Sunday, May 1, 2005: 12:02 UTC
Luna, Port Oldridge, Imperial Media Center
Being Investment Day, one of four Imperial Holidays on the calendar, the day's spring green dress was even fancier and more ornate than usual. Upon first seeing it, Mattie had nearly laughed. But once she'd actually got it on with the armored wig and associated emerald jewelry, she had to admit that it looked good and that she looked good in it. Still a bit overdressed for standing at a podium in front of a smaller than usual crowd of reporters.
"I would like to thank all of you for coming on a holiday. Today's draft day is February 8th, 1961. As usual, those drafted will have one month to report." That date would lead to the oldest batch of draftees the Empire had ever had.
One of the reporters, hearing her own birthday called, fainted on the spot. Lois Lane took charge, clearing space around the fallen woman, while making sure her airways were clear. By the time the security summoned medics arrived with a gurney, the woman was awake, if not quite 100% rational. The draft was something that happened to other people, not her.
"I'm sorry everyone, but I'm pretty tightly scheduled today. Because of Mrs. Ukeje's … condition... I'll only have time for a couple of questions. Miss al-Jaffar, we haven't heard from you in a while."
Brenda al-Jaffar, a sphinx, immaculately turned out in a colorful long sleeved blouse with matching skirt and a dark headscarf asked, "I received a message from my former roommate, Ambassador Susan Bones, about some excitement they recently had on Abo. Details were lacking. Is there anything Your Majesty can tell us about the event?"
"We are aware of the incident and are still forming our response. There was one minor injury to an embassy staffer, but we cannot go into detail at this time. Miss Lang, you have last question."
Lana asked, "With your mother in jail on an accessory to assault charge, how does that affect her position as Regent?"
"She hasn't been convicted of anything yet. Even if she is, my mother would still need to be Impeached by the Assembly before she could be removed from the Regency. If she is, I'm sure the Crown Committee would simply decide upon a new Regent, if they decide one is necessary at all. I do turn 17 at the end of the month. Again, I'm sorry about the short session, but I'm due at the Assembly for Investment Day ceremonies soon." With that, Mattie left the podium and headed to the next appointment on her busy schedule.
Monday, May 2, 2005. 10:00 UTC
Luna, Starport Luna, arrivals
A female sandur, formerly a slave and now a petty officer in the Imperial Navy, escorted Petunia Evans from the ship all the way to the terminal. No formal charges had been filed against her, but she had been most definitively fired and deported from Windfall.
"Miss Evans, here is a travel voucher, good for the next six months and one trip to Earth. Here is a debit card containing your accumulated pay. Your luggage should be available at baggage claim shortly. May the Water Bringer have mercy on your soul. I would have none."
Petunia took the cards with somewhat nerveless hands. She'd been a pariah the entire trip back from Windfall. Not one crewman had voluntarily spoken with her the whole time. A significant minority of the ship's crew would liked to have thrown her out an airlock at some point between Windfall and Luna. None had tried, but the contempt in which she was held was clear to even to her.
By the time she tucked the cards into her purse, the petty officer had left, leaving her alone. By the time she managed to find a place to buy an expensive cup of admittedly good tea, the ship she'd arrived on had left for Farside to drop off the actual prisoners.
Tuesday, May 3, 2005: 02:08 UTC
Epsilon Eridani III, 'El Hierro', Arthur's compound
The Tallah's main cargo hatch lowered, forming a ramp which Arthur led down a dozen women with dark collars. With proper measurements taken, the clothes they wore fit better and were far more comfortable. Removing the slave belts had been a short term discomfort, but they'd adapted back to controlling their own waste functions quickly. When they reached the ground, they took a good look at the their surroundings. There were a few bungalows and what was clearly the main house. They could see a beach with a jury rigged volleyball net, a few hammocks and the local version of lounge chairs. There were even some recognizable coconut palms. If the grass they stood on wasn't Bermuda, it was close enough. If looked enough like Hawaii to make Noelani Kalawai'a homesick.
"Welcome to Epsilon Eridani III, a mere 10.5 light years from Earth and your temporary home while I get your collars off. It's a pleasant 26° Celsius, 79° Fahrenheit for the Americans, and the forecast is mostly sunny for today and tomorrow with rain expected in two local days. The planet's day is roughly 19 hours 45 minutes long, which will take getting used to. The gravity is roughly 0.93g, a little less than Earth or Abo. You probably won't even notice. We've been adjusting the air on the Tallah to match the atmosphere here since we left Unity Station. Since there haven't been any problems yet, I'm not expecting any to develop."
"We're free, right?" Chantal Araby asked.
"Yup," Arthur acknowledged. "If any of you want, I'll give you a kilogram of tungsten right now and walk you to the gate. You can then walk away, I will not stop you. Or help you in any way afterwards."
Until Arthur's last statement, walking away had tempted Chantal and two of the other women. Getting the lay of the land first was obviously a better idea than simply leaving without the ability to return. Having gone to the trouble of rescuing and manumitting them, it felt odd that Arthur would cut them off completely if they spurned his assistance. But his intentions were perfectly clear, his way or the highway.
"Each bungalow has two bedrooms and two single beds in each. I'll let you pick your own roommates and house mates. I do expect you not to be slobs. Once we get settled, we can go shopping for fresh food, real clothes, toiletries et multiple cetera. Start making lists and I'll see what I can do."
