by M. D. Cooper
“You forget,” Elena winked as she took a sip of her martini. “They lost Eden. Those colonists are going to Canaan—and you know how well that worked out in the old stories.”
“Yet, we still know about the settlers of the original Canaan eleven thousand years later, Elly,” Sera replied. “That means something.”
“When did you get so philosophical?” Elena asked. “I thought you were all booze, sex, and gunfights?”
“Oh, I am.” Sera smiled. “Events have just…got me thinking too much, that’s all.”
Elena shifted and placed her had on Sera’s thigh. “What do you say we forget all that for tonight, and let me give that new skin of yours a run?”
“Stars, Elly,” Sera sighed. “You know I would any other night, but not tonight. I should probably kick it early, we have the hearing tomorrow. You’re going to be there, right?”
“Of course,” Elena nodded, her smile gone and tone sober. “Always taking the fun out of things.”
“I thought I was all sex, drugs, and gunfights?” Sera asked with a smile.
“Booze, not drugs, get your own vices straight,” Elena laughed.
COURT
STELLAR DATE: 01.15.8930 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Airtha City
REGION: Airtha, Huygens System, Transcend Interstellar Alliance
Sera stood before the doors of the Federal Interstellar Crimes Courthouse and sucked in a deep breath. She looked down and inspected her uniform to ensure that it was crisp and straight. It had been a long time since she had worn The Hand’s sable colors. She had never expected to don them again. Coming back to the Transcend was one thing, but rejoining The Hand? It wasn’t on her bucket list.
Still, she knew that if she had sent Andrea and Mark back in Elena’s custody—if she could have worked out a legal scenario that General Greer and Serge would have accepted—her friend would have been eviscerated upon her return to Airtha.
Not publicly, but she would have been dispatched to the asshole of the Inner Stars, or perhaps the front with the Orion Guard. It would have been her death.
Sera considered that Elena had been prepared to do that for her, to take the prisoners back and deal with the consequences. She was a true friend. Sera felt guilty that she had considered putting her in that position. There were a lot of things she wished could have been different with Elena.
Perhaps, if things worked out here, the future could hold something better.
“You gonna stand there all day, Sis?” a voice asked from behind her, and Sera turned to see Serge with a warm smile on his lips.
“I was considering that, yeah,” Sera chuckled. “Think I can testify from out here?”
“Doubtful,” Serge replied as he placed an arm around her shoulders. “C’mon, sister mine, let’s do this. Andrea’s bark is worse than her bite.”
“It’s not her bark or her bite I fear,” Sera said with a shake of her head. “It’s the blade in my back while I sleep.”
Serge let out a long sigh. Sera knew his dilemma. He was the family’s peacemaker, and as such, he constantly worked out ways for everyone to get along. Sera suspected that even he had no idea how to bridge this chasm.
The cold, marble halls with their diamond pillars stretched far, and it took the pair ten minutes to reach their assigned courtroom.
Sera walked to the front of the room and sat in the first row, behind the prosecutor’s table. Serge sat at her side, and she craned her neck around the near-empty room. She was surprised, she had thought it would be packed with the power-elite, all ready to pounce on the weakest sister and devour her whole for the prestige it would gain them in the other’s eyes.
But not so. Only a few Hand agents were present, including Justin, who only gave her a hard nod. Neither the prosecutor nor the defending representatives had arrived yet.
Sera had spoken over the Link with Will, the federal prosecutor who was assigned her case. He had queried her for several hours after her meeting with her father, going over the attempted assassination and the events which followed. He had not asked about the events surrounding the loss and recovery of the CriEn module. Separate charges were on file against Mark within The Hand on that account, and a military tribunal would be overseeing the case.
Flaherty eased into the seat on the other side of her, and Sera grabbed his hand and squeezed.
“How is your daughter?” she asked quietly.
“Well,” Flaherty replied. “It would seem that I am now a great-great grandfather.”
Sera laughed softly. “Soon there will be hundreds of little Flaherty’s running around.”
Flaherty only grunted in response, but Sera recognized it as a happy grunt.
The prosecutor arrived a minute later and took his seat before turning to face her.
“Blazes, you’ve right kicked the hornet’s nest with this one,” he sighed. “I’ve been fielding messages all night.”
“Does that surprise you?” Sera asked. “Andrea is nothing if not well-connected.”
Will let out a long breath. “No, and I should be used to it. You don’t work this type of case without getting a lot of calls, but even I wasn’t prepared for the barrage I received. Eventually, I just shunted them all off to the office NSAI to catalog—no matter who they were.”
