Previous Next

Tribunal Part 3 - Confessions

Posted on Thu Jun 13th, 2019 @ 1:28pm by Captain Enalia Telvan & Petty Officer 2nd Class Ila Dedjoy & Death & Az'Prel & Kodria Mizu & Hera & Baroness 2nd Class Schwein von Alcott & Baroness 3rd Class Sarika & Commander Rita Paris & Lieutenant Commander Thex sh'Zoarhi & Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox & Lieutenant Commander Sonak & Lieutenant Asa Dael & Lieutenant Samuel Clemens XV & Lieutenant JG Rena Pacci & Petty Officer 2nd Class 'Big Ethel' Jablonski & Petty Officer 3rd Class S'Rina Wil'I'Ams & Petty Officer 3rd Class V'Nus Wil'I'Ams & Jaeih Dox-t'Aan
Edited on on Mon Jul 1st, 2019 @ 11:16am

Mission: Fractured Fairy Tales
Location: Artan Family orbital Fortress Trial Hall
Timeline: 2396, Tribunal Part 3
Tags: Tribunal III

Continued from Tribunal - Parlimentary Procedures...

”There was rather an extended look at the bridge of the Bloody Rose once we could freeze the program and look around. It was quite the act of vanity to use a holo of her actual bridge, but we were quite appreciative for the opportunity to look around it."

"If your collected graces will note, here is that particular holo image, complete with an analysis of the stations. I present to you, the bridge of the Bloody Rose, for those unfamiliar with it." Winding up for this one, Rita couldn't suppress a bit of a wicked close-lipped smile, even as she could sense the rage building from the irate pirate queen. Showing off her bridge to everyone present was a bit of a violation, and Paris knew it fully well.

The pirate queen wasn't the only one who knew how to push buttons.

"Now, on that diagrammed tour of the bridge of the Bloody Rose, you’ll see a device marked as 'Agony Device', which is a Terran invention from the Mirror Universe. If you are not familiar with that term, here's the Fedepedia page, complete with a description of their traditional 'Agony Booth', which causes every nerve ending in the body to suddenly register pain, on a sliding scale of intensity. It can and has killed people by destroying their will to live, through inescapable, inexorable, unbearable agony." The ancient astronaut peered at the crew that accompanied Captain Arenara Artan, and a few of those minor officers at the back shuddered a bit when she spoke of the device.

Clearly, they had felt the effects of the device themselves.

Which, while it was confirmation of their theory, was still a shame. Rita would really liked to have been wrong about that, and she felt badly for those poor officers. The extradimensional explorer's eyes flickered to Az'Prel, to lock eyes with the woman who knew the horror of such a device intimately. Then she gazed across the assemblage of pirates and crews, letting that explanation sink in for a few seconds.

"This model is an extrapolation on that base principle, and instead uses the starships SIF generators to simply inflict the 'agony' effect at will, upon anyone and everyone simultaneously, anywhere across the ship. It's a leap forward in the technology, and a brutal abomination that shows you just what sort of a captain sits in that chair. They are known and highly illegal in Federation territory, bearing a charge akin to a war crime. Which would make the inventor of such technology a war criminal, Mr. Mudd."

The crowd went into excited gasps and murmurs at all of that, particularly as the information was digested by the assembled Baronesses and crews. While Rita didn't have a shred of proof, guessing who built the new and improved agony booth didn't take a kolinahr to figure out. The noose was already tightening, and there might just be time for an investigation and interrogation and she strongly suspected a plea bargain. But that was then, this was now. Time to redirect again- change course now that you've tacked into the wind, sailor.

"Baroness Sarika, being made aware of the situation with Baroness von Alcott led you to a bit of an unpleasant discovery about your own cyberware, of which you also have logs and evidence to corroborate?" Paris redirected to the next link in the chain of evidence, building the case methodically, but most certainly without tedium.

Standing and leaning against her own balcony railing, it was obvious that she was pissed. "Indeed I do, as well as a confession! Since the Tribunal had been declared, I had been bothered by headaches and pain. I thought it was due to the stress because my workload had shot up considerably and my cybernetics are not known for their stability at times."

"However, when I was escorted to a meeting with the Princess aboard the USS Hera and entered a dampening field, explaining that Schwein had been hit with a nasty bit of malware, I allowed myself to be scanned for such things. Much to my surprise, in one of my arms and eyes, a small AI virus was festering in them, causing not only my headaches, but changing my actions and what I saw on the fly!"

