Shoshone Station: The Galactic Consortium season 2

Episode One: Not a Good Day to Die #7

Lannister woke early the next day, but not earlier than Peeta, who was already in the kitchen working. The place seemed empty now that his family had left, back to their lives on the surface. The emptiness accented his unease about this day.

He hadn't been looking forward to his first day as captain of the station for weeks, but for very different reasons. Initially he'd been terrified, not having any clue what he was going to have to do. Since his first debriefing with the current crew it was a milder, more pedestrian dread. There were so many little things that needed attended to. This afternoon would be taken up almost entirely with customs, deciding how to deal with goods coming up or going down to the surface.

A little belated considering yesterday's excitement, Lannister thought. Defining illicit substances would have to top that committee's priority.

But before he got there, he had to figure out what to do with Ray Fox. He sighed.

"Good morning, sir. I've coffee and Bayi-achi on the table," Peeta greeted him.

Bayi-achi, the potato dish Lannister had grown fond of. It would be almost too easy to grow accustom to having a personal servant.

"And there is a woman from Shoshone section wanting to talk to you. She's in the outer foyer. Do you wish to eat first?"

He did. But that would be impolite. "Send her in," he said. It would no doubt be Shannon Otterdance. She was the spokeswoman for the Shoshone's council and the nominal head of their cultural collective. She wanted Ray banned from the station, sent to the surface with the remains of his drug lab. Their tribe didn't have it's own legal system in place yet. They had no prison facility and frankly, they didn't want to create one.

Sending Ray back to the surface didn't bother Lannister, it was the addition of his lab gave Lannister pause. Send him home with evidence of his wrong doing. He'd be looking at a twelve year prison sentence.

The woman was not Shannon. She was an elderly native woman that Lannister recognized instantly, Fox's grandmother. "Grandma Fox," Lannister said taking her hand. She no doubt had another name, but he'd never heard anyone use it. Even Shannon Otterdance called her Grandma Fox.

Grandma Fox looked like she'd been crying. Lannister offered her coffee and food but she turned him down. Peeta brought her a cup of hot tea, heedless and she accepted with a smile and muttered thanks.

"What is going to become of Ray?" she asked. "He's a good boy."

"I'm sure he is, but what he did, it put a lot of people in danger," Lannister replied. "And he's in a lot of trouble."

"I, I hoped that getting him away from his old friends, out of that lifestyle..."

"That lifestyle has a way of following people who try to leave it," Lannister commented.

"I know what he did was wrong. But Shannon wants him kicked out of the tribe and sent back..."

"Where he'll face charges, no doubt. Manufacturing with intent. A twelve year mandatory sentence, if they don't add anything. I am aware. But I am not sure how much I can do."

Grandma pulled an iPhone from her pocket. "Emma helped me find this," she said as he opened the display. It was an article about prison crowding.

Peeta looked over their shoulder at the pictures. His face blanched and his eyes hardened. Then he covered it and went back to the kitchen. Lannister knew what was hiding behind the mask. He was thinking it, too. It looked barbaric. He didn't like condemning a nineteen year old boy to twelve years of that.

"I'm just not sure how much I can do," Lannister protested.

"She can kick him out of the tribe, but not off the station. Not without your leave," Grandma insisted. "Have pity on the boy. Find some way to punish him here."

"Do you know what that would entail?" Lannister replied. "I've asked. The Consortium legal bureau wants him charged with reckless endangerment of the station. Given the potential damages, the number of lives potentially affected, I doubt his sentence would be much less. He'll spending many years at one of their penal colonies."

Grandma Fox looked crestfallen. "Africa?" she whispered.

Peeta came and sat opposite them. "Sir," he said. He held his hands and demonstrated with them. "The line from strict and mercy may not be so far as you think."

"Go on."

"Let him be tried by our courts. It will be years as you say. As captain of this station you should petition for financial compensation. There was damage, no? They can't deny it. They will grant this."

"And what will this do?"

"It will give you a vested interest in the case. They must give him a paying job, and forward the majority of his pay to the station."

"That would help his family," Lannister commented.

"Yes, but that is not the whole of what I am suggesting. When they pronounce his sentence, say he must go this camp in Africa, you must object. He will never pay his debt fast enough doing simple day labor. They must give him something more."

"Ray has few job skills," Grandma Fox said.

"That will be their problem," Peeta said. He placed a hand on Grandma's shoulder. "A terraforming crew isn't the most pleasant work and at times dangerous, but there are many tech and even advanced jobs he can train for. He'll be gone a long time, yes. But he'll come back with valuable skills."

"I think Peeta's idea is the best," Lannister said. "You want your grandson out of that lifestyle. It takes time. Time away from those people, those influences. A few years in space might just do the trick. Thank you, Peeta. I really should get going. Grandma, will you walk with me. If there is one thing to be said for their system, it is quick. We will see Ray, and I think deal with this matter this morning."