Viking Unbound (16 page)

Chapter Eleven

Frey swayed a little as she faced the front of the hastily convened courtroom. Her head still throbbed and she was queasy after her hurried breakfast. Because she’d attacked one of her guards the previous day, her hands were manacled behind her with a narrow plastic strip that bit into her skin. After a signal from the bench, Brown gently nudged her forward.

“Go on, Tecky.”

She raised her chin and walked toward the central table, which faced the female judge who didn’t look particularly warm and fluffy. In fact, her expression was downright hostile.

“She’s Etruscan,” Brown murmured in Frey’s ear.

“
Frak.”
Frey breathed out the curse. “Preprogrammed to hate me on sight. I wonder if Mitzi arranged that?”

The man at the table to Frey’s right stood and started speaking, introducing the judge, who went by the name of Trallis Verchon, himself as the FREN sponsored prosecutor and the male on Frey’s left who was apparently her defense.

“Excuse me?” Frey said loudly. The man didn’t stop speaking. “EXCUSE ME? I was not consulted about my defense. I wish to speak to the Pavlovan ambassador for this region.”

The male stopped talking and glanced at the judge who stared at Frey.

“The Pavlovan ambassador has been informed of this trial. If he cannot be bothered to turn up, we are prepared to proceed without him.”

“I am not prepared to do that,” Frey said firmly. “I know my rights. Trios System regulations state that all officers of TSA are entitled to representation by a lawyer from their own planet.”

“Orin, your representative
is
from Pavlovan.”

“But I haven’t had a chance to speak to him.” Frey countered.

“He has been fully prepared by FREN to defend your case.” The judge nodded at the two men. “Please proceed.”

“But—”

“Science Officer Frey, if you don’t keep quiet I will have you taken from the court and tried in your absence.”

“You—”

“Be silent. This is your last warning.”

Frey pressed her lips together as the prosecutor, whose name was Braze, began speaking. Hearing herself described as a sloppy worker who ignored protocol, disobeyed orders from superiors, and lacked basic human decency was difficult enough. When Braze started in on her morals, she had trouble keeping her temper. According to him, she was some kind of temptress who had deliberately led the poor little Viking astray and used him for her own wicked ends.

After this general character assassination, Braze moved on to specific incidents, and Frey’s mind began to wander with the absurdity of it. She could only hope that Einarr and Aki had been kept in ignorance of her trial. The last thing she wanted was to be rescued by an irate Viking…

She glanced over at Braze, who was really warming up to his theme of her incompetence. All things considered, seeing Einarr bury his axe in the man’s head might be quite cathartic. But she couldn’t think about that now. Her yearning to be with her mate was hard enough to bear without asking him to commit murder for her. She had to believe that justice would be served. She had to believe the Etruscan judge would be fair minded and lenient.

Heeze
… Frey sighed. Like that was going to happen. She was going down. The only question left was how severe would the penalty be?

Witnesses were called. To their credit, most of the crew from her ship tried hard not to implicate Frey. They were restricted to answering the very narrow questions Braze asked. All of which showed her in the worst possible light. If it was possible, the judge’s lips narrowed even further making her look as if she was sucking on something sour.

Even Captain Travis tried to defend her in his own way, but Frey knew nothing would help. FREN wanted to hold her entirely responsible for their decision-making and there was nothing she or anyone else from the TSA could do about it.
Scapegoat
, was an Earth word. She wondered if Einarr knew it.

“
Tecky?”

“Slavin. How are you?”

“I’m at the space dock with the Pavlovan ambassador. We’re waiting for a member of the security council to arrive. We’ll be with you as soon as we can.”

Frey tried to relax as the prosecutor finally shut up and her defense stood. He consulted his notes and cleared his throat.

“The defense cannot dispute any of the evidence presented to the court so far. We do, however want to mention that until this incident, our client had an
exemplary
record and that in any sentencing, that record should be used to ameliorate the harshness of the punishment.”

He sat down again.

Frey turned toward him. “That’s
it
? That’s all you have to say?”

“Science Officer Frey,” the judge said. “You have been warned.”

“But this is ridiculous!” Frey shouted as Brown advanced toward her. “He did nothing to defend me!”

