-Turian Armada Academy, 19:45 Turo Standard Time-

"So, you mind telling me why the three of you decided to start brawling in the middle of the hallway?" Commandant Kuhio glared at the three of them from across his desk.

626 shuffled in his seat, guilty. While he certainly was happy to see Dixon getting some level of comeuppance for his bigotry, 626 would have rather it happened in a way that didn't involve him, Dixon and Spon getting dragged in for a disciplinary hearing. What if he got washed out? Or worse, what if he stayed and Kuhio got the boot? How much guilt would that cause?

Still, stewing wouldn't do anyone any good, and one of the lessons 626 had learned both at his trial and in the month since was that he who spoke first had a good chance at directing the flow of conversation. Thus, he summoned up his courage and spoke up.

"Cadet Spon was defending me, sir. Cadet Dixon had spent much of the day during our training session and afterwards insulting me with a wide variety of statements along the lines of 'you're an abomination and shouldn't be here' or 'get back to the lab.'

"And how does this justify assaulting him?"

"Well, to be fair," Spon spoke up (Please let him stay civil, 626 prayed), "626 wasn't the one who initiated the fighting. I was. And the reason why I did so, uh, sir, sorry I'd forgotten to say that earlier (626 had to resist the urge to facepalm, and the tiniest smirk began growing on Dixon's otherwise-stoic mug), was because I felt as though his comments had had a significant effect on our training. In addition, from what 626 told me when we had been talking before it seemed as though these sorts of comments weren't an isolated event from Cadet Dixon."

"So instead of talking things out you decided to make an example of him, is that what you are saying?"

Spon blushed, and as he did 626 couldn't help but think that his friend had sort of been implying that. Accidentally, he hoped.

Kuhio shook his head. "Honestly…in what universe would that have crossed your mind as a good idea?" He sighed, and then turned to Dixon. "Nevertheless, it appears that you do bear some level of culpability for your beating, if what 626 and Jofford says is true. Or do you have another side to tell?"

"This ought to be good," Spon whispered, mercifully quiet enough that neither Dixon nor the commandant heard.

Dixon shot a quick look at the other two before he began speaking. "I will admit that I may have acted…condescendingly towards cadet 626, but the matter stands that 626 did freeze up and get lost in himself during training. I was merely aggravated."

"Actually, sir," Spon interjected, "according to 626 cadet Dixon was an a-was saying bigoted comments before training even began. How could he have been aggravated before we even started the training sim?"

The commandant merely glared at him for interrupting before continuing to question Dixon.

"That may be, but as our friend here just demonstrated you need to consider your circumstances before you speak or act. What if your comments lowered squad morale to the point that your task was a complete failure." At that Dixon at least had the decency to look slightly contrite.

Then Kuhio then turned back to 626. "How impactful would you say that these statements had on your performance?"

"Very, sir. I spent most of the descent mulling them over, and as such missed the cannon burst that separated us."

"I understand."

The questioning continued that line for another 15 minutes, at the end of which the three received their sentences: as a bystander 626 got off lightest, merely being forced to run laps out in the exercise yard, while Dixon had to both run laps and miss dinner while poor Spon had to run laps, skip dinner, and got put on latrine duty. As they walked back to their quarters, it was clear that the Amuan was slightly annoyed.

"If you're wondering why I let you two go at it without intervening," 626 began to break the tension, "I…didn't think my involvement would be a good idea."

"And why not? It's not like he could actually hurt you, Mr. Bulletproof." As 626 had suspected, his friend wasn't in the best mood.

"No, it's not that. I just…thought if I beat up Dixon that it wouldn't play well."

Spon snorted. "Play well? What, like on stage?"

"Look. There are still a lot of people out there that think of me as a monster. And not just stupid-heads like Dixon or the other people here. I'm talking about people with influence. Councilors and policemen and such." As 626 spoke, he remembered what people in the Council had said about him just being a trap lying in wait. "So, if I go around punching people, it seems like I really am as violent as they feared."

"I guess I understand?" Spon didn't look fully convinced, but before they could continue talking they game to the bathroom. "Well, guess I'd better start my duties." And with a look of abject despair, Spon left 626 alone in the hallway.

For his part, 626 returned to his room and thought. What to do next? If things went as was, he worried that word could get around that he was either a tattler or a coward who hid behind other cadets' skirts.

How to change that?

Fortunately, the next morning presented an opportunity, as during breakfast all there was to eat was a sort of white gloop from a planet called "E-Arth" that apparently was called "mashed potatoe". 626 looked around, saw where Dixon was sitting, did some quick geometry, and then tapped Spon on the shoulder.

"Know what your biggest problem is when it comes to training?"

The Amuan narrowed his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

626 smirked. "Just watch." Then, turning around, 626 grabbed a spoon of the mashed potatoe in each of his arms and lobbed it. With an elegancy completely unexpected of white gloop, the four spoonfulls all managed to ricochet their way neatly onto Dixon's trousers. The Raptrian yelped, leaped about a mile into the air, and glanced around wildly as 626 and Spon fought to keep from laughing.

"The point of that was," 626 finally managed to choke out between stifled chuckles, "was to show what you lack: subtlety."

"How on Turo was that subtle?"

626 raised a finger, "Does Dixon know who threw that? No. But he suspects, although I know and he knows there's no way to prove it. Meaning?"

Spon frowned, trying to figure it out. "Meaning…that he knows that you can get at him in ways he can't get you back for?"

626's only response was to grin.

"Exactly."

"So now he won't talk about yesterday and hopefully will shut up in the future?"

626 merely dug into the mashed potatoe.