"When I returned to my own holdings, I investigated this further on my own and found that those aboard the Hera were correct in assuming that the main virus was in my charging station. I immediately had a new one made and quarantined the old one for these proceedings and launched an independent investigation into how it was delivered."

It turns out that my second... The man that I trusted for four years... Had been bribed and turned to the Queen's side with the promise of being given my Barony!" Sarika then motioned for her former second to be brought out for the confession.

Two large guards escorted the effeminate man in stocks to the center of the room where he was forced to kneel before Sarika's balcony and repeat his confession. "It was me! She paid me to plant that virus! Four months ago, she paid me in ores and promised me your barony. I kept up our daily challenges just as a joke at that point."

As Sarika glared down at the man, she obviously wanted to murder him right then and there. Instead, when she spoke, there was venom in her voice. "I believe there is still a Klingon bounty on your head. If Starfleet doesn't want you, I'll be turning you into them."

She then motioned that he be removed. As he was dragged from the hall, it dawned on him how much he messed up and he screamed and yelled for Sarika to please forgive him, but she turned her back, her cybernetic arms clenched to herself as a soft murmur went through the other balconies wondering if the others present had similar viruses.

That's when Enalia stepped in, softly shushing them. "Ladies, if you were experiencing headaches or other abnormal physical signs of fatigue from your cyberware, then you were infected. I have had the antivirus AI of the USS Hera extend itself to the fortress at our arrival and apply the antivirus in as many places it could."

"According to reports, there is now no sign of infection in any system connected directly or indirectly to the Fortress for the past three days." She then motioned for Rita to continue as she still had the most important of the evidence to present.

“Thank you, Captain. Next on the list of charges is the attempted assassination of Baroness Mnhei’sahe Dox, or Lieutenant Dox, as she’s known on the Starship Hera,” Paris added, unable to pass up the opportunity for identity reinforcement. “In amongst the crates of welcoming gifts from various baronesses was an assassin droid, armed with a particularly virulent toxin, which is quite distinctive. During the course of the assault, one Ensign Rafael Paulson was murdered, and Lieutenant Dox barely managed to overcome the assassin and escape with her life.”

“The droid was traced back to one Theran T’Werska, and when a team was dispatched to bring him in for questioning, the Starfleet Security officer accompanied by Baroness von Alcott encountered hostile resistance. He was brought in, and stands prepared to testify today, knowing full well the penalties that he faces according to UFP law.” Paris paused to offer a nod to Petty Officer Jablonski, who made the call and the prisoner was escorted into the room flanked by a pair of Amazonians in Starfleet gold uniforms.

“While there has been talk of clemency in exchange for testimony, no deal has been struck with Federation prosecutors. I want that established now, as Starfleet is determined to bring full transparency to these proceedings,” Paris explained. “There are far too many systems currently monitoring the perpetrator for anyone but a true sociopath to effectively lie at this point, and many of you possess your own means of divining truth from falsehood- so let’s hear that testimony. Mister T’Werska, please address the Tribunal and tell your story.”

Stepping forward was a tall Romulan man, looking to be somewhere in his mid-twenties. He was dressed in a neutral gray one-piece prisoner's uniform. His hair was the standard Romulan bowl cut, with pointed bangs framing the forehead ridges more and more common among their people. From across the room, Mnhei'sahe Dox's already rapid Romulan heartbeat quickened and she felt her blood run hot.

This was the first time she had gotten to look at the man that was responsible for the death of Ensign Paulson, and the man that very nearly caused her own death not long ago. This was the first time that she had even heard his name. She squinted, shooting daggers across the room at the man as her mother put a calming hand on the young officer's thigh.

His voice was steady and controlled as he spoke. "My name is Theran t'Werska. For 6 years I have served on the crew of Baroness Sienae Nei'rrh as an engineer. 4 months ago, I was called into a secret council meeting with Julla Poam, the Queen Regent's second, to discuss the matter of the upcoming tribunal and the appointment of a Starfleet Officer to the position of Baroness, in order to sway votes in the favor of Princess Telvan."

"In that meeting, I was given instructions to procure a Scorponex 7 Assassin droid, and instructed to provide this droid, disguised as a pendant, in a box with the name of the Baroness' maternal grandmother as a gift. I was provided with a down payment and the funds necessary to purchase the droid with the remainder to be delivered upon completion. Whereupon I would be transferred to the Romulan Refugee Station 339-A to be extracted and paid." t'Werska's attention was focused directly at Captain Magnus as he made a concerted effort to avoid eye contact with the Queen Regent, who was seething in her ornate throne.

