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Chapter 14: There is no cow chapter.
The hearing had taken all afternoon, but was most productive, and happened almost exactly as Ted had stated. Reamer did not get a reprimand, but was assigned to clean the bio-filters on all the lifepods of the squad under the watchful eye of Steuben. Ortega got off entirely with a motherly warning from the Judge. Butler was put on 3 months probation, and warned that he so much as moved a toe out of line, he'd be a Leuitenant once more faster then he could think. Hicks tried every weasely trick he could to no avail. The judge ordered that he be placed in a detention cell for the remainder of the down time, and then afterwards he was on probation for 3 months, and if he stepped out of line, he'd be out on an dishonorable discharge, which woud effectively ruin his career. After the trial was over, the Judge stepped down from the bench and sat down at one of the tables. "The official portion of this trial is over. Now comes the unoffical portion. The Prime Rule has been broken by two mundanes. I have thought about this, and I have come to the same agreement as Ch'Mee: The four of you are to have yourr memories of the incident modified to reflect a suitable timeline." Ortega looked like he had lost teh ability to breath. Ted turned to him. "For you four. Let me assure you that this is painless. We have an expert who will be performing the procedure, and he has never damaged anyone's memory through this process." Right on cue, a knock was heard at the door. Ch'Mee opened it and ushered in a veiled person wearing the livery of a line cook, and wearing long, grey gauntlets. Ch'Mee and the veiled figure looked at each other for a minute or two, and he came over. He handed a card to each of the four and to Ted, who read it aloud. "Be assured that this procedure will not harm you in any way, shape, or form, with the exception of the modification of the incident. I am not permitted to speak, or show my face, as it would compromise my identity aboard this ship. Please close your eyes, and I will begin the procedure once this has been done."
Hicks blurted out, "Why 'n the hell do we have to do this?" The judge glared at him and answered. "Because these people prefer to remain private, and to serve their people while still complying with what most intellegent and well reasoned prople believe is an archaic and outmoded bias against them. Because if they were revealed in public as what they were, the results and backlash would be disasterous. You four forced this issue upon us with your attempt at hazing and intimidation. There is no other alternative that we find acceptable, and we dare not try to fake some accident to kill you outright." Hicks crossed his arms defiantly. "Try it, then. I won't close my eyes for nothing. Ted stood up and looked the veiled figure intently. They both nodded subtlely. The judged finished her speech. "Fortunately, you do not have to be awake for us to do this, but it helps." Ted hit Hicks on the back of the head, knocking him out. As he sagged in his chair, the other three closed their eyes. The veilied figure started to move it's arms, and soon you could see a faint red glow under the sleeves of the gauntlets. The three others sagged in their chairs one at a time as they were rendered unconsious. When he was done, the veiled figure removed his veil and sat down in a chair. "Gods, I wish that fourth one would have just accepted it. It made my job a HELL of a lot more difficult!" Ted nodded. "I do apologize about him, he is a stubborn jackass, but he's a hell of a pilot, and frankly we are going to need him in a week or two. The usual fee, Alexi?" Alexi shook his head. "Yes, and a second bottle for stubborn here." Ted nodded. "Certainly. I'll have it sent up as soon as possible. Thanks again for agreeing to help us." Alexi sat threre for a few minutes breathing hard, and finally got up. Fixing the veil back on his face, he left the hearing room. As soon as he left, the four woke up. After a quick explanation as to why the fell asleep, they were all dissmissed. The head of security escourted Hicks out of the room. Butler was followed by Stromson, and After a moment talking with Steuben, Reamer left. Ortega was the last to leave, and he did so after profusly apologizing to Robert and Shannon. Robert shrugged. "You are forgiven. I find it bad to hold grudges, so I forgive and forget. It's easier that way." Ortega left after that, leaving Ch'Mee, Jackson, and the Judge. Ted turned to her. "Thank you for presiding over the second portion, although it was not asked of you." The judge nodded. "I would rather have them angry at me then anyone else. I'll provide the second bottle, as I know what Alexi really likes." She got up and left the hearing room via the door she came in through. The four looked at each other. Shannon spoke first. "I found that Robert has some form of magical talent when I scanned him the other night. He's stated that he is willing to allow me to try a few things with him, if that's ok with you. Steuben gave me the entire day off." Ted nodded. "Robert, You are released from duties the rest of the day for training with Shannon." The two stood up and headed for the door. Ted called out before they opened the door with a feral grin on his face. "Shannon, don't break him too much! I'll need what's left tomorrow!" All Robert could hear as they closed the door to the chambers was Ted's bark-like laughing.
