Senedj I Center for Imperial Justice

Tuaut, Archavia

In a dimly lit cell deep in the bowels below the chambers of the Imperial Court, a woman who was slightly beyond what could be called her “middle age” years sat on one of the room’s only furnishings. A long bench made of low grade wood, one of two in the chamber.

She sat with her back against the wall, eyes closed in quiet contemplation. Her ruminations, however, were interrupted when a loud clanging sound echoed into the room as the door to her cell was opened.

Syon Fand didn’t open her eyes as her peace and quiet was assaulted by the angry exclamations of another woman as she was thrust unceremoniously into the cell alongside her older counterpart. This was followed by another loud clang as the door to the cell was slammed in the newcomer’s face.

“Hello Vasha.” The former Lady Fand muttered a greeting, without opening her eyes.

“You!?” Vasha Zakrov hissed irritably. “Of all the scum and lowlifes available in this miserable place, they shove me into this… insufferable place… with you?”

“It would appear that way.” Syon yawned.

“It’s because of you that I am in this miserable situation!” Syon winced at the sound of Vasha’s voice, not because of the anger, but because of the grating pitch it had suddenly taken.

“Yes it is.” Fand agreed. “Do sit down, Vasha, and please lower your voice a little. At the moment you rather remind me of a hypposhaar with an impacted bowel.”

Syon heard the scrape of the wooden bench against the metal floor, and the creak of the furniture as Vasha lowered her weight onto it. The two of them passed several seconds in relative silence before Fand heard Vasha sighed in annoyance.

“Aren’t you going to say anything in your own defense?”

“That’s what I have a lawyer for.” Syon chuckled mirthlessly.

“I mean to me you doddering old fool. How dare you turn on me!” Vasha snarled.

Finally, Syon Fand cracked an eye and leaned forward. “Are you suggesting that I did something more than what you intended for me? Do you think me ignorant of where the Imperators obtained their evidence against me, Vasha?”

Vasha blanched. “They told you it was from me?” Vasha stammered in feigned innocence. “Syon, I would never… perhaps those hideous insectoids you were dealing with…”

“Do be quiet dear.” Syon rolled her eyes in annoyance. “I don’t fault you for holding onto insurance, I merely fault your stupidity in keeping it secure.”

Vasha snorted. “You call me stupid, yet you were the one who promised an entire planet to the insectoids, one that has been under constant military surveillance for over a millennium, I might add.”

Syon Fand’s eyebrow arched. “Is that what you thought?” She had no fear of speaking freely in their cell, it was against the Imperial Charter of the Rights of Prisoners for security or law enforcement personnel to record or eavesdrop on prisoners outside of interrogation chambers.

Vasha blinked and her brow furrowed in confusion. “I… I heard your conversation myself. You promised them Earth…”

Fand laughed. A short, sudden, bark of contempt that actually startled Vasha enough to make her jump.

“You really are an idiot, Vasha.” Syon leaned back against the wall. “Here’s a bit of advice, don’t take any conversation with an insectoid at face value. Their language is so ridiculously convoluted… especially when the person you’re eavesdropping is using a cypher on top of that.”

“Then what did you promise them?” Vasha asked in a hushed tone.

Fand snorted derisively. “Access, my dear. Access to something on Earth they couldn’t obtain for themselves. And I gave it to them, just as I promised.”

*.*.*

With a growl of frustration, Shaar set the small keypad aside and glared up at the large screen in front of her. The key pad, made for someone human sized, had been a gift sent to her by Pryvani. It was able to interface perfectly with Myona’s data pad so that she could type in the code herself.

Unfortunately, that didn’t guarantee the code would function the way she wanted it to.

“What’s wrong?” Myona asked around a bite of food in her mouth.

“It’s not working.” Shaar muttered sullenly. “It should work. I’ve been over the code four times and I don’t see any errors, but then I run the simulation and the same thing happens again and again. The energy feedback overwhelms the processors and the unit turns into a brick.”

“Shaar, you’re trying to do something no one’s ever done before. You can’t expect it to work perfectly on the first, second, or even the fourth time.”

“You need to program it.” Shaar admitted with a sigh. “You… you understand the code better than I do.”

“But, it’s your idea!” Myona protested.

Shaar nodded. “I know. And I can build the portable projector. I know I can… but I need your help to make it work. Please.”

Myona nodded. “Okay …if you’re sure you want my help.”

The redheaded Titan grabbed her data pad and stared at the screen intently. She didn’t want to say it out loud, but the Titan woman could tell that Shaar had been heading down the wrong path. Myona could see what her friend had been aiming for, but the physics just wouldn’t work. Of course, for someone who had never actually learned physics, it was a very impressive mistake nonetheless.

