Origins: A Greater Good
Page 21
“Your actions killed millions of Novi. You attempted to transfer knowledge to the Alpha that would have allowed them to block our Nexus devices,” the Chancellor accused in rapid succession. “Those acts, by definition, are acts of treason committed against your people. Regardless of what your blind idealism may think of the council’s well-reasoned policies, aiding an enemy of your people and attacking your own people is treason.”
With the accusation leveled, Hastelloy looked ready to tear the Chancellor apart limb from limb. “I would have done no such thing. The Alpha were, are and always would have been out of control animals. The extreme divergence from their Neo Scale development path assured that fact for all eternity. In locating the Alpha, I was a patriot to the Novi. I found them, I led you to them. I was instrumental in their final extinction.”
The Chancellor did not match Hastelloy’s level of animosity. In fact, he relaxed back into his chair with great amusement showing on his face. “I hate to bring up the inconvenient fact that you, my good sir, fought with the Alpha, not against them.”
“And while I’m at it, it was Captain Valnor who sent the two message probes that reached Novus informing the council of the Alpha and your location. Captain Valnor was the patriot, not you. Not in any way, shape or form,” the Chancellor concluded while gesturing to Hastelloy’s alien physique.
Hastelloy struggled to keep his lips from sporting a cocky smirk from ear to ear. The Chancellor had just spoken the magic words. He acknowledged Valnor as the true hero. Now it was time to press his final point and end this charade. “In that last Alpha system, I fought against the other great threat to the Old Republic which I so nobly serve – your fleet. I pitted the Old Republic’s two greatest enemies against one another, the Alpha and you and let them annihilate each other. I think you will find it exceedingly difficult from now on to ruthlessly impose your will upon the Novi people or the entire galaxy at large.”
“Your treachery did significant damage to the Republic, but we will prevail. We will safeguard the wellbeing of our people. As we speak our retired ships are being retrofitted for active duty again,” the Chancellor instructed more for the Novi people watching at home to give them a sense of security than trying to land a knockout blow in the ethical debate with Hastelloy.
“It’s too late for that, unless I missed my guess, other races are already testing your capabilities. You can’t fight every space faring race in the galaxy at once, Chancellor, at least not any more. Make it easy on yourself; engage them in dialog and diplomacy for once. Listen to their grievances and cooperate with them as a benevolent superpower should,” Hastelloy urged.
“We will not negotiate under threats from our enemies,” Chancellor Malum insisted as though he were now giving a campaign speech. “If you consider that to be the noble way of the Republic ideals you claim to fight for, then you truly are a traitor whose treachery needs to come to an end.”
“What a tragic piece of work you turned out to be,” the Chancellor went on. “I’ll even use your own writings to drive home my point. ‘A poor player struts and frets his hour upon the stage and is heard no more.’ That is a tale told by an idiot leading a life that signified nothing. That idiot is you.”
Hastelloy absorbed the insult with a satisfied grin as he posed a question to the Chancellor, “Twenty-fife message buoys left my ship in the Alpha system, how many reached Novus?”
“Two,” the Chancellor answered while sporting a look of surprise and confusion.
“What do you suppose happened to the others?” Hastelloy went on to ask. The results of his accounting seemed to leave Chancellor Malum, and the entire courtroom at a loss.
Hastelloy decided to help them with the answer, “I have a confession to make. I did betray the Novi people, I did share advanced technology with another race. I did it for a greater good mind you, but nonetheless, the traitorous deed is done. I had the twenty-three ‘wayward’ probes sent to the other space faring races in our galaxy. Those probes delivered to them the technical schematics to construct a device capable of jamming the Nexus.”
“The secret is out and everyone in the galaxy knows about it,” Hastelloy went on. “You’re still stronger than your enemies, but fighting them now will come at a high cost. Your overwhelming technological advantage in warfare that allowed you to kill without risk or recourse is no more. From here on out you will be fighting on a level playing field with your enemies. You will now have reason to avoid war rather than seek it out. The Novi will once again have reason to value diplomacy with others and will soon rediscover a respect for the sanctity of all life that has been absent for so long.”
With Hastelloy’s final words spoken, the courtroom erupted in chaos with screams and shouts of panic echoing from every corner of the room. All Hastelloy could do was shake his head in satisfaction, and to think he was just getting started with his distressing news for this audience.
Chapter 32: Sound and Fury Signifying…
“What have you done?” Chancellor Malum bellowed over all the others cursing Hastelloy and the demonic beast that surely sired him. “Millions of your fellow Novi will die needlessly in the wars that are sure to come now that our forces are weakened.”
“No, they won’t,” Hastelloy shouted back in a booming voice that silenced the entire courtroom before the magistrate had time to bang his dark sphere to achieve the same effect. “With warfare now carrying risk for the Novi, war itself is now the enemy. It is to be avoided and used as a measure of last resort, not the first as you seem to view it now.”
“The Nexus gave the Novi too much advantage and power over the rest of the galaxy. With that kind of power comes a responsibility to use it judiciously out of respect for the sanctity of life, all life. Long ago the Republic behaved in that manner, but you,” Hastelloy declared with an accusing finger leveled at the Chancellor, “you misused that power in the most appalling ways.”
“You wiped out entire civilizations because they got in your way. You did it because no one could stop you. There was no equal to keep you in check, but now there is. The galaxy now knows how to neutralize your advantage; balance has been restored and that fact is now a deterrent for your barbarism.”
“You…vile betrayer,” Chancellor Malum hollered at the top of his lungs. “You will pay dearly for this.”
“What do you plan to do, kill me?” Hastelloy responded while gesturing with great amusement at the isolation chamber situated in the corner.