Two hours later, Robert had a quick course to the various types of magic and what their practitioners generally specialized in. Shannon had gone to get something from her workbench and had left Robert to think on things. He didn't think any one of the five traditions would apply to him, but Shannon said that they would find out together. He asked what school of spellcasting he would be in and she laughed. "It does not work like the D&D style of magic. It's quite different then that." She returned with a broken datapad, a bar of steel, and a tin which turned out to be full of cookies. "And now we will see what we can see." she said, locking the door and setting the privacy field.
Robert had been thankful for the cookies. He had tried a number of things in several of his forms, but nothing appeared to work. Shannon had been watching him and munching on the cookies while he was trying his fvarious things, and fedhim cookies to replenish his energy. He was beginning to give up when Shannon announced that it was time for dinner. "After dinner, we'll try one other thing before calling it a night, because it'll be quite exhausting for both of us." She said with a wink. They ordered dinner in again, and talked idly over mundane work stuff.
Once dinner was done, she put some quiet background sounds on, and dimmed the lights down. "This will help with a meditation session, and the task that will follow it." She winked at him this time. Robert started a bit when Shannon took her clothes off for the session. "Trust me, This is the only way to do this. You need to disrobe too. It's going to get somewhat warm in here as well." Robert didn't quite understand what was happening, but followed along. "Uh, Shannon" he said as he finished stripping, "I'm not quite sure what we are trying to do here." She grinned as she started laying out some mats on the floor. "OK, lemme explain it then. You've tried the simplest spell in five of the six traditions: Vision, Somatic, Movement, Mentalist, and Runic. Nothing has worked, and we've tried your hybrid form as well. Now we shall try the last one: mine. For this to work, we both need to meditate and stretch out limbs out. Oh, by the way, have you ever done any gymnastics?" Robert nodded. "I took a year of it in high school before I enlisted. My instructors told me that I was pretty good, actually." Shannon nodded. "ok, then you'll know the basic stretching exercises. The meditation exercises I taught you earlier are what we will start with, then."
An hour later, they had finished the meditation and stretching, and moved on to the next part, which Robert found quite enjoyable. He was a bit concerned when she asked him to shift to his hybrid form, though, but he shrugged it off. Unfortuantely, nothing happened in either form. Shannon was non-plussed at this failure. "That's OK. It may be something that manifests only when you are in full form. We'll try that tomorrow upstairs. A benefit for you is at least you know know how to perform one basic spells in each tradition." He nodded as he shifted back down to human. "That... was qute a work out, and I feel pretty tired. Are you tired?" SHe nodded. "Yep. I think we both need a good nights sleep." They progressed to the bed, and soon both were fast sleep.
Robert cracked his eyes open and looked at the time strip on the wall: 0600 as usual. What was *not* usual was that not only had he retained human form, but the symbol on Shannon's lower body was glowing softly. He rolled on his back which caused her to wake up. "Um..." was all he could say. "Well, that's interesting." she said. Then she got a good look at him. "And even more interesting. I think we've found something out about you. And it confirmed what I thought. Sex will keep you human, it would seem. Sex with me will keep me fully charged and ready to go." She pointed downward. "Don't worry, the glowing will go away shortly. I now know what you are, and why you didn't pass any of the tests I gave you. I gave you the wrong tests. You are an energy well." Robert looked stupified. "An energy well?"