Jackie Johnson, unofficial leader of the rescued women, asked "Is there anything on this planet we can eat?"
"Some of the flora on this planet was imported from Earth thousands of years ago. The coconuts are edible as are the paw-paws."
"What's a paw-paw?"
"It's a green to black fruit, 10 to 15 centimeters long and half that wide. Pretty tasty, but don't eat the seeds. They're toxic, like cherry pits or apple seeds. We have them in the compound. They'll be out of season soon. For other things, Mike Bulstrode took a test kit to the market to check out some things. I will say that human compatible proteins are harder to find than human compatible carbohydrates. Even if something passes a biochemical check, you'll still want to make sure about the taste." He had a specialized protein synthesizer on order and already had programs for cow, pig and white meat chicken on the Tallah, but the best his ship's multi species LSU could provide was something like soy burger and semi-decent scrambled eggs.
"Where's McDermott?" another woman asked.
"She's in the med tank. Being made into a pain slave left her with some nerve trauma to go along with needing to get the collar off. It'll also try to readjust her brain chemistry. Hopefully that'll fix her or at least make her something vaguely resembling sane."
Tongues were bitten.
"As for now, there's beer and joojy fruit down on the beach with the closest thing I could find to a volleyball. Have fun, get yourselves sorted out and don't forget to make a list of what you'd like to have. Clean up after yourselves."
After the others left, Jackie asked Arthur, "You're not coming?"
"I dropped Mattie a hint that I had you a few days ago. But I need to track down a couple more med-tanks. I never expected I'd have thirteen of you. There weren't any available on Ladoria IV and there aren't any here, I've checked."
"That sound's like a bottleneck."
"Yeah. Even then, we got lucky."
"How so?" Jackie asked doubtfully.
"The abo, for whatever reason, didn't waste judicial collars on any of you. They installed regular collars. A regular collar can be removed in a week or two. You can even have other procedures done while that's going on. A judicial collar, depending on how long it's been on, can take a year to remove and it requires the tank's full attention."
"Thirteen years for all of us would be excessive. But three to six months? I think we can live with that. Most of us anyway."
"Well, I expect Miss Araby to rival Miss McDermott for being the biggest pain in my ass. But I want to get back to Mattie as fast as I can. I miss her."
"Why not just go?"
"Because I want to have this done before I go back in person."
"Aren't there medical facilities here that you could send us to?"
"There is one clinic on the planet that specializes in collar removal. One. The wait list is something like four months. The regular hospitals won't touch 'em." Arthur was tempted to donate a tank to them after he was done using it. More capacity might well mean more freed people.
"At least they have one. The entire Realm of Abo doesn't have any."
Saturday, May 7, 2005. 10:12 GMT
Terra, Hogwarts, Potter's flat
"And what can I do for you, love?" Ginny asked as she tried to make herself comfortable on the couch. She had announced her pregnancy before it had begun to show, but not before rumors about it had spread. It now showed clearly.
Julia Morton sat on her couch and still looked ready to explode off it at any given instant. The fifth year Griff had grown into a confident, strong and fit young woman. Not the most magically powerful, but like her older brother, tended to be among the people still standing at the end of a fight. Not the most academically gifted, but she knew how to study and put in the effort required. She appeared uncharacteristically timid in Ginny's sight.
"I'm having problems with Tomas," she began. "I think I need to break up with him."
Ginny was shocked by the declaration. While not as obviously welded together as her younger brother was with Ami Bones, Julie and Tomas had been a solid couple for almost two years. "I'm sorry to hear that Julie. Are you sure you don't want to discuss this with your girlfriends?"
"I can't. They haven't been 'read in' by Mrs. Wayne. You have."
Ginny's face fell. "Oh dear, this is serious. Can I get you some tea?"
"I'm American. Make it ice water."
.oOo.
"Physically, Tomas is handsome, in great shape and has buns of steel. He's not that tall, but neither am I." Julie went 170 centimeters (5' 7") in trainers, 'tall' clearly meant something different to her than Ginny. "He's charming and polite and helpful and can be funny and... and..."
"What, dear?"
"He's like that with all the girls. Is it too much to ask that he be something more with me?"
Ginny didn't know if that was a reasonable request or not. Her relationship with Harry had started very much one sided, yet now they were expecting their third child. "What do you mean?"
"For example, I'm his sister and I don't know what Ami sees In Bill. Sorry, Will." He'd requested the change on his 14th birthday and it was slowly starting to stick. It beat 'Billy' or 'Junior' to distinguish him from his father. "But when they're together, I could swear they hum."
"They complete each other?" Ginny asked.
"I'm not sure that's it, but it's close," Julie answered. "I don't need Tomas to complete me, even though he's really helped me become who I am. Tomas won't be complete until he gets or abandons his revenge against the man who killed his mother. I've done what I can there and it wasn't enough."
"Couples don't have to complete each other," Ginny explained. "They can work in all sorts of ways."
"I know. My brother Hank and his wife Misty complement each other pretty well, even though they've had their rough patches. But then there's Arthur and Mattie."
Ginny smiled again. Little Molly was still inordinately fond of Arthur. His explanation was that she liked people who got down on the floor and actually played with her. "In my opinion, Mattie brings out the best in Arthur."
