A/N: Is this how trials are conducted? Not exactly, no. Do I care? Also no. I have decided that 'close enough' counts not only for horseshoes and hand grenades but fictional trials as well. As someone who has been selected to sit on the jury of not one, not two, but three (I know, right?!) trials, you are welcome.
Monday morning rolled around, and all that confidence she had spent the last week building up came crashing down. It had started out fine. She had slept, woken up early, eaten…and then promptly and violently lost her breakfast as the reality of what the day brought set in. She spent the next hour sitting with her back against the bathroom door trying to convince herself that she wasn't dying, which wasn't easy when it felt like a steel-gauntleted hand was gripping her heart while the other squeezed the air from her lungs.
Captain Swift knocked on the door a couple of times, but she snapped at him to give her a little privacy each time. The commanding tone she aimed for was ruined by the way her voice shook, unfortunately. There was a third knock at the door, and she was about to ask the captain if he knew what privacy was when Dark Ace's no-nonsense voice spoke up from the other side. "It's me. Let me in."
Great. Captain Swift had called in the cavalry. He really didn't understand the concept of privacy, did he? She ignored Dark Ace, and after another full minute of silence, he spoke again, his voice gentler, "Let me in, Lark."
She composed herself, stood, and opened the door, allowing him entry before shutting the door behind him. He turned to face her, gave her the once-over, and then waited for her to say something first.
"I don't want to do this."
"It's not too late to change tack, plead guilty on all charges and ask for clemency."
She shook her head. "No, I mean…I just can't do this."
"Déjà vu."
She frowned. He was referring to the day of her grandmother's funeral, an affair he had had to coax her out of her locked room to attend.
"It's not the same."
"An emotionally charged event that you'll be under a lot of public scrutiny during? It's exactly the same. But just like with Anarchis' funeral, you don't have a choice here, do you? And just like then, you'll be fine once you're there. You know this is all just the anticipation messing with your mind."
She shook her head in denial, and he sighed.
"I meant it when I said it's not too late to change your mind. This can be over in ten minutes if you want it to be."
"No! I'm not giving them the satisfaction of pleading guilty."
"Then pull yourself together," he said, his solicitousness melting away as he became businesslike once more. Grabbing her toothbrush off the sink, he squeezed some toothpaste onto it and handed it to her. "Get ready to go. And if it helps, remember that they're more scared of you than you are of them."
She smiled ever so slightly. "That does help."
From their seats in the Hall, they had a perfect view of the proceedings. Upon the dais where the Council usually presided sat the tribunal members. Harrier looked as haughty as ever. Starling looked grim. And for the first time Piper could ever recall, Suzy Lu wasn't chewing gum.
As for the last two, this was the first time Piper had seen them in person.
Brimir, built similarly to Dark Ace, was dressed in the Berserkers' brown and forest green uniform. His head was shaved on the sides, his blond hair left long on top. It had been worked into several braids and tied back. He wore no armour, just a brown fur cloak over his uniform, and two single-handed axes armed with frost crystals hung at his hip.
Azar wore the sandy brown and black uniform and bronze armour of the Desert Falcons. They looked to be about Starling's age, of a similar height, and wiry. They were tan, with short, loosely curled black hair and deep brown eyes with winged liner as thick as Cyclonis'. The hilt of their scimitar was topped with a phoenix crystal.
Chairman Tern sat at his usual place and presented an overview of how the trial would proceed.
On the ground level sat two tables. At one of them, the two lawyers who would be presenting the prosecution's case sat. At the other sat Cyclonis and Dark Ace. Cyclonis was listening to Chairman Tern with a smug almost-smile, looking for all the world as if she thought she owned the place. Beside her, Dark Ace looked completely at his ease, almost bored. How they mustered up the nerve to look so obnoxiously above it all in their position was beyond her.
As for the audience, the Hall wasn't as packed as it had been during the treaty signing, but a good number of squadrons had stuck around to watch the trial in person.
Once the Chairman was finished with the overview, he read the list of charges then announced, "When I call upon you to do so, stand and enter your plea. Calandra Lark Cyclonis."
Piper blinked. Cyclonis had used part of her actual name as her alias when she had disguised herself to infiltrate their team? "Seriously?" she whispered incredulously.
"Right?" Finn said quietly. "How many names does one person need?"
"No, Finn, that's not-shhh."
Cyclonis had stood and was speaking. "Not guilty."
Beside her, Aerrow scoffed but didn't comment.
"Your response has been noted," the Chairman replied. He nodded, and Cyclonis sat. "Ignatius Bertrand."
"Wait, who's that?" Finn whispered, and she shushed him again. Dark Ace's face twisted into a sneer as the name was called, but he stood.
"Dude, what?" Finn breathed. "I'm so confused right now!"
"You didn't think Dark Ace was his actual name, did you?" she whispered back.
"I don't know what I thought!"
"Not guilty," Dark Ace declared. The Chairman opened his mouth to speak, but Dark Ace held up a hand and continued. "And furthermore, I propose that we-"
"Statements beyond a plea of guilty or not guilty are not permissible at this time!"
"I propose that we settle this matter via trial by combat," Dark Ace raised his voice over the Chairman. "Me versus the five of you," he said, sweeping his gaze over the tribunal members. "Just to keep things fair," he finished with a smirk.
