Reading Time: 102 Minutes
Title: Finding Justice
Series: Priceless
Series Order: 6
Author: SASundance
Fandom: NCIS, Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, Criminal Minds; JAG
Genre: Crime Drama, Crossover, Family, Kid!fic, Science Fiction
Relationship(s): Gen, background pairings
Content Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Rape/Non-con/Dub-con, Slavery, Torture, Violence – Graphic, Violence – Domestic and/or Against Children , Violence – graphic, offscreen torture, discussions of past and offscreen rape/non-con, issues around the loss of free will, loss of bodily autonomy, mind control, past murder of OC character, discussions of miscarriage and abortion, discussions of slavery and implications of mind control, non-consensual drug use, discussion of past domestic violence, discussion of canon vaccination and future vaccination programs, discussion of past canon unethical medical experimentation, character bashing (Elizabeth Weir and Ziva David). Not friendly to: McKay, Gibbs, Keller, McGee, Vance. (Note: slavery, mind control, autonomy issues are related to canon events)
Word Count: 108,153
Summary: The Interstellar Tribunal begins hearing the first of the two trials of Lucius Lavin for being an accessory to Col Sheppard’s abduction before he must finally answer to the Tribunal for his actions, seizing control of Atlantis and the sexual assault and rape of five Lanteans, six years ago. The survivors will get a chance to confront Lucius and tell their stories to the court, hopeful of finally seeing justice done and putting their demons to rest. Halling helps to outmanoeuvre the Winyan Elder Council, aided and abetted by Ishta, and the Tribunal agrees to hear an appeal to overturn the conviction of Winyan survivors. Meanwhile, Tony and his alter-ego, Thomas Magnum, track down the attacker of Leoosh Benn, who is still fighting for his life, uncovering even darker motives that will rock the villagers.
Artist: Angelicinsanity
Chapter 6
The Venerabiles Sodales re-entered the chambers, taking their seats behind the dais in solemnity. Silence immediately preceded the resumption of the hearing, even Lucius Lavin who had displayed, petulance, anger, pouting and self-pity among other emotions during the hearing, was finally silent. Indeed, for the first time during his trial, he looked scared, genuinely worried about the outcome. Not that it was a great shock to the select number of people present in the closed court. The cross-examination of Lavin by the superbly competent Aaron Hotchner had made it plain, exactly how much of a snivelling coward Lucius Lavin was when he wasn’t the one manipulating other people with his special herb or a piece of Ancient technology.
Jonas Quinn, who was chair of the Tribunal because of his extraordinary ability to absorb the written text and that he’d practically memorised the Ancients’ code of law that the Tribunal was currently operating under, glanced around. He noted that both Jack O’Neill and John Sheppard were present, in addition to the JAG Admiral A.J. Chegwidden but only one member of Colonel Sheppard’s team was present, a mountain of a man with long curly hair and an impressive physique. Jonas knew that this man, while a member of Sheppard’s team, was a native of Pegasus called Ronon Dex, who’d been with his team leader during the aftermath of his recovery.
Finally, the Langaran cleared his throat before he began to speak. “If Paracletus Hano and the Accusatus Lucius Lavin would please stand, we the Members of this Tribunal have reached a decision based on the evidence we have listened to over the last several days. It is our finding that the Accusatus Lucius Lavin is guilty in the conspiracy to abduct Colonel John Sheppard and complicit in the torture and abuse he endured as a result of his abduction on the Planet Belkin and his unlawful incarceration on Balara.”
Seeing that Lucius was about to speak, Jonas got in first. “I have not finished, Accusatus Lavin, You had your chance to present your case and I must say that it was the most damning of evidence. You exhibited no real remorse for the crimes you’d committed, even if you had been coerced. You did not attempt to include Colonel Sheppard in your escape, even though you had procured a quantity of your special herb that would have made a rescue attempt entirely feasible. And lastly, even following your successful escape from Porteus Kolya and his militia, you admitted that you did not attempt to inform anyone of Colonel Sheppard’s location, especially his own people who were desperately searching for the Colonel, trying to find what had happened to him.”
