Empyrean Iris Story Collection

Action Without Order

This wasn't good, this wasn't good at all. Captain Vir Stood facing them, as the two Military MPs pulled his hands behind his back locking the energy cuffs around his wrists. Krill stepped in to stop Sunny as she took a step forward eyes wide with confusion and worry.

From where he stood flanked by two massive MPs, the Captain lifted his head, "It'll be alright, Sunny, Krill, this is just a mistake..... It will be alright." Despite the reassuring smile on his face, his single eye was wide with worry, the usually blushed human skin of his face had turned white. Though he did not struggle against the arms that held him, he did struggle against something more internal.

"What are the charges?" Sunny demanded. Looking up, the two MPs stared at her in immense distrust and readiness, "I said, what are the charges?" She demanded her looming height casting a shadow. "Don't you humans have laws for this sort of thing!"

"Sunny, calm down, let them speak." He turned to look at the MPs who had gone from wary to calm and collected.

"Adam Vir, Captain in the USPC Space Corpse, you are hereby charged with the unlawful divulgence of state secrets, the harboring of non-military personnel aboard a military ship, action without order, and the harboring of an enemy agent. Your court martial trial will be held in one month's time to refute this counts before UN representatives and Military council. Your rights, if you do not know them will be read to you at your request."

"I know my rights", Vir whispered before looking to Sunny and Krill, "Contact the crew, tell them what's going on. I'm going to need them, and don't worry about me, I'll be just fine. Keep your heads, and don't get into any trouble. Follow the signs back to the LA Interplanetary terminal and show them your passes that will get you back to the moon. You can call the rest of the crew from there. Please stay safe." They were dragging him off now pulling him in increments to the armored vehicle parked off to the side hovering with its glowing blue power source underneath.

Sunny stepped forward again, and Krill stopped her again, "No Sunny, You'll only make it worse."

Captain Vir was pushed into the back of the truck sitting down with his hands cuffed behind his back. He looked up from where he was sitting, the smile had dropped from his face.

***

The sky above the Martian desert was a misty grey blue. Despite its similarity to earth, it had never lost its more grey than blue horizon. The cities were built upon gravity mats, a task implemented by earth after studying the negative effects upon humans living on a planet with only 38% gravity. Maybe you can terraform, change the atmosphere, but you cannot change an entire planet's gravity.

Krill had been staring out the window of the courtroom until this point. It was a marvelous affair of human engineering specifically designed to intimidate the people who stood on the floor. The viewing gallery sat just behind the desks rising up a good seven or eight rows. At the very front of the room, a massive semi-circular desk took up almost a third of the room framed by the equally massive set of windows looing out on a Martian horizon.

The room was almost full. Many crew members sat in the gallery while Krill and Sunny had been urged to sit as witnesses for the defense. At the head of the room, the semicircle desk was filled to the brim with generals, admirals, commanders, and delegated members of the UN. Sunny shifted in her seat as half of the room collectively glowered at her form the stand.

A lot of these men had been part of the battle with the Drev, and some of them had been part of operation Steel Eye, there was a lot of anger in this room. Additionally, members of the Galactic Assembly were there, and upon seeing Sunny they had gone very stiff and very silent staring at her with fear in their eyes, fear that Sunny had come to loathe.