Across the room, Dox scoffed quietly. For all her anger, he was little more than a delivery boy. It was the seething Queen Regent that truly deserved her rage, which she worked overtime to keep in check.

“Thus we expand the charges to include the Conspiracy to commit murder in regards to the Pirates of the Crab Nebula incident, as well as the attempted murder- another charge- of Lieutenant Dox, as well as the murder of Ensign Paulson.” Paris was trying to be dispassionate as she went through the charges, but only partially succeeding. “Now, there was that poisoned Saurian brandy as well as a few more tainted bottles that were found. As that evidence has been detailed by others already, we will just mention that too is attempted murder and conspiracy, again, another eleven counts.”

“By the same token, the shuttlecraft that attempted to suicide-bomb the USS Hera’s flight deck, killing Lieutenant Junior Grade Alex Strider, Chief Petty Officer C’huk, and Lieutenant Marston, who we believe may have been biochemically compromised. As yet, we’ve no proof to tie that crime to the Queen… but the timing is a bit coincidental.”

“OBJECTION! Speculation,” the Queen of the Artans called out, fed up with being stalled and hearing her name besmirched by the truth. But before the magistrate could rule, Paris held up her hands.

“Withdrawn, your honor. Let’s instead look to the collusion between Arenara Artan and the Orion Syndicate, shall we? That is in no way shape or form speculation, after all." Having chummed the waters with the minor charges, Rita had saved the best for last. Many of her crimes listed up til now might be considered piratical hi-jinks or offenses that earned a fine from the pirates. But this one broke the one unforgivable rule of the Artan family fleet- to consort with the enemy.

"You see, there was that raid on the Romulan Refugees mining colony at Dre'lax by Orion slavers. A brutal attack that was so precise, it was almost as if they had inside information. Now, those slavers were driven away by the surprisingly timely arrival of Arenara Artan's forces, right after the attackers had successfully hauled away an entire year's worth of minerals and ore. Frau Blucher, the former chief engineer of Princess Telvan's own starship, the Manticore, was in command of the defense of that colonies and was lost right as the attack began. Not from outside fire, but from a plasma bolt to the back of the head. We'll get back to her tragic loss in a moment, though."

"This attack occurred immediately after the public announcement of Captain Telvan's request for a Tribunal," Paris explained. "Timed as a distraction, as well as the sealing of an unholy alliance, complete with payoff to the slavers. Which might sound like a fanciful tale or an outrageous accusation... unless you had seen proof. Mrs. Dox, I believe you have something to share with the Tribunal?"

From their separate booth halfway across the room, Mnhei'sahe Dox turned to her mother and gave a nod, giving her the floor. It was the most minor of adherences to the pretense of parliamentary procedure in play among the pirates, but Baroness Dox offered it all the same.

Rising with a PaDD in hand, Jaeih Dox stepped to the front of the balcony, nodding first to her daughter then to Commander Paris. For them, she had the slightest of smiles that immediately vanished as she looked out across the Tribunal chamber. The terse elder Romulan woman looked around the room with thinly veiled contempt on her face and truncated the expected introduction with a blunt and slightly sarcastic, “You all know me.”

Pulling up her PaDD, Jaeih Dox called up the file, which appeared on every evidence screen PaDD in the room for all to see. “Procured from the Aehallh Station, time-stamped Stardate 59331.13. Observe.” She spent no time with any speeches, choosing to let the evidence and her tone speak for itself. As the recording began to play, she turned slowly to lock eyes with the Queen Regent. It was a hateful glare, making it abundantly clear that any former friendship between the two women was long gone.

One the screens was a meeting room on the Aehallh station. Standing behind a long, empty conference table was a tall, stockily-built jade-skinned humanoid male with thinning, close-cropped blue-black hair clad in a black military-style jacket. Flanked by two burly green-skinned security officers, there were audible murmurs from the assembled Baronesses as they all immediately recognized the man as Joran Herran'dor. After all, he was well-known to be a high-ranking member of the ruling council of the Orion Syndicate, and a dangerous operative.

Across the room, the doors whooshed open creakily, and Arenara Artan entered. Flanked by two security officers of her own, in the holo she was dressed much more subtly than she was here today, clad in a tight black leather jacket rimmed with gold-pressed latinum trim and buttons.

After eyeing each other for a long moment, the two grinned slightly as Arenara crossed the room and offered her hand.