Lavin was looking deeply shaken, he was pale and sweaty. Surely he had to understand that this was almost inevitable. Did the repugnant specimen not understand just how abhorrent his actions truly were?
“Had you informed the Lanteans of Colonel Sheppard’s fate, the charges against you would have been far less serious and I still cannot understand why you chose to remain silent.”
Kalan started speaking. “It is the view of this Tribunal that we should hold off on sentencing you since you are also charged with crimes you are alleged to have committed five years ago when you unlawfully invaded the City of the Ancients known as Atlantis. Therefore, unless there are objections to our plan, we propose that the tribunal will pause the sentencing component of this hearing and resume proceedings following the second hearing of the charges you are accused of.”
Persequor Hotchner stood up to address the tribunal. “Venerabiles Sodales of the Tribunal, if it pleases this hearing, I would like to speak to this proposal.”
Ishta nodded. “Speak, Persequor Hotchner. What would you have us know?”
“Thank you. I wish to inform the Tribunal that Colonel John Sheppard requests to be permitted to present an Agonium Statement. While his doctors ruled out his readiness to testify regarding the details of his torture and sexual abuse during his incarceration in the Mount Zeniche compound, they have given their blessing to him giving a statement outlining the effects that he has faced and what he will face in the future. They feel giving an Agonium statement will help facilitate his very complex recovery from his trauma.”
The Tribunal members spoke in hushed tones, conferring over the request. Ishtar looked at her fellow members and asked, “ Do we know what this Agonium Statement is that Persequor Hotchner refers to?”
Quinn nodded. “In the Ancient’s code of law, an Agonium (a victim) has the right to address the tribunal members to ensure that they are fully cognizant of how the Agonium’s life has been affected by the crime and they may offer their thoughts on sentencing options.”
Kalan nodded. “That seems eminently fair to me.”
Ishtar agreed. “The Jaffar have something similar, although the victim decides the fate of the one adjudged to have committed the crime,” she told the other members. “I think it is a reasonable request and if it is permitted in the Ancients code of law, then I say we should allow it.”
Jonas was also in full agreement. “I think if it is going to assist John Sheppard in his recovery, it is a worthwhile undertaking. Especially if the Ancient’s law has already permitted its inclusion.”
Turning back to the hearing, Jonas told the persequor, “We, the Members of this tribunal have discussed your request and agree to Colonel John Sheppard making his Agonium Statement before this court. However, I request that due to my concerns regarding the Agonium’s well-being, his counsellor, Dr O’Shea be present when he delivers his statement.”
Hotchner nodded. “Agreed, Most Venerable Member Quinn. I will arrange for Dr O’Shea to be present when Colonel Sheppard presents it,” he said appreciatively.
“Right, well unless there is any more business that needs to be conducted, I propose that the Tribunal adjourns for the rest of today and tomorrow. Our Winyan friends, Paracletus Hano and Magistrate Drell have informed me that they have urgent matters to attend to on Winya that require their presence.”
Jonas looked around the chamber and saw that no one was raising any objections and he nodded. “This hearing is adjourned, and it will conclude after we hear testimony in the case against Accusatus Lucius Lavin. The charges are that you unlawfully seized control of the City of Atlantis by drugging its inhabitants, accessing classified information and military secrets, plus one count of sexual assault and four counts of multiple rapes, which the prosecution took place six years ago.”
~o0o~
After the tribunal adjourned after finding Lucius Lavin guilty of all charges in the abduction of Colonel Sheppard, but decided to delay proceeding to sentencing, everyone took the rest of the day off to just relax. Tony was of course thrilled by the verdict, although somewhat concerned by Sheppard’s decision to give a victim statement. He was rather relieved that it had been temporarily put on hold since he’d seen how a guilty verdict had knocked the second in command around not all that long ago. Having contributed to the colonel’s rescue, he felt a degree of investment, watching him gradually get back on his feet, physically, emotionally, and psychologically. Tony was just glad that Hotch and Aoife had persuaded him to make a victim impact statement rather than testify as to what he’d gone through.
