“The court hereby issues a warrant for the arrest of Keitu Bungeru, also known as the Fifth. As her potential threat level is considered moderate, maximum force has been approved.”
Joha Feltham listened to the court proceedings with only a small part of her attention. Such formalities were necessary in the nation both Mother and Saurabh built, but they annoyed her to no end. The freedom from bureaucracy cultivators on her level enjoyed was one of the few things she wished for from the old world. But alas, it was not to be.
Still, permission had been granted, so she focused the majority of her attention on the something much more important. Many millions of kilometres away, light years, in some cases, she felt the different presences comparable to her own focus on a single point in space. She gave that place the majority of her attention and under the combined weight of multiple Lone Powers, it nearly shattered into pieces before they willed it otherwise.
The empty void of the space they were staring at was suddenly replaced by a small decahedron. If one looked closely, they would notice the faces etched into each side of the grey coloured object. Faces that looked a lot like the Lone Powers of Lasvania.
Power built up around that space, its source invisible to all but the most powerful cultivator, and even then, only by design. After building up to sufficient levels, there was a pull in the underlying fabric of reality and the decahedron started spinning at speeds that would befuddle even some High Cultivators. The moment this happened, a titanic clash of wills immediately began across light years, each one targeted at the spinning decahedron.
The same power that caused the decahedron to spin reached out across the vast distances and where the sheer weight of a Lone Power’s unrestrained will would have broken a world, it simply sent shivers down the spines of its inhabitants. At different points in the galaxy, the same power reached out and protected everything that would have been touched by the clashing powers. When it finally reached the source of the different wills, it left a parting gift in the form of a light smack on the head, much like a mother would give an unruly child. The mighty Lone Powers, each capable of destroying entire stars with but a single word, flinched and grudgingly withdrew their wills, much to the amusement of the mysterious power. The decahedron stopped spinning shortly after.
All in a fraction of a second.
The moment the rolling stopped, Joha and the rest of her colleagues stared at the object floating in the distant space. One side of it was lit up clearly for all to see while the others remained a dull grey. She smiled, taking a moment to relish her victory. Far away, she heard someone let out a string of curses, and her smile widened even more.
“Better luck next time, maybe?” the Lone Walker taunted, not even attempting to keep the humour out of her voice. Truly, schadenfreude was a wonderful feeling.
“Gloating is unbecoming, Joha,” The Madam retorted.
“Oh, I’m not quite sure about that. I think it's very on brand for the Lone Walker to gloat about the misfortune of her rivals. Losing both the Ascendant and the Fifth? At this rate you won't get to do anything fun.”
She felt the presence of the other Lone Powers recede, likely uninterested in listening to the two of them argue for the umpteenth time. Joha did not particularly care about their opinions. Her rivalry with The Madam was petty, but at her age, anything to keep the boredom away was always welcome. Hence, they both kept up the charade.
They parted soon, one with annoyance and the other pleases. She turned her attention to her home world of Andrea. To a fairly large country with pretentious, self-proclaimed gods that did not know their place and smiled.
Oh, she was certainly going to enjoy this.
*
“They issued an arrest warrant for the Fifth,” Bornie said, reading from the screen in front of her. She was reclined on one of the plush seats in her parents living room.
“Oh, did they?” her father asked, pretending like he was not listening in on the court proceedings.
She reads parts of the article to him, humouring his attempts at feigning ignorance.
“Oh yes. It was a surprisingly long battle, and the remaining defenders of the Fifth spared no expense to get the best lawyers. But too much evidence was stacked against them, and she was found guilty. It says here that maximum force was approved too.”
She could see her mother shaking her head at their antics from where she lay down on the couch, though there was a smile on her face.
Bornie sipped the cup of tea in her hand. It was good tea, made from some very fancy leaves, she was sure. It was definitely potent. Though she had been drinking it daily for so long that it barely felt like it. Still, her mother always brewed it every day without fail, regardless of how busy or far away she was. It helped that distance was largely meaningless to someone of her level.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
She thought about Lisa for a moment and looked at her own parents. She was truly thankful for them. They had been very busy lately, but they took the day off to spend some family time. None of them truly needed the chairs, but lounging in the living room was a family tradition. Plus, it made it easier to admire the wonderful ocean that was visible through the transparent ceiling.
The house changed location often enough, and they were currently on an aquatic planet she was unfamiliar with.
