by Tom Shepherd
Tyler and Suzie responded to this privilege by standing and holding their hands over their hearts in the Terran style of non-military salutes. When Gemma’s head fin waved in response, Suzie assured him it was a nod of mutual respect.
“Good evening, Rosalie,” the judge said to Suzie. “Is the child well?”
“Well, indeed, Honored Matron,” Suzie-Rosalie said. “Resting aboard our home ship.”
“Are you ready to argue for reinstatement of your easement, Advocate Tyler Matthews the Fourth?”
“No, Matron.”
The lead attorney for the government leaped to his feet. “Honored Matron, are we to be summoned here for no purpose? We could be home, meditating on the Divine Truths or settling children in their sleep-tanks.”
He was a vibrant young fellow with a set of sharp spikes atop his head fin. Tyler wondered if they were augmentations or just a grooming style. Suzie said his dark red robe without stripes indicated a senior member of the government legal department, equivalent to a deputy attorney general on Terra. A powerful position for someone so young. Tyler rose slowly and approached the center of the sandy carpet. Suzie followed to translate.
“I have no argument,” Tyler began, “because none is required. One hundred Terran years ago, my great-grandfather negotiated a contract with the government of the Sacred Protectorate under the auspices of Suryadivan civil and religious law. Your government has now reneged on its contract, causing irreparable harm to Matthews Interstellar Industries, its investors and subsidiaries. Does anyone wish to refute those facts?”
The government’s lead attorney rose again. “Honored Matron, the Sacred Protectorate stipulates to facts of Mr. Matthews’ pleading. However, we are a sovereign star nation with the right to void any and all contracts which threaten the public health and welfare, both physically and spiritually. Hence, the government acted within the law when it nullified the easement previously granted to Matthews Interstellar.” He fluttered his head fin like a Geisha demurely fanning herself.
Suzie whispered what the gesture meant. “He’s telling you, ‘Sit down, boy. You are way out of your league.’”
Gemma flapped sharply at the government lawyer, who cringed. Suzie said there was no equivalent translation of the gesture in Terran, but if she were to try it would begin with a slap to the face.
“Arguments, Counselor Kedak, not insults!” Gemma thundered. “Do we show off-worlders how clever we are by exposing our pouches to the public?”
“Forgive me, Honored Matron. I meant no offense. Nevertheless, my argument stands.”
Tyler clapped his hands. “Bravo, brother barrister. I totally agree with Counselor Kedak. I have no legal grounds whatsoever to compel this government to allow my Family access to the Alpha Site.”
Suzie-Rosalie translated his words and then grabbed his arm. “Are you barking mad?”
“Wait for the other shoe, ‘Little Sister’.” He turned back to the court. “Now, Honored Matron, we all agree your Sacred Protectorate has the sovereign right to butt-fuck anybody it chooses—”
Suzie punched his arm. “I am not translating that! She’s too nice.”
“Ow! Okay, okay. Soften the parts you don’t like. I trust your discretion.”
“Just be nice.” She rendered a censored version and waited for Tyler to continue.
He returned to the argument. “However, since my learned colleague representing the government has argued that the Suryadivan star nation may do whatever it wants, and further stipulates his government has willfully and with foreknowledge caused irreparable harm to Matthews Interstellar Industries by exercising said rights, I am entering a plea for summary judgment against the Sacred Protectorate to compensate my family for our egregious loss.”
“This is unprecedented!” Kedak said, after Suzie finished.
“Actually, it’s not.” Tyler ticked off five major cases where the government compensated off-world corporations because it reneged on contracts due to ex post facto decrees by the Pontiffs or legislation passed by the Suryadivan Assembly. “There are thirty more. Shall I continue?”
Kedak was not ready to concede. “Honored Matron, in our legal system a sovereign government cannot be sued unless it allows the plaintiffs to proceed. The Sacred Protectorate has granted no such permission.”
Gemma inclined her head fin toward Tyler. “Well, Mr. Matthews?”