That got a rise from the onlookers. The Hall buzzed with conversation as people speculated about what the response would be. Even the tribunal members themselves were quietly conferring with one another. Beside Dark Ace, Cyclonis looked at once surprised and amused. Clearly, he had gone off-script with his challenge.
"And you thought this was going to be boring," Stork said to Finn.
Throughout it all, the Chairman was calling for silence. Finally, unable to restore order with words alone, he grabbed his gavel and gave three sharp whacks to the desk, the sound ringing out like cannon shots and shutting everyone up.
"Your motion is denied. There will be no trial by combat," the Chairman said with an air of finality. "Your plea has been entered. Sit down."
"Cowards," Dark Ace jeered.
"I said sit down!"
Dark Ace sat. Cyclonis beckoned to him, whispering something in his ear when he leaned in closer. Whatever she said made him laugh sardonically in response. The Chairman tapped his gavel once, a warning, and they returned their attention to him.
"Now then," he said once he was sure there would be no more interruptions. "The prosecution will make its opening statement."
What followed was hours of what Piper assumed was Finn's worst nightmare. The prosecution's opening statement consumed the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon. They took a one-hour recess for a late lunch, which Piper had to wake Finn up for.
"Huh?" he said, rubbing his eyes. "Is it over? Are they guilty?"
"No, the prosecution just finished telling us about how they intend to prove that they're guilty."
"What?" his voice was filled with confusion and despair at the news that the trial had barely begun.
"You know, you don't have to stay and watch the whole thing if you don't want to," Aerrow told him, grinning at his befuddled expression.
"I don't?" Finn asked hopefully.
"Nope."
"Hey Junko, you wanna go do something else? Anything else?"
"Yes, please!"
Radarr looked at Aerrow with wide, pleading eyes and chirped questioningly.
"Yeah, buddy, you can go, too."
The three made a quick escape, leaving just her, Aerrow, and Stork behind.
When they got back from lunch, it was the defence's turn to give an opening statement. Cyclonis got up and began to speak, and you could have heard a pin drop throughout her entire speech. Whatever else could be said of her, there was no denying that Cyclonis was charismatic. If the judgement was based on presence alone, the Cyclonians had the prosecution beat.
She spoke of a glorious past, of an Atmos united under the banner of Cyclonia, a veritable utopia that was whole, strong, and happy. That is until those who sought power all for themselves rose up in rebellion. Others joined them, some seeking power and glory of their own, some merely revelling in the chaos, and soon entire terras were being seized by separatist factions. They broke from the Cyclonian Empire, claiming an independence that Cyclonia never acknowledged as legitimate.
According to her, Cyclonia has only ever sought to reestablish the lasting peace and prosperity that was stolen from them all so long ago by the rebels and terrorists who fashioned themselves the original Sky Knights. As such, it has been the preeminent obligation of every Master of Cyclonia to unify the world as a single, glorious Empire once more. Attempts had been made to broker a peaceful reunification diplomatically, but when those attempts failed due to the Free Atmos' stubborn refusal to bend, it left Cyclonia with no choice but to use force. It was regrettable but necessary to assure a bright future for all of Atmos.
She fell silent, and after a moment, the Chairman spoke. "I suppose you expected us to listen to that breathtaking example of historical revisionism and immediately move to drop all charges?"
"I suspected you've forgotten or suppressed your own history and thought it necessary to remind you all of the truth now. So, whether you like to acknowledge it or not, you started this. All we've done is try to restore things to their proper order."
"That isn't history. It's propaganda."
"Do you deny that all of Atmos was once a part of Cyclonia?"
The Chairman pursed his lips, causing Cyclonis to smirk triumphantly and press on, "Do you deny that what you now call the Free Atmos violently rebelled against Cyclonia?"
"Our people were suffering."
"No, the Empire was thriving until your people tore it apart."
"Perhaps Terra Cyclonia was, but large swathes of the Empire were not. But we are not here to debate centuries-old history, rather what has taken place during the current iteration of this war, and you already acknowledged your culpability as the aggressor on that front when you signed the treaty. So, I say again, if you hoped to end this trial with that speech of yours, you were mistaken."
"Very well, then. Since you insist on continuing this farce, I am prepared to dismantle the prosecution's arguments, piece by piece."
"And you will get your chance. Starting tomorrow. The court is in recess until 9:00 AM tomorrow morning."
Cyclonis had scarcely been back in her room for five minutes when Wit, one of the guards, poked his head in the door. "Visitor."
"Who is it?"
Instead of answering, he simply opened the door wider, and Piper walked in.
"I was wondering how long it'd take you to show your face again. Thanks for the second piece of jewelry, by the way, but you really shouldn't have."
"That wasn't my idea," Piper said, crossing her arms. "And you're not going to make me feel guilty about it, even if it had been. As long as you're not doing anything you shouldn't, you'll continue to be fine. But I'm not here about the cuffs."
"Then why are you here?"
"To talk."
"To talk?" she asked incredulously. She could think of approximately zero topics she wanted to discuss with Piper right now. She was irritable from being on all day at the trial, and she really didn't feel like keeping up the performance. Nevertheless, she forced a grin. "I'm all ears, girlfriend. What do you want to talk about?"
"Well, for one, I'm curious what you hope to accomplish by pleading not guilty."
"Oh, I don't know. A not guilty verdict, perhaps?"
"You don't really think you can beat these charges, do you?"
"You never know if you never try."
"That's meant for things like learning a difficult new Sky Fu move, not trying to fight fourteen counts of crimes against humanity that the prosecution has you dead to rights on!"