The judge stood and looked right at Frey. “This court finds you guilty on all counts. You will be incarcerated in a class one Pavlovan penitentiary for a minimum of a year. Your memories of this entire incident will be eradicated. The court may rise.”

“No!” Frey was yelling now as Brown dragged her toward the door of the court. “I refuse to accept this verdict.
Einarr, help me!”

There was a sudden crash behind her and a scream and then Brown was knocked away from her. A huge muscled arm locked around her waist and dragged her back toward the wall. The plastic bonds around her wrists loosened as Einarr cut her free with his dagger.

“
I am here, my female
.”

Amongst the screaming, she heard Trallis shouting orders. Aki came up behind the judge and held the tip of his sword to her throat. His blue eyes glittered as he smiled.

“Everyone get out, or I will kill her,” he roared.

The legal teams took flight, followed by the remaining security guards leaving Aki, the judge, an unconscious Brown and her and Einarr occupying a suddenly quiet room.

“Are you unharmed, my heart?” Einarr demanded.

With a sob, Frey turned in his arms and buried her face against his armored chest. “I couldn’t let them take my memories of you away. That’s not fair. I have to have something left to remember you by.”

“When you give me up?”

“I don’t want to do that either, but I can’t involve you in all this craziness. It’s just not right.”

He slid a finger under her chin and made her look up at him. “I am already involved. This entire world seems crazed to me. Now that I have disrupted a court and taken a judge hostage, I suspect my chances of escaping your planet’s justice have just shortened considerably. Mayhap we can share a cell?”

She gulped. “Oh Gods,
why
did you have to say that? It’s so romantic.”

“Frey, you called me from the ice. You saved my soul.”

“I did what FREN told me to do. I didn’t—”

He kissed her firmly on the mouth. “You called to my blood. We were fated to meet.”

“But—”

Somewhere by her feet, Brown groaned and rolled onto his back.

“May I intrude?” Einarr’s head snapped around toward the elegant white suited male who stood at the wrecked door. Frey gasped at the immense surge of telepathic power that radiated from the still figure. Behind him, stood Slavin and another man who both looked anxious.

“Senator
Ash
?” the judge whispered.

“Yes.” The male’s smile was charming. “I do hope I’m not interrupting anything.” He glanced back at the door and beckoned Slavin and the man whom Frey reckoned had to be the Pavlovan ambassador forward. “My security team will make sure we aren’t disturbed.” He turned his attention toward Aki. “Perhaps you might lower your weapon and assist the Honorable Trallis Verchon to a seat?”

“Einarr?” Aki frowned and turned to his twin. “Shall I release this
Kúkalabbi?”

Frey spoke fast. “This man is Senator Ash, the head of the Pavlovan Senate. He is the most powerful man on our planet.”

“And a friend to you or our foe?” Einarr asked her.

“I would hope he’s a friend.” Frey noticed Slavin nodding vigorously.

“Then Aki, stand down and allow the judge to sit and speak with this man.”

Frey held her breath as the senator took a seat opposite Trallis Verchon and waved at everyone else to do the same. Aki shook his head and stayed behind the judge, one hand on his sword as if ready to lope off her head at a word from Einarr.

Einarr took Frey’s hand and sat beside her, his booted foot almost resting on Brown’s head.

Ash looked down at the recumbent figure. “Perhaps Security Officer Brown might be helped into a chair as well.”

With an ungracious sound, Einarr bent down hauled Brown to his feet and dumped him unceremoniously in a seat.

“Now, judge, would you be so kind as to repeat your verdict on this case to me?” Ash said.

“I found the prisoner guilty on all counts, Senator.”

“And the sentence?”

Trallis raised her chin. “Science Officer Frey will be incarcerated in a class one Pavlovan penitentiary for a minimum of a year.”

Frey turned to Ash when Trallis stopped speaking. “With all due respect, Senator. The judge forgot to mention the bit about eradicating my memory.”

A slight crease appeared on Ash’s smooth brow. “Are you quite sure she said that?”

Brown cleared his throat. “She did, Senator. I heard her. The court record should confirm it.”