“I hope you got enough sleep,” Sera replied.
“Enough,” Will nodded.
She saw his eyes look to the back of the room, and Sera turned to see two defenders enter, a man and a woman. She recognized them from several high-profile cases when she was younger. Another man followed behind them in a Hand uniform, and Sera imagined he was the division’s representative for Mark.
By his outward appearance, he looked competent enough—Justin wouldn’t want to look sloppy on a case like this, regardless of what outcome he desired. Though Sera had no idea what that was.
“Poor guy,” Elena whispered as she slipped into a seat behind Sera. “This is one shitty case to catch; it’s totally blown up the news and the feeds.”
“I wouldn’t know, Sera replied.” I’ve blocked anything to do with it. “Helen’s keeping an eye out, to see if there’s anything that is concerning.”
Elena nodded. “I’ve had Jutio do that, as well. It’s draining to see it and hear it everywhere.”
As she spoke, Judge Turin entered the room, resplendent in his white robes bearing the Transcend and FGT crests. Everyone in the room rose and then took their seats again after the judge had settled into his. Sera saw the judge’s eyes dart to the back of the room and she turned to see her father take a seat in the back.
A moment later, federal police brought in Mark and Andrea. Mark wore his Hand uniform, and Andrea wore a simple, yet elegant dress. Andrea behaved as though everyone in the room was present at her pleasure, while Mark surveyed the attendees with a scowl. His eyes settled on Sera for a moment, and his scowl deepened.
Sera, for her part, was disgusted to wear the same uniform as the man. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to tear hers off or make him remove his.
“The charges levied today are grave,” Judge Turin began without preamble. “They are also numerous, but the gravest are the subversion of a Transcend citizen with unauthorized use of government technology, and committing an act of sedition within a foreign entity with the intent to destabilize that entity. Also without authorization. Hugo, please read the rest of the charges.”
The court’s AI proceeded to recite the remaining seventy-three charges, most of which applied to both Mark and Andrea, though a few were particular to each. By Sera’s own testimony, Mark bore the brunt of those, mostly because he had been the one to plant a hack in her min
d before she left The Hand.
He shot her more than one cold look as Hugo read the charges, and when the court AI brought up the original hack, Mark cast an unreadable look in Justin’s direction. It didn’t confirm a suspicion Sera had long held, but it certainly did reinforce it.
Once the charges were read, the Judge’s gaze swept across the assemblage, pausing on the president, before landing on the defendants.
“Do you understand the charges laid before you?”
“I do,” Andrea replied calmly, while Mark simply said, “Yes.”
Mark’s shoulders had slumped through the reading of the charges, and she wondered if he had deluded himself about the severity of the case until now, when it was laid out in court. That she had ever fallen for him, that she had ever thought of him as suave and admirable, baffled her older self. The man was a chameleon, but he had finally landed in a place where he couldn’t blend in and hide.
Sera didn’t reply. In just one day, her return to Airtha had made her realize why, of all the things she could have done when she left The Hand, she chose the life of a freighter captain. On her ship in the black, she could flit from system to system, never staying anywhere long enough to fall prey to a system’s politics, or other assembled nonsense.
She knew that if she were to tap into the feeds or listen to any newscasts, they would be filled with people calling her everything from the savior of the Transcend, to a core-devil, or worse. Her message queues were probably filled with people wishing her well, death threats, political solicitations, and a million other things she didn’t care to look at.
Here and now, in the courtroom, that was where her attention needed to be. Everything else was just a distraction—this was the real battlefield.
“I will now hear arguments regarding bail,” the judge announced. “Given the seriousness of the charges—a unilateral attack on a foreign government, one which wishes the protection of the Transcend, no less—I am inclined toward the prosecution’s request that the defendants be remanded without bail.”
Sera held back any joy; the judge’s initial inclination and what ultimately happened could be two very different things.
The federal prosecutor stood and outlined key aspects of the crimes, how they were exceptionally damaging to the Transcend, he even called out the risk to attaining more advanced technology from the New Canaan colony, and made special note of how the picotech had not been traded, but that there were still hopes to get it someday.
She glanced back at her father, but his expression was unreadable. His eyes locked with hers for a moment, then flicked back to the prosecutor.
Helen replied.
The federal prosecutor completed his statements, and Andrea’s defenders exchanged a brief look before the woman stood.
“Given that the bulk of the prosecution’s case relies on the testimony of the person who actually carried out the failed assassination attempt—who could be simply shifting blame to our client as a result of her failure—I believe that our client should not be held without bail. We have reviewed the full-sensory recordings that the Intrepid sent along. Andrea Tomlinson was never seen to act with any hostility at any time; she is not a threat to anyone.”
