Shad POV

Grandpa and I emerged from our transport pod into the Proxima docking facility. To my surprise, Veda waiting for us. She looked nervous.

"Did you get my message? About the lawyer?"

"Juana took care of all that."

Veda let out a sigh of relief. "Good.” She led us out of the sterile docking bay, into the depths of Proxima's corridors.

"Just to let you know, I'm being groomed for junior executive leadership here at Proxima. Despite some of the setbacks in this exploit, they’re happy with my performance. If I can land the position, it comes with a signing bonus that’ll pay off the rest of my debt. That is to say, I’m personally your friend, but I understand if you can’t trust me any more."

“Thanks for telling us. And good luck,” I added as we went.

The walls, floor, and ceiling of Proxima’s habitat were all made of metal and echoed a little under my feet. They'd been carpeted and hung with soft cloth hangings like a medieval castle, all done up in shades of blue and green. Very soothing. It'd make you forget you were on a space construct at all, except for the lack of windows.

Every so often, the corridors came together in a six-way grouping. At those locations, the Proximans had placed various pieces of art, sculptures, paintings, even a light display that moved and gave off gentle chimes as we passed.

“What’s all this about?” Grandpa asked as we went. “I thought the legal bits were going to take weeks to unravel, next thing I know we’re being summonsed here.”

"It was an emergency motion. We're having a lot of those right now. The Dominator Network is being flooded."

"I saw a couple of the votes, but nothing about us,” I chimed in. “Just whether to close the gate network, that sort of thing.”

"You only are seeing the issues that affect the entire Reality Engine exploit and are therefore required to be put to a full vote. There have been dozens of requests made to the Dominators themselves, handled at that level.

"Good," I said forcefully. And I meant it. "We need more people like you with the ability to make a difference here. The Reality Engine exploit system has to change."

"It already has. You saw what Kvaltash was capable of. If that key can do what he says, we'll be able to skip Phase One forever." Veda shook her head. "I never liked Phase One. It exploits the natives, and it's wasteful, but none of the special interest groups lobbying to put protections on Phase One ever got anything done. We just have never found a better way of getting through the first line of Reality Engine's defenses than by threatening its children."

"Are you listening to yourself?" Grandpa asked.

"I know it's horrible," Veda said. "I didn't realize how horrible until I got involved with your family. Remember, my clan were Phase Two exploiters. We were used to coming in after Phase One was more or less wrapped up. It was easy to close our eyes to what was going on there, but no more."

I opened my mouth to say something biting about Kvaltash and his people, but we had reached our destination. Veda issued us into a large auditorium shaped like a half-bowl with tiers of seats stacked high over my head. We stepped into a small floating disc that lifted us up to about halfway on the bowl. All around us were similar discs filled with alien delegates. There had to be at least a couple of hundred people in the room.

"So, what's the setup here?" I asked her.

"Your people will be brought out along with their legal representation. Since you are their previous employer and there are questions about whether they acted under your jurisdiction, you're going to be required to remain here in case charges are brought against you as well," Veda said. "I asked to be allowed to accompany you because, well, I've been on the other side of one of these hearings. I know what to expect, and despite everything, I really am your friend."

"We know that," Grandpa said quietly.

She demonstrated the controls of the disc we were on. "This is a personal shield. Put it up and no one will be able to hear anything that you say unless they're listening in on the Dominator network, which they are not supposed to do. The network will be listening in, though, and can use anything you say against you. This button," she touched one, "allows you to address the crowd. The network is, of course, able to cut that off and will if you misuse it. However, you are allowed to present your own defense."

I got an incoming message from Juana. "Shad, you need to stall for time. Tell the Galactics you have your defense reserved. We need to get on record the fact that the Progenitor Church were the ones who woke the reality engine early.”

I tried to send her a reply, got nothing. "Who decides our guilt or innocence?" I asked.

"There'll be a panel," Veda told me. "And this isn't about deciding guilt or innocence. Your people's guilt has already been determined. They were caught working with the rogue agents. This is to determine their culpability and what kind of fines will be leveled against them."

More aliens were filing in. I saw Mak'gar and a couple of his people entering. I sent him a quick message. "What are you doing here?"

"Came for support," he told me. "Heard you were in trouble."

"I don't suppose you have a vote?"

"No, unfortunately. What have your people been playing at?”

I hesitated, not wanting to give anything away. We were being monitored by intelligences that could dissect every word I said and record it for future use.

“We’re just trying to secure the thing we want most of all. And the thing which you want most as well.”

