After about thirty minutes of travel the landscape changed from open countryside and parks to increasing numbers of buildings though there were still spaces between them along with many parks and gardens to break up the monotony. The whole place, or at least the parts of it I could see was absolutely stunning, a beautiful environment for people to live and work in. We drove on till we came to a large area of open field with a large, beautiful building standing alone in the middle of it. The building comprised soaring crystal arches that seemed to float above the surrounding landscape. Anne commented to me that this building was breathtaking in its beauty when it was lit up at night. For the moment though, I was completely awestruck by the magnitude of what was about to happen, and where. As we approached the Federation Council Palace, the drive was lined with thousands of people made up of several species. Many of them were throwing flowers towards the car as we passed. I caught myself hoping none of the flowers contained a bomb. I could see small drones flitting about above the crowd with cameras, mostly trained on my ground car but some cameras I noticed, were trained on the crowd. Soon, we arrived in the courtyard of the Federation Council Palace. There were no crowds in here, they were not permitted for security reasons, though I did have a reception committee, along with a guard waiting for me when the ground car pulled up.
I have to admit, as the ground car pulled up in the courtyard, I felt far more nervous here than I did at any time during my adventures while I was on board FNS Destiny. This was all quite overwhelming and I think Anne sensed my discomfort because she reached over to gently squeeze my hand, reassuring me that everything would be alright in the end. When the vehicle came to a halt a Trooper stepped up to each of the rear doors and opened them so Anne, and I could exit. She had apparently been assigned as my minder which was OK by me because I knew she would not let me stumble and would keep me in line if it became necessary.
As we exited, we were escorted over to the reception party and introduced to them. These were the nine Principal Federation Councilors, basically the Federation Government’s Cabinet. I honestly couldn’t understand why I was receiving all this attention but of course I could do nothing right then but grin and bear it. I understood why I needed to come here to be tried, but what I didn’t understand, at least not then, was the reason for all the pomp and ceremony. In many ways, I think I expected to turn up here, be ushered into a courtroom somewhere and made to endure a trial probably ending with me being sentenced to a prison term. The Federation of course, had a very different opinion. I’d been involved in some of the most newsworthy and exciting events in recent Federation history. The people wanted and needed a hero and whether I liked it or not, I had the cross on my forehead to fill that particular role. At the same time, the Federation government needed to make sure justice was seen to be done so accusations of favoritism or corruption couldn’t be reasonably made afterwards. When the initial introductions were completed, I was taken in hand by a couple of guards and led to an entrance into the building. Just inside, I was led to a spot where I was asked to stand so I could greet each of the Federation Councilors in turn. This I did as they filed past me. Anne had previously arranged for images to be uploaded to my implant so I knew who each of them was and I managed to greet them all in the appropriate manner. The entire exercise was back to front I thought but this was their custom. They did it this way so the council could observe me themselves before we reached the courtroom.
After the formal greetings were completed, my two guards came over and led me to a room where I was to wait till it was time for me to appear before the Federation Council for my trial. A few minutes after my arrival one of the Council’s assistants came in to walk me through the trial one last time before I needed to go in. He told me the Council Chairman wished to have a private word with me when we both had a little time. As much as I wanted to, I knew I could not duck out of the trial, I would simply have to suffer through it. In the end, I waited in the room for perhaps twenty minutes before my guards came to fetch me and lead me into the courtroom. Other than a basic acknowledgment, the guards never said anything to me. My legal representative met me at the entrance to the courtroom and escorted me to my seat in front of the bench. Thankfully, I had the implant Eri gave me after I woke on FNS Destiny to prompt me at every step along the way so I ‘knew’ where and when to walk, what to say who and what to bow towards. As I paused at the entrance taking in the room, I noticed small drone-cams floating about in the chamber. I’d already been warned the entire thing was to be televised. Of course, I already knew I would have to submit to the media, so I expected this, unfortunately, it went with the territory. A number of people had been working with me over the previous few days, preparing me for the ordeal ahead so I was ready for what lay ahead though I didn’t feel that way just then.
When we arrived at our places, we all had to remain standing with our heads bowed in respect till the Federation Councilors entered and took their seats behind the bench. When they’d sat behind the bench, someone told the rest of us to be seated and the trial began. A ‘bailiff’ read out the charges that’d been leveled against me. I was charged with piracy, theft of naval property, deprivation of liberty of the crew and passengers of FNS Destiny and I think there were a few more charges in there as well but I can’t remember what they were now. As it turned out they’d bought almost everyone I’d met or interacted with since waking on FNS Destiny all those months ago to testify at my trial. Unlike some legal systems on Earth, I personally had no choice but to testify. I was the first to take the stand and I was questioned about my version of events. This took two full days before I was allowed to return to my place near my legal representative.
