El Tercio Corazon Negro
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I don't own Castle as I don't own many things. Rating: K Time: An AU future
Author's note: This story is set in the same fictional universe as my story Vengeance, but none of the characters from that story appear here. You might see a familiar face or two, however.
"The High Court of the State of Pomerania, sitting in the City of Stettin, is now in session." Droned the bailiff." All rise for the Honorable Justice Willa von Goetz, sitting as Justice of the Admiralty Court." When the Justice had entered and had taken her seat, the bailiff intoned. "You may sit."
Justice von Goetz was arranging the documents in front of her when a tall, white haired and white bearded man rose. He was dressed in a rather bedraggled white robe and sandals. "I must protest this entire proceeding. We have done nothing wrong, yet we were taken here by the un-Godly to face persecution by the un-Godly. We are a simple, peace loving people and only want the justice that only God can give."
Justice von Goetz waited a few seconds so that she did not lose her temper, then spoke. "Elder von Demming, we have explained these proceedings to you and I will not do so again. I will point out, however, that justice is in God's province, while we humans provide law. You might also recall that I earlier advised you to hire a proper advocate and not rely on an expert in canon law from your somewhat obscure Christian sect."
Elder Hamel, the canon law expert, looked as if he might say something, then resumed staring at the documents on the table before him.
Justice von Goetz looked at Herr Zeigler, a proper advocate. He was a naval reserve officer, well versed in Admiralty law as his prior handling of Elders von Demming and Hamel had shown. The Justice was certain that the remainder of the proceedings would go smoothly.
"Herr Zeigler, are you ready to proceed?"
Zeigler smiled and bowed in a courtly fashion. "I am, Justice von Goetz. I should like to call as a witness, Colonel Javier Esposito."
Colonel Esposito took the stand, swore to tell the truth with his hand on a Bible. Because Pomerania was an advanced colony, and not given to being too trusting, a veradicator was placed on Colonel Esposito's wrist. It was possible to lie to a veradicator, but it was not at all easy.
"Colonel Esposito, please give your name for the record."
"Javier Elias Esposito."
"Of what nation are you a citizen?"
"Extremadura, on the planet Catalina, in the Europa Cluster."
"Your occupation?"
"I command and own a private military company, El Tercio Corazon Negro in Spanish, the translation would be the Black Heart Regiment."
"Could you briefly describe your unit?"
"We have three battalions each of three-line companies and one weapons company. In addition, we have a headquarters and communications company, an infantry gun company, a reconnaissance company, an engineer company, and a support company. I also own eighty-five percent of the armed transport Valeria Victrix."
"How many people were with you when you landed on the planet Eden?"
"The regiment was understrength, so I had fifteen hundred and six soldiers present and fit for duty and a crew of one hundred and nineteen for the ship."
"Will you please tell the Court, in your own words, what happened at the Eden colony?"
Esposito nodded and closed his eyes briefly to gather his thoughts. His mind went back to a time only a few short months ago…
"It all checks out with the intel we got." The sensor officer said, pulling his head out from the small cubicle where four ratings checked the various sensor arrays. "They have about ten thousand colonists on the planet, but are expecting a lot more. They have a fusion plant up and running and from the neutrino admissions, it's more than four times more powerful than ten thousand people need. Also, they have cut roads into the forests and cut away land for farms, but they have enough farms to feed themselves easily. If you look at their buildings…"
Esposito put his hand on the young officer's shoulder. "That's okay, but do they have any defenses?"
"If they do, they're better camouflaged than anything I've ever seen or even heard of."
"So, no defenses?"
"No, sir. Nothing."
The Colonel peered put his head in the cubicle and scanned the sensor readings. "No radar and no radio traffic. It's too much to expect they have a functioning spaceport."
"No, sir. Just a patch of cleared ground on the outskirts of the village."
Esposito smiled. "Excellent." He turned to the ship's captain who was at his elbow. "I suggest we go to battle stations and drop down and pay our friends a visit. They need to know what sort of things can happen this far away from civilization."
The Captain was, as they say, Master before God, and likely to give Him an argument, but a suggestion from the man who was effectively the owner should be heeded.
"Do we need to go to battle stations, Colonel?"
"It's always a bad idea to get into bad habits. If you're always ready for trouble, you're less likely to be surprised."
The Captain ordered battle stations.
The Valeria Victrix had been built as a simple transport ship when Captain Salzberg had bought her many years before. He had done well for a while, but runs of bad luck had gotten to the point where he was unable to pay the crew. Rather than be sued for back wages which would have forced him to sell his ship, he had given shares in the ship to the crew, although he kept a majority share of the stock. Further bad luck followed and eventually the crew, collectively, owned more of the ship than he did. The result was chaos. Discipline vanished and every decision was argued over interminably and no decisions were ever reached. Colonel Esposito had shown up and offered to take the crew's share of the ship for cash money. Salzberg had stayed on as the captain as did a few other officers.