“That is impossible. The thing I want most is…” He trailed off. Mak'gar lifted his disc until it was level with ours. I could see him glowering at me across the gap between. "What are you saying, Williams?"

"There’s nothing I can say my friend. Nothing at all." I met his gaze levelly as he searched my face. I couldn't think how to make things clear to him. Grandpa was just standing there, watching me make a fool of myself. After a moment, Mak'gar snarled and lifted his disc away.

"More messages coming in," Veda said, touching her forehead, where a silver band wrapped around her pale skin. I assumed it was a communicator of some sort. "I don't know what's going on. I've never seen anything quite so frantic. There’s a lot of talk about trades and traffic, things that I don’t usually hear about. Sounds like some of the communications between networks is breaking down.” She bit her lip. “Not surprising when you think how badly kludged together this entire network is.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Coyote spoke in my ear. "I've just received a tap into the Dominator Network. They're distracted enough I think I can send you this without being overheard. Something is going down. Andante has made a dozen different motions in the last hour. They are a corporation that's never once made a motion prior to this. Half of them have been passed, and then everyone just started voting them down." He paused and said, "That's odd."

"What is?"

"There was a message from Deneb ten minutes back. It said to vote down everything Andante said and not listen, that the node was corrupted. Then a minute later, they sent back saying they were mistaken and they've actually been voting with Andante in the last couple of rounds.” Coyote paused again. “Oh. I see. Captain Williams, I'm sorry. You're on your own. I'm needed." He withdrew. I tried sending a message. He wasn't answering.

Grandpa looked worried. "I can't raise the ship. Says network traffic has been cut off.”

I sent a frantic message to Juana and got her "do not disturb" again. Who had cut us off? Juana and the crew, or the Galactics?

Veda was frowning and tapping her headband. “I’m getting a lot of message traffic here. I may have to go see to this personally, I don’t know.”

Something was going on, and I didn't know what. I looked over Juana's last message. Was she involved in all of this too? Did everyone know more than I did?

Suddenly, the lights in the room increased. Three discs, each holding a single being, rose into the air, hovering above us. The central being was Kvaltash. He clutched his staff. Something looked wrong about it. The crystal on the top wasn't glowing the way I expected, and I'd had enough dealings with him to know that he was upset about something. The man to his left was a superior-looking elf type, the current Proxima representative and Veda's boss, and on his right, a pink-scaled Talonian woman, one of the KDRP organization we’d tangled with before. I didn't think this was favorable to us at all. Proxima disliked us for previous reasons, and the KDRP were hostile to humans since we were allied to a free Overmind.

Kvaltash raised his staff. "This hearing is called to order." He looked concerned. A hush settled all over the room.

I turned to speak to Grandpa. My words were muffled coming out of my mouth. They'd put some sort of sound-suppressing field on, but Kvaltash could cut right through it.

"As most of you know, we are dealing with some fallout from the Class 1 emergency. This resulting situation has not yet raised to emergency levels, but we are all monitoring the situation closely. We are attempting to get to the bottom of the rogue fragment's actions."

Yes, he definitely looked angry. There was a flash of light off to the side, blinking red. Kvaltash turned. "I acknowledge the Deneb question."

I couldn't see Deneb's representative, but the voice echoed around the chamber. "Why are we wasting time on this instead of completing the exploit? At our previous meeting, you indicated you would be able to take us straight through to the center of the reality engine and finish domination once the rogue was taken care of. That hasn't happened. You promised us all equal shares of the profit. Are you trying to take them all for yourself?"

"Of course not," Kvaltash said. "There have merely been repercussions from the Class 1 emergency that need to be handled before we can conclude here at the engine. Once we have completed this hearing, we should be able to proceed."

"Then get on with it," Deneb snapped.

Grandpa leaned forward and hit our call button. Kvaltash turned. "We acknowledge the Earth representative, General Twofeather."

"Well, I don't acknowledge this," Grandpa said. "Seems like some sort of kangaroo court. You've already decided our people are guilty and are just waiting to pass sentence."

"The purpose of this hearing," the Talonian woman from KDRP proclaimed, "is to determine the penalties assessed on the rogue agents, previously members of Misfits Guild and subcontracted to the Earth Joint Task Force, and to determine what liability Misfits Guild and the Earth Task Force bear. We have preemptively placed a lien against the Misfits Guild vessel Ad Astra, as well as holding the most recent compensation for the Earth Task Force mercenaries in abeyance until the conclusion of this."

I turned to Grandpa. "A lien against the ship? They can't do that, can they?"