Of course, just because Myona could see the error didn’t mean she necessarily knew how to fix it.

“Don’t worry, Shaar.” Myona said with a tight smile, “It may take us a while to figure this out, but between the two of us, I’m sure we’ll be able to do it. I wonder if Pryvani Tarsuss would be willing to help us out with funding.”

Shaar blinked. “What would we need to buy?”

“Materials to build a prototype for one, new equipment, more tools sized for you to use properly; especially if you’re going to tackle the physical construction.”

Shaar shrugged. “From what everybody keeps saying, she seems to have more money than she knows what to do with. I think she’d help.”

Myona smiled. “I think she would too.”

*.*.*

Pierce had been sitting outside her door for hours. Daz had been avoiding him for days now, and he was rather sick of it. Rhionne was livid. She was claiming that Daz had lied to them both, that she’d known about the human abuse all along and had chosen to hide it. Pierce had heard what Rhionne had to say on the matter and, while he wasn’t surprised that Vasha had turned out to be a total pile of shit, it didn’t jive at all with what he knew about Daz. So, he was reserving judgement on the matter until he heard her side of it.

However, Daz was making it extraordinarily difficult for him to hear her side of it in the first place. Pierce had decided, finally, that enough was enough. He was camping outside of her room until she came out.

While he’d resolved himself to wait her out, he deeply wished he brought a book or something.

Finally, there was a loud clicking noise high above him and the door slowly swung open. Pierce pulled himself to his feet and watched as Daz’s massive form appeared in the outline of the doorway.

The human swallowed nervously. He hadn’t seen Daz for days so suddenly seeing her like this before him, and considering how she’d been the last time he’d seen her, brought on a rush of conflicting emotions in him.

She took her first step out into the hallway, he shoe falling in front of him with a soft thud. Pierce reflexively backed up against the wall.

“It’s all right Pierce.” Daz’s soft voice floated down to him from above. “I know you’re there.” The Titan carefully knelt down onto the floor of the hallway and lowered a hand, palm down, to support herself.

“Can we talk?” Daz asked quietly.

“Yes.” Pierce said, taking steps towards her hand. “I’ve been trying to talk to you for a long time now Daz.”

“Myona told me.” Daz sighed, turning her hand over so Pierce could climb into it. “And I’m sorry. I just… I assumed you didn’t want to see me.”

Pierce settled himself into Daz’s hand and held on as the giant woman slowly raised herself back into a standing position. “Well, maybe you should have let me make that decision.”

Daz stepped back into her bedroom. Pierce’s bed was still on her nightstand, right where he’d left it. To Daz, it had been a heartbreaking reminder, but she hadn’t dared to move it.

Carefully, Daz settled herself on her bed and lowered her hand to her table, allowing Pierce to climb out.

“All right.” The human sighed after he’d settled himself. “What’s going on?”

Daz bit her lip. “My… my sister was recently put under arrest by our government. She’s being charged with a number of pretty serious offenses. Most of them are bad enough, but the one… the one I’m most ashamed of is cruelty to class two sentients.”

Pierce’s eyes narrowed. “That means humans, doesn’t it?”

Daz sighed. “Not always, but in this case yes it does.”

“What did she do?”

Daz’s heart began to beat a little faster. This was the moment she’d been dreading. She steeled herself for the worst possible reaction, and took a deep breath.

“She… she made humans fight each other, sometimes to the death, for her own entertainment. She’d patch up the winners and send them back out again.”

Pierce was silent for a long time, and Daz couldn’t bring herself to look at him, so she wasn’t sure what kind of reaction he was having to the news that Daz’s sister was a complete monster.

“Did you know she was doing this?”

Daz shook her head, “Not until Reevah told me the Imperators were investigating her.” Hot tears spilled down her cheeks and stained her shirt.

“Good.” Pierce sighed.

Daz opened her eyes and looked at Pierce. “Wh-what do you mean ‘good’? She was torturing humans!”

“Yes, and I absolutely despise her for doing that.” Pierce said evenly. “But that’s her, Daz. It’s not you.”

“I… I don’t…”

“Why did Reevah tell you the Imperators were after your sister?” Pierce asked in a calm voice.

Daz nervously ran a hand through her hair. “She wanted to know if I could tell them where Vasha might be hiding evidence.”

“Were you able to answer her question?”

“Yes.”

“Did you?”

“Y-yes.”

“So you’re telling me that not only were you not involved in what your sister was doing but the second you found out about it, you gave the authorities what they needed to put a stop to it?”

“I suppose I did…” Daz muttered.

“What part of that am I supposed to be upset about, exactly?” Pierce asked wryly.

“Um…” Daz scratched her head.

“Come on.” Pierce laughed. “Let’s go have a chat with Rhionne.”