“Our original contract granting easement to Matthews Interstellar Industries contains an eminent domain clause, which your government accepted during negotiations.”
“We have no such law,” Kedak sputtered.
“What did the contract specify?” Matron Gemma said.
Tyler pulled up the language on his datacom while Suzie’s translation caught up. “I quote, ‘Matthews Corp will be rendered appropriate compensation if the granting entity, to wit, the Suryadivan Sacred Protectorate, withdraws right of easement within five hundred Terran years after the enactment of this contract,’ end quote.”
The Judge cocked her head, causing the fin to droop sideways. “So, you are not asking for the easement to be reinstated, but are seeking damage relief?”
“Well, your government—in a sacred, binding contract—agreed to render ‘appropriate compensation’ after exercising its sovereign right to terminate said agreement.”
Gemma sifted her weight in the judicial chair. “How much compensation are you seeking?
“Let’s see,” Tyler pecked at his data pad. “The total amount the Family has invested in this project over one hundred Terran years, plus all anticipated derivative incomes over the next five centuries… plus the investments of major stockholders—”
“A simple figure, Counselor,” Gemma said.
Tyler sighed. “May it please the court, the Suryadivan Sacred Protectorate owes Matthews Interstellar Industries…yes, that’s the figure. Eight hundred quadrillion galactic credits, or the equivalent in property.”
Well, Dad said to sue the bastards for everything they’ve got. That about covers it.
There was dead silence in the courtroom as the enormity of Tyler’s figure sank in. He was asking for an amount equal to the gross value of Suryadivan Prime plus all colonial worlds and properties held by the Sacred Protectorate.
“Surely, your translator misinterpreted the figure,” Advocate Kedak said. He summoned an assistant, who asked Tyler in Terran to say the figure again. When Tyler repeated eight hundred quadrillion, the interpreter refused to translate it for his superior.
At the judgment table, Gemma shifted left and right, as if she couldn’t find a comfortable position. Tyler realized this had been a long day for the old jurist, and now he expected her to lay an enormous egg at his feet.
Gemma said, “Mr. Matthews, since opposing counsel seems to have forgotten he is an attorney of the People, let me ask the obvious question. How much room is there for negotiation with the Sacred Protectorate on the amount of damages?”
“None, your Honored Matron.”
“I see. And when do you expect payment?”
“Before Jump Gate Alpha is due to come online would be appropriate.”
“Since your objective remains the establishment of an Andromeda Jump Gate, do I sense a possible compromise?” She fluttered her head fin.
“Do you mean, if this court reinstates our easement,” Tyler said, “will Matthews Interstellar Industries drop the damages suit? That is one possible scenario I might entertain.”
“This is simply blackmail!” Kedak said.
Tyler smiled. No, it’s a settlement negotiation.
“Honored Matron,” Kedak implored, “please do not allow this alien to defraud the Suryadivan Protectorate and profane the Sacred Hunting grounds of Adao.”
Gemma flipped her fin at the prosecutor. “The People’s Advocate should know that forcing our government to honor its contracts is not blackmail. You stipulated to damages incurred by the government’s actions, Kedak. Don’t expect me to bend the law to compensate for you
r legal incompetence.”
“But your ruling could allow the Terrans to recover so much money!”
“Precisely why you should accept the settlement,” Gemma said. “If Matthews Corporation regains its easement, no compensation is required.”
“Let him file an appeal to the Supreme Pontiffs themselves,” Kedak said.
Gemma’s fin snapped to attention. “We have ample jurisdiction, High Priest Kedak. We don’t need your father’s blessing.”
“An appeal would take time. We need relief now, Honored Matron,” Tyler said. “Under Suryadivan law, any delay adds to the damages.”
“He’s right, Kedak. I must either reinstate the easement or award substantial damages.” She looked over the edge of her judicial table at the young high priest below her. “Your father, our Supreme Pontiff, will not relish that outcome, I assure you.”
“Let Matthews Corporation produce documentation for these outrageous claims.”