A lot of the testimony about Lavin and his overthrow of Atlantis was going to hinge on Sheppard’s testimony about what happened since everyone else had been drugged by his mind-control potion. He was grateful that Jonas, Kalan and Ishta didn’t hold the erroneous view that because Lavin or Kolya was consuming the compound, it didn’t mean that the rest of the population wasn’t being drugged. Tony was fairly sure that if the case was held back on Earth, there would be a whole bunch of misogynist males who’d argue that Lavin’s potion was analogous to women wearing perfume to attract a male or a guy putting on cologne to make himself more attractive – which was utterly idiotic.
Luckily, Hano didn’t think to trot out that crappy excuse and the tribunal members also didn’t trivialise it. Perhaps because as leaders of their people, they could see only too well the dangers it posed, should anyone gain control of it and use it to control their people. Now with the hearing complete, Tony was expecting Sheppard to beat a path to his door asap and sure enough, there was a knock on his office door. He used the surveillance camera in the hallway to check who it was. Since no one had requested a meeting, Tony was cautious – knowing that they had Trust spies, he wasn’t going to be casual with his own safety. Seeing it was a distraught Colonel Sheppard, he opened the door and let him in.
As John entered, Tony wondered if his angst was due to him not delivering his statement immediately. He’d surely been psyching himself up to opening up like that and to find that it was put on hold must be hard on him. Fetching him a cold drink from his office fridge, he sat down and waited.
“John took a long gulp of the bottled water before gazing at him fiercely. “Thar Son of a Bitch raped Dr Girard! Why didn’t you tell me? I had a right to know,” he shouted at him angrily.
“No John, you didn’t.”
“I’m the CO on Atlantis,!”
“You are on medical leave. Until you are cleared for duty, you have no more right to know than Monique does regarding what happened to you during your imprisonment and torture. She doesn’t want everyone to know and that is her right and I’ll defend it to the utmost of my capabilities, as I have done for you and will continue to do, “ Tony told him. “This is not some salacious gossip for Lanteans to titillate themselves with, this is a heinous crime and if the victims choose to not announce it all and sundry that is absolutely one hundred percent their right,” Tony told him with steel in his voice and an implacable air.
Shepperd deflated like a pricked balloon. “I’m sorry, your right,” he conceded. “It’s just too awful to wrap my head around,” he admitted. “I can’t believe I never knew. The Tribunal just said he’s being tried on five counts of rape and a sexual assault charge. Who else besides Dr Girard did Lucius rape using that fucking drug?”
“To be accurate, the charges were four counts of multiple rapes because all of his victims ended up having multiple non-consensual sex initiated by him. He is a sexual predator, John,” Tony told him gently, “But then, you already knew that after what he told you in the Brig. Apart from his so-called six wives on Winya who were nothing less than sex slaves, he probably used his special herb to force women on other planets to give him sex too. There could be hundreds of victims,” Tony said soberly.
Looking shattered, Sheppard said, “And we sent him back to Winya and they exiled him. Granted he didn’t have the herb any more, but he found the Ancient personal Shield device and made people think he was some sort of superhero. He bragged to us about women throwing themselves on him and he said it was better because they weren’t being drugged into sleeping with him.”
Tony felt ill. “Maybe they weren’t drugged but he was still manipulating them.”
“Ronon and Teyla didn’t want to take him back to Winya. They thought he was a security risk, and we should execute him.”
“I know, they told me when I first started investigating the case. I’m not normally one to agree with executing people but in this case, I fear that they might have been right.”
“Are all of the victims going to testify against Lavin like Monique?”
“No, one of the victims is dead but the other three are determined to give evidence and the young military officer who Lavin forced to give him a blowjob to humiliate him has agreed to testify, so long as we ensure his identity remains a secret.”
Sheppard was stunned, “I had no idea that Lavin was bi.”
Tony shook his head. “I don’t think he is. Predatory rape is primarily about control over his victims. The people who rejected him are the ones he targeted once they were drugged and unable to resist his dubious charms. He felt humiliated and wanted to gain power over them and humiliate them too. Granted that all of the women he targeted were young and very beautiful but then they also were the most likely ones to reject his ham-fisted overtures because he was so predatorial.
