Chapter One
Trials and Tribulations
Sec fidgeted in his seat as Harrison coughed a couple of times and wiped his hair back with one hand before turning to face the Queens with a nervous smile.
Nellie tried very hard not to laugh.
“Your illustrious majesties, allow me to begin with a small question that I feel lies at the heart of the issue—” Harrison started.
“Not yet,” Nellie held up a hand, “First, I want to know what happened in detail.”
“Your illustrious—” Harrison started.
“Lose the flowery language; just call me Nellie,” Nellie said quickly.
Harrison gulped.
“Judge will be fine,” Crush amended, with a slight smile only Nellie caught.
Bastard, he knew she hated formality, and the last thing she ever wanted to be was a judge.
“I can bring up a set of recordings,” Crush offered, gesturing to the screens next to Nellie and Lucy.
“No, I want Sec to tell us,” Lucy replied, turning to look at the fidgeting cent.
“Well—” Sec started.
“I object!” Harrison stepped between them, “This action requires my client to incriminate himself.”
“He’s already been found guilty,” Nellie said simply. “This is just to decide punishment.”
“NO!” Harrison drew himself up. “I shall not stand for a summary judgment!”
“Keep it up, and you’ll be standing in an airlock with the hatch open,” Lucy said archly. “Represent your client, but remember where you are.”
“Judge Lucille, this is unacceptable,” Harrison said quickly. “Not only a summary judgment, but threats against council. I demand—”
“Sit down,” Sec said quickly, “before you get us both killed,” he pulled on Harrison’s arm. “I don’t deny I did anything!”
“You don’t?” Harrison frowned. “Request mistrial on the grounds my client is clearly insane!”
“This is a joke, right?” Nellie asked Crush. “Like, you set this up to mess with me?”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t a joke, and Nellie and Lucy exchanged a look before Sec stood, pushing Harrison back.
“I deliberately concussed Colby before chucking him in an escape pod and shooting it out toward Sand’s Embrace with only a gun and my nanite cube to keep him alive,” Sec said, looking at the floor.
“You intended to kill him?” Nellie asked.
“No,” Sec shook his head. “Just force him to upgrade. Prim was crushing on him pretty hard and…” His eyes flicked to Paren for a second, “Losing someone you care for is too tough, so I figured I’d make him get tougher before she fell too hard, you know?”
“Why didn’t you just ask for him to become a drone?” Lucy asked.
“Because you might say no,” Sec said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Also, he didn’t want to.”
“So you admit you forced him, knowing Colby didn’t want nanites?” Nellie asked, feeling her temper flare. “In spite of that being a violation of everything we stand for?”
“Is it, though?” Harrison stepped forward quickly, pushing Sec back a step. “I mean, it is hardly the first time that has happened within the Imperium.”
“We do NOT force people to convert!” Nellie slammed her hand down on the desk.
“Only you do,” Harrison pointed. “Exhibit A, Carl Edwards. Intimidated into converting, on pain of unnamed consequences.”
“Who told you about that?” Paren asked in a low growl.
“I do my job, that is all,” Harrison said defiantly. “Where I get my information is privileged.”
“That was completely different,” Carl said, “It was—”
“I object to Exhibit A offering testimony without being asked a question,” Harrison said quickly. “I was merely making the point that there was a legal precedent set when Paren Far, Princess of the Imperium and head of Research and Development in the Nanite Imperium, coerced the conversion of an enemy combatant. There is no punishment, no filed charges, and she was shortly afterward appointed as a monarch of the Planet Home.” Harrison turned back to the Queens. “Unless you are citing royal rights and consider the members of the Imperial Family to be above the law?”
“We are not,” Lucy sighed, “But the situation was different.”
“Both actions were taken in a time of war, both actions were taken to further a research project, and both actions resulted in the individuals later being happy with the action.” Harrison counted the points off on his fingers. “Other than the fact Paren is your daughter, how was it different?”
“Carl is my boyfriend!” Paren growled.
“Ahh, so if Sec had engaged Colby in a sexual relationship, it would be fine?” Harrison nodded. “So, if anyone dates a member of the Imperium, they are subject to summary droning?”