"Now, Piper, innocent until proven guilty, remember? And the prosecution hasn't even made its case yet."
Piper muttered something under her breath before raising her voice back to an audible level. "This isn't a game."
"No, it's a trial, and I have the right to defend myself. What's the problem? Bored already? Would you have preferred me to have pled guilty so that this could all be over sooner?"
"I don't care how long the trial takes! I would have thought you'd plead guilty to cut a deal. I can't believe you're willing to gamble with your life just so that you can do what? Give everyone biased history lessons? Try to justify your actions? Scratch that; you're not even gambling with your life. That implies that you might actually win. You're just throwing it away!"
"Oh, please, not you too!" Where was all this faux concern coming from? Lory, Captain Swift, now Piper? Did they really expect her to believe that they cared if she lived or died?
"Not me too what?"
She hesitated. She had to choose her responses carefully. She couldn't let Piper figure out what she was trying to accomplish. The other girl had friends on the tribunal, and it could jeopardize her plan if Piper suspected that she was trying to manipulate the outcome.
"What have you heard?"
"That if found guilty, you could be put to death," Piper answered, not beating around the bush. She admired that.
"Hmm, yes, so I've been told."
"You know? You know, and you're not trying to work out some kind of bargain with the Chairman to avoid it? Why?" Piper asked incredulously.
"Because it's nothing more than a scare tactic to try to make me plead guilty," she said with a dismissive shrug. "It obviously didn't work, so you all can stop threatening me with it, now."
"It's not a scare tactic!"
"Of course it is. You know how I know? Because Atmosia doesn't have the guts to go through with it," she smirked.
Piper's mouth dropped open, but she snapped it shut before saying, "You know, for someone who's such a genius with crystals, you can be a real idiot, sometimes."
She had to play this just right. She scowled at the insult, which was an honest enough response. But then she let her expression soften into something more pensive, looked down and to the side as if doubting herself. "I'm not worried," she said with obviously false bravado, looking back at Piper.
"You should be worried! Obviously, I can't convince you to change your plea now. I don't even know if they'd allow you to. All I can do is warn you to be careful and try not to make any enemies on the tribunal."
"Don't make any enemies among the tribunal members? Thanks for the advice, Piper," she said sarcastically.
"I mean more than you already have. And you're welcome," Piper shot back, matching her tone. Then, with a speculative smirk, she added, "Calandra."
She wrinkled her nose. "No," she said, shaking her head.
"What, I can't call you that? That doesn't seem very fair when you call me by my first name."
"Nobody calls me that. The only person who ever did was my grandmother, and even then, she only used it when I was in trouble. It's an old family name my father insisted on passing down to me to keep it going. But most anyone allowed to refer to me by name only ever called me-"
"Lark," Piper finished. "Who in their right mind uses their actual name when they go undercover? What were you thinking?"
She just grinned. "I knew you wouldn't recognize it. And the best lies are the ones that stick as close to the truth as possible."
"You couldn't possibly have known that we wouldn't recognize it!"
"You give yourself too much credit. It wasn't that long after we met. Well, not you and me, but the rest of your team. You should have seen the look on Aerrow's face when we did; it was obvious he was expecting Master Cyclonis to be anyone other than me. Do you really think I was worried that you'd know my given name after that?"
Piper huffed.
"You got lucky, Lark."
"Cyclonis is fine," she corrected her. Dark Ace calling her by name was one thing. Other people doing it? That was quite another.
"But it's a lot more fun to call you Lark and watch you squirm," Piper smirked.
"I'm not squirming," she said, even as she caught herself shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She crossed her arms and forced herself to be still, which just made Piper's amusement grow even more evident.
"You weren't this weird about being called by your name when you were worming your way into my friendship."
"Because I was pretending to be someone else."
"We both know you were pretending a lot less than you'd like to believe."
"Whatever. How much longer do you intend to stand around here being a nuisance?"
"I'll be going soon. But since I'm here, I might as well check the cuffs first."
"If I had figured out a workaround, do you think I'd still be here?"
"No, but let me see them, anyway."
"Fine," she sighed and held out her wrists.
Piper met Captain Swift by the stairs as she was leaving, and she paused to greet him. She had only spoken with him a couple of times, but he came across as genuinely friendly and helpful every time she did.
"Checking to make sure our VIP's wings are still clipped?" he asked.
"VIP?"
"Very Important Prisoner," he said with the smallest of smiles, and she laughed.
"Actually, I just tried to talk some sense into her, but…"
"That's easier said than done. What about?"
"About how stupid it was to plead not guilty at the trial today."
"Ah. That's an argument you weren't going to win, I'm afraid."
"Right, because she doesn't think the tribunal has the guts to execute her. But she's wrong!"
Captain Swift tilted his head slightly. "I think you got your wires crossed there."
"I definitely didn't. Those were her exact words."
He frowned thoughtfully, which piqued her curiosity. "What is it?" she asked.
"It sounds like one of us is being played."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, she's been leading me to believe that she's convinced she will be executed, but she too stubborn and proud to do anything to reduce the risk of that happening."
"Really? She told me that she thought the threat of execution was just a scare tactic being used to try to get her to plead guilty."
"That would make sense, except for the fact that the Chairman never threatened her with it."
"Are you sure? Because the Chairman told Aerrow that it's the most likely outcome of this trial."