“You do realize, Judge Trallis that eradicating a telepath’s memory is illegal?” Ash stated. “Amendment 3.275 to the Trios System Agreement states it quite clearly.”

“I believe that amendment only refers to cases where the entire memory is removed, Senator Ash.” Trallis managed to sound both contemptuous and smug. “I was instructed that only this particular event would be removed.”

“No, that’s not correct. Any memory eradication is illegal.” He glanced over his shoulder at the Pavlovan ambassador. “You have the files on this don’t you, Dracon?”

“I do, Senator and I will be quite happy to share them with the judge at her convenience.”

Ash sat back slightly. “Then I think we can agree that the latter part of the sentence should be struck from the records, can’t we Judge Trallis? You wouldn’t wish your unfortunate lack of knowledge of your own star systems laws to become public, would you?”

Trallis glared at Ash, but did eventually nod. Frey breathed out hard through her nose.

“Now, as to the length of the incarceration…”

“Science Officer Frey’s defense conceded that she was guilty of all charges,” Trallis snapped. “I see no reason to revisit my decision.”

Ash’s faint smile died. “I will have to disagree with you. From all accounts, Science Officer Frey was defended by a man who didn’t even attempt to get her side of the story or offer up any witnesses in her defense. If he had performed this most
basic
of tasks, he would have realized that Science Officer Frey has mitigating circumstances, which would have affected her sentence.”

“I don’t understand your point, Senator.”

“It is quite simple. There is another amendment within the agreement that specifically addresses the individual cultural mating habits of all species in the Trios System.”

“And what does that have to do with your science officer’s inability to follow orders and her immoral conduct?”

“
Immoral
?” Ash raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Frey and Einarr who were still holding hands. “Ah, of course as you are not a telepath Judge Trallis, you would be unable to sense the complex bond that exists between mated couples.”

The judge blinked. “You are suggesting that Science Officer Frey is
mated
to this Viking?”

“Aye.” Einarr spoke up. “She is my female by right of blood and heart.”

Ash turned to Frey. “Can you confirm that, Science Officer?”

She stared into Einarr’s blue eyes and took a deep breath. “Yes. I believe Einarr Bloodaxe is my mate.”

The expression of disgust on Judge Trallis’s face was something to behold. “You expect me to take the word of a
telepath
? On my world, they aren’t even given full citizenship.”

Ash stood and inclined his head a frosty inch. “Not just the word of a telepath, Judge, but
my
word as the head of the Pavlovan Senate. They are not lying. I can clearly sense the bond between them. I am quite willing to swear that on oath in a court of law. If you don’t adjust the sentence, I will personally ensure that the next thing you judge will be the annual wild hildabeasts contest out on Wraxon Five.”

The judge subsided back into her chair, her face white. After a long moment, she looked up at Ash the set of her jaw rigid with fury. “I refuse to change my verdict. I choose to resign from this travesty of a court system.”

“As you wish,” Ash bowed. “We will arrange for a new trial for Science Officer Frey and erase all records of your ruling.” As the judge rose to her feet, Ash continued talking. “You will also agree to keep this matter between us. If I hear any unsavory rumors about Science Officer Frey’s reputation, I will pass all the information I have about you to the Trios System Legal Council. I’m sure they’ll be in touch with you shortly afterward.”

“Telepaths should never have been allowed into positions of authority,” Trallis sneered. “Government becomes meaningless when run with emotion.”

“You are entitled to your opinion, Trallis Verchon.” Ash took a step to the side. “May I suggest you allow my ambassador to see you safely on your way to Etrusca before the two Vikings, who are also telepaths, decide to take justice into their own hands?”

With a last scathing look in Frey’s direction, Trallis swept out of the room with the Pavlovan ambassador right on her heels.

“What an extremely unpleasant individual,” Ash murmured. “I suspect the entire Trios System will rejoice at her unexpected retirement.”

There was the sound of raised voices at the door. Even as Einarr stiffened, Brown went to see what was going on. He spoke over his shoulder to Ash.

“Senator, the representatives from FREN and the TSA wish to speak to you.”

“I’m sure they do. Tell them to wait quietly, and I’ll talk to them in a moment.”