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Hard Justice

From BattleIntelligence
Hard Justice
Short story by Christoffer M. Trossen
Publication
Published2013
Published inHistorical: Liberation of Terra Volume 2
PublisherCatalyst Game Labs
Pages4
Chronology
EraStar League era
Timeline14 February 2777 — 29 September 2779

{{#set:Era=Star League era}}{{#set:Start date=14 February 2777}}{{#set:End date=29 September 2779}}

Hard Justice is a short story by Christoffer M. Trossen that was first published as introductory fiction for Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 2.

Plot Summary

As General Kerensky's forces fight across Terra at the climax of the Amaris Civil War, people on both sides of the fighting deal with the imminent end of the conflict. A Greenhaven Gestapo member is caught by an SLDF trooper in Rome before he is turned over to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for immediate summary execution. In London, a banker wistfully reflects on the now lost trillions of credits given to the "Jolly Fat Man", opting to join the fall of the Hegemony and Star League's economies by leaping from an office building. At Geneva two seemingly low ranked members of the Amaris defenders discuss the closing noose around their position while the big wigs escaped, before the head of the Krypteia Propaganda quietly returns to destroying evidence of his identity.

At Moscow Megan Cole scolds her niece for getting too close to the fighting between the SLDF and Amaris defenders, the young Jess countering that she and "Kolya" wanted to see the SLDF and the General up close. Putting her niece to bed, Megan reflects on her earlier amazement when she realized the identity of Kolya and the combination of the equally explosive real identity of Jess, torn between revealing the secret to the returned General Kerensky and the pain of giving up the child she has raised like own her daughter.

The primary focus of the narrative however is Elaine Young, a young secretary stationed at the Amaris Imperial Palace on 29 September 2779. Reduced to living in an underground bunker beneath the palace and struggling to sleep as artillery fire grows ever closer, she is abruptly awakened by a guard and directed to meet with commander of the Star Palace to perform an unenviable task - inform Emperor Amaris of General Kerensky's demand to surrender in person. Growing more and more frightened with evidence of the Emperor's insanity and temper, Young meets Amaris who know that Abaddon has arrived. Sometimes lucid, other times constantly communing with the deceased Richard Cameron, Amaris requests her assistance to meet the General.

Within his Orion in the courtyard, General Kerensky watches as Elaine helps the frail Amaris to the stairs before fleeing back inside, reflecting how easy it would to enact summary justice on the man who had betrayed and inflicted such horrors on so many, but instead ordering that he being taken into custody.

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