by Tom Shepherd
“Certainly. Do you need to leave the ship? I can send Julieta and Yumiko along to—”
“Witnesses are not required. Bodyguards are unnecessary. I am a citizen of the Republic.”
“Of course.”
“Will you be back for dinner, Lieutenant?” Dorla said. “I’m making Kansas City Bar-b-cue.”
Jool-Gheri said, “Am I still welcome here?”
Suzie hugged her impulsively. “Of course, luv. Do what you have to do. We’ll be working on the case, if you need us.”
The blonde Parvian asked Paco to arrange ground transportation into town. She went to her cabin and disembarked wearing O2 cannulas and a pair of Parvian blasters on her belt.
Tyler and Suzie watched Sunny hop into a Groxbitz-driven skimmer and whisked away.
“She’s gonna murder somebody,” Tyler said.
“Do you bloody blame her? The bastard sold her mother into slavery. I’ve never had a mum, but I wanted to kill Augusto Cellar, too.”
The meeting resumed, broke for lunch, and continued through the afternoon. At one point Tyler asked Flávio if he had any idea why the MLC, central memory, and AI functions had been wiped clean on his ship the Henrique.
“No, Tyler. I discovered the malfunction while inbound to Port Royal.”
“How did you fly here without AI functions, or MLC?”
Paco raised a hand. “Think I figured that out, Boss. The Henrique had a deletion virus imbedded in the memory core. Once she touched down on this planet, it triggered. Turned a functioning set of AI programs into a zombie apocalypse. Lucky if the Henrique lifts off planet. Forget FTL.”
“Somebody wants the Capitão grounded,” Lovey said.
“Tsuchiya Galactic wants the House of the Silent Moons,” Tyler said. “Why else would Kaito show up here?”
“Sakura House allied itself with the Free Enterprise League,” Suzie said. “They want Flávio found guilty, so the plonkers can bribe the Judge into releasing him to Tsuchiya.”
Tyler nodded, “That’s a good guess.”
“Life was simpler, attacking unarmed shipping,” Flávio said glumly.
“Bad karma is a bitch,” Tyler said. “Let’s move on to names we should call for the defense.”
“Do we have any?” Lovey said. “Augusto Cellar?”
“That’s the problem,” Tyler said. “I’m guessing Lieutenant Zarx just killed our star witness.”
“Augusto, you Cabrão,” Flávio muttered. “From the grave, your stupidity yet curses me.”
“This trial will be a death by cross-examination tourney,” Tyler said. “Otherwise, I may just put Flávio on the stand, then rest.”
“I am a dead man. Or worse, a prisoner of Tsuchiya.”
“Court reconvenes in fifty-six Terran hours,” Tyler said. “Let’s go over it again. Maybe we’re missing something. Julieta, you’re first.”
Twenty-One
When court resumed after Tyler’s four day continuance, privateers and local shop owners packed the galley. No standing room remained along the back and side walls. People sat in the aisle leading to the well and tables of opposing counsel, allowing no gap for witnesses to come forward. Earlier that morning, the Captain-Judge ordered the Groxbitz to seal his courtroom air-tight and fire up a seldom-activated emergency O2 concentrator system. Humans in the crowd thankfully pulled off their breathing tubes and achieved a momentary respite from Port Royal’s oxygen poor atmosphere.
The green bailiff clanged a ship’s bell to announce Captain-Judge Colin Camran had entered. The crowd stood awkwardly, considering how tightly packed they were.
Guppy, the old Suryadivan clerk in black shirt and white collar, recited the charges against Flávio, and the Kolovite bailiff called the case. Since law degrees were not required to argue before this court, attorneys had to be certified by name prior to trial.
Next, Guppy read the roll. The Prosecution team consisted of Kaito Tsuchiya and five co-counsels, all from Sakura House. The Suryadivan clerk read their multisyllabic Japanese names flawlessly, then proceeded to the Defense table. Tyler Matthews, Suzanne London, Lovey Frost, Prince Zenna-Zenn, holographic attorney André Mercier and the newly recruited Public Defender Félix Koshka. Guppy stumbled on Mr. Blue’s Quirt-Thymean name; there was no Z-sound in Suryadivan.
“All credentials accepted,” the green bailiff announced.
