“No, not bullshit, Joe,” Holloway said. He stalked over to DeLise. “Not this time. It’s deep shit this time. Because you walked right up to a tiny sentient being, lifted up your boot, and stomped the life right out of it. And when its mate tried to defend it, you killed it too. That’s two counts of murder, fair and square, pure and simple.”
“Your Honor.” Meyer looked around DeLise and Holloway to Soltan, to get her to stop the two men.
“Mr. Holloway,” Soltan said.
“How do you think this is going to look, Joe?” Holloway said, ignoring the judge. “We discover a new sentient species, only the third one we’ve ever found besides ourselves, and the first thing you do is stomp one of them to death. How do you think that’s going to play, Joe?”
“Get out of my face, Jack,” DeLise said. “I’m warning you.”
“Because you know what, Joe, murder’s not the only thing they’re going to throw at you. They’re probably going to hit you with hate crimes against xenosentients, too. There’s not much doubt you targeted that first little fuzzy because of what it was, is there? You came, you saw, you crushed it to death.”
“Your Honor!” Meyer practically screamed.
“If it was just murder, maybe you’d get off with life in prison, Joe,” Holloway said. “But it’s not. With a xenosentient’s hate crime rider, that’s the death penalty. Two counts. You’re going to die, Joe, because you stomped that little creature just for the fun of it.”
DeLise howled and launched himself over the defense table at Holloway. Holloway took the tackle and went down without resistance. Sullivan was up over the audience railing and pulling DeLise off Holloway, but not before DeLise landed heavy blows to Holloway’s face and head. Holloway didn’t bother to block them. Sullivan was followed by a rush of ZaraCorp lawyers, who finally managed to pull DeLise up and off his quarry.
Holloway picked himself up and wiped some of the blood off his face with his jacket sleeve. He faced Soltan, who looked frankly appalled.
“As I was saying, Your Honor, two counts of murder,” he said. He wiped off his eyebrow, from which the blood was drizzling into his eye. “And a side order of assault and battery while you’re at it.”
“This is bullshit!” DeLise said from behind a pile of lawyers. “I want to make a deal, Your Honor.”
“What are you talking about, Mr. DeLise?” Soltan said.
“Shut up, Joe,” Meyer said, to DeLise.
“Shut up yourself, Meyer,” DeLise said. “No way I’m dying for your boys back there. And if I am dying, they’re coming with me.”
“Mr. DeLise!” Soltan said. DeLise shut up. “I repeat: What are you talking about?”
“I was at Holloway’s under orders,” DeLise said. “I was there to booby-trap Holloway’s place and to kill any of those things I could find.”
“Whose orders?” Soltan said.
“Oh, I think you can guess, Your Honor,” DeLise said. “But I’m not saying a damn thing else until I get a deal.”
Soltan stared at DeLise, and then at Meyer. “Your client wants to make a deal, Ms. Meyer.”
“I must request to withdraw as Mr. DeLise’s attorney at this time,” Meyer said.
“I suspected as much,” Soltan said. She looked around in the courtroom until she found who she was looking for. “Mr. Sullivan,” she said. “You are by all accounts currently unaffiliated.”
“That would be accurate, Your Honor,” Sullivan said. “I quit the employ of Zarathustra Corporation roughly forty seconds ago.”
“How wonderful,” Soltan said. “Will you please represent Mr. DeLise, then, at least for the short term. I can offer you standard Colonial Authority public defender rates.”
“Happy to oblige,” Sullivan said.
Soltan turned to Papa Fuzzy, who was still in the witness stand, watching everything unfold with a sort of quiet fascination. “Papa Fuzzy,” she said. “You are someone who speaks for your people.”
“Yes,” Papa said.
“Soon my people will need to speak to your people,” she said. “It would help if you choose a man to help your people speak to my people. A man you like who is good to you and good to your people.”
“I choose Jack Holloway,” Papa Fuzzy said.
“Are you sure?” Soltan asked.
“I am sure,” Papa said. “I do not know all the things your people know. But I am smart. I see what Jack Holloway has done here now. Jack Holloway has helped you see bad men have hurt my people and killed my child. Jack Holloway is a good man. I choose Jack Holloway.”
“Mr. Holloway,” Soltan said. “You understand the job you’ve just been nominated for.”
“Defender general of the fuzzy nation, it seems like,” Holloway said.
“Do you accept the job?” Soltan said.
“I do,” Holloway said.
“Then congratulations,” Soltan said. “Because as of this moment, you’re effectively in charge of this entire planet.”
“Wait a minute,” said Wheaton Aubrey VII. “You can’t do that. The Zarathustra Corporation has an E and E franchise with the Colonial Authority. A judge at your level can’t just decide it doesn’t apply. And you certainly can’t hand over responsibility to a contract surveyor.”
“Not that you have any standing whatsoever in this courtroom at the moment, Mr. Aubrey, but as your statement dovetails into my next announcement, I’ll address it,” Soltan said. “But first, everyone needs to sit down.”
The courtroom slowly returned to order.
“Now, then,” Soltan said. “As it happens, Mr. Aubrey, once a Suspected Sapience Report is ordered, as I have done, if any Colonial Authority judge finds compelling evidence that the native sentient life of a planet is threatened, he or she is required to report it to the planet’s ranking judge. The ranking judge then becomes or appoints someone to the role of Special Master for Xenosapience, whose tasks include making sure the new possibly sentient life remains extant long enough for its sentience to be fully assessed. The Special Master not only can but must take steps to ensure the species’ survival, up to and including instituting martial law and suspending all franchises.
“As you have so condescendingly noted, Mr. Aubrey, I am merely a common Colonial Authority court judge,” Soltan said. “But, in part because of your own corporation’s desire to have the absolute minimum judicial interference on your E and E franchise worlds, I am also the only Colonial Authority court judge here. This makes me the Special Master for Xenosapience, which means I can and must act to protect the fuzzys.
“After today, it is my strong belief that the fuzzys are in clear and present danger from the humans on the planet, and from your corporation,” Soltan said. “I will not wait for the legal wheels to turn to prove a sapience I have already seen in abundance. A slaughter has already begun here. Two of these creatures are already dead, Mr. Aubrey. Whether by your instigation, or by your encouragement, or through your willful blindness, is not my concern at the moment. My concern is stopping it before there are more of them dead by human hands.
“Therefore, Mr. Aubrey,” Soltan said. “By the power vested in me as the Special Master for Xenosapience, the Zarathustra Corporation’s Exploration and Exploitation Charter for the planet known as Zara Twenty-three is immediately and provisionally revoked, pending further review. All exploration and exploitation is to cease at once. All employees and contractors are ordered off the planet within thirty days. I am declaring martial law. Colonial Marshals will be on-planet within two days to relieve ZaraCorp’s Security forces, who will surrender all weapons and security authority at that time.