(1763/1667)
The hearing had taken all afternoon, but was most productive, and happened almost exactly as Ted had stated. Reamer did not get a reprimand, but was assigned to clean the bio-filters on all the lifepods of the squad under the watchful eye of Steuben. Ortega got off entirely with a motherly warning from the Judge. Butler was put on 3 months probation, and warned that he so much as moved a toe out of line, he'd be a Leuitenant once more faster then he could think. Hicks tried every weasely trick he could to no avail. The judge ordered that he be placed in a detention cell for the remainder of the down time, and then afterwards he was on probation for 3 months, and if he stepped out of line, he'd be out on an dishonorable discharge, which woud effectively ruin his career. After the trial was over, the Judge stepped down from the bench and sat down at one of the tables. "The official portion of this trial is over. Now comes the unoffical portion. The Prime Rule has been broken by two mundanes. I have thought about this, and I have come to the same agreement as Ch'Mee: The four of you are to have yourr memories of the incident modified to reflect a suitable timeline." Ortega looked like he had lost teh ability to breath. Ted turned to him. "For you four. Let me assure you that this is painless. We have an expert who will be performing the procedure, and he has never damaged anyone's memory through this process." Right on cue, a knock was heard at the door. Ch'Mee opened it and ushered in a veiled person wearing the livery of a line cook, and wearing long, grey gauntlets. Ch'Mee and the veiled figure looked at each other for a minute or two, and he came over. He handed a card to each of the four and to Ted, who read it aloud. "Be assured that this procedure will not harm you in any way, shape, or form, with the exception of the modification of the incident. I am not permitted to speak, or show my face, as it would compromise my identity aboard this ship. Please close your eyes, and I will begin the procedure once this has been done."
Hicks blurted out, "Why 'n the hell do we have to do this?" The judge glared at him and answered. "Because these people prefer to remain private, and to serve their people while still complying with what most intellegent and well reasoned prople believe is an archaic and outmoded bias against them. Because if they were revealed in public as what they were, the results and backlash would be disasterous. You four forced this issue upon us with your attempt at hazing and intimidation. There is no other alternative that we find acceptable, and we dare not try to fake some accident to kill you outright." Hicks crossed his arms defiantly. "Try it, then. I won't close my eyes for nothing. Ted stood up and looked the veiled figure intently. They both nodded subtlely. The judged finished her speech. "Fortunately, you do not have to be awake for us to do this, but it helps." Ted hit Hicks on the back of the head, knocking him out. As he sagged in his chair, the other three closed their eyes. The veilied figure started to move it's arms, and soon you could see a faint red glow under the sleeves of the gauntlets. The three others sagged in their chairs one at a time as they were rendered unconsious. When he was done, the veiled figure removed his veil and sat down in a chair. "Gods, I wish that fourth one would have just accepted it. It made my job a HELL of a lot more difficult!" Ted nodded. "I do apologize about him, he is a stubborn jackass, but he's a hell of a pilot, and frankly we are going to need him in a week or two. The usual fee, Alexi?" Alexi shook his head. "Yes, and a second bottle for stubborn here." Ted nodded. "Certainly. I'll have it sent up as soon as possible. Thanks again for agreeing to help us." Alexi sat threre for a few minutes breathing hard, and finally got up. Fixing the veil back on his face, he left the hearing room. As soon as he left, the four woke up. After a quick explanation as to why the fell asleep, they were all dissmissed. The head of security escourted Hicks out of the room. Butler was followed by Stromson, and After a moment talking with Steuben, Reamer left. Ortega was the last to leave, and he did so after profusly apologizing to Robert and Shannon. Robert shrugged. "You are forgiven. I find it bad to hold grudges, so I forgive and forget. It's easier that way." Ortega left after that, leaving Ch'Mee, Jackson, and the Judge. Ted turned to her. "Thank you for presiding over the second portion, although it was not asked of you." The judge nodded. "I would rather have them angry at me then anyone else. I'll provide the second bottle, as I know what Alexi really likes." She got up and left the hearing room via the door she came in through. The four looked at each other. Shannon spoke first. "I found that Robert has some form of magical talent when I scanned him the other night. He's stated that he is willing to allow me to try a few things with him, if that's ok with you. Steuben gave me the entire day off." Ted nodded. "Robert, You are released from duties the rest of the day for training with Shannon." The two stood up and headed for the door. Ted called out before they opened the door with a feral grin on his face. "Shannon, don't break him too much! I'll need what's left tomorrow!" All Robert could hear as they closed the door to the chambers was Ted's bark-like laughing.