He showed the colonel a picture of Filiya. “This is his real wife, who he abandoned, leaving her to bring up their two children. She is of similar age to him and is no supermodel but hey, he was always batting way out of his league when he made his clumsy passes at females.”
“And the male officer?”
I think he targeted the young male officer because he disparaged him when Monique and the other women turned him down so emphatically. I’d say it was damned fortunate for a lot of people that he isn’t bi. From what I saw on the security video, Carson, Rodney and even Ronon would have let him fuck them if he’d given any indication that he wanted it.”
John thought about what Tony said and scowled. “How could I have missed that? He was all over Teyla back on Winya and then he had Dr Weir eating out of his hand and giggling like a schoolgirl. Was Elizabeth one of his victims? You said one of them was dead.”
“No as far as we can determine, Dr Weir was not one of his victims. Lucius admitted to me that although she WAS attractive, he liked his victims younger than Weir – she was too close in age to his wife, Filiya. Plus, we know that Dr Weir isn’t technically dead although I’m not sure how you’d describe her state – frozen popsicle isn’t a typical category on the scale of alive versus dead,” he said rather callously because he didn’t have a lot of time for her. “Anyway, it is a young and extremely beautiful scientist who is dead,” Tony finished up, not wanting to get into the whole Elizabeth Weir debacle with Sheppard.
The colonel didn’t need to be burdened with the guilt over the plot to use Lavin’s drug to rule the universe. Just finding out about Lavin’s predatory sexual antics on Atlantis was more than enough blame for him to shoulder at this point in his recovery. It was unfortunate that John had found out about Monique that way, but it was taken out of his hands.
After he’d finally managed to calm John down and send him down for a debrief session with Aoife, Dave Rossi turned up so they could brainstorm together how to handle Hano and Drell when they briefed them tomorrow morning. On the agenda was the attack on Leoosh Benn by Kadin Imo, plus the prostitution racket that they suspected Imo and his thugs had been running by threatening Ota Benn and Neese Luta.
In the end, after a much-spirited debate, they decided to ask Dr Biro and Dr Zelenka to help with their presentation of their case. Barb was the one who’d collected the evidence from Leoosh Benn when he’d first been brought to Atlantis and was also a trained pathologist, so she had a pretty good handle on trace evidence, including DNA, fingerprints, and blood. Radek was certainly no geneticist and they’d tossed up about whether to get Dr Beckett to assist since he specialised in genetic research, although there were some other geneticists on the base, in the end, they’d had thought better of it.
The Winyans had only the most basic understanding of DNA and fingerprints and a subject matter expert would almost certainly have trouble dumbing down the subject enough for Magistrate Drell and Tulee Hano to be able to understand the basics. They needed to understand enough to grasp how Agent Alex and his team discovered it was Kadin Imo who attacked and almost killed an eight-year-old boy.
Tony instantly flashed back to Gibbs, the utter computer Luddite and Tim McGee the team’s computer guru, who despite a strong streak of terror at a fuming team leader when he tried to explain complicated concepts, couldn’t help himself. He’d constantly slip back into computer jargon, assume understanding on the part of Gibbs that simply didn’t exist or leave out steps because he’d forgotten they existed since they’d become automatic. However, to a neophyte like Gibbs, they were critical in being able to understand complicated concepts or operations. McGee would get carried away and also found it hard to simplify things – partly he suspected because Tim felt that Gibbs truly didn’t appreciate just how brilliant he was, and dumbing stuff down felt like he helping his team leader to underestimate his genius. And the former NCIS agent also suspected that he secretly enjoyed making his team leader feel like an ignoramus.
Zelenka wasn’t an expert in genetics, but he possessed a more than adequate level of understanding of the topic – indeed many scientific topics. He’d be able to provide a simple overview of DNA to give the Winyans the information necessary to make sense of what the investigation uncovered. He was well accustomed to taking extremely complex topics such as Ancient tech or physics and dumbing them down so that base commanders without scientific pedigrees were able to make operational decisions. Tony had had the chance to compare Radek to Rodney McKay in doing so and he was way more adept than the CSO would ever be. Perhaps it was because he didn’t perceive himself to be the smartest man in three galaxies.