The Valeria Victrix was hardly armed as a warship. She had two missile launch tubes, and no reloads, plus directed energy weapons that covered every aspect of the ship. Most of her weapons were for use on a planet. She had 25mm guns, 75mm guns and two precious 155mm guns, with little ammunition.
The colonists on the ground eventually noticed the forty thousand-ton ship dropping down silently to their makeshift spaceport. They could not see that the ship's guns were manned and that fire control radars scanned out to the horizon. They could have done nothing if they had known.
Once the Valeria Victrix had landed, two small open topped, four-wheel drive vehicles drove down a ramp and drove to the nearest colonists, a teenaged boy and girl, both dressed in white robes that covered them from neck to ankles.
The first vehicle carried Col. Esposito, Captain Obregon, his aide, Major Flores, the regiment's contract officer, and a driver. All were dressed in a sharp grey dress uniform that Esposito had designed for when he met with prospective clients. Leather work gleamed as did metal insignia and their peaked caps were all set at a jaunty angle. The second vehicle also contained four men, but these were dressed in combat camouflaged fatigues with body armor and helmets. Ammunition for their assault rifles bulged in their pouches. A medium machine gun was mounted on a pintle in the middle of the vehicle.
Esposito smiled at the two young colonists. "Good morning. I'm Colonel Javier Esposito. I'm here to see your leader, Elder von Demming. Can you tell me where I might find him?"
The boy stood there with his mouth agape. Finally, the girl waved vaguely towards the village. "The church."
Luckily for Esposito, there was no mistaking the enormous white building complete with a steeple and a cross atop that. The two vehicles accelerated away to the church. Arriving, Esposito and his two officers walked inside, smiling at the dozen or so people standing on the church steps with shocked looks on their faces.
Inside, they saw a group of white robed men sitting at a table before the altar.
"Good day to you, sirs. I am Colonel Javier Esposito and I need to see Elder von Demming on a matter of some urgency."
A tall, portly man stood up and glared at Esposito. Esposito guessed that a glare was his default expression. "I assume by your use of the title of colonel, that you are military?" Seeing Esposito nod, he went on. "Then we have no business with you. We are a peaceful people who refuse to countenance violence in any form. Please leave us."
"Elder von Demming." Said an older man with a white beard to his waist and no hair on his head. "These men have come a long way to speak with us. It would be uncharitable to send them away without listening to them. Simple Christian politeness requires us to offer them bread and wine." He turned to Esposito. "Please, join us gentlemen. I am Elder Wachter." He turned away to someone standing in the back of the church, out of the sight of the soldiers. "Ruth, bread and wine, please."
Ruth came out with bread, wine and a scowl. The three soldiers ate and drank with a smile on the faces. The Elders ate stolidly and did not smile. As they ate, Esposito noticed the church was filling up with people.
"Now, what is your matter of urgency?" Elder von Demming said, sourly.
"You are quite a distance from any other inhabited planet and there are pirates and raiders out here beyond the frontier."
"We are a peaceful people." Von Demming snapped. "We have very little and I cannot imagine any raiders coming for what little we have. And even if they do, we are pacifists. We could not, would not oppose them by force, either ourselves, or by employing you. I think that is enough. You may leave now, Colonel."
"Please, Elder von Demming." Said Elder Wachter. "Let the man finish so that we may know what we face."
Von Demming glared at Wachter but did nothing else.
"Please continue, Colonel."
"There is a pirate operating in this area of the trans-frontier area who calls himself Captain Pi. It is suspected that he's backed by the Han Worlds who are backed by China on Earth."
"Mere speculation." Growled von Demming.
"What is not speculation is that he exists and he has raided another planet within twenty light years of your colony here at Eden. As far as you having nothing he would want, you have a fusion power plant that is worth perhaps a half a million UK crowns. You have valuable farm equipment and a store of food that Captain Pi's men need. And you have people. Most of your colonists are young and healthy, as befits a colony just starting out. Your attractive young women will be seized and sold to brothels and possibly some young men. Others can be sold to places like the Nelbidian mines on Xoranthos. The Nelbinians have no love for humans. The remainder would be murdered."
"Father!" Said a female voice from the crowd that had gathered in the church. "These men are un-Godly. They kill for a living, thus violating the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." I do not doubt that violate the others as well."
"My daughter, Thomasina, is filled with the Holy Spirit." Elder von Demming said.
Thomasina was a tall, red faced and very portly young lady with the beginnings of a mustache on her upper lip.
Esposito smiled. "As a good Orthodox Catholic I do not consider myself un-Godly and I assure you that I have never worshipped a graven image. Some other commandments I may have broken, but does not God hate the sin, but love the sinner?"
TBC