Lieutenant Holfrom had slept fourteen hours straight after 1st shift was cut loose from the Hidden Dagger’s bridge. He hadn’t had an active shift as stressful as that in, probably ever. It was the worst! He was flat on his back in the Rec Room, eating a snack while he watched the court-marshals on the large viewscreen with all of the other officers who could make it. The wall on the left had been converted to show the odds for each accused as they were brought forward. They had to move quickly because once the commandant started speaking, bets closed. Thankfully all charges had been uploaded to the Ship’s Intelligence and were readily available to the entire navy. He had won thousands; no sense worrying about the thousands he had lost though, that was already made up; or would be just as soon as Ayelota Eastner received a death sentence despite the fact that he had foreign axiom in his brain at the time he turned the FTL engines to full, against the sublights. Sure, it was a longshot, but fortunes were won on longshots.
He took another sip of the mocchi juice in his cup. He looked at it a little sadly. Fun drinks shouldn’t be made without alcohol. It was just wrong. Like eating bread without cheese, or butter without honey. Some things you just didn’t do, not unless you wanted to be a moron. Buuut they were in an active war zone, so no fun drinks for anyone whose name wasn’t commandant Rieven. Dumb, he thought, I get it, but this could be soooo much more relaxing.
The couch to his left started hollering. Looks like the charges stuck. Holfrom sat upright. One more bit and he’d be in the black again. Bastion came up and sat next to him on the couch. “Shove over or be the furniture!” he called as he was sitting. Holfrom quickly moved his legs to make room for his friend. “What’d you bet?”
“Four thousand on a bloody smile. This POS is personally responsible for the death of the entire 401st Imperial Marine squad on the Lightbringer. I don’t care if he was seeing things that weren’t there, he’s cruel, Medusean Gambit proved that. I’d happily cheer over his corpse – lost my brother to his cowardice there.”
Bastion quieted for a moment. “That’s right, he’s the one who belayed sergeant general Isaac’s Beard’s order to support him. I can’t wait to see that. You know he’ll be the first one executed on charges of foreign axiom?”
“Of course! Why do you think the odds are so wildly in my favour? No one seems to think the commandant will hold him accountable. I say they’re wrong. Even if he doesn’t, he’s been punishing slugs for their cowardice in Medusean Gambit all 3rd shift, he’ll get that turd, for sure.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Just then they saw a marine walk up to him and pull a knife from the small of her back. “It’s amazing,” said Holfrom, “just where those marines are able to stash those knives.” He turned to the keeper of the odds and hollered, “Oi, Erik!” Erik turned to him and glared. “Oi, no need to get grumpy, I just have a new set of odds for ya!”
Erik responded warily, expecting a trap, but not seeing it yet, “What’d you have for me?”
“How many knifes do one of those Justiciars have on ‘em right now?”
Erik’s eyes sparked with interest. "Oh, that’s good. We can use the SI to tell us what’s what for each one. That’s a good name, Justicar, where’d you get that?”
“From the archives. Apparently this ritual court-marshal has only been used in the past on four separate occasions, and each time was for a single individual. This is already the largest pruning the Void Spectres has ever had – we’re just that good! Anyhoo, they started calling the marines who oversaw the sentencing Justiciars, ‘cause the commandant is the Lord of Judgement, so he can’t be called the Justiciar, and they’re the ones to administer the justice anyways, so the name stuck. I expect they’ll be formed into their own company, probably the 1st Company of Justiciars. Ooh! There’s more odds for you, and I’ll take ‘em!” he looked to the viewscreen where the now nameless man was spilling his blood onto the red floor. “That’s two for me, just lay my winnings from this one on that!”
Erik grimaced, but said “Yeah, alright, we can do that. Keep anymore ideas you get to yourself till I rack up a bit more of a pool, yeah?”
“Sure, ok then.” Holfrom said. He turned to Bastion and added in an undertone, “That room doesn’t have a drain, and the SI is allowed zero interference. All of that blood is going to have to be cleaned by hand. By hand, Bast! Ungh. Can you imagine? It looks like a ragged red rug all the way from the doors to the circle of judgement. That clear space in front of the commandant’s seat? That’s gonna be an ocean of blood – we’re not even half-way through today’s events yet and it’s already that large!”
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Bastion side-eyed him and said, “Of course there’s a drain in there From, what do you expect? Mops and buckets?” He snorted. “Of course you expect mops and buckets. I looked up the approved schematics and several of the tiles become porous when their polarities are reversed. That allows the blood to drain, happens pretty quickly too. Science at its best. The seat controls it, so it only gets as messy in there as the Lord of Justice wants. Looks like our commandant wants. He wants it bad. Can you imagine being on one of those ships in the Fourth and watching this? It’s gonna make an impression for sure, for sure.”
