“What sort of price?” asked Jedburgh, before Tollin could object.
“I’m not going into anyone else’s court rooms, and needing to set them up for truth every time. I’m not travelling the Imperium like a carnival show. If this is a court of last appeal, I want it in a permanent place, so I can set it up once, and never need to bother about it again.”
“We’ll find…”
“No, you won’t. I want that.”
I pointed upwards, and watched them both look up.
“You want a glass roof?” asked Tollin.
“No, I want that view, exactly.”
“But there are only a handful of that exact views available, and most of them are being negotiated to be sold. Not to mention they belong to Jon Hunter, not the Imperium, and are the most expensive bit of real estate anywhere in the Imperium.”
“I’m not concerned about the expense. I want a court room where the accused and the accuser feel like they’re being judged by the cosmos itself. And only that view will do.”
“But they’re all penthouses which occupy the entire top floor of a space scraper.”
“I know. Here’s how it’s going to work. I’m going to buy the best one still available, and the Imperium is going to pay for the price of the floor space to build a courtroom with all the normal surroundings. The entire floor will belong to me, and I’ll build the court how I want it.”
Jedburgh looked neutral, but Tollin was looking stressed again.
“The rest of the space will be set up however I decide to, but will probably be a formal entertainment venue, including luxury living space. Not as grand as this ballroom perhaps, but at least a scaled down version of it. Somewhere where Serena and I can live rather than in military quarters, when we’re not on ship, or on my island, and where we can entertain everyone in my command, or everyone involved in the court.”
“That’s rather more than the Imperium was prepared to spend.”
“You’re asking rather more than I’m wanting to do.”
Jedburgh chuckled, and Tollin shot him a nasty look. I turned to the admiral.
“You don’t get out of it free either, Admiral.”
“Nothing to do with me, other than making you available one day a month.”
“On the contrary. I’m not going to do what Thorn did, and be an absolute bench judge. I’m going to want a jury, and the jury I want are my squadron captains. So when you call me to civilian service, you’ll be taking my whole squadron off the line.” He flinched, and I turned back to Tollin. “And I’m going to demand the court sits without any media review at all. I don’t even want it announced I’m doing any judge work. It’ll get out of course, but I expect Amy Adams to kill anything solid. I will not be news every time I open my mouth. Last review means last review. They can report the results of the final verdict as a last appeal failed or succeeded, but the how and why remains behind closed doors.”
Jedburgh swallowed visibly, and then went glazed over for a few moments.
“The Imperator agrees. He’ll make the Imperium pay their way for a permanent courtroom, and might even tell the station AI not to gouge you on the price. He’ll also make sure the sessions are closed, and downplayed.”
“If the Imperium is paying part of this,” said Tollin, “it better be rock bottom price. Although why we need to in effect pay a bribe to get what we decreed, I don’t understand.”
“It’s very easy, David,” I said, smiling at him. “If you don’t, I’ll simply be unavailable on the days you want me. I can make it so no-one can contact me, or know where I am. You want this, you pay to do it right.”
“Alright!”
He stalked off, not looking happy, knowing I could do what I said, and presumably needing to keep politicians happy across the Imperium. He needed his stress levels attended to again. I wouldn’t do his job for anything. Jedburgh gave me a speculative look.
“You wouldn’t actually do that, would you?”
“For the politicians and civilians pushing this behind the scenes, damned right I would. But as far as you’re concerned, sir, I’d merely be off the grid checking out a distress call. And we know how those tend to go.”
He chuckled again.
“I can see we need to not promote you any further, Commander. Otherwise you’ll be cutting your own orders to spite civilians.”
It wasn’t certain from his face if that was a joke or not. I suggested he get Doc Carter to check Tollin’s blood pressure, and he too walked off without saying anything more.
I stood there alone for a few moments, and it was Serena who found me, taking my arm quite possessively. But my eyes were on a woman approaching, who wasn’t quite Jane. She had an AI insignia on the shoulders of her business suit.