The prosecution began presenting her ‘witnesses’, almost none of whom had ever met me. When I say almost, the one prosecution witness I’d ever met turned out to me one of the more hardcore pirates we’d captured. He testified how everyone was terrified of me and only did what I ordered out of fear. He, and the prosecution council tried to portray him as an innocent bystander who was set upon and wrongly imprisoned by me. When it was my council’s turn to cross examine, his testimony was torn to shreds. He was shown to be a liar and was in fact guilty of all the same things he’d accused me of. The other prosecution witnesses were not much better, none of them having ever met me, some expounded on how inappropriate it would be to set such a precedent in my case or told the court about their psychological theories and how I was irredeemable. I felt as if the prosecution was really scraping the bottom of the barrel with these. Through all this testimony, I sat quietly, trying to look anywhere but at the witness so I couldn’t be accused of attempting to intimidate them. In every case, my council was able to show the arguments of the prosecution witnesses to be spurious and irrelevant to my case. When the last of the prosecution witnesses was finally finished, the court was adjourned for a day so everyone could rest and absorb what’d been said up till then.
None of the friends I’d made on FNS Destiny or for that matter on Cotoni Station were allowed to see me on the day of adjournment so none of us could be accused of illegal collusion before they gave evidence to the court. They’d even gone to the extent of limiting contact with each other for the same reason. The day of rest was incredibly frustrating for me because I was so bored but at the same time worried about the outcome of the trial. When the trial restarted, the defence council began to present the case for my defence. He opted to call the lowest ranking member of FNS Destiny’s surviving crew as the first witness for the defence. This Tangesha related the incident about how I’d patiently helped his partner and him to resolve a disagreement they were having. He told the court as far as he could remember, I’d never shouted at any of the crew, or even the prisoners, how I was willing to listen to others and was willing to take their ideas on board. I almost felt like he was portraying me as some kind of a saint which I most definitely am not. Other witnesses followed, one after the other, all painting the same picture of me though in their own wor
ds and relating different incidents or interactions. Olin and Sophon Carlon were both called as witnesses and very quickly put an end to any suggestion I’d orchestrated their injuries so I could take over the ship. Captain Carlon even took the step of turning to me and apologising for not keeping himself out of the fighting and safe. He also apologised for being the reason I now stood trial.
Other witnesses in my defence included Lady Conti, Anne, Eri and Jack Lanning. All of them were completely consistent, I only took the steps I did because there were no other choices. The defence even pointed out how I was asked by the crew to take command and even then didn’t immediately do so. The oath I took on taking over was played to the court to demonstrate clearly how I had no illegal intentions beyond commanding the crew, but even that was shown to only be out of necessity so the ship and her crew and passengers could make it home safely. The defence laboured how cooperative I’d been from the time I woke in FNS Destiny’s medical bay right up till then. The defence council called his final witness, Admiral Hanadon. The Admiral related how I’d volunteered to help him with the security problem he was experiencing on Cotoni Station, putting myself at risk when I did so, culminating in me sustaining life threatening injuries in direct defence of the Federation even though I new I could only expect to be tried on piracy charges. He told the court I should be recruited, not tried. During the presentation of the defence case, the prosecution was brutal in her cross examination but she was never once able to budge a defence witness from their story. On several occasions, she was told not to harass a witness so aggressively by the bench.
Finally, after nearly a month of testimony, I was called to testify again, to round out the defence case. I was asked two questions, these were; would I be willing to become a Federation citizen, and would I be willing to serve in the Federation Navy in defence of the Federation. Of course, I answered yes to both these questions. I glanced in the direction of the prosecution council to see her sitting stone faced almost looking like she’d swallowed a lemon. This time, she declined to cross examine me. The prosecution and defence then summed up their cases with the defence labouring my altruistic motives for everything I’d done and the way I’d put myself at significant risk for the good of the Federation. The court adjourned again while the Councilors considered their verdict. This time I had to wait for a couple of weeks while they made the effort to examine all the evidence and come to a decision on my guilt. Again the determination of my innocence, or guilt, needed to be beyond reproach. At least during this period of waiting, my friends could come visit because they’d given their testimony now so they could not be accused of colluding anymore. They all came sometimes in small groups, sometimes singly and I would have to say I genuinely enjoyed their visits. Captain Carlon told me he’d come here as Captain of FNS Destiny but soon had to take her home because she was to undergo a complete refit with shielding and weaponry to be significantly beefed up before she went on her next cruise. She was also going to have her power feeders hardened against damage so there would not be a repeat of the power losses we’d experienced during the last cruise. He told me I’d really upset a lot of people because I’d made a few very powerful people look like fools but I had other equally, or even more powerful people within the Federation who were one hundred percent supportive of me and my actions.
Finally, I was taken back to the courtroom to hear the verdict. I went to my place before the bench and waited, standing respectfully while the Councilors filed in and took their seats. This time I had to remain standing till they read out the verdict. The acting Council Chair stood and started speaking in a slow clear voice, pronouncing each of the words carefully. His address is one I will remember for the rest of my life simply because it has had such a profound effect on my life since that time.
