585 585 - Inciter (1/2)

Disposed Fleet Master Akron was standing next to a shaken Tediore in the middle of the arena like chamber. A row of seven magistrates sat on a raised platform that looked down at Akron and Tediore who had their arms and legs in heavy chains. The entire House of Law was dark and only Akron and Tediore were lit by a beam of sun ray that was reflected by mirrors and left the magistrates in the shadows.

This arrangement was done so to protect the randomly selected magistrates to prevent any cases of revenge from the accused and also made bribery harder. Bathed in the light, Akron and Tediore could barely see anything and the acoustics design of the House of Law made the magistrates' voices sound different and a lot overbearing.

”By these documents and statements from witnesses,” One of the magistrates spoke. His voice echoing over and over again in the chamber. ”Do you acknowledge their contents are true?”

Akron, his hair and clothes dishevelled, only glared silently at the shadows in the balcony above him. Tediore on the other hand was visibly shaking causing the chains to rattle together softly. After a moment of silence, the magistrate spoke again. ”If you think that by remaining quiet, Megan will come and save you. You two can give up that thought, for she is now a fugitive!”

”Hahahaha!” Akron broke out in sudden laughter when he heard the magistrate's words. ”Knowing her, she would never come to save us!”

”But...” Akron smiled as he said. ”I have my own backup plans!”

His words made the magistrates frown and they started to confer between themselves in low voices. Hearing the soft mumbles from the magistrates, Akron's smile widened, as he knew he had rattled the magistrates. Suddenly, there was a commotion among the magistrates as their voices were raised. Akron caught a few words like riot and trouble from the murmurings.

”Take them away!” A magistrate suddenly ordered the guards. ”This hearing will be delayed... for now!”

Akron continued smiling as guards arrived to bring him and Tediore away to the underground cells. He followed the guards docilely and as the cell doors closed behind him, he sat down on the straw bed and settled down to wait for what was about to come.

-----

”Push!” Mills yelled over the crazy clamour of the mob clashing against the shield wall. The frenzied mob was shoving hard against the shield wall of the Marines, Army and guardsmen of the Isles and some time ago, a group of masked men had appeared out of nowhere and they were armed with crossbows and swords.

Mills did not even notice the masked assailants arrival until one of his Marines fell back with a crossbow bolt in his throat. The Marine's feet thumped the ground hard as he crutched his pierced throat and blood gurgled while his buddy tried to stem the bleeding. ”Medic!”

”Contact! Crossbower on the roof!” A Marine sharpshooter called out from his overwatch position. Mills and the Army Major had worked out a plan to use Army and Marine sharpshooters or snipers to provide overwatch with live ammunition while the rest of the troops attempt to control the unrest with non lethal means.

”Shoot that son of a bitch!” Mills snapped at his comms. Almost immediately, there were not one but two loud cracks that simultaneously thundered from behind. The gunfire rolled over the mob, stunning them and giving a moment of respite for the troops behind the shield wall. The assailant armed with a crossbow on one of the street building's roof toppled off the side and landed in the middle of a crowd, inciting screams of surprise and horror.

Mills frowned as he looked back, knowing that both his Marine sharpshooter and the Army counterpart had both shots the same tango. He keyed his comms and sternly said, ”Snipers! This is not the time for comparing dicks! Cover your own sectors!”

Clicks of acknowledgement came back over the platoon channels and Mills turned his attention to the fallen Marine. Two medics hovered over the Marine and another two pale faced Isles' guardsmen were holding a stretcher between, waiting for the medics' instructions. Seeing there was nothing he could do for the downed Marine, he turned to the mob who had pulled back behind the body.

Already quite a few enterprising youths and people had swarmed the dead body and looted its body of anything of value. Mills shook his head as he watched the scene feeling some pity for the still warm body which now laid naked in his own blood.

The aggression of the mob had cooled down after seeing someone had been killed. No one wanted to rush forward and be the next to be the next body to be looted clean. Mills grinned seeing the mob hesitating and he took his whistle out and was about to order a charge to break the mob when suddenly, a masked person yelled.

”Look! They just killed one of us!” The masked person shouted out in the middle of the crowd. ”Tyrants! They are tyrants! We must take back the Isles!”

”Make the Isles great again!” The inciter yelled out and his yell was echoed from more masked persons. ”Make the Isles great again!”