So, the decision was made to ask Radek and Barb to assist them in presenting the evidence against Kadin Imo to the two Winyans tomorrow, they asked the two scientists to meet with them. Dr Biro had requested they meet after dinner at 1900, knowing that Tony and Radek both ate dinner early due to having small children, as she explained she was still finishing up with some patients in the infirmary. Radek suggested that Miko could watch Belle while they met, and Tony agreed with the plan. He knew it wouldn’t take that long to ask the pair for their assistance and figure out the best demonstration to ram the information home. Rossi shrugged and said he had no other plans, so it was fine by him.
Tony replied via comms, “Okay, we’ll see everyone at 1900 and for the benefit of Thomas Magnum, that’s 7 o’clock,” he teased, as Barb and Radek chuckled over the comms.
Rossi mock scowled, “I’ll have you know I was a jarhead back in the day.”
Radek swore in his Czechoslovakian tongue before switching to English. “Why would someone want to put his head in a jar, surely it would be awkward if it got stuck,” he asked, before signing off as Barb laughed evilly before signing off too.
At that point, Tony decided to finish up for the day and go and collect Belle from her tap-dancing class, due to end in approximately twenty minutes. He’d head home to spend time with his kid, but first, he was going to swing by the Infirmary which was in this tower several levels away and check on Vala and Leoosh. Dave decided he had nothing pressing to attend to and accompanied him. He hadn’t missed the flirty interactions between Dave and Vala, Garcia had warned him that Rossi was quite the lady’s man, but the guy had Italian heritage after all – it was in the DNA. And aside from getting his flirt on, he knew that the profiler was equally concerned about Leoosh too.
~o0o~
The three Lanteans (plus the one temporary one) met with Woden Drell and Tulee Hano the next morning at 0800. Initially, they gathered in Radek’s lab where he and Dr Biro repeated a similar if slightly more complicated explanation about DNA to the one Tony had given yesterday at the tribunal hearing. So far, the two men seemed to be handling the more detailed information. Barb had explained how DNA was found in cells that inhabited the human body and that meant that a forensic scientist could detect DNA in various ways. She went on to list ways they could detect a person’s DNA such as faeces, blood, sweat, mucus, hair, skin cells and semen in individuals who were alive and how it was used to investigate death in corpses, via extraction of organs, teeth, bones, and hair.
Radek also pointed out that it wasn’t just humans who had DNA, animals and even plants and trees contained DNA too. Even though they had already had their DNA collected via cheek swabs during the investigation, Zelenka asked Dr Biro to draw blood from Rossi who’d volunteered after learning last night that Tony had a phobia of needles caused by medical treatment to save his life. Of course, everyone had assumed that he’d had some type of chemo treatment and Tony hadn’t disabused them of their assumption, but he’d volunteered to be the donor when Barb took a hair sample.
Then Radek pulled up the samples of everyone’s DNA which to the uninitiated looked to be the same. “These are the DNA profiles of Thomas Magnum and Alex Paddington which were collected on Winya several days ago when they collected Winyan cheek swabs. And these two DNA profiles belong to Dr Biro and me, which were collected last night by Agent Paddington and Agent Thomas Paddington and were then analysed by the forensic technicians last night.”
Zelenka then started laying the four Lantean profiles on the computer laptop which then transmitted them to a large screen plasma so that they were greatly magnified. The Winyans then could easily see the differences and began to compare the individual DNAs when Zelenka overlaid them to show how none of them matched any other individual’s DNA. Next, they took the DNA of the three Lanteans and Rossi’s profiles one by one and showed how each person’s DNA could be matched with the DNA that was stored on file.
Tony explained, “If any of the Lanteans should die and their remains are too damaged to be identified by their friends or family, say due to being too badly burnt or beaten, by having their DNA already on file, we can use the DNA and other markers such as blood types or fingerprints to help to identify who died. That way, the families know what happened to their loved ones and they can still give them a proper burial. So, anyone coming to Atlantis must have a DNA test conducted and their profile stored in our records,” he explained, trying to make the explanation as relatable as possible.
Drell nodded. “That sounds like a prudent and caring thing to do.”
