Hostile Genus: An Epic Military Sci-Fi Series (Invasive Species Book 2) Ben Stevens (best contemporary novels txt) 📖

to each other and the room buzzed with the hum of several muffled conversations. “But that doesn’t cha—”

“Isn’t this Lucy, infamous warrior of the former Underground Resistance, off on an errand with Lily Sapphire, aka Maya? The leader of the rebellion?” Libis said, cutting him off.

“Yes, but—”

“And is the New Breed officer, Jon 310-257, with them also?”

How does he know this? Their mission was a secret!

“Along with another New Breed, Rene, as well as the scientist called Ratt?” Libis asked, not letting up.

“None of this has to do with Matiaba’s crimes!” Miller shouted, trying to stem the flow of the rising tide.

“Please, General. Answer the question,” Libis said, cocking one eyebrow up over the rim of his glasses, his arms crossed aloofly.

“Yes. They are all together,” Miller admitted.

“Are together? Or were together?” Libis asked. Miller squinted at the lawyer.

“What do you mean?”

“You see, ladies and gentlemen,” Libis said, turning his attention from Miller to the room at large. “What not everyone here is aware of is that the people I just mentioned, the very core of the rebellion that overthrew Warbak, are all gone on a secret mission. A mission that you, the acting governmental body of Home, were not considered important enough to be given the details of.”

Stifled gasps and hushed murmurs rippled through the room like waves in a pond, issuing out from the metaphorical stone Libis had just tossed.

“General Miller, is this true?” Councilman Monroe asked.

“Yes. You were not told for a good reason,” Miller said, trying to collect himself. I may still be able to salvage this train wreck. “To put it simply, we didn’t know if the Old Guard, or Umbra and the Harvesters, for that matter, had spies in our ranks. We didn’t, and still don’t know who besides Warbak himself was in on the conspiracy. And clearly, we were right.” Miller pointed at Matiaba and Libis.

“And what is the nature of this mission?” Councilperson Hincit, the only genderless and Displaced member of the body asked.

Miller regarded the turtle-like councilperson and spoke plainly, hoping that honesty at this point might repair the damage Matiaba and his lawyer had wrought. “Maya and her guardians are searching for a secret weapon. A weapon of great power. We believe that this weapon will enable us to defeat the Harvesters when they return to Home.”

“Unbelievable!” Libis blurted out over the hushed conversations re-erupting through the room. “General Miller knows of an attempt to locate a super-weapon and didn’t feel that he needed to share this information with the council. I say.”

“We haven’t had a chance yet!” Miller said, almost pleading at this point, feeling with every spoken exchange the favor of his peers falling further from him. “We are just forming this government!”

“I see, I see,” Libis said, running his fingers down the sides of his glasses again. “Forgive me.”

“I would like to get this tribunal back on track if you don’t mind,” Miller grumbled.

“One more thing,” Libis said. When no one objected, he continued. “When are Maya and her guardians due back from retrieving this super-weapon?”

Miller sat in silence, wishing the question away.

“General Miller?” Councilman Monroe asked.

“They were already expected back. We have lost contact with them…” he conceded, hanging his head.

“I see. Well then, I think that fact leads nicely into my client’s closing statements, then. That is, of course, unless you actually have some evidence to present regarding the last charge. Murder, was it?”

“Mister Libis raises a good point, General. Do you have any evidence at all? For the charge of murder or anything else?” Monroe continued, now seemingly fully caught in the web that Libis and Matiaba had spun.

Miller didn’t say a word, but only continued to look down. He was too tired to rage and fight anymore. He had lost the day.

“No,” Libis answered for Miller. “He does not. Not one shred of actual evidence. Only hate and discontent. Libel. And would you all like to know why you’ve been subjected to this farce? Why my client has been forced to deal with all this? Because it was Mister Matiaba here who, when acting as chief aide to Chairman Warbak, removed then-Sergeant Miller from active duty in the Army and put him into public service, into the kitchens.”

Miller’s head shot up and he stared, slack-jawed, at the lawyer.

What is this? And just when I thought this couldn’t get any worse!

“It’s true, ladies and gentlemen. Miller blames my client for what he sees as his humiliation, a change of assignment that General Miller here has never been able to forgive or forget.”

“General Miller? Is this true?” Monroe asked.

“I swear,” Miller said, sounding tired, “I had no idea.”

“Of course you didn’t.” Libis smirked and plucked a stack of documents off the table and began passing them out to the council. “What you are looking at are copies of the official Republic document recommending Sgt. Miller for re-assignment. Please note the name of the document’s author.”

“Chief Aide Matiaba…” Hincit read aloud.

“I think that after hearing my client’s closing statements, we are done here,” Libis concluded.

After an excruciating minute, Matiaba stood, straightened out his suit jacket and addressed the room.

“Good people of the council. While I am clearly not guilty of the crimes which I have been accused of, I am guilty. Guilty of looking the other way for too long. Guilty of not trying harder to contact the Resistance when I could have, should have. Guilty of putting my own life before the lives of those who suffered under Chairman Warbak. Guilty of cowardice.”

The room was as still as a graveyard. Everyone, even Elena, To-Kan, and Candice, watched and listened in rapt attention.

These punks are good, Miller thought to himself, knowing he had lost. Matiaba would walk.

“I know there is no way for me to redeem myself for these crimes, no way to take back the loss of innocent life that Warbak’s regime caused. But there is a way I can try if you will allow it.”

“We are listening,” Monroe said, gesturing for Matiaba to go