"Definitely. But Arthur brings out the most Mattie in Mattie," Julie countered. "You saw his proposal, right?"
"Not live, but I saw it online afterwards. A truly grand way of going about it. Good thing for him that she said 'Yes'."
"It's when I finally figured out some of what Mattie sees in Arthur. Her face lit up when he came out on stage, got even brighter when he started singing and when he got down on one knee, she bloomed. She was Mattie. The most Mattie I've ever seen her. She wasn't Martha the First, she wasn't Imperial Commander in Chief, or the Scarlet Pimpernel or anybody but herself and she was happy."
"And you want Tomas to make you feel like that?" Ginny asked quietly.
Julie shook her head 'no'. "That wouldn't be fair of me. He's not that kind of person right now, no matter what he might become. Even if he does, will I be the same person then? I don't think so." Left unsaid was, 'If there was someone like that in my life...'
"We all change. Hopefully for the better. Sirius and Molly are five and sometimes completely different between the time they get up for pre-school in the morning and when they crawl into bed at night for story time."
Julie smiled for the first time. "I know that someday, I want to do that, read to my children. But last year, I trained under... well his name doesn't matter, but he's probably the best trainer of female martial artists on the planet. Tomas was training too under Nightwing and Orpheus. It went well enough that we did some actual live patrols. Tomas was Robin and I went out as Spoiler, with the original's permission."
Ginny stared at Julie. Gotham had nearly killed her, Harry and the twins. Surviving that madhouse while looking for trouble was hard to comprehend. "You clearly lived."
"It wasn't easy," Julie admitted. "We did learn my ability to grow things can be used to heal cuts and other small wounds. Came in real handy."
"I would think so."
"But Robin isn't Tomas like Her Imperial Majesty isn't Matte. I'm comfortable with Tomas. Robin... grates. I don't think I can work with Robin long term. I'm not even sure I want to go back to Gotham this summer. Not my circus, not my monkeys." That was a phrase she'd learned from her adopted sister Connie.
Ginny took a long pull from her tea to finish the cup. "Julie, I don't know why you're here as you've clearly made up your mind already. You want to break up with Tomas."
"But how do I tell him?"
Wednesday, May 11, 2005. 07:42 UTC
Deep Space, Tallah
Stephanie McDermott leaned over the edge of the medtank and coughed her lungs out.
Louie tried to suction the oxygenating fluid out of her, but McDermott kept brushing the tube away. "Fine, do it the hard way,' she thought.
Once Stephanie's lungs were clear and she could breathe normally, she asked, "Where am I?'
"You are aboard a starship, the Tallah. The ship is approximately an hour's travel from the Taasbah system."
"Tallah... I know I've heard that before... Morton?" She felt confused, as if something was very wrong or very right with her and she couldn't tell which it was.
"Yes, Arthur Morton is the owner of this ship."
"Why am I here?"
"You have had your collar removed while being being treated for nervous system trauma and a pre-cirrhotic liver. How do you feel?" She'd been instructed by Arthur not to mention having her brain chemistry rebalanced.
"What are you? A doctor?" Judging by the breasts, the technician was female, but her arms had an extra elbow and it looked like she was standing on tip-toes, almost as if she was wearing a pair of invisible 6 inch heels. She wasn't human or abo or male, so she didn't particularly care what the alien was.
"No, I am a Medical Technician, Second Class. The Tallah does not carry a Healer at this time. How do you feel?"
Stephanie reached toward her neck. The collar was gone. So was her slave belt. She initially thought that was wrong before wondering why she thought that. "Ok, I guess. I could use a drink. Why do you ask?"
"The next patient is waiting. I need to perform maintenance on the tank before she starts treatment."
Stephanie didn't give a rat's ass about that. But the parts of her not in the tank were getting cold. She could see a terry cloth robe and a pair of towels draped over a rack. After climbing out, she got dried off and donned the robe and a pair of ship's slippers.
Ste was turned over to another alien and escorted to the other end of the medical section by what looked like a pink female bodybuilder. A Hawaiian girl she'd seen around the embassy, whose name she couldn't remember or even pronounce, gave her a death glare as she walked the other direction.
"The water shower is in here along with some clothes that should fit. Get cleaned up and get dressed. The owner wants to see you."
"What if I don't want to see him?"
"It's a long walk home."
She took her time. The water was hot and at a good pressure. Scrubbing the residue of the oxygenation fluid didn't take long, but the hot water was a considerable luxury for a starship in her limited experience. No shampoo, not that her hair had grown back much, but the small bar of soap looked liked it'd been lifted from a hotel. Eventually, she decided she was done. The towels also looked hotel issue and not a very good hotel at that. But the clothes were odd. The medium gray bra and panty were very basic in appearance, nothing she would have bought for herself, although the clearly synthetic material was quite comfortable. The dark blue pants and t-shirt were made of heavier versions of the same material and fit well enough. No socks, but the slightly stretchy non-skid ship slippers made socks unnecessary. Finding no more excuses to delay, she left the shower room.
Stephanie and her escort exchanged maybe a dozen words on the short walk from the medical section to Arthur's office. He was a kid. Tall, thin, blonde, wearing gray sweats and a red Ohio State football jersey, with 49 emblazoned on the front and sleeves, but if he was more than 17 or 18, she'd eat her non-existent hat.