Two hours later, Robert had a quick course to the various types of magic and what their practitioners generally specialized in. Shannon had gone to get something from her workbench and had left Robert to think on things. He didn't think any one of the five traditions would apply to him, but Shannon said that they would find out together. He asked what school of spellcasting he would be in and she laughed. "It does not work like the D&D style of magic. It's quite different then that." She returned with a broken datapad, a bar of steel, and a tin which turned out to be full of cookies. "And now we will see what we can see." she said, locking the door and setting the privacy field.
Robert had been thankful for the cookies. He had tried a number of things in several of his forms, but nothing appeared to work. Shannon had been watching him and munching on the cookies while he was trying his fvarious things, and fedhim cookies to replenish his energy. He was beginning to give up when Shannon announced that it was time for dinner. "After dinner, we'll try one other thing before calling it a night, because it'll be quite exhausting for both of us." She said with a wink. They ordered dinner in again, and talked idly over mundane work stuff.
Once dinner was done, she put some quiet background sounds on, and dimmed the lights down. "This will help with a meditation session, and the task that will follow it." She winked at him this time. Robert started a bit when Shannon took her clothes off for the session. "Trust me, This is the only way to do this. You need to disrobe too. It's going to get somewhat warm in here as well." Robert didn't quite understand what was happening, but followed along. "Uh, Shannon" he said as he finished stripping, "I'm not quite sure what we are trying to do here." She grinned as she started laying out some mats on the floor. "OK, lemme explain it then. You've tried the simplest spell in five of the six traditions: Vision, Somatic, Movement, Mentalist, and Runic. Nothing has worked, and we've tried your hybrid form as well. Now we shall try the last one: mine. For this to work, we both need to meditate and stretch out limbs out. Oh, by the way, have you ever done any gymnastics?" Robert nodded. "I took a year of it in high school before I enlisted. My instructors told me that I was pretty good, actually." Shannon nodded. "ok, then you'll know the basic stretching exercises. The meditation exercises I taught you earlier are what we will start with, then."
An hour later, they had finished the meditation and stretching, and moved on to the next part, which Robert found quite enjoyable. He was a bit concerned when she asked him to shift to his hybrid form, though, but he shrugged it off. Unfortuantely, nothing happened in either form. Shannon was non-plussed at this failure. "That's OK. It may be something that manifests only when you are in full form. We'll try that tomorrow upstairs. A benefit for you is at least you know know how to perform one basic spells in each tradition." He nodded as he shifted back down to human. "That... was qute a work out, and I feel pretty tired. Are you tired?" SHe nodded. "Yep. I think we both need a good nights sleep." They progressed to the bed, and soon both were fast sleep.
Robert cracked his eyes open and looked at the time strip on the wall: 0600 as usual. What was *not* usual was that not only had he retained human form, but the symbol on Shannon's lower body was glowing softly. He rolled on his back which caused her to wake up. "Um..." was all he could say. "Well, that's interesting." she said. Then she got a good look at him. "And even more interesting. I think we've found something out about you. And it confirmed what I thought. Sex will keep you human, it would seem. Sex with me will keep me fully charged and ready to go." She pointed downward. "Don't worry, the glowing will go away shortly. I now know what you are, and why you didn't pass any of the tests I gave you. I gave you the wrong tests. You are an energy well." Robert looked stupified. "An energy well?"
(1763/1667)