“Since you have imprudently stipulated to his Corporation’s case for damages,” Gemma said, “only the amount is negotiable.”
“Then make him prove he requires vast sums of money in compensation!”
She leaned forward, head fin leveled at Kedak. “That’s your job—to settle on the amount of damages once judgment is rendered. Have you not studied the law? Apparently, Mr. Matthews knows our ways better than you do. The matter is clear.”
The government attorney threw up his hands and shouted, “Gemma, you cannot do this!”
The Matron jerked upright.
Tyler cringed. Oh, now that was a bad mistake.
In every system of justice Tyler had encountered during his relatively brief legal career, judges—human or alien—did not allow lawyers to disrespect them in their courtrooms. Kedak knew instantly he’d crapped in the pouch. He covered his mouth and sank to the floor, bowing his finned forehead to the sand-colored carpet.
“Do you see this blue-and-white robe? I don’t care if your father is Supreme High Pontiff or gardener at the city waste plant—you will not speak to me in that tone. You are no whimpering joey. You are a high priest and an official of government justice. Act your status!”
“I humbly beg your forgiveness, great Matron.”
“Tentative Judgment for the plaintiff. The government will forthwith release the easement against Matthews Interstellar and allow them to conduct reasonable commerce in and around the location known as Jump Gate Alpha.”
“The Sacred Protectorate appeals!” Kedak said.
“Advocate Kedak, an appeal is automatic in matters of state interest, which is why the judgment is tentative.” Gemma looked at her data pad. “Your prayer will be heard in ten days. Judges Hobak and Clerimon will co-preside.”
The Judge stood, and everyone jumped to their feet.
“May the Forty-Six gods and goddesses of the Universe protect and extend the Suryadivan Sacred Protectorate. We are adjourned.”
Suzie-Rosalie hugged Tyler and started to kiss him, but he pushed her away. “No, please don’t! I’ll be in therapy for the rest of my life.”
She laughed. “Righto. We’ll have our own private celebration back aboard the Patrick Henry after I become myself again.”
“Too soon to celebrate. We’ve got ten days to come up with a hard figure for damages, prep to defeat Kedak’s appeal, and get Esteban acquitted.”
“No sex until then?” Suzie smiled naughtily.
Tyler frowned. “Hey, I’m Catholic, but not that Catholic.”
She laughed. “So, back to work. I’ll dig into more case studies. We’ll be ready.”
Tyler nodded. “We also have to find Cousin Julieta and avoid murder by despatchers.”
“Your father thinks you can do it.”
“Does he, really? Tyler smirked. “Long ago, I learned to look behind what he says to find Dad’s real plan.”
She smiled with Rosalie’s face, but it was all Suzie. “You’re telling me I’m in love with a bloody paranoid?”
He shrugged. “You gotta be a little paranoid to survive in the Matthews Family.”
Suzie touched his cheek. “Mental or not, I have faith in you, Tyler Noah Matthews the Fourth.”
He took her hand. “Thank you. Something tells me the battle for Jump Gate Omega has just begun.”
Matthews Interstellar Industries
“The battle for Jump Gate Omega has just begun…”
STAR LAWYERS BOOK 2
FORBIDDEN SANCTUARY
More Star Lawyers series books, coming this summer.
Book 2 – Forbidden Sanctuary - The struggle continues with courtroom battles on Suryadivan Prime, the search for Cousin Julieta on Adao-2, and major fleet clashes between combat ships of Matthews Interstellar and a pirate armada at the galactic Rim. (Available July 2018.)
Book 3 – The Blue King Murders - Tyler and J.B. travel to the remote Quirt-Thyme Empire in defense of Star Lawyers team members accused of murder, and to a colonial world in the Carina Arm of the Milky Way to defend Uncle Charlie Matthews, who faces a death sentence for acts of sedition against the Meklavite Union. (Available August 2018.)
Great summer reading, paperback and E-book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Thomas W. Shepherd, D.Min., is a retired US Army officer, former public school teacher, and seminary professor. During the Vietnam War, he served as a medical evacuation helicopter pilot and was awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses, Purple Heart, Air Medal, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry (foreign award).