“So, who do you think will win?” her father asked out of the blue. Her mother likely understood his question, given her nonchalant reaction. Bornie on the other hand, stared on in curiosity.
“Win what?” she asked.
“The roll,” he answered, then continued after realising she was still confused. “Well, the court order allows the use of maximum force. That mostly means they’ve given the Lone Powers the go ahead. They’ll usually roll to decide who gets to do it.”
“Oh. I didn’t think we’ll be sending Lone Powers. Isn’t that overkill?”
“Not really. The Union of Five is fairly formidable. Sure, Walkins or one of the Generals could take them but it would be nearly impossible to do it without destroying a lot of things. And we’re Lasvania, Bornie, overkill is our middle name.”
“What about the galactic laws restraining Lone Powers? Would it not cause issues?”
“Well in theory, it would. In practice, well, I would like to see them try to enforce it on Andrea. Enforcing those laws on your home planet is something no one wants to see happen.”
Bornie nodded at that. A lot of what her father said were things she already knew to some extent. So, she asked the question that had been bugging her since.
“Does the Union of Five not know all this? If they do then where did they get the courage for an open challenge.”
This time, it was her mother that answered.
“Policy failure on our part, mostly,” there was a little guilt in her voice at that, which made Bornie want to comfort her. “Both the High Congress and the lower chamber of the senate actively pushed for a much more peaceful foreign policy here on Andrea, at least. To try and bring some of Mother’s grand ideas to fruition. It worked for a while, but the world doesn’t exist in a vacuum and our foreign rivals took advantage of our weakness.
“As for the Union, they have likely been reassured by their Hycerian allies that the Lone Powers will not act because of the galactic laws. So they’re counting on deterrence by the fear of mutual destruction to let them get away with everything.”
“So the Hycons are playing them?”
“Like a fiddle, yes. From what we’ve gathered they have made it difficult for them to actually get reliable information on the laws and what the political situation is actually like. We also suspect a little mental compulsion. Not nearly strong enough to absolve them of anything, but the LIO thinks it makes them less likely to ask questions or seek answers. Or else they would have figured out the futility of their plan.”
Bornie listened with interest. She suspected some of it, but the compulsion had been a surprise. She continued to think about what her parents said and check out news articles when she caught something that made her pause.
‘Another influential family revealed as Fifth Republic traitors.’
The article talked about how much of a betrayal it was and how bad the family was, but that was not what caught her attention. The picture displayed on the page was of a family being taken in chains. She recognised one of them as a member of President Liam’s cabinet. Yet what caught her attention was the barely adult woman at the end who had her face turned down.
Amile Fifthtouched was someone she had found fascinating after Lisa and Lee got her out of the Fifth Republic. She had made some research and talked to the girl a bit. Her impression was of an abused teenager who was fiercely patriotic and believed in the Lasvanian dream even more than Bornie herself. It might have been an act, but she was more than skilled enough to catch those.
She would usually have given law enforcement the benefit of doubt but it they were arrested by the Executors, and there was a reason they only pointed those at their enemies. So she took some time to do a little digging around for details and easily found things that painted Amile as a very passionate Lasvanian.
Then she told her parents. It irked her a little to rely on them like that, but that was by far the fastest method she had available, and she wanted the girl out of confinement in a short time.
Of course not even her mother could simply order her out of jail, so the issue was taken directly to Walkins and further investigation revealed what she already knew to be true: Amile had been cooperative and was even the one that sold out her family after they told her the truth.
Convincing the Executors was not enough, of course. The issue was taken to the court, where the department of justice for some reason still did not want her gone. They fought hard, making what should have been done in a week stretch out for over a month.
Thankfully, their opposition did not have much to work with, so they still got her out in record time. Bornie had also made the case public and started a campaign to free the girl, and the added pressure definitely helped them on. She was not sure if the girl would appreciate being put in the spotlight, but it was a worthy sacrifice.
She eventually got the girl released after just a month and took her to therapy to help overcome both her family issues and her fear of confinement. Something that had been well appreciated.
As Bornie looked at the end result of the struggle: the freedom of an innocent woman and a more thorough investigation process for the Executors, she felt a certain amount of pride. Both in her work, and in the compassion and resilience of her fellow Lasvanians, who were quick to come to the aid of an innocent stranger.
But mostly, she just felt glad that Lisa would not have to come back to meet her new sort of friend wasting away in jail.