When he spoke, he didn't sound like a kid. "Miss McDermott, how are you doing?"
"Like I told the purple girl, I could use a drink," Stephanie informed him.
Arthur reached into a small refrigerator behind him, pulled out a Coke® for her and something she didn't recognize for himself. While that wasn't the type of drink she'd meant, she accepted it eagerly enough and drank deeply.
"Miss McDermott, you were enslaved on charges of possession of Grey with intent to distribute that both of us know were completely bogus."
"That's what I said! Those abo $*#$ put a collar on me anyway!"
"Calm. Down," Arthur said with quiet authority. "I know those charges were bogus. That's why I snatched you from the embassy. The other slaves I grabbed were an unintended consequence of rescuing you."
Stephanie almost continued her incipient tirade, but he'd come for her specifically? "Did my father send you?"
"No. I sent me." While Arthur knew a bit about Edward McDermott, he'd never actually met the man. Whether or not he'd sponsor a rescue attempt of his daughter was unknown, but not inconceivable.
"Why?" In Stephanie's experience, nobody did anything for nothing. Everything was transactional and altruism didn't exist. Even her relationship with her father was that way.
"I've asked myself that very question. I think it's mostly because I don't like slavery. But in your case, you weren't guilty of the Grey charge. No matter what else you might have done."
Her normal reflex would have been to deny everything, particularly if there had been a handy scapegoat nearby. But she honestly didn't believe there was anything she was particularly guilty of. Yes, she treated her subordinates, particularly any slaves among them, harshly. That was what they were there for.
"We need to determine what your status will be on board this ship until such time as I can return you to your father."
"Take me home now!" Stephanie demanded.
"If you had been the only slave rescued, I'd be doing that. You're not. Nobody goes home until all of you can go home. Unless the Terran Empire catches us first, sends you all back to Abo and they put collars back on your necks."
Stephanie reached up and felt were her collar had been. Again she felt its absence to be both reassuring and concerning. Which had the effect of making her cautious. "How long?"
"That depends on how this trip goes. I've only got one med tank and it takes a week or two to remove a collar. Yours took a full two weeks because of the nerve and liver damage."
Stephanie froze for a split second with the echo of pain, pain so exquisite that she liked it, needed it, flashing through her body. But that was stupid. She wasn't a masochist, although sex getting a little rough now and then was fine. "Liver damage?"
"Your liver showed significant scar tissue, most likely from excessive alcohol consumption." The med tank hadn't found signs of heroin use or hep B or C. There were other possible causes, but Arthur strongly doubted they applied. "The tank took care of it."
"Who gave you the right to mess with my body?"
"You did when you punched Louie after she told you we were going to remove your collar. You're not a crew member, or a paid passenger. Which means when you breach the peace on board this vessel, I have every legal right to throw you out an airlock. Or as I did, toss you in the tank."
He wasn't kidding. She'd studied some of the basics of the Interstellar Commerce Code, she was a lawyer after all. While Daddy Dearest had gotten her into the college of her choice, she'd passed the bar on her own the first try. 'Draconian' it might be, but it was also a dangerous galaxy out there. The safety of the ship was paramount. Instead of arguing a point she had absolutely no chance of winning, she returned to the topic at hand prior to the detour. "How long before I can go home?"
"Three to six months, unless I can pick up a couple more med tanks. Which is why we're about 10 light years from the Taasbah system, where I hope to get them. Which brings us to why I wanted to see you. Your fellow rescues feel you are responsible for their getting collars." He waited out a failed attempt at denial from Ms. McDermott. "As such, I expect they'll kill you if they think they can get away with it. Maybe even if they can't. So I'm going to keep you segregated from them for your own safety."
'If I don't want your protection?"
"I drop you off on Epsilon Eridani III with a kilo of tungsten and wash my hands of you. I strongly doubt you'd survive long. While you're not likely to be re-enslaved just walking down the street there, just learning what you can safely eat could be fatal."
Stephanie acknowledged the point. She was safer with this kid than she was on her own. If she kept her head down, she'd get what she wanted without lifting a finger. If she rocked the boat, she might have to learn how to breathe vacuum. That made the decision simple. "I'll stay here."
Arthur gave a short speech about her rights (negligible) and responsibilities (not onerous) and had Flora, the chief engineer, give the nickle tour. Pretty much everything dangerous was behind a door that wouldn't open for Stephanie, but would for the alien. Flora also explained that if Stephanie valued her life, she was to stay out of the engineering spaces and off the bridge.
After leading Stephanie through the basics on how to use the room's computer, food maker and recycler, as well as letting her know the cafeteria had real soda and coffee, Flora returned to the power room to continue work on her own projects.
Arthur made certain that Stephanie McDermott did not have access to the food maker's alcohol menu. Being a simple chemical, ethyl alcohol was easily synthesized by the LSU. Getting congeners right, for proper taste, was a bit trickier. This made equivalents to beer and vodka simple, but fruit based drinks like brandy or wine were a tougher trick. Either way, the ship could produce sufficient alcohol to pickle any liver. With a few exceptions, like Grey, most addictive drugs were available in effectively unlimited quantities as well. People susceptible to addiction didn't normally last too long in the greater galaxy, let alone the Tallah. While a med tank could treat the physical problems caused by abuse, dealing with the mental aspects of addiction wasn't as simple.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005: 09:00 UTC
Aaeloh orbit, Bastion, transient quarters.