Originally from Reading, Pennsylvania, Tom Shepherd taught public school in Georgia and worked with Unity churches from the Deep South to California. After eleven years teaching history, theology, and ethics at Unity Institute & Seminary near Kansas City, Missouri, “Dr. Tom,” as students and friends call him, moved to Tucson, Arizona, with wife Carol-Jean and their genial pit bull, Riley. Enjoying the freedom of retirement, Shepherd vows to write book-length fiction, “Until they plant a cactus over my bones.”
Author’s Notes
Welcome aboard the starship Patrick Henry.
Launching the Star Lawyers series was galaxy-class fun. The more you get to know the central players—Tyler, J.B., Rosalie, and Suzie—the better you’ll understand why some readers call this series “Star Trek meets Law & Order.” The Patrick Henry team struggles for justice in places where it’s a crime to be human.
I’ve always wanted to cook up a batch legal thrillers set in the future, delicious plots seasoned with mystery, romance and humor. The Star Lawyers series features deep space lawyers and their support staff, to include: Lucy their shape-shifting cat, emote-reading former monk Esteban Solorio, holographic prostitutes—Arabella, Myong Li, Parvati, Ulrika, Zalika, and dozens more—repurposed as legal assistants and starship crew, and a pair of deadly Latina assassins known as dispatchers. Courtroom battles are blended with political, religious and cultural conflict; spiced by pirates, predatory and friendly star nations and mega-corporations vying for supremacy; and deep space exploration, flavored with a glimpse of a future that isn’t dominated by endless war or threatened by bug-eyed monsters.
Okay, okay. Actually, you’ll find some serious starship battles when the storyline requires space combat. And the Yegosians are bug-eyed insectoids, but don’t look for them until Book 5. They’re not bad guys, just flat-out alien from a human perspective. (See more about Creature-Feature heritage of sci-fi, below.)
Science fiction has come a long way since its technology was based on rocket ships and its plots doggedly recycled the invasion of earth time and again by evil, tentacled aliens. Even as a kid, I always wondered why slimy green space octopi craved blonde-haired, vacuous (but highly pneumatic) B-actresses to ravish. Quality sci-fi from “Golden Age” writers like John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, and Robert A. Heinlein moved beyond a child-like fascination with unsophisticated alien horror in the decades before good space horror, like Alien. Nevertheless, goofy space monster phase lingered until Trek’s original series.
I’m not talking about the reptoid Gorn Captain but the series theme music.
Listen carefully to TOS opening music and you’ll hear unearthly sounds underscoring Trek’s main track. Although it sounds like a Theremin, it’s really a soprano duplicating the woo-woo sounds. Perhaps the producers decided a connection with the Saturday matinee Creature-Feature heritage was required to make a sci-fi series work on TV.
They were soooo wrong.
Sci-fi readers today want good characters—alien and human—and strong plots with science and fiction well matched, if not always happily married. (I love Trek’s mysterious “Heisenberg Compensator.”) If you love Space Opera and courtroom drama, if you have a sense of humor and thirst for adventure, I hope you will enjoy the Star Lawyers books as much as I enjoy writing them.
In the movie Shakespeare in Love, the investor paying for Shakespeare’s unfinished play, Romeo and Juliet, stops the Bard in the street to ask how the story ends. Shakespeare shrugs, turns to go, and the financier shouts (and I paraphrase), “Well, if you don’t know, who does?”
That’s why we write stories. To find out what happens. You are invited along for the ride. If you enjoy the journey, kindly write a review of Jump Gate Omega online at Amazon.com or anywhere you’d like. The author will be highly appreciative.
“Dr. Tom” Shepherd
Tucson, AZ
Let’s keep in touch.
Visit my webpage and blog. You can get a free copy of the prequel short story to the Star Lawyers series, Knife Fight at Olathe-5. Find out how Tyler got his scout ship, the Sioux City: https://shepherdauthor.com/
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