So before she really knew what was happening, Daz had Pierce in hand and was making her way down the hall to the door of the Princess’s bedroom. Her hand knocked on the door as if it had a mind of its own.

“Who is it?” Rhionne’s voice called through the door. Daz heart thumped at the sound, it was the first time she’d heard Rhionne talk in days.

“It’s…” Daz’s throat had gone dry and she cleared it to try again. “It’s Daz. I… I have Pierce with me. We need to talk.”

The silence that met those words seemed to stretch for a long time. Finally, Daz heard a shuffling noise from inside the room, a moment later the door cracked opened in front of her.

Green eyes peered through the narrow opening. For a moment they met Daz’s own, before sliding down to where Pierce sat in her hand, as if attempting to verify that yes he was with her.

“All right, come on in.” Rhionne muttered, before opening the door wide enough to admit them both. Daz entered cautiously and gently set Pierce down on Rhionne’s desktop.

The Princess herself sat on the edge of her bed, crossed her arms over her chest, and waited for Daz to begin to speak.

However, it was Pierce who finally broke the silence. “Rhi, I’m hoping the three of us can clear the air about what’s been happening these past few days. You weren’t fair to Daz when the news broke about what her sister had been doing.”

“What her sister has been doing is disgusting Pierce!” Rhionne snapped angrily.

“You don’t think I know that?” Daz responded. “Emperor’s balls, I almost vomited when Reevah told me what horrible things my sister, and who knows how many other members of my family, have been doing!”

Rhionne winced. “First, can we not bring my father’s… anatomy into this? Secondly, what do you mean ‘when Reevah told you’?”

“I should think that obvious!” Daz snapped. “I didn’t have a clue that my sister was doing something so heinous! Don’t get me wrong, I knew Vasha was doing illegal things. I knew most of my family was as well, I’d have to be blind not to, but this? Maiming humans for fun?! Even I didn’t dream they’d stoop that low!”

“You didn’t know…” Rhionne whispered, more to herself than anything. “Gods, I’m a fool…”

“I realize that I should have come forward with the illegal actions of my family that I was aware of, maybe then this could have been stopped sooner. But Rhi… you have to believe that I never would have been involved in something this… this…”

“Yes, you’re right.” Rhionne mumbled quietly. “I should have known that. I should have… I should have trusted that you wouldn’t… Daz, I’m sorry…”

Pierce sighed in relief. “Good. Can we please just all put this behind us now? I don’t-”

“No.”

Pierce’s voice faltered and he looked up at Daz in confusion. The young woman was wearing a look that was both determined and heartbroken. “…what?”

Daz looked down at Pierce for a moment, and her eyes softened for just a moment, before she returned her gaze to Rhionne. “No, I’m sorry Pierce but I can’t let the past few days go just like that. Rhionne, I appreciate your apology, I believe you are being sincere, but the way you shunned me these past few days hurt. A lot. I dreaded you finding out about my family. I was scared all the way up to the second I showed you that news article. I knew you both would be upset, I was prepared for you to even be angry. What I did not expect was for you to storm out of my room, taking Pierce with you, without even giving me the chance to explain!”

“Daz…I…”

“You made a snap judgement based on no real information, and then condemned me for it. You held me responsible for the actions of others, just because they shared my blood. Do you realize that was the very reason I kept my family a secret? Because I didn’t want that very thing to happen? In one minute you made all my worst fears come true, Rhionne. And it’s going to take a lot more that a mumbled ‘I’m sorry’ for that sort of pain to heal.”

“Daz…” Pierce tried to speak up. “Daz, wait a second…”

Daz’s composure cracked a little, and a tear rolled down her cheek. She swiped it away furiously.

“I… I care very much for you Rhionne.” Daz said through gritted teeth. “I believe I might even love you, but I’m sorry, I’m just not ready to forgive you yet.”

And Daz turned and fled Rhionne’s bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

Pierce groaned in frustration and buried his face in his hands. He didn’t want to see either of the women in pain, and he felt like his heart was being torn in two. Which, in a way, it was.

Rhionne, meanwhile, sat on the edge of her bed in stunned silence. She had tears flowing freely from her eyes. Daz’s words had cut deep, and what was worse is that Rhionne knew she deserved every one of them.

But, underneath all that pain was a sudden glowing realization. In her torrent of anguished words Daz had spoken of love. She had all but admitted she loved Rhionne and the princess realized, despite everything, she reciprocated that love. Her heart began to beat faster and Rhionne screwed her eyes shut as the white hot self-righteous anger she had felt just moments before was replaced with a hollow regret.

“Well, now what do we do?” Pierce asked mournfully.

“We give her some space.” Rhionne sighed. “And then I try and think of a way to fix the giant mess that I have made. …I just hope it’s not too late.”