Setting
- 40 posts here • Page 2 of 2 • 1, 2
In that instant, she recognized him – and there he was, a haunting presence, a blight, a bane. Her pupils rapidly constricted to pinholes as her focus zeroed in on the figure before her, and her eyes flashed yellow very briefly. A surreal sensation washed over her, as if a ghost from her past had materialized in the present, brief pieces of a foregone childhood. Yet, beyond the eerie familiarity, something else simmered within her, a feeling that seemed to bubble just beneath the surface.
"All Rise!"
Shit. Her attention snapped back to the present moment. She hastened to Draven's side, momentarily oblivious to the presence of Ulrich and Lewis. Regaining her composure, she adopted a more professional demeanor, her undivided attention now directed at the judge. In a hushed tone, she quietly offered an apology to Draven. It wasn't lost to her, that feeling, that palpable tension that hung in the courtroom.
With the formality out of the way, they seated themselves and there was a brief moment she glanced over at Ulrich, then at Lewis, nodding her head to each in an attempt to make herself more curteous. There was... a bit of confused familiarity with Lewis, but she couldn't quite place it.
He feels slightly numbed to his surroundings, something to do with the sudden amassment of people. He acknowledges the two newcomers to the row with a slight nod. He knew those two from somewhere...
The vampire was easy to place, funnily enough. Ulrich or something, he had been present at the... altercation. He hopes for a moment that he doesn't recognize him, then assures himself that he probably couldn't.
The lady was different. There was a vague familiarity with her, something about the facial structure... That was it. She had revealed her face to him, back out in the woods. Eurydice.
They were working together. This was a sting operation or something, they were going to get him.
Think. Slow your panic.
They probably couldn't do anything here, right? He does his best to quell the slow burn of fear inside of him, glancing over at Draven, then back forward towards the front of the room. He was probably working with them, so he was a cop. Can't move, they'll know that I know. Just sit here.
This was why he didn't go to public events. Fuck. He notices that he's tensed, and relaxes himself back into his seat.
Play it cool.
Shifting in her seat she continues to quietly take notes. Anonymity was a good thing at times, a break from the retinal scans and telescreens of the central government back home.
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.
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.
As Hannibal stopped, Pavla didn’t turn to acknowledge him. Instead nodding. “If you could, Mister Hattar.”
“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.
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.
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.”
"Wh... the hell? The entire bloody planet..? How..?" Eurydice muttered quietly, biting her lip.
Draven's caught something from the corner of his eye, a shift in Lewis's demeanor. The man, who had appeared haggard and worn, now seemed even more tense. Draven couldn't help but wonder about the guy. His mind raced with questions, pondering if the bloodsuckers had inflicted some sort of harm upon him, or if there was another reason. Maybe he was a hunter?
"Yeah... me too, buddy," he said quietly.
He then noticed the woman in glasses taking, what he figured was notes as well, another organization perhaps? Or maybe just study? This was no doubt a momentous occasion to say the least.
He doesn't have any visible response to the testimony of the man, but an internal disgust slowly builds as he realizes the weight of what it carried. Not here. Never here. He feels slightly shaken by the idea of it, but quickly thrusts it to the side once he realizes that the cop was paying attention to him. You could usually tell, they would go still and watch you for a split second. That didn't do anything to help his paranoia, but he quickly relaxes himself, and slowly withdraws a notebook from his jacket, opening it to a drawn sigil that he glances at before closing the book.
He knew where this trial was going to go, and knew how it would end. Either result, Zosimos would die. He would be sure of it. Him being watched by police wasn't much of his concern right now, and he reassures himself that they wouldn't make a move in the middle of a court case, that would be insane.
Still... He had seen his share of insanity. Best to be careful.
The defense waited for the courtroom to settle then cleared her throat. Vanessa Berentes rose from where she was settled, closing a black file on her way up. Her entire ensemble was a pale silken sweeping thing down to her silk dyed heels in an odd blocky shape. The attorney moved like fluid around the table and approached the stand.