“Ah, Bud. I’m Janice, and I’ll be your real estate agent this evening.”
Her voice wasn’t Jane’s either, but I knew the name as one of Jane’s original clones, and more of a sister than a daughter. The voice had a lot of laughter in it. Serena’s eyebrows disappeared into her hairline.
“I can show you three of the remaining penthouses, all identical.”
Serena’s mouth dropped open.
“Do they have the floor below free as well?”
Which was something I hadn't considered.
“No. While I’m building accommodation, I want to provide it for a few other people.”
“How many?”
“Fifteen. Give or take.”
“How big will each apartment be?”
“I’m thinking more along the lines of family of six sized residences.”
“You’ll need three levels for that. Additional to the penthouse.”
A ping came in with a set of numbers. I did some rough math.
“You’re going to make David Tollin a very unhappy man, with price per square meter.”
She grinned.
“Everything is negotiable. Are we in the right ball park for you to be able to purchase this kind of real estate?”
“We are.”
“Then let’s haggle.”
Bud will return
in
Commander Spacemage.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to –Jeff- for the design of the Relentless dreadnaught, on which Judge is based, and Kalen O’Donnell for the mage ring.
Also thanks to Egosoft for the cover background, from their game X4: Foundations.
A Message to my Readers
As always, this was a lot of fun to write.
Being the first book in the second trilogy of the series, lots of things came up during the writing for the next two books. You can probably guess their titles.
Lots to come, so please stay with me.
If you’ve enjoyed this book, I hope you will take the time to leave a review on the Amazon site. All reviews are greatly appreciated, as they help assist purchasing decisions by other readers.
Sales and reviews help me to focus on my next challenge. I'm a full time novel writer and as such, sales and KU reads pay my bills, and my ability to continue writing is dependent on sales of this series, and what comes after.
As well as individual book reviews, I hope you will visit the Amazon series page, and leave a series review. The series page can be accessed from any book page.
I thank you for your support, and hope you will continue to read my next book.
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Read the series in this order
The Hunter Legacy Timeline
Approx. 3100 years before Hero to the End
Yesterday's Spacemage (chapter one)
Tomorrow's Spacemage
646 years before Hero to the End
The Long Road to Gaia
102 years before Hero to the End
One Last Battle (a short story)
82 years before Hero to the End
Yesterday's Spacemage
Today's Spacemage
Tomorrow's Spacemage
2 Years before Hero to the End
Hero at Large
Hunted Hero Hunting
Send in the Hero
Make or Break the Hero
Hail the Hero
Burnside's Killer
Hire a Hero
Jane's Christmas
Hero to the Rescue
Hero at the Gates
The Long Road to Gaia
1 Year before Hero to the End
Home is Where the Hero Is
Hero in Darkness
Hero to the End
Here be a time line shift.
Immediately after Hero to the End (Gaia galaxy)
Admiral of Gaia
Kingdom of Hunter's Run
Snark's Quest
Destiny Stone
Talisman of Tomorrow
Leader of Sector Ten
Immediately after Hero to the End (Earth galaxy)
Crossover
Hunter's Terminus
Reaper's Crossroad
Blind into the Breach
Legend of Dreamwalker
Imperium Knight Chaos Rising
Imperator
Midshipman Spacemage (Imperium Spacemage 1)
Ensign Spacemage (Imperium Spacemage 2)
Rogue Unit
Lieutenant Spacemage (Imperium Spacemage 3)
Lieutenant Commander Spacemage (Imperium Spacemage 4)
Commander Spacemage (Imperium Spacemage 5) *Forthcoming*
Fleet Captain Spacemage (Imperium Spacemage 6) *Forthcoming*
The Hunter Legacy Universe Series in the order written:
The Hunter Legacy
A.I. Destiny
The Spacemage Chronicle
The Hunter Imperium
Imperium Spacemage