As the two individuals who were supposed to be mortal enemies shook hands smiling on the screen, in the tribunal chamber there was an eruption of loud gasps of shock and outrage. Then the gasps began turning to first murmurs, and then into a cacophony of increasingly angry voices as the outrage of the Tribunal made itself heard.

“OBJECTION! This is obviously a fabrication-“ the Queen Regent began, before she was cut off by Captain Magnus, who brought his down, slamming the gavel hard.

“ORDER!” the commanding voice of the pirate lord rang out, the growl of menace in his voice making it abundantly clear just how angry he himself was in the moment. Magnus struggled to maintain order in the formal Tribunal, even as the evidence onscreen indicated that the entirety of the Artan family of pirates had officially been sold out to their worst enemies.

THERE WILL BY THE GODS BE ORDER, if I have to stun the lot of you to have it! You will SIT and be SILENT, and let the evidence be heard!”

The last few words were directed specifically at the captain and crew of the Bloody Rose, and raw emotion was clear to all in the raw, roaring voice of the pirate lord, who was practically shaking with barely-restrained rage himself.

As the individual balconies returned to order, the tone of the room had become an electric thing. Whatever was yet to transpire, what they had seen thus far was a massive betrayal of the Artan code, and rather strongly held personal opinions were already bringing sneers and snarls to faces across the hall, and hands to the hilts of weapons.

"TACTICAL SYSTEMS ENGAGED" came the overlay in Clemens' vision field, in blood red lettering just out of the main field of his enhanced vision. "F.R.I.D.A.Y. Initiative auto-engaged." Sam nodded slightly, and blinked to clear the overt messages down to status indicators along the base of his view. He quietly noted that the augmentations were a comfort, rather than a distraction, at this point.

As the footage continued, Arenara produced a PaDD and handed it to the Orion slaver and spoke. Her recorded voice echoed through the deathly silent room as her treason was laid bare.

“Master Herran'dor. What an absolute pleasure to see you again, I must say,” the pirate queen practically purred the words, honeyed venom that she was sharing with one of the most wanted men in the galaxy. Particularly amongst the Artan pirate fleet.

“I am pleased to find you... healthy, and clearly your... coffers have not been suffering thanks to our… alliance.” As she stood before the slaver, Arenara’s hand traced delicately across the forearm of the verdant-skinned slaver, who turned his hand over to take hers in his own as they spoke.

It was a gesture that, to nearly everyone present, suggested… intimacy.

"You honor me with your presence, Queen Regent." Herran'dor Gon leaned just a tiny bit on the word 'regent', the slightest of power plays. "Your messenger implied that this was a matter of some urgency. Should I perhaps presume that this has something to do with the tribunal your wayward daughter has just called forth? Duel to the death, you pirates are all so passionate about your traditions..."

“How very perceptive of you… I see that bad news travels fast in the underworld, the pirate queen admitted, sliding her rear onto the table to sit quite close to the slaver lord of the Kolari. Lowering her voice, she brought it down to a murmur which would be hard to hear from any distance. Fortunately, the room's sensors were excellent, and not a word was lost.

"Yes… Enalia, despite my gifts and guidance, is refusing to comply with the simplest of requests which means absolutely nothing to her. But so determined is she to deny me that she's willing to challenge me for the throne. While I appreciate determination, this headstrong position she is taking is… inconvenient. Of course, it's bad news for both of us, if you consider it." The raven-haired pirate leaned in closely with a grin spreading across her face as she shared bad news.

"Should Enalia take the throne, our business dealings would most certainly come to a halt, because she'd sooner turn you over for the reward, or just because it's her duty or somesuch notion. So without me, all of the advance warning of raids, intelligence on plum targets for you to pursue and shared profits between us would be no more." The buxom middle-aged woman sat back up and spread her hands to her sides, palms up.

"Instead we would return to the adversarial and destructive relationship we once shared. Which only the hardliners of my organization still desire. The elder Baronesses are too old and tired to be chasing about the galaxy, and the youngsters are all filled with righteous fury, never realizing the simple adult truths of the universe. Not truly understanding profit... or loss."

“Profit trumps whatever code they delude themselves to live by or whatever honor they think their actions glean It's all just pomp and pageantry, an excuse to play dress-up and fulfill childish fantasies monogamist the stars." Sliding off the table the leather-clad pirate queen in the designer coat took a few steps away, then looked back over her shoulder at the Orion Syndicate gangster.