"Ask Juana," he said, a distracted look on his face. I could tell he was sending frantic messages. I sent a brief one to Juana and got no reply. What was she doing?

“Bring out the prisoners,” the representative from Proxima ordered.

A moment later, a disc surrounded by a translucent dome appeared. My people were there: Alpha, Rose, and Sam, looking abashed as the eyes of the galaxy fell on them. On the disc with them was a tall, older orc male, dressed in ornate robes similar to the ones the adjudicators were wearing. He must be their legal counsel.

"State your names for the record," the patriarch said, leaning forward.

The orc cleared his throat. "I am Barrister R'karan Dochmin. My clients are Samanthaphon Phuttikko, referred to as Sam; Rose Phillips; and Aliana Montresser, known as Alpha."

Kvaltash stated, “Your clients were caught assisting a rogue element against the interests of this reality engine exploit. They have already been judged guilty for this. This hearing is to determine their liability and punishment. Is this understood?"

"I understand this is a kangaroo court," Rose spat.

"We will not have outbursts.” Kvaltash gestured. Rose's mouth opened and closed, but no more sound emitted. "Barrister, control your clients."

The orc laughed. "I thought you all had learned that you can't control earthlings by now. I'll speak for them, though. My clients deny that they were working against the interests of the reality engine exploit. They instead say it was you, Patriarch, who was working to destabilize this exploit."

Kvaltash glared. "It is a novel defense, but as we have said, their guilt has already been determined."

"They filed an appeal of that guilt," the barrister said. “And a demand for a full re-hearing. They have the backing of two of the dominators. No, I'm sorry," he said, "Cygnus has just changed their vote to yes, so they have the backing of three of the twelve dominator powers. That's enough to grant their hearing."

"Well, I do not grant it," Kvaltash snapped.

The Proxima rep leaned over and said something that I couldn't hear, but presumably Kvaltash did. The patriarch sighed. "Very well, I am reminded as a point of order that we shall indeed re-hear, but there will be no discussion of evidence already placed and judged by the network. It has to be new evidence."

"And it is," the barrister said. He looked like he was enjoying himself. "They are submitting the following video evidence."

An image bloomed in the center of the room. An orc, not one I recognized, stood beside a couple of Templars from the Church of the Progenitor. I’d recognize them anywhere. They had a design on their chest signifying they were from the Order of the Awakened.

"You're waking the Overmind with no controlling Dominator, but that will kill you too."

"We are martyrs. We have made our peace. Rest easily, Captain, knowing that you have helped us strike a great blow for freedom in our galaxy."

The video ended in a flash of blinding white.

"What is this nonsense supposed to be?" Kvaltash demanded. "You are submitting reality engine-generated images to support your client's case? I will remind you all that the cause of the initial unexpected awakening of this reality engine has been quite thoroughly investigated. And yes, some of my people were involved. This is a forgery meant to show that we intended to wake the engine rather than, as has been explained before, it being an unfortunate accident. I admit that the forgery is quite convincing, but —“

“You can check the code in the description," the orc lawyer said. "I've sent a copy of that to each of your individual systems, and I suggest that you look quite closely at it. If it turns out to be forged, well then," he shrugged, "my clients will withdraw their complaint."

"And how is this relevant?" Kvaltash snarled.

"It's relevant, Patriarch, because my clients weren't working with a rogue engine to prevent the exploit. They were attempting to prevent you from unfairly manipulating the rules we have all agreed to, ensuring that this exploit would be fairly run?"

"Enough of this," Kvaltash pointed at my team members. "You worked with the rogue, did you not?"

"That's true," Sam said cheerfully.

"Tell us how and why you joined forces."

The three looked at their lawyer, who nodded. Sam took a deep breath. "Well, as it happens, we were contacted by a friend of ours who needed some help. We agreed to give him a hand. Another former Misfits Guild personnel goes by the name of Colin Trevelyan. We'd all thought he was dead until he gave us a quick message from beyond the grave.”

The Proxima representative spoke up. "The miner by that name was killed in the unfortunate accident nearly over a cycle ago, toward the beginning of this Reality Engine exploit. The Starliner that disintegrated in orbit."

"Yes, except Colin's a sneaky bastard who found a way out," Sam said cheerfully. I got a message from Mak’gar. Colin Trevelyan was traveling with your sister and my son.

Yes.

Is it possible that—

Yes.

He didn't reply. I didn't know how closely we were being watched, or what good it would do at this point, now that Colin's secret was out, but I was glad he knew the truth.

“I have a message, too,” Rose said cheerfully. "When were you, Patriarch, planning to tell everyone that Colin stole your key?"