As the tones settled in the court house, the prosecution team seated at the table before the stands returned to their chairs. They talked quietly amongst themselves, various papers then changing place on the table before them. The two men that were the “custodial leads” of the prosecution wore a gray and black suit respectively. They both turned to each other, hands stretching out as they made a quick game of rock paper scissors.
With a loss, the Edenite adjusted his suit and rose from his chair. “Ah, thank you, your Honor …” He started, shoe steps falling as the quiet returned to the courtroom and all eyes seemed to be falling onto the man. “My name is Pavla Altana, I’m the Civil Utilitor assigned to the prosecution, I only had a few words before our first witness.” He started, taking a brief pause for the judge’s nod before he continued.
”Today we stand at a very important crossroads for the future of not just this court but the survival of law across any of the various nations that may be represented now. Today we must remain vigilant against that which seeks to obfuscate and subvert our laws … today we must decide, as a collective people, to maintain the sanctity of our courts and laws against those on both ends of our aisles who, in many ways, are guilty of similar crimes.”
Pavla gave another calm glance over his shoulder to the judge, sunken eyes noting a
hint of blase in the judge. “That was all your Honor, I’ll get along with it now.” Pavla said, looking down to a Fokus device wrapped around his wrist. “For my first witness, I’ll be calling
Hannibal Hattar to the stand.”
As the name rang out, it was followed by a few short mumblings. Then, from the end of the witness box a cinnamon-colored man stood up. For many, the man seemed just another aged Gardenite, some may have recognized an earlier image from the holo-net years ago. While his feet carried him along through the courtroom, he gave a short bow to the judge and jury before taking his seat.
Pavla didn’t waste much time however, quickly adjusting his sharp glasses. “Mr. Hattar, for those of you who may not know who you are, if you could … ” Pavla said as he stood close beneath the witness box for what came next. The microphone creened quietly, before the aging Soruk spoke into it.
”My name is Hannibal Hattar, I was a battalion commander during the War on Hawadimara - uh, the Insurgencies. Hawadimara was where the Amaru-Amoit Incident occurred, do you need a date or?”
As Hannibal stopped, Pavla didn’t turn to acknowledge him. Instead nodding. “
If you could, Mister Hattar.”
”Tibra, 2589 - they called it the Revival War because it happened, well, in spring. I was first a battalion commander and then, after the death of the previous one, the acting planet governor.”
“The death of the previous governor?” Pavla then inquired, putting a hand to the cold wall of the stand. With his Fokus, smaller holographic projections detailing the specific dates and names began scrolling out before the jury. For others, much of this information was readily available through haptic feeds. “For some of us this was a series of events known as the Tashua Murders - eleven targeted killings of pro-unity politicians in both Coalition memberstates, and throughout the galaxy as a whole. Will you clarify for me Mister Hattar, what was the planet Hawadimara’s relations to the Tashua Murders?”
Hannibal seemed resolute on the stand, features hardly changing - besides a perpetually annoyed look of the lighting. Old eyes simply squinted more as he leaned before the microphone.
”The Alfar on the planet, our name for your vampires, became upset with human rapprochement after the Fall of the Commonwealth, and the Coalition ‘returning’ to the Outer Garden. Their rule under ICONs tacit dominionship became … untenable with the Central Powers turning it's eyes back out from the Core and finding what waited for them … after their ‘uplifting’ of the galaxy.”
Pavla seemed to walk with a step now, letting a bit of a nervous personality show as he digested the information. “Quite a lot of information, though as you take a step back it
can sometimes begin to look clearer. When it comes to matters like this there is a first inclination to
always want all the information - this means everything from the legal documents, to
even the gritty-gritty. Social and civil indicators, statistics on the crime between human and vampire offenses - “
As Pavla spoke though, the otherwise stone quiet Hannibal learned forward, his voice not quite carrying through the microphone. “There - there are no suitable records of human-vampire crime on Hawadimara.”
Pavla stopped in his tracks, turning back to the grizzled Soruk. “You said ‘there was no human-vampire crime’ on the planet, Mister Hattar … could you please clarify that for me? There are no suitable records that I was permitted to see, after all.” There was a silence that then permeated the court, and Pavla even had to give another gesturing tip of his hand to the old Sorukan before he spoke.
”There are no suitable records for the court because, by its own definition … even before the murder of Omar Bey Hawadi, the eleventh and last successful attack in the Tashua Murders … every living thing on the planet, myself included, was already infected with a disease that many know as vampirism. We ... were all vampires.”
Before the first shouts and rumblings became too loud Pavla swept an arm over towards the judge. “Your Honor, I’m done with my first line of questioning and will now yield the floor to the defense.”
Behar was quiet after Kesslee’s words, and as he stood up the Almyrian adjusted the cuff of his shirt. As the Grand Confessor was turning, Behar tilted his head and drew up a single hand deftly. “I don’t doubt those are things you truly believe may happen - lies have an insidious way of metastasizing into a cancer of the mind once they’re drilled in and left to fester.” Behar started, giving a soft turn of his hand.
“I am far more familiar with the Apparatus than you, Mister Kesslee - and truthfully, your propaganda does an awful job of representing mankind’s inherent warlike nature that it can visit upon itself, both the guilty and the innocent. Granted, you’re a race that’s become soft and coddled with your ascendancy into the interstellar age, you were lucky, even - I’m not done with you yet, Mister Kesslee.”
Behar’s voice grew a moment, and he had an exhausted, almost disinterested look on his face as he closed his eyes to take a firm breath. “If your systems and policies were so superior as you purport, then the Langarites would have organized themselves along a similar way, no? If the way of protecting your civilization from those who seek its undoing - which, we agree, that there are indeed threats to both of our civilizations - were so superior then why is not your flag flying over Terra? Or Eden Prime? New Cosmora? Or New Empyrea, Tannhauser itself - even Scatter?”
The Artifex had taken his glass, holding it closely to his waist as he stepped around from the table. “Had the prosperous society your government chants to stand for materialized, this meeting would not have taken place. The Apparatus would not be on your doorstep sharpening their knives and loading their rifles - the people of your government would be uplifting your fellow man across the stars, as mine have done for centuries. As we did for the Terrans, despite your best attempts to shackle them, which - “
Behar stopped to take a single drink then, wetting his palette as he held up a single finger. “I understand your people’s resentment: how could such a stronger people ally with such a weaker one like the Terrans, rather the righteous, pure Aschen? I’m sure it’s something that just sticks in your craw. But the answer to that is, Mister Kesslee - and I'm sure Marlene, in her service of your previous governments long enough to see the costs of them in the wars with my nations have shown will tell you - is that you aren't. Just as mine are not so superior to rule the Terrans, or Aschen, or anyone as their masters.”