"I'm certain. She and the Chairman have met one-on-one twice since the treaty signing, and I was in the room both times. The first person I heard bring up execution was Cyclonis herself."
"That doesn't make any sense. Why would she want you to think that she's willing to die but me to think that she doesn't even take it seriously as a possibility?"
"Good question. Neither of us has any control over the trial's outcome; she has nothing to gain by deceiving either one of us. Maybe lying is just force of habit."
"Maybe," Piper agreed, but she wasn't convinced. She looked back toward the door to Cyclonis' room with narrowed eyes. Just what game was she playing? She intended to find out.
The first two days of the trial focused on the first charge: the planning and waging of a war of aggression. The prosecution was nothing if not thorough in its presentation of its case. They had managed to get their hands on numerous documents and transmission transcripts that were quite damning for the defence. They also had witnesses: Three Talon officers of sufficient rank to be facing their own legal battles against Atmosia and who subsequently found themselves amenable to making deals. They each looked terrified every time they glanced over at the defence's table, but all three followed through with their testimony. After conferring briefly with Dark Ace, she declined to cross-examine the witnesses. Neither of them had any illusions that they would be found not guilty on this charge.
Next to be addressed was the accusation of plundering property. They argued that they had the right to seize property as the spoils of war. Atmosia's lawyers argued that such rules existed only to allow for the taking of public property but did not allow for the seizure of private property. Clerks were still compiling a list of objects that had been reportedly taken through allegedly unlawful means by the Talons. If the tribunal ruled in the prosecution's favour, not only would they be held criminally responsible for their actions and that of their subordinates, but the value of the pillaged property added to the reparations that Cyclonia would pay.
The prosecution moved on to presenting its case against them for the extermination of the natives on Tropica. There was no documentation and no firsthand witnesses for them to use, and so the prosecution could only question her and Dark Ace, which they did.
After a few preliminary questions about how Terra Tropica factored into Operation Exodus, the questioning turned to the crux of the matter.
"So, your scouts discovered the location of the door to the Farside on Tropica and sent word back to Cyclonia. Then what happened?"
"The natives discovered the scouts."
"And?"
"According to the second scouting party that was sent after the disappearance of the first, ate them."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"The natives ate the first scouting party."
"Um…I will remind you that you have sworn an oath to answer these questions truthfully."
"Yes, I remember."
"Okay," the lawyer said faintly. "Is that when you sent in Talons to massacre them?"
"No, I sent in Nightcrawlers to subdue them so that we could gain access to the temple without the threat of being cannibalized."
"Subdue?"
"I expected the natives to recognize that they were outclassed and flee."
"And if they didn't flee?"
"The Nightcrawlers were given full discretionary power to use whatever force they felt necessary to neutralize the threat."
"By you?"
"Yes."
"Personally?"
"Yes. I was the only one with the authority to issue orders to the Nightcrawlers."
"No one else could command them? Not even Dark Ace?"
"No."
"So, essentially, by not putting any restrictions on the Nightcrawlers, you did order the wholesale slaughter of the native tribespeople of Terra Tropica."
She didn't have a comeback to that, and they moved on.
The prosecution's case against them on the treatment of political prisoners and prisoners of war consumed the rest of the week and half of the next. They had several witnesses who were able to speak to their time at Zartacla or in labour camps. She and Ace both spent time cross-examining those witnesses. Cyclonia had the right to defend itself from its enemies, after all, and imprisoning them was a perfectly valid way of removing them as a threat. The prosecution argued that since due process hadn't been followed in many of the cases they reviewed, the incarcerations had been unlawful. She argued that as the Master of Cyclonia, she had the authority to suspend due process during times of war.
Then the crystal prison was brought up, the usage of which the prosecution deemed cruel and inhumane. They had chosen one witness who had been imprisoned there for nearly the entire six weeks, a young man by the name of Hadrian. He spoke at length of what the experience was like. He had been caught in a state of suspended animation, frozen in the state he had been in when he entered the crystal. His arm had been broken during his capture, and the pain of it had remained constant throughout his imprisonment, the wound never healing, the sensation never waning. He had been hungry, but inside the crystal, that hunger could never be sated. He had been thirsty, and that thirst could never be slaked. Within the crystal, it was always cold. And, because he had entered the crystal awake, that is how he remained. His sanity had begun to slip, but consciousness never did.
During Hadrian's testimony, she was uncomfortably aware of why the prosecution only felt the need to call one witness for this. The Council Hall was full of people who had experienced the crystal prison for themselves. Three of them sat on the tribunal. When the Chairman asked if the defence would like to cross-examine the witness, she silently shook her head no.
The Chairman called for a brief recess after that.
"You looked affected by his testimony," Dark Ace warned her quietly during the break. They had agreed that they needed to maintain an image of impassivity throughout the trial. Showing any humanity would be counterproductive to their end goal. She had assumed that that would be easy.
"The way he described it…."
"It sounded horrifying, yes, wasn't that rather the point? To make our enemies suffer forever?"
"Yes. However, the person I procured the crystal from on the Farside didn't describe it quite so graphically," she told him. And, truthfully, she hadn't realized at the time just how averse she was to the thought of prolonged imprisonment. Why would she? She had been so assured of her own victory; the idea of the tables being turned had legitimately never crossed her mind. Maybe that was what her greatest mistake had been.
"Do you regret using it, or do you regret being at the mercy of those you used it on?"
"I'm not sure," she said honestly.
