Charged with murder (Recovered Archives)
12 Jan 2023Silvia Sharpe
+//Archive recovered replaying EventsNovember 18, 3308
Venus and Silvia decided to return to Cubeo to see what was so pressing that Venus was ordered to report in. Upon entry into the system Venus is hailed by imperial navy vessels.
'Follow us to headquarters. Any attempt to flee will result in a bounty being placed on you and your ship.'
'What the hell is this? Naval escort to headquarters and any deviation from the course will result in a bounty?'
'I'm sure it's fine dear. The bounty seems odd but it could just be protocol.'
The two are confused by the message but as an act of good faith follow the orders from the naval wing commander and proceed to headquarters. They dock at the designated landing pad which has a large security presence. Venus heads back into her quarters and puts on her nicest clothing. The fine material feels foreign against her skin after having worn flight gear for the last several months. She looks herself over critiquing her appearance. The empire is known for their exquisite and regal appearance. Given her status in the empire her appearance is even more critical.
'How do I look? I feel like I look crazy'
'You are crazy love, but you look amazing as always. You look like the empress with your own unique touch.'
As they step off the ship onto the landing pad they are approached by two guards who escort them into the building. Once inside they are escorted to a large room. The guards pause before opening the door.
'Only the Duchess is allowed to enter at this time.'
Venus hugs Silvia and proceeds through the doors. As she enters fear grips her immediately. 4 armed guards, the princess, the commanding General of the imperial navy, several dignitaries and a judge sit directly in front of her. The commanding general barks out startling Venus.
'Venus Duval make your way to the stand. If you try to run you will be arrested!'
Venus walks up to the stand in the middle of the room. She looks around and realizes this is a trial, but for what?
'Why am I being put on trial? What is going.....'
'SILENCE! Venus Duval, duchess of Amenta 6s Southern region you are placed on trial today for the murder of Imperial Navy Infantry Sergeant, Charles Vanderschmidt, while serving in the Imperial Navy. Reports have surfaced stating you killed your fellow squad mate in cold blood. How do you plea?'
As the judge finishes her statement Venus' eyes go wide, her heart rate begins to increase rapidly, her palms go clammy, sweat begins to roll down her neck and her skin crawls as the memory of her taking her military issue plasma rifle and shooting Charles in the head after he had attempted to force himself on an innocent girl during a mission a few years ago replays in her mind.
'C...can I get a legal representative? I need time to discuss this w..w..with someone.'
Venus stammers and struggles to get the words out of her mouth. A young woman in her mid twenties approaches the stand next to Venus to show she will be the legal representation for the trial. They are given half an hour to go over the details of the case and much to Venus' surprise the appointed attorney has a decent amount of information about the case. She explains to Venus that she had been given the information a month prior to review and was instructed not to contact Venus prior to the hearing. Afterwards Venus stands and states in a calm and collected tone.
'Your honor, I wish to plea not guilty to the charge presented. Instead I wish to plea a case of defence of life by means of deadly force.'
Venus walks up and takes a seat at the stand and is immediately questioned by the prosecutions lead attorney.
'Why did you attempt to hide the footage of the shooting by destroying the recorded footage?'
'I did nothing of the sort! That man was attempting to force himself onto a young girl after we had arrived to provide support to a colony that had been attacked by terrorists.'
'So because of this you shot him in the head?'
'No, I told him to stop, but he proceeded to attack her. I tried to pull him off of her and when I did he pulled his pistol out and said that once he was done with her my corpse would be next. I kicked him away from me, aimed my rifle at him and told him to drop the gun. He aimed his pistol at me again and I fired. He dropped dead and I pulled out the data chip in my helmet and handed it over to Corporal Diaz as I was preoccupied tending to the young woman.'
'When you pulled the chip out of your helmet why did you damage it if what you say is true?'
'Again I did not damage the chip. It was fully intact when I placed it into the box. I have no idea how it ended up broken.'
Venus and the committee in front of her go back and forth for a few minutes while Venus attempts to plea her innocence. When the prosecution finishes their questioning they call Corporal Diaz to the bench. The chief bailiff brings Diaz out onto the floor from the left side of the room to give his side of the story. Diaz is 6'4" 260lbs. He looks like the stereotypical military jarhead poster child. He spoke with a heavy southern accent, a rare accent within the empire. (Diaz and the remainder of the squadron hated Venus due to her fairly independent views. They hated that she was not in full support of the empire due to their acceptance of slavery. They all thought she was too soft to be an Imperial and swore that she was a spy. The squad had be conspiring to get her removed from her position of power or kill her, but up until the day they arrived at the colony to provide support and aide, they had no luck bringing her down. Charles wasn't supposed to end up dead Venus was. What they hadn't counted on was Venus being handy with a rifle.) He approached the stand and began to recount the events from his point of view.
'Your honor. I'm but a simple man. Y'all have to believe me when I say this woman here shot Charles without e'er even thinkin' 'bout it. Af'er words she says to me that he deserved what happened to him and that I was I was needin' to bring some recordin' to the comandin' officer. When she handed me the recordin' it looked as though she 'ad smashed the data chip it to make it unreadable. I tried to play it back several times with the Commanding officer but it was broken. She 'ad killed him fer no reason at all and 'ad destroyed the evidence to hide her crimes.'
'Did you see the events transpire? Rather did you see her shoot your Sergeant in the head?'
'No Sir I was outside the room providing security. I heard the gunshot and ran inside the room to see SGT Vanderschmidt laying on the ground without a head. Petty Officer Duval quickly requested a new data Chip at that point and gave me her old one.'
'What about the young girl that was in the room that Captain Duval says was the true victim?'
'Dunno, didn't get much of a chance to look at her.'
'When you got to the commanding officer what did you find?'