“Of course not!” Nellie snapped.
“So, my point,” Harrison said, swallowing as Nellie glared at him, “Is that Sec was both aware of the incident with Carl Edwards and aware that no punitive action was taken against Princess Paren.” He spread his hands out to the side, “In short, he had reason to believe the action was allowed under Imperium law.”
Nellie saw Paren’s eyes narrow and held up a hand before the situation could escalate.
“That is very nice lawyering, but I have been very clear it is NOT allowed. Legal precedent is not getting him out of this one.” Nellie felt a twinge of discomfort even as she said it. The most irritating thing about Harrison’s argument was that he was dangerously close to being right. She had spoken to Paren, but that was all. In fact, from the way Crush was staring at her, Nellie suspected he had agreed with the lawyer. “I did deal with the matter in question. The details of it were private.”
“As in no one else was aware?” Harrison asked politely.
“Of course,” Nellie nodded.
“Then my point stands. As far as Sec was aware at the time, his actions were merely mirroring an action that had no public punishment.” Harrison smiled.
Nellie almost growled but restrained herself. The twinge of discomfort was starting to twist into guilt. The simple fact was that Paren had gotten special treatment. Nellie had always been aware of that; it was just extremely uncomfortable to realize how obvious that was to other people. She saw Paren frowning as well, clearly coming to the same conclusion Nellie just had.
Sec could have thought exactly what Harrison said he had. They had kind of left the door open to this by not punishing Paren in the first place.
“As I feel you accept the validity of my argument, I call for a summary dismissal of all charges,” Harrison smiled.
“No,” Lucy shook her head.
“Ahh, so you are claiming the rights of the royal family are separate and above the rule of law?” Harrison asked.
Nellie huffed, spinning off several run times to examine his argument from different angles. One after another, they came back with the same answer.
Nellie and Lucy were trapped in a lose-lose situation. If they refused to dismiss the charges against Sec, they would create a royal exception to the law, which Nellie could not accept. Doing so now would only cause huge issues later. While Nellie had no idea what her ancestry actually was, she had been raised French Canadian. The French approach to royal privilege was simple… the guillotine.
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But if they didn’t punish Sec, then others could force people to convert against their will, using both Paren and Sec as examples of it being allowed. That was a road to ruin as well.
What had started as a regrettable need to punish someone she cared about had suddenly become an issue that, Nellie realized, could set the path for the future of the Imperium.
A neat trap, and exactly why Nellie would have banned lawyers from the Imperium if she had actually thought of it before now.
One of the run times pinged back, and she winced, but it was the only way out of this, as far as she could tell.
“We aren’t dropping the charges,” Nellie said firmly.
“Then royal priv—” Harrison started to say.
“There is no royal privilege,” Nellie snapped angrily. “In order to ensure this is the case, Paren will have a formal punishment for the actions she took with Carl Edwards.”
“I’ll what!” Paren gaped.
“You disagree?” Nellie asked. “Are you the special little princess?”
“No!” Paren said instantly, then snapped her mouth shut, realizing what she had just said. She turned and stared hard at Harrison.
“Umm, what just happened?” Harrison asked, frowning.
“You just moved to the top of everybody’s shitlist,” Sec said, eyes wide. “Plus, like, wow.”
“Now that the issue of precedent is dealt with,” Nellie said angrily. “Shall we move on?”
“Precedent is not, in fact, dealt with,” Harrison said quickly. “We still have to deal with Sec’s personal history of exceptionalism.”
“So, are you suicidal or what?” Sec asked the lawyer. “I mean, seriously, there are like a dozen airlocks on this station.”
“Personal history of exceptionalism?” Lucy asked, and Nellie shot her a look for encouraging this little tit.
“One no less than two separate occasions, Sec acted outside of accepted laws without punishment,” Harrison argued. “First, he stole materials to make the original Taking Liberties. This act included sneaking into a secure area, theft of classified materials, and more. He was not punished for these actions; in fact, he was rewarded with the opportunity to design new ships for the Imperium.” Harrison smiled, “Next, he appropriated the I.P.A. ship and, without permission, extensively modified it. That very ship was the vessel used to carry him and the victim, Colby, to the scene of the crime. He was not punished but instead was given the honor of flying said ship, now called the Banjo’s Arrow.” He coughed. “Given this personal history, is it any surprise he felt that no consequences would fall on him for the acts in question today?”