"Well then, let's assume it's the latter and move on. We're certain to hear at least nine more sob stories before the prosecution is done, and we can't afford to show any weakness."
"Yes, Ace, I am aware."
"Don't think of Cyclonia, lest they conflate grief over its loss with remorse over the destruction of the others."
"I know, we've been over this," she said, annoyed. She could mask her emotions just fine. She didn't need him lecturing her.
Once the court was back in session, the prosecution wasted no time calling witnesses to testify on the final nine charges.
Hadrian had woven a compelling tale, but his delivery had been strange, his affect blunted. That was not the case with the people chosen to tell the story of their terras destruction. There was no lack of emotion there.
They began with Terra Gale. That crackpot who she had heard liked to catapult household items at passing Talons tearfully told his story of a just-in-time escape, of watching Gale crumble behind him as he looked on from the back of his granddaughter's skyride.
It was a good start for her. She watched Wren dispassionately as he spoke, back straight. Some of the terras she had destroyed, most of them, had been strategically chosen to send a message to more valuable ones, to show them what would happen if they refused to cooperate. Two had been destroyed because their leaders had refused to surrender. Gale fell into the former category, but more than that, she had enjoyed crushing it. Gale had been a thorn in Cyclonia's side for too long. Actually, that was giving it too much credit. It was more of a burr than a thorn. Prickly, annoying, and useless. Even when it had been a part of the Cyclonian Empire, it offered them little of value. Fighting to hold onto it was more a matter of principle than necessity, and it had felt good to pilot Cyclonia right through the center of it.
The next witness, Myna, was a woman from another strategically chosen terra, a mother of five children under ten. She and her husband had owned a farm on the outskirts of the terra. When the sirens went off, her husband had sent them ahead to the evacuation ships while he stayed behind to try to gather up some of their belongings. That was the last time she had seen him. Listening to her story felt…less good than that loony Wren's. Still, not her fault. He should have gone with his family instead of gambling on there being enough time to pack.
They stopped there for the day. Unfortunately, she spent all night caught in a recurring nightmare that she was slowly being encased in a crystal that resisted her every effort to stop it. She awoke feeling as if she hadn't slept at all.
Disquieted from the night before, it was hard to appear unruffled while listening to the third story, the fourth, the fifth. A few times, Dark Ace leaned in closer to inform her that she looked broody or fidgety.
"What is the point of this?" she muttered to him in the lull between witnesses. "Do we really need to hear these people's stories to know that their terras were destroyed? Isn't the fact that those terras aren't there anymore enough?"
"Eyewitnesses who can corroborate that it was Cyclonia that destroyed their terras strengthen the prosecution's case," he answered. "And I'm sure they chose the most tragic stories to prey upon people's sympathies and make us look as bad as possible."
She huffed. Of course, she knew he was right, had known the answer even as she asked the question. Still, she hated this. She hated these people and the pain that they wielded like a weapon against her, trying to make her feel like the bad guy. Trying to make her feel guilty. Well, she didn't! She'd done what she had to do for Cyclonia.
"You're fidgeting again," he said, calling her attention to the fact that she was tapping her fingers against the tabletop. She clasped her hands together to still them.
The prosecution called their next witness.
Jacana was from one of the terras that had refused to surrender, but rather than look grief-stricken as the other witnesses had, she looked livid. Her eyes burned with loathing as she glared straight at them when asked to recount her story.
She picked up her pen and pretended to take notes as Jacana spoke. It gave her an excuse to look somewhere other than the woman's death stare. She remembered the destruction of this terra well. It had been particularly violent. With the others, they had not gone out of their way to go after the fleeing civilians. Allowing them to live served a greater purpose. As they spread their stories far and wide, they helped to demoralize the rest of Atmos. But with the two terras that had defied them, there was no mercy shown. While Cyclonia tore through the terra itself, Talons and Nightcrawlers went after fleeing ships and skyrides. There had been very few survivors.
This woman was one of them, and she told her tale in clipped, angry sentences. She spoke of being injured when Talons strafed the evacuation site ahead of Cyclonia's advance, disabling ships before they could even get off the ground. She had taken a skyride from someone who had, in her words, not needed it anymore. From there, she managed to evade notice long enough to get herself to a small, overlooked satellite terra. She hid there and watched as the crumbling remains of her terra, along with the burning ships that carried her friends and neighbours, sank below the cloud cover.
"What about you?" Jacana spat. "Did you see Cyclonia fall to the wastelands? Did you get to watch your home burn?"
When neither she nor Dark Ace responded, she got even angrier. "Hey! I'm talking to you! Put down the pen and look at me, you craven witch! At least have the guts to look your victims in the eye when they talk to you!"
She slapped the pen down onto the desk and glared at the woman, who didn't even flinch. "I hope you did," Jacana said once their eyes met, pure malice in her tone. "I hope you watched your terra crash and burn. I hope that's all you can see at night when you close your eyes and that it haunts you for the rest of your miserable life!"
After Jacana was dismissed from the witness stand, the Chairman called for a 30-minute recess.
Piper, Aerrow and Stork took the opportunity to walk outside to get some air. It had been a rough morning, and she, for one, appreciated the breather. Standing around in a circle, they stared at each other until Aerrow broke the silence.
"That was…rough."
"Cyclonis certainly seemed to think so, too," Stork agreed with a twitchy little grin. "D'you think she's developing a conscience or just feeling the noose get tighter around her neck?"