“As many times as I can,” the Chancellor responded and glared at the magistrate with malicious intentions that would not be denied. “Verdict. Sentencing. Now!”
“Captain Hastelloy, I find that there is overwhelming evidence to find you guilty on all counts,” the magistrate declared sending the courtroom into a torrent of applause and cheers.
He paused with his arms raised high to bring the level of elation in the room down to a volume level where his words were audible once more. “You are hereby sentenced to death to be carried out immediately by ending your life inside this court’s isolation chamber so that no Nexus regeneration may occur. Your life force will come to an end. Do you have any final words before the sentence is carried out?”
“My struggle to guide the Novi Republic back to the high ideals it once upheld has left me guilty of treason. I accept that fact and the consequences that come with it. However,” Hastelloy went on, “every individual in this courtroom has played a prominent role in the Republic’s fall from those high ideals. For that, every one of you is guilty of treason against the Novi people. I find you guilty and sentence all of you to death along with me so that the Republic may thrive once more without traitors like us interfering.”
“Pfft,” Chancellor Malum exhaled and beckoned a set of guards to come forward. “Put him in the chamber.”
Hastelloy rose to his feet and shrugged off the two guards half his size to lean in to the Chancellor and say, “That’s not necessary. The Nexus is no longer functional anywhere inside th
e Hall of Justice due to interference coming from a ship in orbit.”
Hastelloy held firm, glaring at the Chancellor from a foot away as the two guards attempted, without success, to pull him away. He took great pleasure in watching the man’s white face drain of all color, and his arrogant eyes widen when the sensation of complete and total terror hit home.
“I may have been just a poor player, but the sound and fury I made during my hour upon the stage has signified…EVERYTHING,” Hastelloy declared before standing up once more and bellowed for the entire courtroom to hear. “The greater good has been served and I now take a bow as the curtain comes down on my final act upon this stage.”
**********
“What in the six corners of the universe is going on down there?” Valnor asked of his bridge officers as they watched the courtroom proceedings taking place on the planet below. “If a ship in orbit is interfering with the Nexus we need to find it, now.”
“I’ve already located the source,” Tonwen announced while Commander Gallono approached Valnor holding a data pad in his hands.
“Where is it then?” Valnor asked of his science officer as he took the data pad out of Gallono’s hands.
“Close by,” Gallono said in a quiet voice which was all business.
Valnor looked down at the data pad and recognized it as a targeting program. He evaluated the coordinates expecting to find a ship in orbit as the target, but instead, the program had all the ship’s weapons trained at a target on the planet’s surface.
“What is this?” Valnor demanded in surprise, but deep down he already knew the answer.
Gallono stood there with his hands clasped behind his back sporting a look of deep compassion for his new captain, “You were the lynchpin to his plan right from the start. The moment Captain Hastelloy realized that the current leaders of the Novi Republic were every bit the galactic terrorists that the Alpha once were, he planned for this moment.”
“Planned for what?” Valnor asked, hoping for a different answer than the one he felt was coming.”
“No more Alpha, no more invincible Republic fleet, and all of the hardliners assembled in one place to revel in his guilty verdict and imminent execution. This was all set up for you,” Gallono instructed as Tonwen stepped over to join in Valnor’s education session.
“Twenty million officers from the Fifth Fleet alive again and still loyal to the Old Republic ways. Add to that the billions of Novi like Pacis and Bellum yearning for their voices for peace to be heard, and you have a bona fide revolution behind you,” Tonwen explained.
“Me?” Valnor asked.
Gallono’s face lit up with pride at Valnor’s display of genuine humility. “You are the people’s hero, the Chancellor himself said as much. Back on Earth you were the one who found Rome built of bricks and left it built of marble to stand the test of time. You did it once and you will do it again, and this time without Tomal, the Alpha, or a long civil war. You were groomed for this by the very best.”
Valnor could hardly think straight. The genius of Hastelloy’s planning and the enormity of its implications for him were almost too much to bear. “What do I do now?”
“You do your duty for the greater good as Captain Hastelloy has done his,” Gallono answered with a hand pointing to the data pad and its targeting program. “These were your captain’s final orders.”
Valnor drew a deep breath and felt a single tear trickle down his cheek. He was about to end the life of a great man. Before any doubts could enter his mind, Valnor activated the firing program. He then pressed a key on the arm of his command chair to switch the main view screen in time to witness the Hall of Justice and all of the occupants inside get erased from existence.
“For the greater good,” Valnor said to himself.
THE END
Help me out:
I sincerely hope you enjoyed the final volume in the story of Hastelloy and his crew. I would greatly appreciate your feedback with an honest review on Amazon.com.
First and foremost, I’m always looking to grow and improve as a writer. It is reassuring to hear what works, as well as receive constructive feedback on what should improve. Second, starting out as an unknown author is exceedingly difficult, and Amazon reviews go a long way toward making the journey out of anonymity possible. Please take a few minutes to write an honest review.
Best regards,
Mark Henrikson
BE SURE NOT TO MISS THESE OTHER
EXCITING TITLES IN THE
ORIGINS SERIES
Book 1: Origins
Book 2: Centurion’s Rise
Book 3: Reformation
Book 4: The Reich
Book 5: A Greater Good
Acknowledgements:
Once again I have a whole host of people to thank for helping bring this final installment, and the entire Origins series for that matter, to life. My wife Tracy, brother Jeff, mother Donna, and Kim Callan down in Texas all deserve a great big shout out. To my infinitely patient children, Elena and Kristian, thank you for putting up with dad being so distracted these last few years. It’s finally time to play again.