"While they play their shadow games of chasing slavers, the slavers stay one step ahead… unless they displease their master. In which case they won’t have long to regret it when the bloodthirsty privateers catch them. Like your man Alejandro Quirz... whom we fed to the dogs, you and I.” Naming an infamous slaver who had been killed by Bloody Batra while resisting capture nearly five years ago, gasps and muttering radiated out like shockwaves across the tribunal.

In that moment it was established that this betrayal was not new- the timeline of betrayal was much longer than anyone could have imagined, and that was assuming that was as far back as it went. But still the recording continued, pouring forth damning evidence from the lips of the guilty party herself in a confessional she had never intended for public consumption.

“Enalia would end all of that. She's already left Magnus in charge, with his stick up his arse all the way to his brain. Left to their own devices they would dispatch my fleet to hunt slavers and root them out, to eliminate pirates who prey on the merchant fleets, and bring ‘honor’ to themselves,” Arenara’s lips curled into a scornful sneer at the mention of the word. "Honor to the Artan fleet. What does she know of honor? The willful wench who ran off to join Starfleet, of all things.”

"So…" the slave master said with a slight smirk, sitting down on his side of the conference table and tenting his fingers. "As you say, it is in our best interest to keep you where you are, then. And obviously, you have some need of my services, to ensure that this transfer of power does not come to pass? Am I correct?"

"My daughter, ever the impetuous strategist, has maneuvered circumstance to her advantage. She's recruited the daughter of an old ally, and granted her a Barony. Now she has another vote under her thumb, and it's connected. Years ago the Baroness Sienae Nei'rrh led a group of reunificationists, a Romulan refugee corps, as it were. Jaeih Dox smuggled them out, so Nei'rrh owes her that whole debt of honor thing. Enalia's elevated her brat to pull at Sienae's heartstrings to sway her vote. She'll spin them one by one."

Pacing slowly about the room, the sensor view shifted as it apparently followed the movement of the people in the room. "Schwein's her lapdog- if I can slaughter her little piggie, that will throw her off guard, and give me an advantage. Do you have any particularly nasty viruses for cybernetic eyes?"

"Visual code- they scan it, they've accepted the virus onboard their systems. You can plant it in a holoprogram, make it flash and they'll fall for it every time. We use it on prisoners, particularly liberated Borg, to make them behave when they're in transit between transactions." The slaver spoke casually of making sentient life chattel- yet it bothered Arenara clearly not at all. Waving his hand dismissively, the Syndicate sinister offered his simple guarantee."No matter how mighty, no one can do much while they feel like they've got an icepick jammed into their eyesocket."

"Name your price, but I'll want a package deal on this. I need an override for the cybernetics- a virus I can introduce that will let me edit the input and the logs. Hacking it on the fly, scanning for recordings I want edited or erased, create... blind spots for them. Anything like that?"

As everyone was watching the remarkably overconfident confession play out, Commander Rita Paris looked over to the Baroness von Alcott's balcony, catching the eye of Jablonski, who was watching the viewing box of the Queen Regent of the Arta Fleet. The petty officer glanced over to Paris for orders, who simply nodded and cocked her head slightly toward the grand balcony next to the Captain's. The message was clear, and Jablonski was not paying attention to the case. The surprised spacegirl realized, as she looked, neither was anyone in the balcony with the Baroness von Alcott's 'crew' watching the evidence.

They were watching the crew of Arenara Artan, patiently awaiting trouble from the criminals whose deeds were being laid bare.

Catching the eye of Hera, Rita caught a silent 'be careful'. Nodding, she turned her attention back to the rest of the Tribunal, to watch the reactions of the assembled Baronesses.

"So the virus and the transmitter are in the charger, which is the only external part of their systems. They'll run antivirus til the stars go out, and they'll never realize they've still got it. Price they pay for being unnatural, eh?" The green-hued humanoid smiled, a wide and wicked thing as he spread his arms wide.

As she strode slowly around the far end of the conference table, Arenara cocked an eyebrow. "I happen to know you're not... all natural."

"Well, that's because I'm an abomination. But I've embraced it."

"The rest I deal with through politics or poison... the pirate way. Thank you for your time, Master Herran'dor..." The pirate queen made to depart, but the slaver made a clicking noise that caught her attention.

"What you need is a show of strength. You need to remind them all that you are their protector, their avenging angel. A mighty force amongst the stars to be reckoned with. You need to reinforce their loyalty to you, the woman who is here taking care of the family business instead of playing Starfleet. The Federation. So much hypocrisy they had to invent replicators to keep it all fed."

