowd shifted as if to protect the Elder from the grandmaster of Tenno interrogators. Others shifted away. No one met Sun's gaze but the Elders.
"Sun." Hans moved to stand in front of the Loki Prime. "Is there a way to fix this?"
"They demand to know who Tenno Sean was." Sun might have been carved from ice. "I cannot give out such information. It was entrusted to me in confidence and I will not break that confidence. If I do, then I become no better than the one who was just escorted from your colony." His inflection did not change, but somehow, his tone conveyed intense disgust. Two of the crowd bristled at that but froze as Sun looked at them. The ancient saying was 'deer in the headlights of an oncoming truck'. "Some of us do understand honor, Elder Hans."
"You cannot give it to them." Hans said softly. Sun shook his head. "Can another?"
"The secure partitions will not be breached." Sun ignored the question. "Anyone who tries will be caught in the self destructs that are now active." Hans felt the blood leave his face and Sun shook his head. "The destructs are self contained. Only this building will go. Nothing else. Anyone in the building will die."
"And the records?" Mavri asked from where he had strode to Hans' side. "Many of those are priceless."
"We have backed them up elsewhere and moved the hard copies." Sun replied evenly. "So no, Tenno Gorlin." One of the ones who had been trying to get in the hardest froze in place as if hit by a Glaxion. "Tenno records will remain in Tenno hands and your employer won't get a thing."
"Employer?" Hans asked softly as a sudden space appeared around the indicated Tenno who froze again in the act of trying to move. "Do I want to know?"
"He doesn't know who is paying him." Sun replied. "I do."
"You have proof?" Hans asked and then shook his head. "Never mind. Of course you do or you wouldn't have said a thing. Security!" He bellowed.
The response was instant. His people were well trained. In seconds, Tenno Gorlin was restrained and being led away by an armored security guard. The crowd looked around, noting for the first time the several armored security guards that surrounded them, all armed with non-lethal weapons. Hans shook his head as Sun did not move.
"Grandmaster..." Hans pleaded. "If they simply ask and are not security risks, I have no right to bar them from information. Sensitive or not."
"I do. There is only one who can authorize such a release and he is not here." Sun's reply chilled the area. "What good can come of them knowing who Sean was before?" He asked. "Sean is not the person he was. I did the mindwipe myself." More than one in the crowd winced at that.
"I..." Hans bowed his head. Then he raised it and his gaze swept the crowd. "Do all of you wish to know who he was? Do you all wish to destroy a brother simply because you can?"
"Elder..." A female Tenno stepped forward. Hans nodded to her. Frela was not a fool or quick to judge. "How many times in recent memory has a Tenno demanded a duel outside of Conclave?"
"It has only happened twice in our entire recorded history, Frela." Hans said heavily. "Both times for massive breaches in the Code. Karen wasn't going to put herself forward. She wouldn't have sought José's permanent death. She has said that she won't ever work with him again and if he goes down she won't help him." An indrawn breath circled the area. "Is this about Sean or about the duel?"
"Much as most of us decry it, the duel was justified." Frela said with a wince. "I would have shot that moron myself even before he started acting like a whining spoiled little human brat." Hans had to smile at her grimace. José had not made many friends in this colony. More than one in the crowd were smiling as well. Said smiles faded when she continued. "But... Elder... How can we trust one who demands a death duel? How can we know he won't do it again?"
"He wasn't going to kill José." Hans said sadly. Everything seemed to stop in the area. No noise at all. "When interrogated by Grandmaster Sun and others, he said he would fight. If José struck him down, so be it. If he had José down, he would drop his sword and let José kill him." Frela had a hand over her mouth as Hans bowed his head. "Honor would have been satisfied. And no one would care. José would go on doing what he did, but maybe someone, somewhere would look at him and say 'Why?'. You tell me, Frela. Is that the act of a monster?"
"No." Frela was trembling as she shook her head.
"We are supposed to be bigger than prejudice, my kin." Hans said quietly. Everyone could hear him. "Yes, he erred before. Yes, badly. He was punished and has served since as an exemplary Tenno. We have watched him. Intelligence has watched him. He hasn't stepped a millimeter out of line. Until this." Hans slumped. "José violated everything that Tenno are supposed to be. He lied. He cheated. He would have killed if not for remarkable measures. I would have done the same as Sean if I had been there. If I had seen a fallen sister left behind to die for pride. Does that make me a monster?"
"You were not mindwiped..." Someone started and cut off as Hans speared a finger at the crowd.
"That doesn't matter!" Hans snapped, angry now. "Elders have been punished before. Grina was and is still being punished for losing her way. For forgetting her duty in the need for atonement." A hush swept the crowd at that. It wasn't every day an Elder was convicted of such things and the repercussions would be slow to fade. "WE ARE NOT PERFECT!" He shouted.
"Hans." Mavri laid a hand on Hans' arm and the furious Elder recoiled, trembling. He turned to Mavri,. But the other Elder was looking to the side . All eyes followed until they saw a Mag warframe standing nearby. From her posture, she was sad, so sad.
"Karen?" Hans' anger fled in an instant.
"He didn't want this." Karen was crying. "He never wanted conflict between kin! He wanted even José to understand that we are all we have. We are Tenno, heirs to an ancient tradition. But we are not perfect, none of us." She strode to where Sun was standing and bowed to him. "Grandmaster, he gave me... the code."
"Karen." Sun sounded resigned. "Are you sure?"
"He told me that if it came to it, to do it. He said... 'The needs of the many', Grandmaster." Karen bowed to him and a flash of energy flew from her hand to Sun's. "He is only one! But he is my brother!" She was crying hard now and the Elders closed ranks around her, offering what support they could.
"Code received and acknowledged." Sun bowed his head. "As he wishes." When his head rose, everyone in the crowd stepped back from the ice cold fury that wafted off his warframe.
"Sean's previous name was Luc."