Chapter Two
Galen Hosta, one of twelve High Judges posted to the imperial colony on Earth, returned to his office and poured himself a large measure of coffee from the pot and sipped on it. He’d acquired a taste for the human drink not long after he’d arrived on Earth a year ago. It wasn’t to everyone’s taste, but Galen believed he should try out a few of the Earthlings’ habits.
He was the youngest judge at the colony and had risen to the rank through sheer determination. One of his fellow judges had joked that Galen had a rocket tied to his back, propelling upward at a phenomenal rate as he overtook the older judges on the imperial outpost circuit. It wasn’t unprecedented, just unusual. As a member of the elite warrior classes, Galen had the backing of the imperial family. So when the opportunity for the Earth posting has arisen, he’d bent a few ears to get his name to the top of the list.
Earth intrigued him. More specifically humans. He’d read the reports about Marco, the governor of the penal colony Tagra, who’d claimed a human girl, made her his prisoner, and brought her back to Earth as his bride. A remarkable achievement, and more remarkable was the Empire’s response; humans were no longer the enemy. Instead, they were potential breeding partners. If the Vendu offered the humans non-military technologies, especially the environmental ones, then the Earthlings were willing to consider mating with the Vendu. The shift in diplomacy had led to the establishment of a cultural exchange program for students and the hope for an improved relationship between the Vendu and their conquered host planet. There was plenty of bitterness to resolve.
Galen swallowed another mouthful of coffee; the taste was a bitterness he could tolerate. Sitting behind his desk, he opened the file for the next court case and immediately closed it again. He couldn’t stop thinking about the girl. The human who had knelt before his bench and wept. Why was it bothering him so much? If she were Vendu, would he be thinking about her?
She was a beautiful creature with flowing blonde hair and blue eyes. A lithe, almost athletic figure, yet still generous about the hips and bosom. She had maintained a suitable pose of contriteness during the proceedings, bravely taking the collective guilt of the others, until the sentencing. Anger had flashed briefly on her face, then horror and obvious fear. She shouldn’t have looked at him. Perhaps if he hadn’t seen her eyes he might not be distracted.
Tears. Fucking big tears. She really was distressed by the punishment. Not the whipping it would seem but the public humiliation. He imagined her now, in the detention cell of the court’s discipline unit, being stripped and prepared. Her pale skin, unmarked by tattoos, poked and prodded and her malleable, well-oiled ass cheeks in the grip of the medic as he assessed their robustness. She would need much tempering—firm-handed spankings—to ready her for the whip. It could take several weeks before the punishment was complete. Weeks of being ogled by Vendu guards. He understood her fears. The reason for the tears.
He arched his stiff back and tried yet again to forget her. What’s done is done, his father would say. She had led her new friends astray knowing that the Vendu’s system of justice was harsh and unyielding. It should have been drummed into her before she arrived. If the exchange program witnessed her whipping on the global broadcast channel, they would demand her resignation. The channel was a publicity avenue designed to educate humans in the ways of the Vendu, including their legal system.
Foolish girl!
He slammed the cup on his desk. She’d infected him. Somehow altered his perception of human femininity from one of disinterest to undeniable lust. So quickly. So easily.
Should he seek a way to alleviate her vilification? Was there an alternative to a public whipping? As a judge or imperial warrior, he couldn’t show leniency. Some other kind of suitable punishment was needed, something that would lessen her fears, but not the need for discipline.
He summoned his clerk, Adris.
Adris was ancient in appearance, wrinkled and slightly stooped, but what he lacked in physical strength, he made up for in legal knowledge.
“Adris,” Galen began as the clerk closed the door behind him. “I’m considering commuting Zara Webb’s sentence.”
The diminutive man frowned. “Pardon her? The Empire would not look favorably on such a suggestion. She has no diplomatic immunity.”
“Yes, I realize that. In any case only the imperial governor of this colony can commute a sentence. She needs to be disciplined. I wish to alter the nature of the punishment.”
Adris’s frown changed to a look of confusion. “Alter, sir?”
“I’m correct in thinking that for Earthlings public humiliation is abhorrent?”
“I believe so. But she committed her crimes in public, therefore, she should suffer retribution in public. It is
our way.”
Galen stared up at the ceiling. If only the little human hadn’t looked at him. “I’m not considering lessening the humiliation, merely altering its nature.”
“I must point out she bears the guilt of four others. She must be punished fittingly.” Adris was a stickler for rules. A loyal Vendu. Was Galen betraying his kind with his idea?
“Are ordeals acceptable punishments on colonies or are they forbidden beyond the home world?”
Adris’s eyebrows rose high into the wrinkled furrows of his forehead. “Ordeals?” He paused to think. “I’m not aware of any restrictions. They are ancient forms of punishments but they have not been removed from the statutes. Were you thinking of a particular one, sir?”
Galen smiled. “Yes. The Ordeal of Astra.”
“Astra?” Adris scratched his chin. “Will Zara Webb have a choice? Will she have the option to stay with her original sentence?”
“I will give her the choice. However, the fact is I have already chosen her. I must claim her.” Galen had made a major confession to his clerk; he wasn’t simply punishing the girl, he was taking her.
“I see, sir.” Adris wasn’t a fool. His lips twitched, keen to comment, but the old man was too respectful to pass judgement on the wisdom of the choice.
“You disapprove?” Galen asked.
“She is a human, sir. An alien. It might be beyond her abilities.”