“Mr. Tsuchiya, opening statement?” Judge Carman said.
Kaito rose and moved to the well to address the jury, who sat perpendicular to the open space before the Judge’s bench.
“You know Captain Tavares. He sailed from Port Royal on many voyages to raid shipping and bring home prizes. But you also know his main targets have always been foes of the Matthews Family. He has savaged my father’s merchant fleet for two decades. He attacked rebellious colonies of the Meklavite Union. He raided Dengathi ports of call and captured slaves from the fleets of smaller, expansionist star nations who threatened the holdings of Matthews Interstellar Industries.
“Did he ever hit Mindorian, Terran, or Suryadivan convoys? Did he prowl the Jayendra Corridor or stalk cargo vessels traveling M-double-I commercial routes along Brightstar Curve? What about the vast, rich Quirt-Thymean Empire? Look, jurors. A blue Quirt seated at his defense table. Is that an accident? Has Capitão Flávio Tavares ever—ever!—attacked a Matthews Corporation starship, commercial or otherwise?”
Tyler watched the jury members shaking their heads.
“Oh, certainly, Flávio destroyed a few Segerian vessels. His own people. But which Segerians? Those who had secretly allied themselves with the Free Enterprise League. Your star nation, privateers. He made war on your allies. He avoided your enemies.
“And the trouble runs much, much deeper. The Prosecution will prove he had an interest which kept him closely tied to the Matthews Family since he was a young man.”
Tyler and Suzie exchanged worried glances.
“We will not only prove he is a traitor, spy, and agent of your enemies, we will prove he is an ex-officio member of the Mathew Family.”
Tyler shot to his feet. “Objection!”
“Oh—come on, now,” Judge Camran said. “He was just getting to the good part. I want to hear it. Overturned. Overruled. Over-and-out. Sit down, laddie.”
“Your Honor, what if I say you are working for my Family, because my father works for the Devil, and you’re a pirate, which makes you the Devil’s son—in some people’s eyes. Not mine, of course. Does that mean you’re related, biased, a lying traitor?”
“Nice try.” He plopped the big blaster on his judicial desk. “Don’t fucking do it again. Continue, Jappo-What’s-yer-name? Kaito-sand.”
“You see my opposing counsel’s reaction?” Kaito said. “No self-control. Tyler Matthews seethes with hatred for my father. So does his pet dog, Tavares.”
The Judge waved a hand. “Enough with the name-calling. Tell us why the bugger is guilty.”
“He works for your enemy. He laid a trap for your fleet at the Matthews Alpha Gate. He is a close friend to Noah Matthews. He has been even closer to the bitch Admiral Bianca. I will say more during direct examination of my witnesses.” Kaito pointed at the jury. “But you know in your hearts that Flávio Tavares is a traitor. He should die for his treachery.”
Judge Carman gesture to Tyler. “Counselor?”
“Just a second, Your Honor. I’m repairing my bullshit alarm, since the prosecutor broke the damned mechanism with that pile of crap.”
Laughter swelled the auditorium, and the Judge let it ride for a few seconds before gaveling it quiet.
“Okay.” Tyler moved to the jury box. “Do you like a mystery? Why did Kaito-sand volunteer to prosecute Flávio Tavares? Lemme give you a hint. After a series of unprovoked actions against my Family, M-double-I declared war on Tsuchiya Galactic and its subsidiary Sakura House.
“Kaito doesn’t care about the Free Enterprise League. It was his brother, Kichirou, who led your ships to disaster at Alpha Gat
e, not Capitão Tavares. In fact, Flávio shot up the Quirt-Thymean ECM ship that froze your fleet’s FTL drives to prevent you from escaping the snare. He saved countless privateers from capture, trial, and execution. How many here got away because of what he did that day? Show your hands!”
A flurry of hands went up, and some voices cried, “That’s right!” and “Flávio saved my crew.”
“You hate my mother with good reason. I get that. But gentlemen and ladies of the jury, your forces and mine are locked in a struggle which is honorable and straightforward. Kaito’s father, Hideki Tsuchiya—who I might add, one of my officers nearly killed in hand-to-hand combat—Hideki Tsuchiya should be on trial here, not a veteran privateer like Flávio.