The Army was a master at hurry up and wait. Alexis Olsen had been pulled off a task with new orders sending her back to Earth. It was two days before she actually boarded a shuttle to orbit. Finally, six weeks after she'd received those orders, the ship she'd transferred to was underway. Not just the Bastion, but a small fleet of support ships and cargo ships all heading home with the Bastion as convoy leader. Many of those on board were walking wounded, being sent back to Earth to treat wounds that were either insufficient to rate tank time or subject to conventional healing techniques. Her own lower abdomen had enjoyed the time off, getting a chance to fully heal after the sealed on panties had torn her skin because her current body was physiologically 14 years old and still growing.
Friday, May 13, 2005. 08:32 UTC
Luna, Port Oldridge, HIM office
"They're sure it was Arthur?" Mattie asked.
"Sure enough that they called it in," Crystal replied. "A Green Lantern, not me, thee or Todd, blipped into the Taasbah system, hauling a fair sized block of tungsten. Despite being warned off, he landed on Taia, Taasbah A III, bought two brand new med tanks and managed to get them into orbit before we could pin him down."
"That's a lot of brute force for someone who tries to finesse everything," Mattie noted. "Standard med tanks mass five tons each."
"The interesting part is when they tried to slap a tractor beam on him, he and the tanks disappeared in a flash of green light."
"Oh, so he was being clever." Mattie thought for a moment. "I'd be willing to bet a bundle that the Tallah is somewhere close to the Taasbah system."
"No bet. A couple of scouts are checking the nearest systems, but we haven't heard anything from them yet."
"Check my logic on this: Arthur, last I knew, had something like 75 tons on deposit with the Lantern Bank. That's more than enough to buy a dozen med tanks. Add that to the one on the Tallah and that's one for every slave he rescued. He bought two."
"Maybe that's all he could carry."
"Which one of us is the legimens around here? I was thinking the same thing."
"Also remember that two of the thirteen are Intelligence operatives covered as slaves."
"Arthur wouldn't know that and given his opinion of putting slave collars on people for any reason, I don't think he'd care."
"Would they out themselves to him?"
"They shouldn't. I'm not sure what he'd do if they did. He really hates the undercover slave bit, no matter that the results have been generally positive."
"To stay in character they'd have to at least pretend getting freed was a good thing."
"Once we get them back, we can launder their identities and send them back out, not to Abo, of course, but somewhere."
Crystal carefully did not answer.
Mattie thought some more. "Each med tank comes with one free program. I know he already has the program for humans. Find out what programs he did get. It might give us a clue of where he's hiding."
.oOo.
After dinner, Crystal informed Mattie that Arthur got a program for the co' and requested, but did not get, a program for the abo.
"I can see the one for the co'. I don't think he'd try hiding on Bismet, but the co' have three other planets and he's well regarded in the Hegemony. But he'd be a fool to return to the Realm of Abo anytime soon."
"If Star ever runs off with Arthur, it would be a nice thing to have."
"No matter how much it would massage his ego, I doubt Star would actually run off with Arthur of her own volition. I also doubt my fiancé would actually run off with her." In response to Crystal's lack of comment, Mattie added, "Yes, I do have that much faith in him."
Monday, May 16, 2005. 16:55 UTC
Luna, Port Oldridge, Supreme Court
Five minutes before the close of business on the last day possible, The Imperial Supreme Court received a letter from Albus Dumbledore's attorney requesting an appeal of the two death sentences he'd got the previous month. The seven eligible justices stayed an extra ten minutes and denied the appeal without comment. Since it was after 17:00, the official rejection would be counted as occurring the next day and the final appeal would be directly to Her Imperial Majesty no later than close of business on May 24th.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005. 09:35 UTC
Luna, Starport Luna, Luna Justice Center, Courtroom 2.
Selina Wayne and her new lawyer looked around the same room whee Connie Koslowski had been sentenced to 4 years plus probation on a charge of felony assault. She was charged as an accessory in that same crime.
"My client pleads Not Guilty and requests a jury trial," Kyle Brandt informed the court. He was a relatively young up and comer from the criminal law firm Dewey, Williams and Howell, informally known by their clients as "Dewey, Billum and Howe' for the price of their very effective services. He'd taken full advantage of his two week adaption period not only to adjust to the local gravity, but to come up to speed on the somewhat patchwork legal code the loonies operated under. Killing someone to prevent rape, murder or holing was perfectly acceptable and they had deported people over multiple littering charges.
"Luna is not heavily populated. We don't have enough people to use an American style jury selection system. Each side get's one dismissal of a potential juror without cause. All other challenges require cause and given Ms. Wayne's fame as Imperial Regent, no dismissals on the grounds that she might know or be known by a potential juror will be accepted. Is this clear Mr. Brandt?"
"Yes, Your Honor."
Selection of the jury took two hours. Brandt wasn't happy with the quality of the jury pool. They were too smart. While it wasn't as bad as he'd heard, where a 'dreg' was someone who didn't have their second Doctorate yet, the population was filled with careful, logical, responsible people who could tell fact from fiction, the type he normally fought like hell against having as jurors.