"Do you have to be so morbid, Stork?" she asked.
"You're right; it's probably the second."
"Stork!"
"I'm just saying." They fell silent for another couple of minutes until Stork spoke again. "Are you still thinking of trying to convince the tribunal to spare their lives after everything we've heard?"
She looked at Aerrow hesitantly and saw the uncertainty in his own eyes. The testimonies from the last two days had been hard to listen to. Each story made it more and more clear how monstrous Cyclonia's quest for world domination had been, highlighting the lengths Cyclonis was willing to go to to get what she wanted. Yet, at the same time, the last two days had also seen Cyclonis' smug facade begin to crack. Maybe Stork was right, and she was just concerned about her own skin. But maybe she really did feel some guilt over the things she had done, whether she wanted to admit it or not. Maybe being forced to sit and listen to the people she'd hurt was the kick in the pants she needed to realize that she was in the wrong.
"Let's just see how the rest of the trial goes," Aerrow decided.
After the thirty minutes was up, they returned to the Council Hall, where they listened to the witnesses from the last three terras that had been destroyed. Once they had had their say, the defence was allowed to respond.
Cyclonis got up to speak, and there was no trace of the discomfort that had bled through her stoicism earlier. She didn't try to deny what she had done. She made no apologies, expressed no remorse. Instead, she argued that the attacks on those terras didn't qualify as wanton destruction because each had been necessary to the success of Cyclonia's campaign. She explained her reasoning behind each of the terras chosen and what she hoped each one's destruction would accomplish.
It was a cold, clinical presentation, and it made Piper want to shake her. It wasn't that she begrudged Cyclonis explaining the decision-making behind her actions. On the contrary, they should know what motivated her to do what she did. But would it kill her to show a little feeling? If she wasn't going to deny destroying those terras, if she was going to try to justify it as necessary, couldn't she at least express the tiniest hint of regret for that necessity?
It honestly didn't make any sense. She had to know by now how bad things looked for her. She had shown flashes of genuine emotion during some testimonies, though she was always quick to suppress it. Had that been an act? It couldn't have been. If it was, why not continue it now, when it mattered most? Why pretend now to be so infuriatingly uncaring?
She wasn't the only one dissatisfied with Cyclonis' demeanour, it seemed, because Starling spoke up. "I have a question for you."
The tribunal members had mostly stayed out of the conversation throughout the trial, allowing the prosecution to do its job without much interruption. They had asked a few questions, mostly asking witnesses to clarify or elaborate on a point, but this was the first time any of them had addressed the Cyclonians directly.
"Yes?" Cyclonis asked, sounding wary.
"Do you regret any of the things you've done?"
There was a long pause before Cyclonis answered. "Regret is a useless emotion. What's done is done."
Again, Piper wanted to knock some sense into the other girl for wasting a perfect opportunity to gain a little goodwill with the tribunal. Starling, however, didn't seem angry or even disappointed with the answer. "Interesting, thank you," is all she said in response.
"I fail to see what's interesting about that dreadful response," Harrier commented.
"You fail to see a lot of things," Starling retorted. "I'll explain later."
During the entire exchange, Cyclonis stared at Starling with a slight, bemused frown. Piper could practically hear the gears turning in her head as she, too, tried to work out what Starling found so interesting about her answer.
Starling motioned for the proceedings to continue, and the prosecution announced, "We have some questions, as well. For Ignatius."
"Ace," the Dark Ace corrected him, not for the first time. The prosecution's continued use of the name he despised when addressing him directly was clearly deliberate at this point.
"What was your role in all this? During the destruction of the nine terras, what were you doing?"
"I was coordinating the Talons attack."
"But according to Cyclonis' testimony just now, and the testimony of the other witnesses, Talons were only used in the attacks on Terras Ost and Butte."
"That is correct."
"Where were you during the attacks on the other seven terras?"
"By Master Cyclonis' side."
"What exactly does that mean? Did you control Terra Cyclonia's movements at any point?"
"No. That required manipulation of the crystal from the Farside."
"Well then, certainly you advised her on which terras would be the most strategically beneficial to attack?"
Dark Ace's jaw tightened. This was apparently a sore subject for him. "No."
The prosecuting lawyer looked taken aback. This was not the answer he was expecting. "No?"
"I would have happily provided my recommendations, but Master Cyclonis had her own vision for how our campaign against the Free Atmos would proceed."
"So, you just watched from the sidelines?"
Dark Ace didn't respond, but his sour expression seemed answer enough for the prosecution.
The two lawyers conferred quietly. It was clear that they neither anticipated nor liked these answers. Finally, the one who had been asking the questions said, "Can anyone corroborate your story?"
"Yes. Me," Cyclonis said.
Unhappily, the prosecution moved on, and soon it was time for the closing statements. Once those were complete, the Chairman instructed the tribunal to begin their deliberations and dismissed everyone else until a verdict was reached.
The three of them talked as they walked back to the Condor. She was still disgruntled by Cyclonis' attitude throughout the trial, and she said as much.
"It's almost like she's asking to be executed," Stork commented offhandedly.
Piper stopped walking abruptly, and the boys went on without her for several paces until they noticed she was no longer with them and shuffled to a stop, turning to face her quizzically.
"That's it!" she exclaimed as it all clicked into place. Cyclonis' cavalier attitude. Her refusal to admit to feeling remorse, even when it seemed obvious that she felt something at least close to it at times. The barefaced lies she had told her on the first day of the trial. It all pointed to the truth of Stork's throwaway comment.