“Do I like Tavares? Hello? No! My sister broke his ugly nose. She wanted to kill him. Still does. So, why am I defending the sonuvabitch?”
Tyler glanced at Suzie, whose eyes pleaded with him to stop there. But he couldn’t. Kaito knew too much. He had to seize the narrative.
“I am defending the Capitão because—when he was a young man and before she met my father—my mother was in love with Flávio Tavares.”
A murmur swept the gallery, then quickly died. All ears tuned to Tyler’s narration, captives of a love story they must follow to its conclusion.
“Even though he is our bitterest enemy, she did not want him to die. I sailed here without my father’s consent. A son doing a favor for his mother. Who among you would not do the same?
“Flávio has committed vile crimes, done things I abhor.” Tyler swept his arm across the courtroom. “So have all you sons-of-bitches. That’s why you’re hiding on a half-dead world where you can’t even survive without sucking extra oxygen. That is why you must acquit him. He does not work for Matthews Corporation. He works for you.
“During our presentation, I will display valuable items he has seized on raids for over three decades. Properly fenced, they are worth over a trillion Galactic Credits. I am authorized by the Capitão to surrender all these as gifts to the court and jury, with a goodly portion reserved for the community of privateers—all of you.
“I do this not to bribe a verdict, but to show evidence of how savagely Flávio Tavares would be prosecuted if charged in a Terran Commonwealth court. You must find him innocent, because he is guilty as el diablo!”
The courtroom exploded with cheers. Even Judge Camran applauded. When the noise petered away, the Captain-Judge rapped his gavel. “All right, let the games begin. Kaito-sand?”
“The prosecution calls Tanis Zervos.”
“What the fuck?” Tyler’s head swiveled to the door, where a young human with short black hair appeared. She was barely tall enough to be seen above the rows of spectators, but he recognized the V-shaped face and dark eyebrows of a woman he thought was serving jail time for spying on M-double-I for the Free Enterprise League.
Suzie said, “This could be trouble.”
“No shit.”
“I take it you didn’t know the strumpet was on the prosecution’s witness list?” Suzie said.
He shook his head. “They never supplied one. Tanis is supposed to be locked up, awaiting trial in Suryadivan religious court. They ain’t known for mercy, or bail.”
The Kolovite bailiff in earthen robes approached with a wood stool, which she plopped down for the witness. “Please affirm. You will tell the truth, on pain of instant death and forfeiture of booty—yes or no?”
“Booty?” Tanis recoiled. “What about my booty?”
The gallery, jury and judge laughed so hard it took a few minutes for Carman to compose himself, get the crowd quiet and the oath interpreted to the witness.
“Oh,” Tanis said.
“Yes or no?” the bailiff repeated. “Lie, and you loose your…uh.. booty.”
“Treasure. Yes.”
Kaito approached her with a small bow. “For the record, Miss Zervos, tell the court your history with opposing counsel.”
“I was Matthews Corporation Deputy Ambassador to the Suryadivan Sacred Protectorate. Mr. Matthews—him, at the defense table, not his father—had me fired and charged with industrial espionage and collusion in the deaths of thousands of Suryadivans.”
“Were you guilty?”
“Of course.”
Guppy stood up and shrieked at her in Suryadivan. Zervos responded in the same language. The Judge slammed his gavel.
“Stop that, Guppy! If you’re going to insult a witness, do it in a language I can enjoy.”
“I won’t take notes for her!”
“Don’t matter. I never read ‘em anyway. Want to leave?”
“No, I want to hurt her.”
“Objection,” Tyler said. “That’s my job.”
Guppy said, “Sustained. Give this teifyyka a blast of her own ugeoehk!”
“I’ll surely do that.”
Carman hammered the gavel again. “I do the sustaining around here.”
Guppy snarled inaudibly, but the Judge ignored her. “Sustained, Mathews. Looking forward to it.”
The Suryadivan clerk started to revile Zervos again.
Bang! The Judge fired a kinetic round into the ceiling. Plaster chips showered the crowded gallery, where spectators hunched their necks reactively.
“Shut up, Guppy, or leave the court. I don’t want to shoot you.” He looked up. “And I don’t want to depressurize the O2 supplement.”
The grumbling clerk sat at her desk and fumbled with a datacom.
Kaito continued direct examination. “Miss Zervos, are you still a Matthews Corp Trade Ambassador?”
