Elemorts

Chapter I - Jayrock

Planet Grebros

Jayrock Petrolons was startled by a loud rap on the table. He looked up to see Major Stonyx had materialized deep-saffron rock on her knuckles. Presently, she retracted the rock back into her fist.

"If you're quite ready, Captain Petrolons," she said wearily. "You have had ample time staring at your lap." Her husky voice grated against Jayrock's ears. "Now then... tell us. What led to you shooting your own comrade?"

A lean old woman with a firm face, graying hair, and slender claws for hands, Major Stonyx would have hardly looked any different if she were a corpse.

Jayrock absentmindedly shifted in his chair. Where to even begin? "Well... as you all probably know, we were at the amusement park, getting everyone evacuated. The bomb was ticking—there was no telling how much time we had. The terrorist was still somewhere in there. And"—Jayrock sighed—"we had no idea which ride was rigged."

From the head of the table to Jayrock's right, his superior, Colonel Sandywick, leaned in toward him. "We know that much. Get to the part where you shot the young lad in the face."

"Understand that it is your right not to testify against yourself," the attorney, whose name Jayrock didn't remember, chimed in, half-mumbling into Jayrock's ear, half-announcing to everyone present. He sat next to Jayrock.

"And also understand that witnesses, including your other comrades, have every right to testify against you," Colonel Sandywick added.

No one saw me shoot him, you old fool, Jayrock thought. I told them.

But facts mattered little to Colonel Sandywick at the moment. He was there to represent the prosecution against Jayrock in a preliminary off-the-table hearing before the official trial.

Tall and stout with a downturned mouth, Colonel Sandywick had never looked so pleased with himself as he looked today—he was here to make sure Jayrock went out of the room with a fate worse than death.

"I can say that personally, I would prefer their version if you are not feeling up to it," Sandywick was saying.

They were seated at a heavyset stone table in a round, subterranean room in Fort Pedralt, the Grebrik military headquarters. A glass wall surrounded the room, revealing the jagged bedrock into which the space was carved.

The room was well-lit by a large, domed skylight and a bright sun shining over planet Grebros.

Major Stonyx and Major Kubbles were seated across the table from Jayrock. The latter was a pale, balding man with eyes so blue they gave Jayrock the shivers. He had not uttered a single word all this time but had only been intently staring at Jayrock, making him feel all the more self-conscious.

Jayrock supposed he did not look bereaved enough. Out of habit, he had neatly combed his short, light-brown hair, which went along with his brown eyes and sat atop his square face. He was dressed immaculately in his service uniform—a teal coat, a starched white dress shirt, and sandy-brown trousers. His polished, black dress shoes gleamed in the sunlight.

"That won't be necessary, Colonel. I have had to do worse things I was not up for," responded Jayrock noncommittally.

"Good. Continue then."

Jayrock took a deep breath and began recounting what happened that fateful night. He recalled the beautiful starry sky directly overhead, with the asteroids of Grebros glimmering—there was no intervening glass dome, which was unusual for Grebros.

He remembered the cacophony of screaming and wailing as scores of families poured out of the amusement park, herded by the commandos.

The squads scoured the one-eighty-acre expanse, aided by locomotives and helicopters, searching for the bomb and the terrorist as the intelligence reports claimed the terrorist was still on the premises.

Jayrock could not help but meander with his story, stalling for time, focusing on minor details—trying his best to avoid getting to the most painful part.

But it was inevitable. In the end, Jayrock had no choice but to describe it all, in all the grisly detail. Cliff's terrified face, the resounding burst of Jayrock's machine gun, the sickening thud as Cliff's lifeless body fell, and the chilling silence that followed—all of that came flooding in, overwhelming his senses, making him numb, making him relive the horror for the hundredth time since that night.

He lost track of how much time had passed when he was interrupted by Major Stonyx's grating voice again. "Captain Jayrock Petrolons—that's enough. I asked you a question!"

"It's pronounced as 'Yayrock.'" Jayrock said, almost involitionally.

Puzzled, Major Stonyx referred to her holopad on the table and then glared back at Jayrock. "Captain 'Yayrock' Petrolons... you need to start paying attention now. You are already treading on some very loose gravel."

At this point, Colonel Sandywick cleared his throat. "I beg your pardon," he began. "But before we proceed further, I have a proposal in regards to the verdict that my honorable jury will find most suitable—for everyone in this room, including the accused if he knows what options he has left," he said, eyeing Jayrock menacingly.

Confinement for life, a death sentence—those are the options I probably have, thought Jayrock. He wondered what plans Sandywick had just concocted that could be worse than that.

"What did you have in mind?" the attorney inquired.

"Send him to planet Karomoz for an upcoming critical mission," Sandywick declared. "He cannot be trusted at this time, so the mission will obviously not be officially sanctioned. If he gets caught or even deliberately tries sabotaging our interests... we will deny any involvement, and the Karomozians will take care of him far better than we ever could. If he somehow escapes capture or death and miraculously returns after completing the mission, we will consider the crimes atoned for, and I am sure we can be a bit more... generous with his sentence."

Everyone turned to look at Jayrock.

"I would take this chance if I were you," Sandywick added.

"I do not doubt you have my best interests at heart, Colonel," Jayrock eventually replied. He turned to look at Sandywick. "So... tell me. What's the mission?"

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