Vanessa regarded Hannibal Hatter silently, for a long moment, her sharp eyes checking him over twice. A small smile set on her honey colored face.
She asked him, "Mr. Hatter, are you a vampire?"
She wasn't aware that some eyes were on her, but her allegiance would be revealed in the moments to follow as two men entered the courtroom.
The first man was in a sharp indigo colored suit with a simple spiral shaped enameled lapel pin that adorned his collar, an older gentleman that seemed regal in appearance, and the second man whom was clad in a dark grey military uniform. The second man's uniform was trimmed with blue, various pins and decorations, and a polished leather sam browne style belt that crossed his chest. His peaked officer's cap bearing the phoenix motif of the Imperial Aschen Navy was kept under the crook of his arm while he moved to sit, while handing a latte to the woman with glasses, and a hot coffee to the man in the indigo suit.
The woman regarded the uniformed man with a nod, as he made himself comfortable. She whispered a few things to him, and he nodded. The man surveyed the others in the courtroom, and then whispered something to the woman, but for the most part the trio kept themselves away from the others.
The audience swept with a whisper. It seemed everyone was picking up what both parties were putting down. Vanessa quickly crossed to the table and back, picking up a dictionary and flipping through it's soft pages with a whirr. Somewhere near the middle she stopped. Vanessa cleared her throat, and followed along with a french manicured finger while she read.
"The Sol's Word Dictionary defines stolen as 'to take another person's property without permission or legal right and without intending to return it'. Do you agree that this is how do you define 'stolen', and how 'stolen' was used in your prior statement regarding the materials and resources acquired by Hemlok Group?" Vanessa asked Hannibal Hatter.
The Vankoryth Detente had been sabotaged. A bad domino effect of technological advancement had been set off; but, at whose hand first?
"Are there any members of Hemlok Group present, in the Wing City High Court? Can you identify them?"
"Can't we do something for him..?" Eurydice said to Draven.
Draven let out a sigh and, instead of answering, just opened his coat and took out a vanilla folder from his coat, a file from which papers he had copied for these proceedings. Though nowhere near as heavy as a full world infestation incident, it was still relevant... and important to Terra. On its cover was Operation Stygian Reverie. Seeing these, there was notable discomfort from Reverencia.
"Sure you want this?" Draven whispered to her.
"Gonna... gonna have to face my bogeymen eventually, luv," she whispered back, a notable hesitation in her voice. "Might as well be today."
- full vampiric obtainment of a planet, unknown time range. Planet is Tibra, year 2589. Look into ICON records?
- Hemlok Group. Genetic manipulators? Made "sanguiphage." Stole "aid" materials from the Vankoryth detente, turned into virus/bioweapon. Possible puppet group? Unknown. Research if public organization.
- Hemlok framed Zosimos?
- Find Bruno Babich in Int-Planet travel records, run facial recog if false names are being used. Possible alteration of appearance so identify vehicles, find contacts on Terra. See about interrogation, look into police records for the guy and his coworkers
- Potential that this witness (Hannibal Hattar, age unk, Gardenite) is bullshitting? Follow him to where he's staying and talk to him about it after looking into security. Might need to dress well. Look into his military records if anything is public.
- False terrorism? Potential to damage rep of Vankoryth is strange if they are a puppet group. Don't know about testimony but an attack made by a foreign group to blame the Detente would look bad until it was proved innocent (unless this is a long-play deal)
At the bottom of the page, after writing most of the things he could find about the court, he writes a message to himself.
- Look into what D17 is later. Might be related to Detente, potential puppet organization. One member I've interacted with, might be grander scale than first thought. Record names and interactions, involvement with local govnt, motives, etc. Either visit a website or find a guy who forgets to check his closet
He feels satisfied with what he has down, quietly shutting the book before anyone can get a long look at it, staring up at the front of the room.
- 40 posts here • Page 2 of 2 • 1, 2