Having taken so long, the judge adjourned for lunch and ordered everyone back for opening statements at 13:00.
Kyle was demolishing a large pork tenderloin sandwich, his appetite hadn't adjusted to lunar gravity and reduced caloric needs yet. Selina nibbled at a small lemon herb Mediterranean chicken salad. Her appetite had been off since her incarceration. "Plan A isn't going to work. Maybe in Gotham, it would have, but not here," she said. Six morons, good and true, simply weren't available.
"Which is why we have plans B and C," her lawyer replied. "I'll attack that tape with everything I've got. You start batting your eyes at the male jurors. The female jurors too, if you think it'll work."
"I want your firm to get all the data it can on juror number six. If I'm selling myself, I want to know who I'm selling myself to." While not as handsome as Bruce, she could stand beside him without his looking too out of place.
"I'll call it in now. We'll have at least the basics covered by tomorrow."
Selina nodded and returned her attention to lunch.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005. 08:55 UTC
Luna, Starport Luna, Luna Justice Center, Courtroom 2
"Forget about juror six. He's gay," Kyle informed his client.
"He wouldn't be the first gay man I've seduced." As she remembered, it was a very fun night, made even better by the cash and artwork she'd stolen afterwards.
"TMI, Ms. Wayne. Besides, to get him to flip would require more time than you have. Not without risking a tampering charge." Compared to the lawyer serving delays available on Earth, lunar justice operated at near warp speed, but without any easily exploitable flaws. The judge had been tough, but fair. Despite his best efforts, the video of the encounter between Diana Prince, Connie Koslowski and his client had been allowed as evidence. His attempt to have it declared prejudicial instead of probative had been denied. Clear evidence did not mean improper.
The jury had had a night to think about it, no doubt to his client's detriment. "Ms. Wayne, at this point we may need to take drastic action."
'"How drastic?" There were many 'drastic' things she might do, but none that she particularly thought were good ideas. Escape was still on the table, although becoming a fugitive was something she'd prefer to avoid.
"You might consider testifying."
"In open court!?" Like in the US, silence could not be considered evidence of guilt.
"I said 'drastic', didn't I?" Kyle asked rhetorically. "While silence is your right and cannot be held against you in law, in practice it happens." This was something that Selina was thoroughly aware of.
"At this point, I think throwing Miss Koslowski under the bus, or better, having her throw herself under the bus for you, is your best option. My question, before the trial resumes is: 'Will she go for it?'"
"I don't want to involve her, but I don't see why we can't ask. The only way I'd consider testifying is if she sets the table for me."
Wednesday, May 18, 2005. 10:45 UTC
Luna, Starport Luna, Luna Justice Center, Courtroom 2
Connie turned Selina down flat. It had been Selina's idea to visit Diana Prince in the first place. If she was doing four years for battery, Selina could damn well serve time for being an accomplice. "If I'd only acted sooner," Selina thought, "maybe I could have convinced Connie to help.' Which left her with only one option, throwing Connie under the bus.
Using the same video he'd fought like hell to have thrown out, Kyle Brandt explained how it showed that Selina Kyle wasn't capable of reigning in the Acting Empress and therefore could not be found guilty of being her accomplice.
Afterwards, both prosecution and defense gave their summaries, the judge gave instructions to the jury, specifically mentioning that Selina's silence couldn't be held against her. Deliberations would start after lunch.
.oOo.
Selina was not pleased with her daughter. She'd been present when Connie had plead no contest to battery charges, but had very much kept her distance during Selina's own trial. Was she still that pissed about the body modifications? Or the wardrobe? Or was it something else?
With half an ear she listened to the proceedings. Guilty. Not unexpected, but it was the first time in her life she'd ever been convicted of anything. That the untouchable Selina Wayne had been brought low on something as mundane as an accomplice to battery charge. That all her actions as Catwoman, Batwoman and even Regent had slid by and this, a fit of teenaged pique, would bring her down, even temporarily, grated her nerves.
Why had she even gone to see Diana Prince in the first place? Just to gloat? To make sure Diana knew she down and that she was going to damn well stay there? The offer from the Penang government had been a useful excuse, but delivering it herself, along with the Acting Empress, was overkill.
No matter. She would appeal the verdict, of course. But it would be better if she'd had something vaguely resembling grounds for such an appeal. She didn't, she knew it and simply didn't care. But being in the pokey would give her plenty of time to plan her counterstrike at Diana Prince.
Sunday, May 22, 2005. 16:52 UTC
Deep Space, Tallah
"Flora, the power feeds checked out?" Arthur asked his chief engineer. She and Kas'dra had removed two bulkheads to expand the treatment room to fit three med tanks instead of one.
"Yes, and Louie has run initial diagnostics on the new tanks and even made sure the human program will run on the new ones."
Louie added, "And since Miss Kalawai'a's treatment was successfully completed this morning, we can head for EEIII. The remaining diagnostics can run while we're in route and will be done long before we get there."
"If there were any major problems, I wanted to know about them before we left the area. I'm sure Mike will appreciate getting off babysitting duty."
Both aliens tapped their translator implants. That was a near universal sign that the translators had slipped an electron or three. No infants had been rescued from Abo. As far as Louie knew, none of those rescued had been pregnant either. What Arthur said made no sense.