He said, “The Federation Council has listened to the testimony of all the witnesses and find the poor quality of the prosecution case both surprising and disturbing. Surprising because we would have expected a better case to be mounted, disturbing because these events have highlighted a glaring hole in Federation law, a hole that none of us knew existed till now. None of us could ever have envisioned a case like this. A man stands before us who dealt with an impossible situation, putting himself at risk so others may live, putting himself at risk for the good of the Federation.”
I found myself wishing he would just announce the verdict and put me out of my misery. His speech continued on for nearly an hour, very efficiently providing a precis of the cases for both the prosecution and the defence.
Finally, he looked at me and asked, “Are you truly willing to become a Federation citizen and serve in our Navy, continuing to help protect our people from the pirates and slavers who infest this region of space?”
I replied, “This is a commitment I have made Sir, it is a commitment I will keep if I am permitted to do so.”
He asked, “Permitted?”
I replied, “I expect neither of these paths will be open to me if I’m convicted of the charges against me Sir.”
He nodded then continued, “This leaves me only one choice then. “
I felt my heart sink through my boots, I had been a little too smart in my replies to his question.
He said, ”It is the finding of this court that the accused is not guilty on all charges.”
With this pronouncement, all the councilors on the bench rose and exited the room. For my part, I went weak in the knees and my guard had to help me stay upright till after they’d all exited. The observers in the courtroom erupted in applause, clearly happy with the outcome. A couple of the drone-cams came down and zoomed in on my face. I felt like swatting them out of the air but knew I couldn’t. After the Councilors left I was led from the courtroom to a small waiting room. My legal representative came with me, partly to keep me company but also to discuss my next steps. After we’d been there a few minutes, there was a knock on the door and the prosecution council poked her head in through the door to see if I would allow her to talk to me. I knew enough about legal systems in general to know I couldn’t really say no to her so I waved her in. She entered, closing the door quietly behind her then facing me she began to apologise for her actions in the courtroom.
I held up my hand to stop her before saying, “You do not need to apologise to me, you were only doing your job. I do understand this and hold no malice towards you even though you had me a little worried there for a while.”
Her reply astounded me when she said, “We had to put on a good show. When it became clear a trial would be necessary, they found it very difficult to find someone who was willing to prosecute. They had to twist my arm quite severely before even I would agree but when I did agree, thinking perhaps I could just go through the motions, put on a show, they also told me I had to do the best I am capable of, and my best is very good. I simply didn’t have the material to work with to be able to force a conviction. For what it is worth, I’m truly happy you have been acquitted. I am by nature very competitive and hate losing but this is the one case in my career I did not want to win. Still, as the Chair of the court stated, this case has highlighted a problem with our laws and the Federation Council will now have to go and rectify it.”
All I could do was to thank her and repeat that I bore no malice against her as she left. Not long after, I was escorted to my transport and taken back to my accommodations, this time accompanied by Anne and Shasi. I stayed there for two days, receiving visitors, some simply friends, others more official. A bank account was opened in my name and the reward I’d received paid into it. From this point on, I could pay my own way, at least for a while till the money ran out. Most of the money was shifted into investments so it would last longer. Some of the official visitors walked me through lodging my application for citizenship. My application to join the Navy could not be lodged till after I’d been granted citizenship but we completed the ‘paperwork’ anyway leaving only the dates unfilled so I could meet my commitment to the court. In all honesty, these were bo
th commitments I was happy to make because I knew I would be here in the Federation for quite a while and at least I could make a contribution to this society while I was here.
Finally several days later, everything was ready for me to actually become a Federation citizen. Once again, I donned the formal clothing and escorted by Anne, Ani and Shasi, we made our way to the Federation Council building. When we arrived, I was escorted to a small lounge to wait. I was given something cool to drink and we waited till a functionary came in to run me through the ceremony one last time. Ani and Shasi were here as a security detail to escort me before the Federation Council where I would take my oath, Anne was my sponsor for citizenship, a gesture I was touched by. Eventually, we were escorted to an entrance to the Council Hall to await our cue to enter.
When I was given the cue I began my march flanked by Ani and Shasi down the long isle between the seats where the councilors were sitting. As I passed each row, I saw all the people in the entire row, rise, turn towards me and give a small bow of respect before sitting again. After what seemed like forever, we finally arrived before the curved bench where the nine Principal Councilors were sitting with the Council Chair in the centre. These people didn’t rise and bow towards me as I was the supplicant appealing for citizenship. This I understood and even considered appropriate. As I arrived before the nine, I stopped and bowed towards the Federation Seal then to each of the nine Principal Councilors in order of seniority. Till now, not a sound had been made, the entire chamber was silent, you could have heard a pin drop. After another few short moments of silence, the Federation Council Chair rose from his seat and looked down upon me before looking over to Anne who stood to one side.
Star Man 1: Star Bourne Page 46
