Free Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 1 - Purple Blood by David Buck

Cephrit friends here as well. Now attend as we first have to finish the matter of a trial we held earlier. Also I need to discuss with you a long series of reports, some of them from your friends at the Barus Institute.’
    Baredio now straightened and then offered the Fleet master, now a good friend, and the junior Station master polite half bows that were returned as Cephrit courtesy chirrs. The admiral only glanced at the Barus prisoner, obviously a Deltas Vass acolyte, as he removed his cap. He instead took in the powerful six legged forms of the two Vorinne in a long glance.
    Malang’troh would be Thatak’siema’s liege and therefore beholden to her utterly, and if Baredio was correct then the hulking Vorinne heavy cruisers in space nearby would belong to him. He also noted that Thatak’siema looked regal in her cape, though her belly scales showed tinges of blue and green.
    Thatak’siema’s manner turned sombre as she noted Baredio’s glance at the prisoner. The second envoy curtly gave an order to two junior Vorinne officers standing either side of the acolyte, before informing the admiral on what was about to take place.
    ‘Position the prisoner several metres from the wall and stand well back. Baredio, as the senior Barus officer on this star base, you will witness the sentence of this prisoner.’
    The Barus acolyte, an older and unkempt male, was then forced to his knees several metres in front of the second envoy, as she then knocked her staff twice to indicate a ruling was now being given. Thatak’siema imperiously rose to her full four metre height as she read the three charges and the sentences.
    ‘Acolyte Stamerio, you have been found guilty of three charges relating to the pandemic on Earth one hundred and fifty years ago. The first charge of releasing a bio weapon on a haven world, or in your case commissioning another to do the same, is punishable by death. The second charge of sedition is proven by the contents of your data tablet, and is punishable by death. The third charge of mass murder is then proven by default and the scale of the death toll still numbs my mind after all this time. Do you have any last words?’
    The old acolyte merely said nothing after locking eyes with the two Vorinne in an open challenge. Baredio flinched in disbelief but he had the sense to remain silent and still. Both the Vorinne repeatedly knocked their staffs against the floor to censure the prisoner as the second envoy spoke again in pure fury.
    ‘You would dare openly mock my authority? So be it then traitor, you have lost the right to a painless execution as a result. Your death will recorded and distributed as a warning to all that oppose my authority. Lord Malang’troh, the sentence of death is by your hand!’
    The Vorinne lord knocked his staff of office once more and stepped forward to carry out the sentence. Baredio watched in horror from one side as a long glowing blade extruded from the top of the Vorinne’s staff of office. Malang’troh quickly swept the blade through Stamerio’s right knee, and the acolyte screamed in agony as he collapsed onto the floor. The Vorinne merely waited until the acolyte stopped rolling before he struck again and took off the other leg. Baredio noted clinically that there was very little blood present as Malang’troh continued to dismember the acolyte. The screams of agony from Stamerio were mercifully cut off, as Malang’troh casually finished the execution by taking the acolyte’s head cleanly off his furry shoulders.
    Lord Malang’troh then glanced at the junior Cephrit station master, who summoned two junior officers forward with subdued chirrs of instruction to clean up the mess. Thatak’siema knocked her own staff once on the floor and Lord Malang’troh returned to his earlier position after giving her a full bow of respect. The Vorinne envoy merely looked through her data tablet again before she then spoke in a softer voice for the benefit of the