“I see your point,” Lucy nodded. “But what prevents us from simply adding those incidents to the charge list today?”
“Stop helping me,” Sec slapped Harrison on the arm. “Please!”
“Wait,” Nellie smirked at Lucy, “Sec was punished for stealing the ships to make the Liberties. The design work he did was the punishment.”
“How is that a punishment?” Harrison asked. “Many would consider it an honor.”
“He didn’t,” Nellie said simply. “And it provided valuable service to the Imperium.”
“So, in place of an actual, codified set of punishments, you would use personalized punishment?” Harrison scoffed. “I doubt that is the precedent you wish to set.”
Nellie looked at Lucy, who shrugged and nodded.
“That is exactly the precedent we wish to set,” Nellie smiled as Harrison frowned.
The fact was that Nellie had always used a personalized punishment system. Who committed the crime was actually relevant. If you didn’t take into account the circumstances, attitudes, and personality of the person accused of a crime, then how could any punishment be considered fair?
If a poor man stole a loaf of bread, he did it to eat. If a rich man stole, they did it for greed. The only just way to judge these two crimes was to acknowledge those facts. To use a less trite example, Sec had stolen parts to help his fellow Marshalls, not because of plain greed.
That being said, Nellie had to agree with the irritating Harrison, even if only partially. Allowing him so much leeway had definitely been a contributing factor in what he did. She couldn’t ignore that. What Nellie had to consider now was if she was willing to give up everything about the way she handled things in exchange for a truly ‘fair’ system.
Any system of laws was bound to lead to unequal or unfair treatment because it was administered by living, breathing, fallible people. Pretending otherwise was simply delusional. While her way of doing things might not be fair, it was at least something she had been able to live with so far.
Some extra thought in the future was necessary, clearly, but Nellie had no intention of setting up a system of laws right now, just to clear her own conscience or make herself feel better.
Her mistakes had contributed to where Sec ended up? Fine, she would just have to try harder next time.
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“Let’s move on to the matter of manufacturing his own Nanite AI modules, shall we?” Lucy asked, seeing Nellie was lost in thought.
“There is nothing in any law or precedent to restrict the making of Nanite AI’s or associated technology within the Imperium,” Harrison said immediately. “Multiple new AI modules have been constructed, not only by both Queens, but also by Chief Pilot Baz, Herald Salem, and Chief of Internal Security Remy. The creation of one ‘Teddy’ by her Royal Highness Paren Far is of particular note.” Harrison added.
“And every one of those is a full member of the Imperium and under the control of the Queens,” Lucy countered, not finding the little man irritating in the same way Nellie did. Logical arguments were her bread and butter, after all. “This module is not only reported to be incomplete and experimental but is not part of the Imperium.”
“So you consider the nanites and associated AI to be under the complete control of the Imperium?” Harrison challenged.
“I do,” Lucy said simply.
Harrison hesitated momentarily, doing a double take as if unsure whether his ears had heard correctly. But he recovered quickly.
“By what right do you claim authority over these Nanite AIs? Who appointed you to be their keeper?” Harrison was getting onto a roll now. Behind him, Sec was subtly shifting away from the man as if suddenly wanting to distance himself from the lawyer.
“Nanite AIs are merely the lost children of the Silicate Race. As their appointed representative in this universe and equal Queen of the Nanite Imperium, it is my honor and duty to ensure their safety. Part of that is ensuring that rogue, experimental AIs do not cause disasters that inspire fear and attacks against my kind.” Lucy replied.
“It is? You are?” Harrison turned to Sec, “Why didn’t you tell me this?”
“Oh, I assumed you were sane enough not to try and argue my grandmother had no right to be pissed,” Sec shrugged. “My bad?”
“Permission to consider Sec a hostile client?” Harrison asked Lucy.
“Why not? Everyone else is hostile to you right now,” Paren said nastily.