Holfrom thought about that. Bast was right. This would be right terrifying if you were unconnected to the Void Spectres before the Starshift, as they were calling the sudden translocation. They still didn’t know how that happened. The dragons didn’t own up to it, as far as he knew. It was worrisome not knowing. It creeped him out. Ungh. Then he suddenly smiled. The type of smile that had Bast looking at him like he was about to start a slaughter in the Rec Room. At least his brother’s killer was now dead, and he couldn’t be happier as the rest of the officers groaned as their losses even as they cheered the death of a murderer.
-x-
Jackson looked up at the split screen. On the left was the broadcast of the court-marshal. On the right were the data coming in from his Inquisitors. It was too soon to say for certain, but a picture was beginning to take shape, and it wasn’t one that he liked. On the list of things that had been going well was his lord’s efforts to cleanse his navy of the dead weight and the rebellious.
He laughed from his belly. Just look at the blood, he thought, that is all that any need see to know his path is carved in stone. There is no turning back from this. It will send such a message as will never need repeating. What a lord I have sworn myself to. It was such luck that Heat Death thought to punish me amongst the humans. Such luck. Now I am free of him, and sworn to a lord from the tales of old.
He smiled to himself. This viewing was making him happier than he could ever remember being, ages counted.
-x-
Rieven was growing worse than bored. What comes after bored? It’s been hours of this and it’s not over yet. Thus far, very few of the accused had been allowed to live. Some of them received demotions or pay decreases. One notable officer even lost all coffee rights for the duration of the journey to Homeworld. I suspect they think I was more cruel than needed there. She deserved it. She had been selling ship’s supplies on the side for over a year. See her go without instead of her crew this time. Fair is fair. None of this showed on his face, however. Each accused brought through those doors got him at his best, as though they were the first brought before him this day.
Ono was standing in a pool of blood permanently now. The corridor was mostly red, and the first line of boots was slick with it along its edges. To keep himself entertained, he read the axiom flows through the room, especially through the people in the room. It was fascinating, being able to see it move through the laces. I can actually tell what people are about to do based on the way axiom moves through their body, even subconsciously. I’ve always heard of auras, perhaps this is what that means? Am I seeing the auras of reality? He smiled in his head. That sounded more poetic than is safe. Next thing I’ll be doing is requiring all orders to be given in Haiku. Keep a grip Rieven.
Without fail, each of the accused were shocked to see his eyes. Dragon eyes must be unsettling, he thought. How many surprises can one man give them in a single day? Too many. I need to get these eyes examined. They keep changing on me. It’s like they are maturing, like I had an infant’s eyes after the axiomatic surgery, and now they belong to adolescence. I can see more. My peripheral vision is expanded, and this morning when I woke, I could see more in the low light. I wonder if I’ll be able to see in the dark soon? Don’t dragons always see in the dark? They do in the fairy stories. I can try that out later – one must test these things. He laughed in his mind again.
Outwardly he was stone. He refused to allow the blood to drain. It was going to be an object lesson. Once every accused had been judged he would speak again, send everyone else out of the room, then set a timer on the floor and depart. Two minutes after those doors closed, the blood would drain. Only after the room was clean would the broadcast end. He needed a manifesto. The death and judgement were a statement. The recorded aftermath was the manifesto. It would sink into their minds because it was the sort of thing routinely done to those they conquered who were rebellious. Everyone in the Fourth had not only seen such subjugation before, they had participated in it. That was one thing. Seeing that same brutality brought down upon their own without mercy and without shelter was another thing entirely.
This recording will make it possible for us to return without destroying ourselves utterly, but it will see me killed in Homeworld if I am not careful. I’ll put some of the brains in 1st shift to that problem. We’ll be entering three years after our departure with no knowledge of current affairs. That makes it difficult to plan for. Before we even get to that point I have to whip them into shape. The dragons promised us peaceful departure. I’m glad of that. The pass they gave us guarantees that all neighbours of the Empire of the Celestial Skies three systems away or fewer would allow them to pass peacefully and provide all they reasonably request without price. They were on their own after that. It should take them two months to get to that point. That was two months of travel to teach them. Today’s lesson had to sink into their bones. There just wasn’t time to do this any other way.
Blood would instruct. Blood would rebirth. Blood would cleanse. This blood was the birth of his new navy – the one that would see then through the void to Homeworld to the reintegration in the Imperial Naval structure. It would be a long road. It would not be without death. It would not be without blood. It could not, for the nature of empire demanded it.