Rossi said, “When we use DNA or fingerprints to investigate crimes for that matter, we do things a little differently. Sometimes we get lucky, and people will consent to us having their DNA taken for comparison. Most people are happy to help and take the attitude that innocent people have nothing to hide.”
Both of the Winyan men were nodding at Thomas Magnum’s statement.
“Then after we analyse the results, we compare them to the samples we took at the scene of the crime. If it is just a simple burglary we would try to collect DNA samples from the door handles, surfaces, or objects.” Rossi paused, seeing Tulee was frowning.
He queried, “What is a burglary, Thomas Magnum?”
Rossi looked relieved. “My apologies. It means that someone takes things from someone else that do not belong to them,” he explained as the Winyan’s frown cleared away.
“Ah yes, we sometimes have cases of stealing in Winya. Unless the culprit confesses, or someone sees them committing the crime, it can be very difficult to solve. It is a pity that we cannot do this DNA testing,” Drell lamented before asking. “And what do you do at a crime scene where someone has been beaten like Leoosh Benn was?”
Tony looked at Barb before beginning. “First, we take samples from the victim of the beating and Dr Biro will explain what she did when Leoosh came into the Atlantis Infirmary the night we found him, when we were leaving Winya after signing the Enchuri contract. I’m sure you remember that I and some of my team remained behind to gather evidence and to try to find witnesses who may have seen something?”
Drell nodded grimly. “I remember well, Agent Paddington.”
“I found the rock that I believed had been used to cave Leoosh’s head in, fracturing his skull and hurting his brain so he cannot speak at this time. I carefully preserved the evidence that might have been on it to take back to the lab for our specialists to see if there was DNA from sweat or skin cells on it. I was also hoping that there might be fingerprints on the rock because there was a lot of blood on it. The blood can act like fingerprint powder and leave prints on surfaces that aren’t normally receptive to fingerprints, which was the case wuth the rock this time.”
“I looked for other evidence, footprints, handprints, or shoe prints which are not as conclusive as DNA or fingerprints. I searched for clothing that the victim might have been able to tear off the attacker, like fabric or buttons.” Seeing their confusion, he explained Earth fastening on clothes, pointing to Dr Biro’s lab coat. “That is called a button.”
“We looked for rubbish that might have been dropped out of peoples’ pockets and some other pretty nasty stuff. Some people spit or vomit or they might sweat a lot. At one crime scene where a healer was killed, the killer decided to pee, to make a stream,” he tried when they failed to understand the term, and they nodded, indicating they understood.
Rossi interjected incredulously, “You found the killer because they decided to pee at the crime scene. I’ve never heard that one before.”
“I know. How dumb can you be? The victim’s wife goes to all the trouble of making sure she is somewhere else, like at the bank so we wouldn’t blame her and then her identical twin, who killed her husband for her inexplicably decided to take a whiz by the side of the road near his car,” he told Rossi and the equally incredulous Barb and Radek.
The Winyans looked appalled. “Before I came to the Pegasus galaxy I used to investigate a lot of killings,” Tony explained. “Killers can be incredibly stupid at times!”
Tulee looked like he was going to lose his breakfast. “A wife killed her husband?”
“Yep, but a lot more men kill their wives. Anyway, this is getting off-topic. After we found the victim, Leoosh Benn, I collected as much trace material as possible and brought it back to Atlantis to be processed. We did get lucky, the scientists found that the rock I brought back had fingerprints and DNA on it.”
“How do you know that the rock you found was the one that crushed the boy’s skull,” Tulee asked. “Could it not have been used to crush the skull of an animal that someone else was hunting?”
“Two reasons,” Tony said. “One, we identified the blood and some hairs that were on the rock, as belonging to Leoosh Benn by comparing it to the blood we collected in the Infirmary. And second, we have a powerful scanner that can take a picture of his skull depression and match it exactly to the rock that did it.”
Radek started typing commands into his laptop. “The scanner was left here by the Ancestors,” he explained as he brought the scan of Leoosh’s head up on the plasma for them all to see before he also brought up a diagrammatic representation of the rock Tony found. He dextrously manipulated the two images until the rock fitted like a hand in a glove, making it obvious that it was a match.