'What's it?" Aerrow asked.
"She's deliberately setting it up so that if she's found guilty, the tribunal will vote to execute her," she told them.
"But that doesn't make any sense," Aerrow said. "Why would she do that?"
"I don't know," she sighed. That was the major flaw in her theory. Motive. "Why does she do anything?"
"I think you might be able to answer your own question, Aerrow," Stork said.
"Me?"
"Yeah. You've been to prison. What was it like?"
"It's no day at the beach, that's for sure," Aerrow answered after a moment's thought. "I mean, you're locked in a cell most of the time. Then, when they do let you out, you're constantly being told where to go, what to do, how to do it. There's no privacy. The food…well okay, it didn't make me miss Junko's cooking, but it still wasn't great. I missed the Condor. I missed you guys even more. If I didn't have my escape plan to work on, I would have been bored out of my mind. And some of the guards can be real jerks. Not just at Zartacla, either. A few at the Stockade weren't much better."
It all started to make sense to Piper as Aerrow spoke.
"How would you have liked to be stuck there for decades?" she asked, and Aerrow's face said it all.
"So, what are you saying? She wants to avoid prison so badly that she'd rather die? That's a bit extreme."
"To be fair, when has she ever not taken things to extremes?" Stork pointed out.
"Let's say you're right. What do we do? If she wants to die, do we let her? Or at least sit back and let the tribunal decide without our interference?"
"Are you kidding? After everything she's done, why should she get her way? If she doesn't want to be locked in a cell with nothing but her own thoughts for company, then that's exactly where she should be!"
"Wow, Piper. Cyclonis really does bring out a mean streak in you," Stork said admiringly.
"Well, it's not just about making her pay," she defended herself. "Maybe given enough time to reflect, she'll actually grow as a person."
"Or maybe it'll just make her even more bitter and angry," Stork said pessimistically.
"There's only one way to find out! We stick to the original plan. If anything, this makes it even easier to convince the tribunal."
"You think so?"
"Yes! We'll explain prison to them the way you explained it to us. I think they know Cyclonis well enough by now to know that she'd want no part of that, and that makes it a much more effective punishment. I mean, we should have seen it before! Obviously, someone who's used to being in charge wouldn't want to spend the rest of their life being ordered around! Obviously, someone with a genius-level IQ wouldn't want to be stuck in a cell all day with nothing to do! And think about it. At what point of the trial did she really start to look uncomfortable? Around the time the prosecution started talking about the crystal prison!"
"That does make a lot of sense," Aerrow agreed.
"Okay, so you find a way to talk to Starling, and I'll try to talk to Suzy Lu. And if they don't believe us, I have a theory. Tell Starling that I'm 90% certain that, if we're right, then when the verdict is read and they've ruled against Cyclonis and the Dark Ace, Cyclonis is going to say something really messed up. It'll be her last chance to try to manipulate them into voting for death, so she's going to want to make everyone as mad as possible."
"Starling! Hi!" Aerrow said as he stepped in front of her, blocking her path. He had been stalking her through the streets of Atmosia as she walked. They had finally come to an area of the city that was mostly abandoned this time of the evening.
"Aerrow! Always a pleasure," she said and tried to step around him to continue on her way. He moved to block her again.
"Wait, I wanted to talk to you," he told her.
"Yes, I gathered as much. However, you should know that I can't speak with you right now, not with the deliberations in progress," she admonished him.
"It's okay, I don't want to talk to you about the deliberations."
"Really?"
"I want to talk to you about the sentencing."
She looked at him as if he had sprouted a second head and sidestepped in the other direction. He matched her move and gave her his most charming grin.
"Aerrow, you are jeopardizing this entire trial right now."
"Please, just hear me out."
"I can't."
"Then at least promise me one thing?"
"What's that?"
"If you find them guilty, and at the end of the verdict reading Cyclonis says something awful, come find me and hear me out then. Piper has a theory that I think might interest you."
"How awful? This is Cyclonis we're talking about, after all."
"Like 'I can't believe she was stupid enough to say that when she hasn't been sentenced yet' awful."
"Alright. I can't make any promises, but I will consider it."
"Good enough!"
She nodded and tried to move past him once more, but he stopped her again. "I just have one last question."
"Aerrow! If someone sees me talking to you…."
"I just want to know what your question to Cyclonis was about. Why'd you find it interesting when she said she didn't regret anything?"
The hint of a smirk flitted across her face and was gone before she answered. "Because that's not what she said. Goodnight, Aerrow."
And with that, she was gone.
Piper hadn't had any more luck with Suzy Lu than Aerrow had with Starling. They were all being meticulous about doing everything by the book to avoid any hint of impropriety. Piper respected that, even if it did make things harder.
Also to the tribunal's credit, the deliberations took longer than anyone expected. It was nearly a week before they were called back into the Council Hall.
Piper sat next to Aerrow in their usual place, Stork on her other side. Finn, Junko, and Radarr had opted to show up for this part of the trial, as well. In fact, a lot of people who had slowly dwindled away as the trial went on reappeared to watch the verdict reading.
The Chairman had the Dark Ace stand, then called upon Starling, who had been chosen as the tribunal's spokesperson, to do the same.
"On the charge of the planning, preparation, and waging of a war of aggression, how do you find the defendant?" the Chairman asked.
"The tribunal finds the defendant guilty," Starling answered.