"The Romulan Refugees mining colony at Dre'lax are the purview of Baroness Nei'rrh," Arenara slung a small tablet down the table, sliding to a stop before his hand. "it's defenses are managed by the chief engineer of the Manticore, Frau Blucher. Blucher serves me well, but her loyalty is to Enalia. She needs to be silenced at the beginning of the attack, so that Nei'rrh can see that I am her one, true Queen and savior."

"It's all there- access code rotations, manpower, sensors, blind spots. You can keep all you can carry, just be mostly gone by the time I arrive. That should do nicely... thank you so much for volunteering. Such an accommodating business partner."

"Would you like to see just how accommodating I can be?" the slaver asked as a lascivious and cruel expression settled onto his face.

"I've a few minutes before my shuttle returns..." Arenara Artan smiled then, the smile of a cobra eyeing a fat mouse with a broken leg.

At which point, the video paused. PaDD in hand, Jaeih spoke. Her harsh raspy voice, much like her daughter's, echoed across the silence. "It keeps going. The Queen regent has betrayed this family. Betrayed my bond-sister, Baroness Nie'rrh. Betrayed her Chief engineer, Frau Blucher. Betrayed the most central Tennant of the Artan family Creed. Do with this what you will, but let it be just."

With that, the former Romulan smuggler slapped the PaDD down in front of her, nodded to Captain Magnus and back to Commander Paris and Enalia before sitting back down.

Clemens just shook his head, silently but overtly expressing the physical version of '...that ain't right...'

The reactions in the room were initially of stunned silence, then of angry betrayal from several of the Baronesses. Bloody Batra looked ready to leap over her railing, her sword drawn and one foot already on the railing, screaming obscenities in at least a dozen languages bad enough that it would make a Klingon blush with shame as she was held back by all three of her crew.

The Romulan Baroness Sei'nae was relaxing peacefully and grinning like a cat that had finally caught a canary, her fingers interlaced in front of her somehow, despite the gargantuan seat cushion of a uniform jacket she was wearing that this time looked like an olive drab brick wall that had been splattered by orange drink by an insane asylum escapee. The red and gold medals lining the right breast area did nothing to help break it up.

The cybernetic Baroness Merelith was staring in shock at the evidence, trying to process it all. She was doing her best to keep up, but this bombshell was a bit much even for her justice oriented mind. The implications of it... Shaking her head, she set back to work analyzing every angle of the data.

The outraged and betrayed Captain Magnus, on the other hand, was finding his gavel useless for trying to bring order back to the court and was about to bring out the big guns- a system of air horns designed to drown out anything and everyone. Removing the safety cap from the button, he pressed and held it for three seconds, sending a long, loud blare through the room's intercom system, immediately silencing everyone.

Captain Magnus then rose and cleared his throat. "My apologies for the air horn. Now... Princess Enalia's sec... Ahem... First Officer? Commander Paris, I believe, still has the floor." He then motioned towards the Princess's balcony and sat back down, a grim look on his face.

All this time, Sonak observed the proceedings. Of all the assembly, he alone had not reacted to the blaring of the loudspeakers. The events unfolding since the start of this court and what they revealed of this society could have only led to this. He had even been expecting a phaser shot or a flash photon grenade to go off so as to restore order through a violent and loud surprise effect. Klingon judges used a powerful electrostatic spherical gavel to crash an assembly with a thunderous retort when an audience erupted during a tribunal. But the air horns used here were safer and even more efficient.

All creatures having the sense of hearing would instantly freeze in place when a sudden loud noise would happen; it was a basic physiological reaction. Even foreknowledge through logic, attentive observation and decades of self-mastery for an emotionless kolinarh master had barely allowed him to control this reaction in himself.

The emotionless kolinahr master leaned near Rita's ear. He chose to speak aloud instead of using his telepathic touch, so that his captain could also hear his words.

''It seems this kind of behavior is well known, if not expected within this society. We must be ready for much stricter, harsher and direct measures in the event of a more extreme crowd reaction; which at this point is also to be logically expected.''

His hand lightly touched his communicator, suggesting to open a channel to the ship. The pretty prosecutor nodded subtly, briefly making eye contact with both Sonak and the captain, offering her acquiescence for the sensible course the somber scientist suggested.

Continued in Tribunal - Chaos Erupts...

 

Previous Next

labels_subscribe