"Corporal Flynn R. Taggart, Serial #4687: Your trial for the human race's
crimes against the race of the Naze'tul is hereby brought to order. Grand
Inquisitor Lucifer presiding."
Taggart looked around him at the amazing courtroom that surrounded him. The ceiling and walls were made of what appeared to be pure diamond. It could've been some alien material, but he never would find out at this point. He didn't even want to think about what might sit under the floor.
"Corporal Taggart!" Lucifer spoke through a voice-amplifier. As near as he could tell, this trial was being broadcast across the entire planet. He still had no idea how he got here, and quite frankly, he could've cared less. All that mattered to him at this point was the fact that he was close to being convicted for something he never even knew happened until he was charged with it.
One of his guards elbowed him hard in the side, leaving a small gash where its elbow-spike had jabbed him. "Taggart reporting, Your Honor, Lucifer, Sir."
"Taggart, do you understand what you're on trial for?" Lucifer glared at him with what could only be described as a fatherly look.
Taggart glared right back. "I understand damn well, sir. I'm on trial for the crimes of the human race against the race of the Nauze-- um... Nazi..."
"NAZE'TUL!" He screamed through the amplifier.
"Naze'tul..." he said quietly.
"Taggart, do you wish to defend yourself in this trial, or would you rather slander one of our law-abiding defenders to attempt and rid yourself of this awful reputation, knowing full-well that you will fail miserably?" He said sarcastically.
Flynn looked around nervously. Being a soldier was something he was trained for. Being brave was something he was trained for. Being on trial for the entire human race was not something that he had to do after Reveille at 0500. "Well, sir, I think I'll defend myself. I don't wish to push a foul reputation on one of your people."
Lucifer looked surprised. "Honor? From a human? This is something we've never seen before... shall we give this human a hand?" The courtroom remained silent; almost painfully silent. "Very well then. Shall we skip the opening statements and go straight to the evidence?"
A huge clamor arose from the court's audience. Flynn heard various threats to his life and who knows what else shouted from the assorted Naze'tul gathered.
Lucifer slammed his fist down on the desk in front of him, creating a resounding thunder crash that finally managed to shut everyone up.
"As long as I'm presiding in this court, there will be order! Is that understood?" Lucifer took the silence from the audience to mean a submission and continued.
"Now then, in the evidence booth, we have the dead bodies of two Naze'tul officials which we sent to your planet to "negotiate peaceful relations" as your military calls it. At approximately 0930 hours, your planet's time, they began radioing mayday. Your military's surface-to-air missile launchers had destroyed their engines.
"Once on the surface, they were treated like animals. They were hung up on rods and beaten for several of your hours at a time. Then, finally, in an attempt to escape from the cruel humans that did this to them, they were forced to kill several soldiers and were subsequently shot. This is all the evidence the prosecution is setting. Defense?"
Taggart, finally allowed his chance to speak, stood up proudly. "Your Honor, the defense presents the only evidence for him and his race that he can. I don't know how your law system works, but I will say this: Law systems are designed to deliver justice to those who break the law and to protect those who are cheated by it. I deduct that the fact your race even has a law system means that there are those of your race who break it as well, and they need to be kept in check.
"The human race is a generally good-natured race. They watch each other's asses. They do what they can to get by, when they have to. And occasionally, there's a few bad apples that sneak into the system and have to be dealt with. The military officers that your Naze'tul officials ran into were just such bad apples. In conclusion of the defense's evidence, I can only say this: your race should be more cautious in the future. Investigate not just the mannerisms of them, but their culture as well. The human culture generally believes that aliens are always hostile, which would explain the reception your officials got. I don't know if this will convince you or anyone that my race is generally good, but I can sure as hell try."
Lucifer looked at him with what looked like a tear in his eye. "Taggart, in all of my history as a Grand Inquisitor of this law system, I've never felt so compelled by a statement as yours." Taggart looked at him, suddenly slack-jawed.
"Does this mean that you're going to declare us innocent and let me go back to Earth?"
Lucifer frowned. "No, sadly. If I were to do that, I may as well be taking my own hand and putting it on my head to end my life, because rest assured that by the end of the night, someone will have done it for me. No, Taggart... I cannot let you go, but I can give you a very easy sentence. There is a facility on the surface of this planet that we have been sending our law-breakers to.
"Supposedly, it was designed so that the wildlife we kept down there would feed off of the prisoners and it would be a happy medium. Somehow, the prisoners made friends with the wildlife and now the facility is getting crowded. Flynn Taggart, your sentence, to be carried out immediately, is to be sent to that facility and clear it of the prisoners, wildlife, and anything else you find down there. You will be issued a human combat knife and a standard human-military-issue 9-millimeter pistol. May Majekan have mercy on your soul."
Flynn felt himself being sucked into a whirlpool of some kind and felt a heavy metal surface strike his head. He sat up, wishing he hadn't, and looked around. He noticed a combat knife strapped to his belt and a 9mm pistol in his holster. If his guess was right, he was in the facility, and he was in for a hell of a time clearing it.