“No, sir. I was made redundant.”
“Objection!” Suzie shot to her feet. “We Brits despise it when arsebadgers like Miss Zervos nick our euphemisms. She wasn’t made redundant. They fired her grotty ass.”
The courtroom howled.
“Sustained,” the Judge said, chuckling.
Tanis bristled. “Adelaide LeBlanc discharged me for industrial espionage. I am an agent of the Free Enterprise League.”
The gallery mood shifted and sporadic applause broke out. Tyler grabbed Flávio’s shirtsleeve to keep him from turning to see who was cheering. Not good to show apprehension to the jury.
Kaito resumed direct examination. “Tanis Zervos-san, before you were arrested what level of clearance did you have for Matthews Corporation documents?”
“As Deputy Trade Ambassador, I enjoyed unfettered access.”
“You read freely among Top Secret correspondence, highly classified company publications and notices?”
“Objection, Your Honor,” Tyler said. “I have the same access, and I haven’t read all that junk. Just because you can go there, doesn’t mean you know anything.”
“Kaito-sand, what do you say to that? He makes a point.”
“Let me focus my questions, Your Honor.”
“Good idea. I’ll need a piss break soon.”
Kaito said, “Ambassador Zervos, did you read correspondence regarding the so-called ‘Pirate King’ among M-double-I classified documents?”
“Yes.”
“And can you provide a summary of your—”
“Objection! Hearsay. Maybe read-say, actually. She read it, she says. How do we know what those docs really said?”
“A fair question, Your Honor,” Kaito allowed. “I have the answer, if you will permit me.”
“By all means. Let’s hear it.”
“Ambassador, do you have proof about the identity of the Pirate King?”
“Yes.” She produced a data chip. “Here are the complete Top Secret files which Matthews Interstellar Industries sent to the Suryadivan Trade embassy during the months of March-April, 3104 TCE.”
“Earlier this year?”
She nodded. “Just before the betrayal of the Free Enterprise League’s attack force at Jump Gate Alpha.”
“The prosecution enters this data chip as People’s Exhibit One.”
Tyler objected. “How do we know the information isn’t falsified
?”
The Captain-Judge fingered the little blue wedge. “Another good question, Mr. Matthews. Well, Prosecutor-sand, answer him.”
“People’s Exhibit Two.” Kaito tapped his datacom. “Complete analysis performed by the laboratories of Sakura House, certifying its authenticity.”
Tyler smirked. “And your boffins have no bias, right?”
“I also ran the tests at the finest University on Mindorius, a neutral world. With similar results, Your Honor. People’s Three.”
“I’ll accept it,” Carman said. “What do you allege it contains?”
“Enter the chip in your data com and transmit the contents to everyone.” Kaito continued his narration while the Judge, jury, and spectators downloaded the files.
“Please call up document 7024V-011K. You will find a communique from ‘Tyler Noah Mathews III to Executive Vice President for Rim World Operations, Dr. Adelaide LeBlanc, Trade Ambassador to the Suryadivan Sacred Protectorate’ dated 20 March 3104. May I ask the clerk to read—”
“No!” Guppy snapped.
“Didn’t think so.” Carman laughed and motioned to his bailiff. “Hakk’sok? Leefie, I’m talking to you! Get your trunk over here and read to this honorable fucking court.”
The green female Kolovite strode to center and planted her feet, firm as a tree, to which she was distantly related. Her voice rolled like the wind among high branches as she read the stolen dispatch.
SECRET / SPECIAL ACCESS MSG FROM: KCMO M-II HQ/PT/CEO/nmc/. TO: EXEC. VP, RIM WORLDS OPS.
Ambassador LeBlanc:
Sons Tyler & J.B. and daughter Rosalie inbound your location, ETA 22 March. They believe I sent them to secure easement for Jump gate Alpha. You know my actual goals. You will maintain cover story by appropriate media leaks. Do not brief my offspring further.
Capitão Tavares—A.K.A., the ‘Pirate King’—will be in Suryadivan vicinity to report status of Gates and review force protection protocols with field commanders. Render him any assistance needed, to include service and rearmament of the Henrique for mission requirements. He is a loyal friend and should be considered a member of the Family, albeit in a clandestine role.