Page 59 of Savage Union (Brutal Universe #2)

58

TURK

“ A ll rise for the Honorable Judge Pen’digo—He Who Dispenses Justice!” the bailiff called.

The courtroom was crowded—the sordid details of my crime had apparently spread far and wide and it seemed like half of Rigelis Nine had come to see me tried. Everyone rose at the announcement and a figure in a long scarlet robe came around to sit at the high wooden podium at the front of the room.

I rose too—I didn’t have a choice. There were armed guards on either side of me. They were treating me like a perverted sex maniac who had kidnapped an innocent virgin and molested her for two solid months. It didn’t matter what I said, either—on Rigelis Nine, you’re guilty until proven innocent. And I didn’t have much hope that I’d be cleared—not with every bad actor I’d ever shipped with lined up to incriminate me.

To my right, in the witness booth, sat Gurflug and Frux. I was surprised that the big Galafruxian had the nerve to come anywhere near the courthouse after the shit he’d pulled. But everyone seemed to have forgotten his murder/suicide attempt in favor of the scandal about me “kidnapping and molesting” Jessina. It was clearly more interesting news than the idea of Gurflug jumping us into the middle of an asteroid field on purpose, I thought sourly.

I was angry about my own predicament but I was worried sick about Jessina. It had been almost twenty-four hours since I’d last sucked her breasts to get the nectar out and I was sure by now the symptoms of The Needing would be tormenting her. What if she got sick again? I had been giving her my seed for weeks now—what if she needed it to live? Dying for lack of a male’s seed is something that can actually happen to a woman who’s mated to a Brutal Clansman. What if she?—

“The Court calls Union Rep Frux of Clan Savage to the stand,” the bailiff said, cutting into my worried train of thought.

Frux rose and straightened his uniform before strutting up to the witness stand.

“Do you swear by She of the Four Faces that you will only divulge the truth at this hearing?” the bailiff asked him.

“I do.” He nodded and sat in the stand.

“Now then, Grr. Frux—please tell us what you know about this kidnapping incident,” the judge directed him. He was wearing a large crimson wig which nearly covered his stunted horns, I noted. Well, at least he has some Brute blood in him—not that I dared to hope that would make him sympathetic to my cause.

“I will, most Honorable Dispenser of Justice,” Frux said. “Captain Turk forced the girl, Jessina, to dress and act like a boy for the first part of our mission, so none of the rest of the Crew would suspect her true identity. Then he moved her into his quarters so he could molest her full time and told all the rest of us that she was just ‘sick.’” He shook his head and looked down his bony nose at me disdainfully. “Of course, if I had known, I would have stopped the whole thing from going forward. But alas, the disguise he made her wear was too good—no one suspected a thing until the very end of the mission.”

I couldn’t keep quiet.

“Your Honorableness, that’s not how it happened!” I protested.

“Silence!” The judge glared at me. “You will keep your mouth shut, Defendant, unless you wish me to rule against you right now! Any witnesses who can testify to your good character will be given their chance to speak later in this trial.”

Which was, of course, the problem. I didn’t have anyone to witness for me. I had been arrested too quickly for me to ask anyone from the Crew that I trusted. And since I wasn’t allowed to speak for myself and I had no one to represent me, I simply had to sit and listen to Frux tell lies that the judge was apparently swallowing whole!

I know it’s different in other court systems, but that’s just how it is here on Rigelis Nine. There was nobody to speak for me or defend my good character, so I was stuck.

“Grr. Frux, thank you for your testimony. The Court now calls Grr. Gurflug, the Navigator of The Illyrian to the stand,” the bailiff called.

Frux left the stand, casting me a nasty smirk as he went, and Gurflug came to take his place.

“Grr. Gurflug, please state the facts of what you saw during The Illyrian’s mission to The Triplex System,” the bailiff said.

“Certainly, my good man!” Gurflux burbled. “I would be pleased to.” He lifted his chin and threw out his chest. “Well first of all, I was hired to be the Head Navigator. Captain Turk tried to pretend like the girl was also a navigator but she was clearly unqualified for such a post.” He cast me a disgusted look. “It’s my belief that he was just using it as a ruse to bring her aboard in the first place so he could molest her.”

The judge turned to look at me.

“These are grave charges, Captain Turk! Do you have anyone at all to speak for you and offer any explanation for your egregious and perverted behavior?”

I felt a growl of frustration rise in my throat.

“No,” I began. “But if you’d just let me explain?—”

“You know that the criminal is not allowed to speak in his own defense,” the judge said, scowling. “Therefore, if you have no one to speak on your behalf?—”

“He does!” a voice shouted from the back of the courtroom.

Every head in the room swiveled—including my own. There were Snuffy and Yorrin coming into the court. And to my great surprise, I saw Slade, right behind them.

But my relief was short-lived. My best friend gave me a grim look and I could tell that he was angry at me— really angry. Was he here to testify against me too? My heart sank as I waited to hear what he would say.

But when the bailiff asked for the names of the new witnesses, he chose to call Yorrin to the stand first.

“Please introduce yourself to the Court,” the bailiff invited. “And tell us how you know Captain Turk.”

“My name is Yorrin and I am the pilot of The Illyrian,” Yorrin said in his slow, deliberate way. “I am also a Talon’teen Monk—I spread the Gospel of Amok the Lover of All. I have been flying with Captain Turk for seven years now.”

“Ah, so you could say you know him well?” the bailiff inquired.

“Extremely well.” Yorrin nodded. “Well enough to know that he would never do the things he has been accused of here today.”

“Is that right?” the judge asked, leaning forward. “Then what do you think happened?”