"No longer need to guard them," Arthur clarified.
.oOo.
"Aim for Delta Eridani, we'll correct for EEIII when we get closer. Stay out of anyone's traffic control area, blah, blah, blah. You know the drill by now," Arthur told his navigator.
"'Aye aye."
"Anything on passive sensors?"
"All clear," Captain M'taab reported after checking. They'd been parked in the middle of nowhere for over ten days without even a gravity wave for company. If anyone was looking for them, they weren't doing it in realspace. They'd learn about jumpspace once they got there.
"Keep it to convoy speed for now. I know damn well we'll be detected by anyone within 100 light years the moment we hit jumpspace, so I want us to look as harmless as possible."
"Aye aye."
Arthur pulled out his best Jean-Luc Picard impression, "Engage."
The universe shifted and the Tallah was doing 5 ly/hr in the general direction of Delta Eridani, about 15 light years past Epsilon Eridani and a little to the left as seen from Earth. The passive sensors picked up numerous ships underway, veritable chains of them between the Taasbah system and the nearest agricultural worlds of the former Solodokve Republic. Less solid chains of ships plied the routes from those agrarian systems to Aaeloh and between Aaeloh and Taasbah. It was much more traffic than they'd seen on the way in. And every last one of those ships that carried passive sensors wold know that a ship had just popped in from the middle of nowhere.
"Display closest contacts," Arthur told the computer. The holo expanded, focusing on a bubble that didn't even reach the Tasbaah system and held three ships, one of which pinged them immediately. They were less than two light years away, well within comm range.
"Captain M'taab, do we ping them back?" Arthur asked as he moved to the communications panel from the captain's chair.
'I would not. I would answer if they hail us. Until then, we can play dumb and pretend we do not have passive sensors. They are not standard for this class vessel."
Arthur's potential decision was derailed by being hailed.
"Co'aal Hegemony Vessel Claws of Tonk'n to unidentified vessel. Shear off now. We are in pursuit of hostile vessel."
Arthur nodded to the navigator, who turned the ship sharply to starboard and away from the track of both the other vehicles. Who were both hauling ass. The warship was pulling in excess of 30 ly/hr and the ship they were after was pulling at least 45 ly/hr in headlong flight.
While out of range for ship mounted energy weapons, the fleeing vessel was well within missile range. But the Tallah didn't detect any missiles in flight. As Arthur pondered the situation, a new drive signature bloomed on the display and made everything else look slow.
"Message torpedo," the navigator commented as they watched the signature streak away in the general direction of Bismet.
"That is twelve tons of tungsten out the airlock. Whatever they're after has to be worth at least that," Captain M'taab added.
"They're military, it's not like they're paying the bill themselves," the navigator replied contemptuously.
Arthur had told Ganthet he couldn't take the ring without taking the job that came with it. Whether or not the Co'aal vessel told the truth, he had the ability to assuage his curiosity. With a thought, he changed into his Green Lantern costume. Black from head to toe with green accents and a lantern symbol on his left shoulder as a badge. "Green Lantern 2814.5 calling Claws of Tonk'n. Do you require assistance?"
It was a good ten seconds before the Co'aal vessel responded. After all, Green Lanterns were rare. What were the odds of one being on board a freighter in the middle of nowhere? "Those offspring of unmated parents have stolen Taxa Tran S'weiss Br'kat, our greatest bio-chemist. We want her back."
Among the Co'aal, four names was either royalty or a 'Hero of the People'. A non-royal female with four names was something he'd never heard of before. Such uniqueness might justify the price tag of the message torpedo speeding at a good 6 light years per minute towards its goal. It would also explain why they hadn't simply lobbed a missile at the fleeing vessel. Unless it was carrying some extremely non-standard tech, there was no way it could resist even a small nuke, let alone the roughly 25 megaton warhead common to light cruisers. Of course, if he remembered correctly, that would cost the firing ship well over 30 tons for the missile and its warhead. War is not cheap. "Investigating now, Claws of Tonk'n. Green Lantern 2814.5, out."
.oOo.
The fleeing ship's hostility was proven when it both fired at him as soon as he got within four light years in the compressed reality of jumpspace and started accelerating beyond the 45 ly/yr speed it was already doing. Arthur put on a burst of speed, slipped past the ship's shields and hull by moving into a tangential six dimensional space compared to the one the ship was in and placed himself square on the bridge. "Easy or hard, your choice."
When the ship's officers drew sidearms and fired, Arthur muttered, "Hard it is."
Much to his attacker's surprise, the yellow lasers didn't burn holes through their target, being stopped cold by a green aura. The ring's weakness to yellow had been removed when Parallax had escaped from the Central Power Battery and after his return there, the weakness was something that could be overcome. Arthur's ability to deal with the Parallax anomaly was considered surprising among both his fellow trainees and Kilowog, the GL Corps 'master sergeant'. He'd been scared. He'd gotten over it. Dating the daughter of Batman and Catwoman will do that. Comparatively, three yellow laser pistols were nothing to fear.
Quickly draining the charge from the pistols, he trussed his attackers in emerald chains before telling his ring to find co' life signs. To his surprise, there were two. He ordered the slave running the navigation board to slow down and very unsurprisingly, the slave did, slowing to less than 1 ly/hr. It would take the Co'aal ship under twenty minutes to catch up, while the Tallah would take about two hours at convoy speed to do the same.