== == ==
True Doom. Took it long enough to get here, eh? And here all this time everyone thought they were hell-creatures. Wrong! Hehe... think he can make it? (It would take a miracle =P)
Taggart looked around him at the amazing courtroom that surrounded him. The ceiling and walls were made of what appeared to be pure diamond. It could've been some alien material, but he never would find out at this point. He didn't even want to think about what might sit under the floor.
"Corporal Taggart!" Lucifer spoke through a voice-amplifier. As near as he could tell, this trial was being broadcast across the entire planet. He still had no idea how he got here, and quite frankly, he could've cared less. All that mattered to him at this point was the fact that he was close to being convicted for something he never even knew happened until he was charged with it.
One of his guards elbowed him hard in the side, leaving a small gash where its elbow-spike had jabbed him. "Taggart reporting, Your Honor, Lucifer, Sir."
"Taggart, do you understand what you're on trial for?" Lucifer glared at him with what could only be described as a fatherly look.
Taggart glared right back. "I understand damn well, sir. I'm on trial for the crimes of the human race against the race of the Nauze-- um... Nazi..."
"NAZE'TUL!" He screamed through the amplifier.
"Naze'tul..." he said quietly.
"Taggart, do you wish to defend yourself in this trial, or would you rather slander one of our law-abiding defenders to attempt and rid yourself of this awful reputation, knowing full-well that you will fail miserably?" He said sarcastically.
Flynn looked around nervously. Being a soldier was something he was trained for. Being brave was something he was trained for. Being on trial for the entire human race was not something that he had to do after Reveille at 0500. "Well, sir, I think I'll defend myself. I don't wish to push a foul reputation on one of your people."
Lucifer looked surprised. "Honor? From a human? This is something we've never seen before... shall we give this human a hand?" The courtroom remained silent; almost painfully silent. "Very well then. Shall we skip the opening statements and go straight to the evidence?"
A huge clamor arose from the court's audience. Flynn heard various threats to his life and who knows what else shouted from the assorted Naze'tul gathered.
Lucifer slammed his fist down on the desk in front of him, creating a resounding thunder crash that finally managed to shut everyone up.
"As long as I'm presiding in this court, there will be order! Is that understood?" Lucifer took the silence from the audience to mean a submission and continued.
"Now then, in the evidence booth, we have the dead bodies of two Naze'tul officials which we sent to your planet to "negotiate peaceful relations" as your military calls it. At approximately 0930 hours, your planet's time, they began radioing mayday. Your military's surface-to-air missile launchers had destroyed their engines.
"Once on the surface, they were treated like animals. They were hung up on rods and beaten for several of your hours at a time. Then, finally, in an attempt to escape from the cruel humans that did this to them, they were forced to kill several soldiers and were subsequently shot. This is all the evidence the prosecution is setting. Defense?"
Taggart, finally allowed his chance to speak, stood up proudly. "Your Honor, the defense presents the only evidence for him and his race that he can. I don't know how your law system works, but I will say this: Law systems are designed to deliver justice to those who break the law and to protect those who are cheated by it. I deduct that the fact your race even has a law system means that there are those of your race who break it as well, and they need to be kept in check.
"The human race is a generally good-natured race. They watch each other's asses. They do what they can to get by, when they have to. And occasionally, there's a few bad apples that sneak into the system and have to be dealt with. The military officers that your Naze'tul officials ran into were just such bad apples. In conclusion of the defense's evidence, I can only say this: your race should be more cautious in the future. Investigate not just the mannerisms of them, but their culture as well. The human culture generally believes that aliens are always hostile, which would explain the reception your officials got. I don't know if this will convince you or anyone that my race is generally good, but I can sure as hell try."
Lucifer looked at him with what looked like a tear in his eye. "Taggart, in all of my history as a Grand Inquisitor of this law system, I've never felt so compelled by a statement as yours." Taggart looked at him, suddenly slack-jawed.
"Does this mean that you're going to declare us innocent and let me go back to Earth?"
Lucifer frowned. "No, sadly. If I were to do that, I may as well be taking my own hand and putting it on my head to end my life, because rest assured that by the end of the night, someone will have done it for me. No, Taggart... I cannot let you go, but I can give you a very easy sentence. There is a facility on the surface of this planet that we have been sending our law-breakers to.
"Supposedly, it was designed so that the wildlife we kept down there would feed off of the prisoners and it would be a happy medium. Somehow, the prisoners made friends with the wildlife and now the facility is getting crowded. Flynn Taggart, your sentence, to be carried out immediately, is to be sent to that facility and clear it of the prisoners, wildlife, and anything else you find down there. You will be issued a human combat knife and a standard human-military-issue 9-millimeter pistol. May Majekan have mercy on your soul."
Flynn felt himself being sucked into a whirlpool of some kind and felt a heavy metal surface strike his head. He sat up, wishing he hadn't, and looked around. He noticed a combat knife strapped to his belt and a 9mm pistol in his holster. If his guess was right, he was in the facility, and he was in for a hell of a time clearing it.
== == ==
True Doom. Took it long enough to get here, eh? And here all this time everyone thought they were hell-creatures. Wrong! Hehe... think he can make it? (It would take a miracle =P)