Tony looked at Dr Biro. “Can you tell us what you found during your examination of Leoosh, Barb?”
She nodded. “When he was brought in, me and a second doctor and a nurse worked on him, examining him. Leoosh was very badly hurt, and he needed immediate treatment, but we first needed to scan him to find out what his injuries were before we knew which injury to treat first – his head injury or his internal thoracic and abdominal injuries.” She smiled grimly and explained, “Thoracic means his chest and abdominal means his middle region, stomach, kidneys, liver etc.
“After the scan when the other doctor, Dr Keller and Dr Bohm and the nurse were scrubbing up, getting ready to operate on Leoosh, I took pictures of his injuries, recording them, in addition to the scan. I collected swabs, scraped the underneath of his fingernails, and took swabs inside his mouth when I found there was blood on his teeth. While he was in surgery I examined his clothes and I found bloodied fingerprints on his leather pants and his waistcoat that we later determined were not his prints, but the blood was his. The mouth swab found blood that did not belong to him, and we have concluded that the lad managed to bite his attacker hard enough to draw blood.”
The two Winyans looked shaken by the overwhelming evidence which had been collected against one of their own.
Magistrate Drell exhaled deeply before venturing to ask, “Do you have a match from all the evidence you collected and the cheek swabs, Agent Paddington?”
“We do, Magistrate Drell.” Tony glanced at the time and realised it was almost 1000. Before I tell you who attacked Leoosh, I suggest that we go and discuss this somewhere where we can get a hot drink or a cold one. Talking is surprisingly thirsty work and we have quite a lot to talk about.”
The Winyans agreed without argument although Dave thought it was probably due to wanting to delay the revelation for as long as possible. When the four Lanteans (well three plus one temporary resident) and the two elders from Winya arrived at the ISBI conference room, Tony busied himself offering tea, coffee, hot chocolate, water or OJ to his guests. Both Winyans requested juice, and Radek requested coffee as did Dave and Barb. Tony settled for tea. Radek moaned in obscene enjoyment as he sipped the coffee made with Tony’s fancy coffee machine. Seeing the Winyans looking askance at Radek’s sighs of obvious enjoyment, Tony fixed each of them half a cup of the brew.
After tasting it, they looked even more bemused by the enjoyment of the three coffee drinkers and Tony laughed at them. Coffee is made from a bean that is grown on our home planet where the Ancestors returned to after leaving Lantea when they decided they couldn’t win the war against the Wraith,” he explained. “It is roasted, then ground and made into a beverage, drunk by millions of people. People like Barb use it to help them stay awake when they work long hours.”
“You are not drinking it?” Tulee observed.
“I do sometimes, but usually I prefer tea.”
Woden told them, “The coffee is very strong, bitter.
Barb said, “Many people use additives such as sweeteners or milk to make it more palatable.”
“I think I might be one of those people, Tulee volunteered as Woden nodded in agreement.
“As do I,” he said.
Tony chuckled. “Coffee is usually an acquired taste,” he said.
Dave chimed in with, “Just like Ando Jeet’s shluk is most definitely an acquired taste to non-Winyans, he said as the pair chuckled evilly
“Good point, Thomas Magnum,” Drell said. “I think I’ll just stick to this juice. What did you call it?
“OJ, short for orange juice, “Tony said. “I keep it here mostly for my daughter, but some people don’t drink tea or coffee, he said. “If you find coffee too bitter, you might like hot chocolate,” he said. “I prefer it to coffee too.”
Radek snorted. “That’s just because you and Belle like it with marshmallows,” he teased as the Winyans looked curious.
“Belle is my daughter.”
“And her mother,” Tulee asked curiously, since they would have noticed him with Tali but that she had no mother.
Tony sighed and said, “Dead.” In a way he rationalised, it was the truth. Ziva was dead to him!
Changing the subject as everyone else looked mighty uncomfortable, he said, “Well I guess we need to talk about who almost succeeded in killing Leoosh Benn,” he said heavily.