“I want to hear from your client directly on this matter,” Lucy said, ignoring Paren’s comment.
“I object to that,” Harrison replied. “On the grounds that he is likely to incriminate himself!”
“Very well,” Lucy nodded to the doors, which opened to reveal the new Marshall, Colby. Then we will hear from the affected individual himself.”
As the former I.P.A. Captain strolled in, Lucy had a flashback to another moment. It was when she first saw Crush Cha on the moon that would cause them all so many problems. There was confidence in the way he moved, like a predator out for a walk. It was all restrained power and the certain knowledge they could handle whatever came their way. That said, there was one important difference. It was the look on Colby’s face.
The Marshall had a slightly distracted appearance as if… as if he was listening to an internal voice only he could hear. Lucy realized that was precisely what he was doing. It was a strange experience for her, seeing another AI at work and having no access or control over it.
“Marshall Colby, thank you for coming,” Lucy said, standing. “I am pleased to meet you in person at last.”
“Whoops, lab rat time already?” A crackly voice came, half muffled beneath the trenchcoat. “If she starts lubing up a probe, run for it!”
Colby froze as Lucy stared at him.
“Buddy, quiet time, please,” Colby said quickly.
“Before we get into the testimony, I would like to have your permission to examine you and the integration of your nanites to ensure it is stable,” Lucy said, offering her hand. “I promise it will be neither painful nor harmful to you or your AI.”
She kept her face calm and friendly despite the fact she was lying to Colby. If that AI module were as unstable and dangerous as she suspected, Lucy would have no choice but to destroy it and replace it with a proper AI system.
“LIAR!” Buddy yelled, and Colby hesitated.
“Very well, I promise no harm will come to you unless I deem you dangerous to Colby or others,” Lucy tried. It was a statement of truth designed to cover the lie of everything she was omitting.
When Buddy remained quiet, Colby reached out and took her hand.
Lucy let her full sensory abilities flare while her nanites slipped into the skin and nerves of the Marshall. Where Colby had stood before, there was now a densely packed, overlapping series of fields and readings that she sifted through, filtering out things that she didn’t need to see.
By the time her nanites had finished mapping the internal structures, Lucy was looking at a pair of intertwined networks. One was Colby’s nervous system, and the other was the nanite tendrils that ‘Buddy’ used. That in itself was strange. In all normal cases, the nanites simply used the bloodstream. This AI seemed to have grown its own nervous system.
Both the systems ended in the same place—Colby’s brain.
In a standard Nanite AI, the seat of the AI was a spherical section of unused brain matter. It didn’t need to be large and was normally placed in the area controlling unconscious actions like breathing or heart rate. Those were functions an AI could regulate much better than a big of meat could, so it was of benefit to the host.
Buddy seemed to be closer to a mesh or web. Long tendrils were pushed between folds in the brain, leading to areas of wide, thin nanite material. It almost looked like…
“You used your own nanites to repair some brain damage?” Lucy asked.
“He was all messed up,” Buddy said proudly. “I had to work real quick!”
“This setup will not allow you to smoothly separate from him at a later date. Do you understand that?” Lucy asked.
“Yeah, we’re stuck with each other,” Buddy let out a theatrical sigh.
“You also lack several advanced features, like being able to influence things outside of Colby’s body.” Lucy frowned. “In fact, you are not…”
“Not?” Colby asked.
“This is not an AI,” Lucy said, letting go of his hand. “You have what amounts to a conscious subconscious.”
“That’s what we figured,” Colby nodded. “Is it stable?”
“It is entirely stable,” Lucy nodded. “But I can not promise you will be able to upgrade in the way other nanite-boosted individuals can.”
“Cut the shit, lady, do I get to live?” Buddy asked tensely.
“Yes, you are not dangerous in any way,” Lucy said before flaring her own nanites. “Except for your personality inciting violence, you are quite safe.”
“Sorry about him,” Colby said with a smile.
“He’s you,” Lucy replied with a look. “Do you not think I get that?”
“Uh-oh, she got that really quick!”
Lucy felt her lips curling into a smile as she stepped back to sit behind the desk with Nellie. “Now, shall we get to the testimony?”