.oOo.
"How much do you know of the Co'aal?" the female co' asked, her infant son held on her hip.
"Not much," Arthur admitted. "Most of the ones I've met personally seem to be decent folks. But I haven't met too many of them."
"Unless you are very unusual, you probably have not met any older female co'."
"I don't think so. I did notice that females generally don't have much status among the co', but I don't know why." The only reason he'd ever met the Co'aal in the first place was they wanted to negotiate with a male instead of Mattie herself.
"A female co' possesses a gland that produces hormones required for healthy offspring. It has a side effect of permanently reducing their intelligence by an average of 10% with each pregnancy. A co' of average intelligence becomes too stupid and feral after her second or third child to risk having more. Fortunately, I am not average." Jiggling the child on her hip she added, "Little K'ta here is my sixth child."
"You seem intelligent enough to me," Arthur replied. "Either you started out as the smartest female on your planet or your intelligence loss is well blow average."
"Not the most intelligent female. But my intelligence loss averages a mere 1%. What does that tell you?"
Arthur thought about it as the ship dropped out of jumpspace. The Co'aal light cruiser would arrive in 14 or so hours, they'd had a bad drop from jumpspace and didn't have a subspace driver. It could have been worse. Since the gravity on Co'a was a bit higher than Earth's, they could use more thrust than humans could readily tolerate.
Eventually, Arthur answered, "Given that little K'ta there looks to be healthy, there must be some factor, genetic or chemical, that mostly neutralizes whatever causes the intelligence reduction while still allowing for a viable pregnancy."
"Well done, Lantern. Most members of my own species do not understand that. Wait, allow me to rephrase. Most members of my species will not admit that they understand that."
What followed was a bio-chemistry lecture, most of which went clean over Arthur's head. Certain points were clear enough. She'd been declared a 'Hero of the People' for her work in finding counteragents to several addictive and deadly drugs introduced to the Co'aal by their long standing enemies, the Bahee and the Solodokve Republic. Her current work was discovering the basis of why she and a few other female co' were mostly immune to the intelligence loss phenomenon and how to spread that benefit to the rest of their female population. It had been a long standing goal for the Co'aal, but Taxa had made some actual progress. A potential counter agent was in clinical trials and was being checked for side effects on both the mothers and their children.
While there were many co' who wished to see this experiment pan out, there were others who did not. That group had two factions. One that wanted to make sure this never happened and the other wanted the secret restricted to themselves and to hell with every other co' in existence. It was the latter faction that had managed to kidnap her.
"Which side are the people in the Claws of Tonk'n on?" Arthur asked.
"I cannot be certain," Taxa replied. "The royal family supports and funds my research, but there have been several senior military officers that have been dismissed from their duties for being openly hostile to the Imperial will."
Given how conformity seemed to be a defining trait among the Co'aal he'd met, Arthur found that revelation to be particularly interesting. A public success would have clear implications to Co'aal society. Conservatives generally preferred the status quo and something like this would clearly upset it. Militaries tended to be socially conservative. A plus B equalled potential problem.
"If you feel it unsafe to go with the Claws of Tonk'n, I can easily take you and your son to Bismet." It was the closest Co'aal planet and Prince Enzo was his father's Regent there.
"If the Claws of Tonk'n wanted me dead, I'd be dead," Taxa replied calmly. "We should be safe enough."
Arthur nodded in agreement. "I hate to admit it, but I'm in a bit of a hurry. I've other tasks that I should be attending to. If you'll permit me to fly you to the Claws of Tonk'n I can be about them."
"What then of this ship?"
"It's worth eighty tons if it's worth a gram and I don't want the slaves on board killed for being victims of circumstance... Guess I'll take it with me. All the slaves I've seen on board look like Workforce girls except for two Karnans and I've already got the medical program for both species on file. I'll offer to manumit them and get their collars off if I can."
"That is most generous of you."
Arthur shrugged. "I'll turn the males who were in charge here over to the Co'aal ship. No doubt they'll be interrogated. I can live with that, even if they aren't likely to."
It was made so.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005. 16:52 UTC
Luna, Port Oldridge, HIM office
With a whole eight minutes to spare, an appeal for clemency in the case of Crown v Dumbledore arrived and was duly logged into the system. Dumbledore's life and death now awaited her Majesty's pleasure.
It wasn't a long wait.
Warning: Death
Friday, May 27, 2005. 09:30 UTC
Luna, Starport Luna, Imperial Executioner's office
Neal Murphy had the worst job in the Terran Empire. He was HIM Martha the First's Executioner. While HIM could, theoretically, pull the trigger, throw the switch, press the button or lop off the head herself, in practice that task had been turned over to him. As such, he was given wide latitude in reviewing death sentences. There had been several of those in regards to Albus Dumbledore's attempted regicide and there would be more to come.
Which didn't make it any easier.
After reviewing the case's transcript and evidence, he could see no reason to spare the wizard's life. Believing that if an execution was to be performed, it was best done quickly. He'd ordered Albus Dumbledore to the execution chamber. When asked for his last words, the condemned man replied, "What I have done was done for the Greater Good."
The head was displayed on a pike, with several others, in front of the entrance to the Imperial Assembly. The body was sent to Scotland.