'I handed him the data chip which and when he opened it up we found that it was broken. We attempted several times to recover the footage but nothing was working. Hell even those tech guys couldn't pull the data from it. Said it was wiped clean somehow.'
Diaz recounted everything he had seen that day in an attempt to make her out to be bad guy. The defense and prosecution finish their questioning and by the end of it Venus was livid. She lost control of her temper and without anyone to calm her down she went after Diaz.
'YOU FILTHY, DISGUSTING, HORRIBLE, SLIMY, MISERABLE, LYING SACK OF BANTHER SHIT! I'LL KILL YOU!'
Venus lunges at Diaz throwing a punch, hitting him square in the lower jaw. She claws at his face kicks and punches as hard as she can. Diaz grabs Venus by her shoulders and throws her across the room into a table which smashes under her. The guards put her in cuffs and shackles and secured her to a chair.
'Miss Duval your actions are unacceptable. For yours and the others in the court room safety you shall remain restrained until the end of the hearing.'
The prosecution calls in their witnesses who had been there the day Venus had shot their Sergeant. They all tell similar stories of how the events transpired that day. They all sounded the same as Diaz's story. It was almost too similar. It was as if they had compiled the stories together. Venus felt dread wash over her as they each finished their statements.
Venus' attorney calls forth Verity, the girl who Charles had attempted to take advantage of. As she speaks she seems nervous and keeps glancing over at Diaz. She explained to the court that Venus had in fact shot Charles in the head for no reason. She says that after the gunshot Venus pulled a data chip from her helmet and attempted to break it while handing it to Diaz who placed the chip in a case and handed Venus a new one. The man disappeared and Venus tended to the young girls injuries and ensured she had not been hit by any of the gunfire from the skirmish that had just transpired. She said that once Venus had cleared her she was escorted to the refugee evacuation point and was reunited with her family. What transpired after that is unknown to her. (Unknown to the court and jurors Diaz and the others had been waiting for her to exit the room. When she did they told her that when the time comes she had better tell everyone that Venus had shot the man for no reason or they would come back for her family and remove them from her life.)
The prosecution questions her as well as the defense and both parties rest their cases. The jurors disappears into the back room to discuss the details and determine the verdict of Venus as well as the punishment. They return after several hours with a sealed envelope. One of the jurors hands the envelope to the judge who reads off the decision.
'To all who are present the jury finds Venus Duval guilty of 2nd degree murder and is to be sentenced to life in prison and a fine of 200million credits.'
'Wait! Instead let her live with the consequences of her actions as an outcast. May she never hold any title nor claim any lands in the Empire for as long as she lives. The punishment is to carry on for all of her heirs should she have any. The Empire has no place for murderers.'
The princess' regal voice can be heard sentencing Venus to a life of exile. She had in an instant stripped away everything that Venus had left of her family.
'Why? Why would you do this to your own kin? Aisling please have mercy. This is all I have left of my parents and you are ripping it away! I AM INNOCENT! THEY ARE ALL LYING! CHECK THEIR DATA CHIPS! PLEASE DON'T DO THIS TO ME!'
'If you cared about them that much, you should have thought of that before you killed a fellow service member. Be grateful I do not let them execute you. That alone is mercy enough. Let it be known that if you are ever in Imperial Space and found guilty of any crime you will be executed publicly.'
The words come out in a venomous tone that is enough to send chills down even the most battle hardened individuals spine. Tears run down Venus' face as she is carried out of the courtroom and placed in a prison transport to be escorted out of Imperial space. She was an outcast now. She was never allowed to make claim to any land in Imperial Space ever again and none of her children, if she had any, would ever be qualified to hold a title of nobility.
Silvia sees Venus being carried away and crying hysterically. A nasty bruise on her face and her bolero jacket is torn. She is worried and asks what happened one of the guards tells her that Venus was found guilty of murder and is stripped of her title and lands. Her face goes pale and she feels weak.
'Murder? No, that isn't possible. Where are you taking her?'
'We are required to escort her out of Imperial Space ma'am. We ask that you follow us to the designated station to take custody of her.'
They reach independent space and dock at a station just outside imperial jurisdiction and hand Venus over to Silvia. One of the navy members lingers behind waiting for the rest of her wing to get into their ships. She turns to Venus and Silvia grabbing their hands.
'I think it best if you stay hidden for a while take on a new name and get a new ship. I know you are innocent but there is nothing I can say that will change the Princess' mind. You two stay safe, if you are ever in need of help, meet me in Cemiess at Mackenzie Relay.'
She leaves a holo disk in Venus hand, the name Ava Marston is displayed as well has her contact information.
Silvia looks at Venus and laughs a little. Venus makeup looks absolutely destroyed from her crying and she cant help but joke about it.
'You look a right mess dear. You'd think waterproof makeup would actually hold up to a bit of water. Well then where to now?'
Venus smiles a little at the comment. She pauses for a moment and says
'Jameson Memorial. I may not like the pilots federation but they are independent of the superpowers and the Thargoid threat is growing. Considering we are now free to do as we please I may as well provide aide to those in need.'
Silvia notices a determined look on Venus face. Intrigued by the look she wipes away some of the melted makeup from Venus face and in a supportive and inquisitive tone asks Venus a single question.
'What are you going to do about those men who testified against you? You don't even know where they are now.'
'I had Ava look up where they live now. They are dock workers at Citi Gateway and I'll be damned if I let them get away with this. The courts will not listen to me unless I can get the data chips from them.'
Venus takes Silvia by the hand and the two head back into their ship. Jameson Memorial was to be their new home for a while since Venus now needed a new ship to help push back the Thargoid threat. They returned to Venus' former estate and gathered their respective belongings. They were going to move to Jameson permanently and attempt to avoid Imperial space if they could.