"On the charge of the plunder of property, how do you find the defendant?"
"Guilty."
"On the charge of the extermination of the native population of Terra Tropica, how do you find the defendant?"
"Not guilty."
That caused a bit of a stir amongst the onlookers, but nothing too disruptive. The Chairman let it die down on its own before continuing.
"On the charge of the persecution and extrajudicial detention of political prisoners, how do you find the defendant?"
"Guilty."
"On the charge of the ill-treatment of prisoners of war, how do you find the defendant?"
"Guilty."
"On the charge of the wanton destruction of Terra Gale, how do you find the defendant?"
Starling paused for a moment, steeling herself the way someone would before delivering news they knew you weren't going to like hearing. "Not guilty."
That caused an uproar, with Dove, Wren, and the Rebel Ducks being the loudest voices in the room. They jeered and yelled insults at the entire tribunal, and Starling in particular.
The Chairman banged his gavel repeatedly until the noise had died down enough for him to be heard. "I will have order in my courtroom, or I will have the Hall cleared of spectators! Is that clear?"
Once everyone had settled down, he continued.
"On the charge of the wanton destruction of Terra Yukon, how do you find the defendant?"
"Not guilty."
There were more angry words, but a look from the Chairman was enough to quell them.
"On the charge of the wanton destruction of Terra Mohavi, how do you find the defendant?"
"Not guilty."
"On the charge of the wanton destruction of Terra Basin, how do you find the defendant?"
"Not guilty."
"On the charge of the wanton destruction of Terra Borealis, how do you find the defendant?"
"Not guilty."
"On the charge of the wanton destruction of Terra Ost, how do you find the defendant?"
"Guilty."
"On the charge of the wanton destruction of Terra Taiga, how do you find the defendant?"
"Not guilty."
"On the charge of the wanton destruction of Terra Cascade, how do you find the defendant?"
"Not guilty."
"And on the charge of the wanton destruction of Terra Butte, how do you find the defendant?"
"Guilty."
The Dark Ace sat, and he and Cyclonis exchanged a look. They seemed as surprised as anyone else at the number of not guilty verdicts he had received. Strangely, or perhaps not so strangely if her theory was correct, neither of them looked very happy about it. Then the Chairman had Cyclonis stand.
He cleared his throat and began, "On the charge of-"
"Must we go through this whole process?" Cyclonis interrupted him.
The Chairman frowned at the disruption. "How else do you expect us to proceed?"
"I suspect there's a way to go about this that can save us all a considerable amount of time."
"Hmm. That is entirely up to the tribunal," he said, looking to Starling. Starling looked to the other tribunal members, most of whom shrugged or nodded.
"This is highly irregular," Harrier was the only one to protest. "This matter should be treated with all the di-"
"Would you like to come up here and read off fourteen separate charges and their verdicts, Harrier?" Starling asked.
Harrier pursed his lips, clearly not liking being talked over. But after a moment, he waved his hand. "Very well, proceed with your condensed version. It just doesn't seem to carry the same gravitas."
Starling turned her attention back to Cyclonis. "This tribunal finds the defendant guilty on all charges," she announced.
Someone among the onlookers whooped, which set off a fresh commotion, though it was much less angry sounding this time around.
"Ha! Called it," Finn said proudly, and she rolled her eyes at him.
Cyclonis didn't look surprised or particularly troubled. Instead, she waited for the noise to die down before the corner of her mouth quirked up into that crooked little sneer she had perfected. "Hey, Starling?"
Piper sat up straighter, lightly smacking Aerrow's arm a few times in anticipation.
Starling's own mouth twitched briefly, and she cut her gaze over to them for a second before looking back to Cyclonis and raising her eyebrows questioningly.
"On the last day of the trial, you asked me if I had any regrets."
"I remember," Starling prompted her to continue.
"Well, I think I speak for both of us," Cyclonis said, pointing between herself and the Dark Ace, "when I say that we have just one." Her expression grew darker as her eyes swept over the assembled crowd. "We regret not killing every last one of you when we had the chance!"
The Hall went absolutely nuts. The reaction to Dark Ace's not guilty verdict for the destruction of Terra Gale was nothing compared to the expletive-heavy curses aimed at the Cyclonians this time. People looked ready to express themselves with their fists. A few went so far as to put their hands on the hilts of their weapons. It was bad enough that the guards started to look nervous and close rank defensively around their prisoners while one radioed for backup.
The Chairman's calls for order went ignored entirely. The reinforcements that the guards called for came in and started yelling at the crowd to settle down. There was a brief scuffle when one guy decked a guard. He was quickly piled on by two more and ejected from the Council Hall.
Miraculously, rather than set off a chain reaction of violence, that event seemed to jar everyone back to their senses. Slowly but surely, the crowd sorted itself out, people either calming down and retaking their seats or choosing to remove themselves from the Hall. Either way, five minutes after the brief tussle, order was restored.
The Chairman was seething by that time, and he turned that quiet fury on Cyclonis. "Rest assured that your comment will be taken into consideration during sentencing," he said.
If Piper needed any more confirmation that her suspicions had been correct, Cyclonis' self-satisfied smirk would be it.
"Court is adjourned until the sentencing hearing, which will be conducted in a closed court and announced to the public afterward." Apparently, he was taking no chances of having a repeat of today's near disaster.
He banged his gavel once, and then there was nothing to do but wait and see if Starling or Suzy Lu sought them out.