Logbook entry

The Cost of War (part 3)

       I sat bolt upright trying to catch my breath.  My eyes squinted as I tried to adjust to the darkness that surrounded me.  The walls were steely gray and I couldn't make out the front of the room.  When I put my feet to the floor, I was shocked to find that I wasn't wearing my H.E. Suit anymore.  Instead of my mission gear, I wore black creased slacks and a white collared button-up shirt, typical work attire for the lower to middle class Imperial citizen.  Another realization came to me when I tried to adjust my vision more... I could only see though one eye.  I slowly and nervously touched where my right eye should have been, only to feel leathery cloth covering the area.



       "At least they gave me an eye patch." I said to myself.

       "Oh, you're finally awake?"

       The lights in the room turned on with an explosion of white that nearly blinded me totally.  I instinctively raised my arms and covered my face, forgetting that I couldn't see out of my right eye.  My vision slowly adjusted to the light and I was taken aback from what I saw.

       I was in a holding cell.

       "The hell is this?"  I demanded.

       "Welcome to prison Jubei."  Endincite stepped in front of the cell's force field. "Yours is not a situation that I'd want to be in."

       "You wanna let me know what's going on, or are you gonna just stand there and enjoy the scene?"  I growled in a low voice, letting my displeasure known.

       "Easy mate,"  Edgar walked beside Endincite and raised his hands. "we're on the same side.  After the war was declared over, the Union demanded your head."

       "Remember,"  Noxa got up from a chair directly in front of the cell. I was pretty annoyed that I didn't notice him right away.  "if we didn't back you, we'd simply leave you here and deny your affiliation with the Chapterhouse.  As you can see, we are here.  That should tell you how bad the situation is."

       Noxa was right, all three Chapterhouse scribes were here standing in front of my cell.  They must have been attending the diplomatic proceedings because they were all dressed in Imperial business suits.  The looks on their faces told me all I needed to know.  I was screwed.

       "OK, so what's going on and what do I do?"  I sat back down on the bed, hoping that I wasn't that screwed.

       "First off, what do you remember about what happened on the Corvette?"  Noxa asked as he sat back on the chair.

       "We were on the bridge with Drumpe, his lacky, the bridge guards and the two female navigators."  it was hard to remember, my mind felt stressed just trying to see the details.  "I remember being hit... that must be how my eye got damaged.  I remember him yammering on and on about how people would do anything for him and his new drug, including selling family... not much after that.  Just feels mostly... anger, rage, so much rage.  It's all red."

       "Yeah, I figured that would happen.  You passed out pretty hard on the Corvette, or rather, outside of it."  Noxa chuckled to himself.

       "Look the long and short if it is that the Union got a broadcast that shows you killing some soldiers and Drumpe quite brutally.  The broadcast was from a distress call.  Given that the Corvette and it's crew were technically non-combatants in the war, it makes it look like you just slaughtered the person that signed their cheques and his crew for no reason."  Endincite remarked grimly.  "Frankly, it's pretty damning evidence."

       "That lunatic was going to use all of them in some fucking drug riddled, super-soldier, money making scheme!"  my anger was showing and I couldn't hold it back much longer.  "Sorry, sorry.  It's just they have no idea what could have happened."

       All three scribes looked at each other rather grimly.  I could tell that there was something they weren't telling me, something that was probably the final nail in the coffin.  Edgar was the first to speak.

       "There's more,"  he said matter-of-factly.  "we have intel that states that Drumpe wasn't actually backed by the Feds.  He was backed by an Imperial patron."

       My stomach sank like a goddamn rock.  A fucking patron?!  That made things far more dangerous.  A patron was a powerful and influential person in the Empire that held a position that was just below an Imperial senator.  Going against a patron was a near guarantee of political and social suicide, which is why they usually got what they wanted.  In this case, what this patron wanted was my head.

       "There is a silver lining though."  Noxa leaned forward in his chair as he spoke.  "I have all the data from the ship.  Before I got captured, I managed to patch into the main computer system and start a remote download.  This problem is that it's all encrypted.  Dub and Nodus are working on it, but the encryption is good.  We may not be crack it in time."

       "In time for what?"  I asked.

       "For your trial."  said Endincite.  "It starts tomorrow morning at oh-nine-hundred and will be broadcasted system wide."

       "Gonna make a show out of it eh?"  I scoffed.

       "You're going to be the star of it."  Edgar replied.

       "I hate the spotlight."  I stood up and stretched.  At least I had enough space to workout in.

       "We know."  Noxa said as he got out of his seat and the rest of the scribes turned to the door.  "We have to see to the peace process and check on Dub's progress.  Try to relax Jubei, we'll get you out of this."

       They left the room and silence once again fell upon the room.  Try to relax, bah!  I wasn't in any mood to relax.  As I started my stretching I thought about the upcoming trial.  I wasn't good with lawyers or court rooms, never understood why things had to be so damn complicated.  I hated the pomp and circumstance, the twisting of words, and the manipulation of the truth.  Of course, I could always demand the ancient way that things were decided... but no, a win like that would be wasted.  I had to play it smart, draw out the patron and expose them.  Make their corruption known.

       As I started to my Ansatsuken routine, I couldn't shake the uneasy feeling of not remembering exactly what happened aboard the Corvette.  I slammed my foot down as I held a 'horse-straddle' stance and tried to force myself to remember.

       "Naturally, I'll sit back and reap the spoils of war.  There are always places that will... 'employ'... the orphans and widows."  Drumpe smiled his large greasy smile.

       I lifted my body slightly, shifting my weight to the balls of my feet.  Twisting my body, I launch a thrusting forward punch...

       "Toraken, dageki."  I commanded.  The Commander shrieked and dropped my sword as its plasma energy burned his hands, giving Noxa a chance for some payback.  I turned back to Drumpe, who had grown in size.

       ...low sweep, to rising uppercut..

       "Pity, if you had joined my crew I would have hidden and forgiven the atrocity you committed here... killer." he said grinning that fucking shit-eating grin.  I'm going to break his teeth!

       ...land.  Right roundhouse, to left spinning back kick, to standing three punch combination...

       "... just meat puppets I had there for you to slaughter.  Those men had nothing do with this... yet.  They were going to be my first test subjects but had a change of heart and were planning on reporting my activities to the authorities.  But you took care of that for me, didn't you... killer."  as he finished his revelation he drew back his leg, readying for another assault.  I caught the knee in my hand and squeezed until I heard a sickly crunch.

       ...I raised my right hand to the sky, clenched it into a tight fist, and quickly drew it back...

       "What will you tell their families?  What can you say to the children who no longer have daddies or to the wives who no longer have their husbands?  You're the reason they aren't here anymore because you murdered them in cold blood... killer."  he laughed though his broken and missing teeth, launching specks of blood into the smoke filled air.

       ...and violently slammed my fist into the floor.  The resulting shockwave caused the lights to flicker as sparks rained down from the fixtures in the ceiling.


       The Union and the patron want a show?

       I'll give them the best damn performance they've ever seen.