“I believe that the girl was in disguise, but I don’t think that Captain Turk knew it,” Yorrin told him. “At least, not at first. She really did appear to be a boy, named ‘Cass’ and in fact, she was hired as one of the navigators of The Illyrian. I myself advised Captain Turk to hire her.”

“You did? So you’re saying the girl really could navigate?” The judge looked genuinely interested now.

“She was better than any navigator I ever saw,” Yorrin said, nodding. “She has no blind spots, which is an incredibly rare gift, Your Honorableness,” he added, speaking to the judge.

“Really?” The judge looked more surprised than ever. “A girl who could navigate…what a strange thing. So you think the Captain hired her thinking she was really a boy?”

“I know he did,” Yorrin asserted, bless him! I told myself I would offer a thousand thanks for him the next time I made it to a Holy House of the Goddess.

“But did he move the girl into his quarters as the other witnesses said?” the judge asked.

“Well…yes.” Yorrin nodded slowly. I knew that he couldn’t lie—it wasn’t in his nature. But I still couldn’t help clenching my jaw. Damn it! I had been so close!

“And do you know what he did with her in there?” the judge asked.

Yorrin shook his head.

“No, Your Honorableness.”

“Very well. You may step down. Bailiff—call the next witness,” the judge commanded.

Next to the stand was Snuffy. He looked around nervously, his long nose wiggling as he took the stand.

“Please state your name and tell us how you know Captain Turk,” the bailiff said.

“If it please the Court, my name is Snuffy and I’m the cabin boy aboard The Illyrian—yes I am. Yes, I am!” he declared. “And I’ve worked with the Captain for over eight years—so I have. So I have!”

“Very well, so you should be a good judge of his character.” The judge nodded gravely. “And what do you say happened?”

“I say exactly what Yorrin said—yes I do, yes I do!” he exclaimed. “But I have one more thing to say too—the person who really should be on trial isn’t Captain Turk—it’s him!” And he pointed a finger at Gurflug, who was still sitting to the right of me by Frux.

“What?” The judge frowned. “What are you saying? Are you telling us that the Galafruxian is the one who kidnapped the girl?”

“Nobody kidnapped her—no they didn’t. No they did not!” Snuffy declared. “But he tried to kill us all! He jumped The Illyrian right into the middle of an asteroid field—on purpose!”

“I object!” Gurflug blustered. “How dare you come here and say such lies about me right in front of His Honorableness the judge?”

“These are grave accusations indeed,” the judge remarked, frowning. “Which is the only reason I’ll entertain them, even though they don’t pertain to the current trial. Do you have any proof that your words are true?”

“I do, Your Honorableness!” Snuffy squeaked. “I have it right here—if Your Honorableness would bring out a vid projector I can show the whole Court!”

The judge nodded.

“All right. Bailiff?”

“I have one here, Your Honorableness.” The bailiff produced a silver cube, not much bigger than the entertainment cube I had given Jessina and held it out.

Snuffy reached into the pocket of his vest and pulled out a tiny chip—the ship’s visual log, I realized.

“Just put it in—I have it cued to the right part,” he said to the bailiff. “Yes, I do. Yes, I do!”

“Your Honorableness, I must object!” Gurflug called again as the bailiff inserted the chip into the cube. “This is a ridiculous lie and a waste of the Court’s time! I must beg to be excused from witnessing what will obviously be a false testimony meant to incriminate me.”

He started to rise as he spoke, clearly meaning to leave the courtroom, but the judge motioned at him sharply.

“Stay, Grr. Gurflug. I will decide what this Court wishes to consider and how to spend its time—not you.”

“But Your Honorableness, I am not even the one on trial here!” Gurflug sputtered. “I really must object! I must?—”

But just then a large, 3-D hologram of the inside of the Bridge of The Illyrian suddenly appeared hovering in mid-air. Everyone craned their necks to watch as the events of the day before unfolded.

The shot was an aerial one, since the recording device was located in the Bridge’s ceiling, but it was clear who everyone was. We all watched as Yorrin tried to warn me about the new course and then we all saw Gurflug shout about getting revenge and then pushing the Jump button.

The next minute, the shot showed the chaotic descent of The Illyrian into the unstable wormhole Gurflug had chosen. Then the asteroid field where we’d all nearly died and then Jessina rushing in and grabbing the nav band to navigate us to safety.

When the clip ended, I could hear a collective gasp go up from everyone in the courtroom—the judge included. He turned and glared at Gurflug, who was looking distinctly uncomfortable now.

“Bailiff,” he said, not taking his eyes off the big Galafruxian. “I believe we have a new criminal who needs to be apprehended and tried.”

“Guards!” the bailiff called and nodded at Gurflug. “Take him into custody.”

“Very good. We’ll have his trial next, since all his shipmates are here to testify already,” the judge decided.

“But…but I am innocent!” Gurflug burbled as the guards led him away. “I was only getting my revenge! It’s my right! You don’t know how badly I was treated! They wouldn’t even make slime soup for me! They made me take a shower! ”

They dragged him away, still howling and complaining, and then the judge looked back at me.

“Very well—that was an interesting interlude, to say the least. But it’s time we got back to the case at hand. Captain Turk, I have heard testimony both in your favor and against you and I find it hard to decide which is the truth. Do you have any other witnesses to call?”

“Yes, he does!” Slade stood up before I could answer. He shot me an angry glare and then looked back at the judge. “Your Honorableness, may I testify?”

“Of course.” The judge nodded at the bailiff who escorted Snuffy away from the witness stand and then beckoned Slade forward.

My mouth went dry as I watched my best friend of many years take the stand. What was Slade going to say about me? It was clear he was still angry—not that I blamed him. Was he going to bury me?

I just didn’t know.