Sera held her gaze steady. Her sister was one of the most dangerous people she knew, even though Serge was entirely blind to it. If anyone could master hostile acts without appearing to be dangerous, it was she.
Granted, being in jail would not substantially limit Andrea’s ability to reach out and do as she wished, but it would be a small victory.
Andrea’s defender went on for some time about her client’s history, strong moral code, contributions to both the government and the people of the Transcend. Eventually, she sat, and Mark’s defender stood.
Despite Sera’s initial concerns, he was well-spoken and presented his arguments cogently. They were very similar to Andrea’s attorney’s statements, and he made special note of the fact that much of the good Mark had done was classified and because of his time with The Hand, but that if his record were revealed, he would be shown as a great hero of the Transcend.
After the arguments, the judge was silent for a few minutes. Then, he sat forward and folded his hands before him. “Before I render my decision, given the unusual circumstances of this case, I’ll entertain any thoughts from other attendees today.”
Sera expected he did so to give her father the opportunity to speak. Instead, something else, entirely unexpected occurred.
“I would like to make a statement and provide evidence,” Flaherty said as he rose.
The judge frowned. “Any evidence, for or against, should be presented by the prosecutor, or the defenders. If it is your testimony, then you may be called on by them as needed.”
Flaherty did not sit. “I am a fourth order Sinshea and my word is fact. You cannot dismiss it.”
Sera sat back, stunned by what Flaherty had revealed. She had always known there was much more to him than met the eye. Despite his bond to her, she had no deep insights into his past and had always taken a lot on faith.
But to learn he was a Sinshea, someone whose word is scientifically trusted and cannot give false testimony—that was something she would never have expected. Perhaps it was why he spoke so rarely, and when he did, his words often confirmed things that should have remained secret—like the existence of the Transcend to her crew on Sabrina.
“Hugo, please confirm this,” Judge Turin addressed the court’s AI.
There was a pause, and then Hugo spoke audibly in the room, “It is confirmed, and I have an active Link with Flaherty monitoring the algorithms. This man’s word is fact.”
Flaherty nodded and made his statement. “The events you have on record from Elena, Sera, Helen, and the Intrepid’s AIs Bob and Angela, are accurate in their entirety. No effort has been made to deceive this court in any way.”
Flaherty sat, and the judge was silent for a moment before the woman defending Andrea rose again.
“Your honor, if I may, the question at the heart of this is not that the events as recorded are truthful, but that the intentions are not as they have been portrayed. Though a Sinshea’s word cannot be doubted when authenticated in a court of law, it is still his view, and others’ views of events that it is confirming,
“What happened in that room, before Sera came out and brutally attacked a foreign head of state, is what is unknown. My clients maintain that they did nothing to her and that what she did, whether hacked or not, was something they had no part in.”
“It does confirm that there was a hack,” Judge Turin said somberly. “There is no longer any debate that Sera did not act of her own will. Not unless something incontrovertible comes up.”
Sera
glanced back at her father to read his reaction, but there was no emotion displayed on his face. He did give a nearly imperceptible nod to the judge. Or he was looking down at his hands, it was hard to tell.
“I’m going to honor the prosecutor’s request that the defendants be held without bail,” the judge announced. “Trial dates will be set in a hearing next week.”
The judge rose, as did the rest of the courtroom, though her father turned and left as the judge did, making his actions appear as though he was simply getting up to leave the room.
Once the judge was gone, muted conversations sprang up though the courtroom. Sera smiled wanly at Flaherty and thanked him for his testimony. One thing was certain, it was going to be a long slog.
RELATIONS
STELLAR DATE: 02.11.8930 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Airtha City
REGION: Airtha, Huygens System, Transcend Interstellar Alliance
The steak looked amazing. Sera sliced off a piece and let the rich scent hit her nostrils before taking a bite.
“Oh man, this is heaven on a plate,” she said to Elena. “Do you want some?”
Elena shook her head, and took a bite of her salad. “Ever since I got those sucker mods undone, I’ve had no appetite for meat at all. I think they messed something up, but I’m not sure. I’ve done so many undercover ops, I barely remember what I actually like anymore. I mean…I know what I liked before I got into The Hand, but I’ve grown, evolved, right? I don’t think I can just reset to how I was twenty years ago.”
“Wow,” Sera replied. “That’s a way deeper response than I’d expected from offering you some steak.”
“C’mon, Sar,” Elena replied. “I know you feel it, too. We don’t fit in here—stars, we don’t fit in anywhere!”