Everyone looked suitably serious, and Tony began his preamble. “Mostly, we talked about the forensic side of our jobs, but aside from collecting physical evidence to be examined for clues or DNA and fingerprints, there is another side to our jobs. That is interviewing people, asking questions, and talking to people who may be suspects to hear what they might say and see if we can disprove what they tell us and find inconsistencies in what they say happened. People who tell falsehoods find it hard to lie successfully, and to remember every little lie they tell people. If we can start chipping away at the lies we might get them to confess to the crime.”
“And you think that this can happened in the case of Leoosh Benn,” Drell asked.
Tony paused before he answered, “I think that there is more to the attack than just one man who physically attacked the boy. As investigators, we always ask the question, why did the crime occur? We try to find answers to the question of why someone committed the crime – we call it a motive.”
Hano looked pained, “Have you been able to find out what motivated the attack?”
“I believe so, but unlike with the actual beating of the boy, the motive for why it happened often doesn’t have any physical evidence to explain what caused it. In this case, we need to interview people who may be witnesses but sometime these witnesses won’t talk to us. They may be afraid to speak up, fearing that their lives will be in danger if they tell the truth. They may be related to the guilty person and so they don’t want to get them into trouble,” Tony explained. Or they may also be guilty and afraid that they will also be in trouble and so they remain silent.”
Woden looked ill. “Agent Paddington, are you saying that you think that this is more than just a simple attack on Leoosh?”
Rossi took up the slack. “We believe that the youngster Leoosh Benn saw something unlawful that the man who attacked him didn’t want him to see, so he beat him almost to death, as either a warning not to tell or to stop him talking.”
“If it was to stop him talking, then you are saying that the boy’s attacker intended to kill him,” Tulee said in a disbelieving tone. “We have never had a murder in Winya, not in living memory.” It did not escape the Lantean’s notice that Tulee never called Leoosh by his name. Hano seemed to resent the lad, even if he, like his mother was an innocent victim of Lucius Lavin’s crimes.
Woden reached out his painfully thin and long arm and placed it on his fellow elder’s shoulder. “Peace, Tulee. You didn’t have the most unfortunate luck to see Leoosh Benn when he was found. I did and I would estimate that without the Lanteans bringing him back here to the great city of the Ancestors, that Leoosh had an hour or two before death would have taken him. So yes, I tend to agree with their findings on this matter. But how do we find out what the boy saw – even if he recovers fully, he may not be able to speak according to your healers or if he can, he may be too scared to say anything.”
Frankly, Tony was intending that Leoosh, and his mother, Ota Benn would never set foot on Winya again, regardless of whether the Winyan mothers had their convictions dismissed but he wasn’t going to mention that to the Winyan elders. Instead, he said, “Even if Leoosh cannot speak, there are still ways to communicate with him, but after being hurt so badly, you are correct, he may be too scared to answer questions.”
“So, what can we do,” the magistrate asked wringing his hands anxiously.
Barb and Radek watched on silently as Rossi, aka Thomas Magnum, fielded the query since they felt he was something of a hero to the Winyans, even if his actions of setting Filiya Lavin up in a business were actually Agent Paddington’s.
Leaning back in his chair to watch both Elder’s faces, Dave asked them, “Do you want to do anything about why it occurred, or do you just want to punish young Leoosh’s attacker and leave it at that?”
The magistrate looked outraged however Hano looked conflicted. “Of course, we need to discover what the killer was doing what he didn’t want anyone to find out about,” Drell insisted.
Hano raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure Magistrate? Sometimes there are things that we remain better off not knowing.”
Drell was shocked. “How can you say that Tulee? Whatever this man was doing very nearly cost a child his life.”
“It was Ota Benn’s boy, and at least it was not a female. We can scarcely afford to have anything happen to the female children.”
“All life is precision Tulee, how can you say such a terrible thing? We must find out why Leoosh was harmed. If we don’t, then it could easily happen again…and it must not,” Drell insisted firmly and with more than a touch of ire.
Looking at Dave, he asked, “How do the Lanteans wish to proceed?”
Dave nodded subtly to Tony. “Agent Paddington and I wish to return to Winya and take into custody the men we believe are responsible so we can question them and try to persuade them to tell us why Leoosh was attacked. As Magistrate of the Elder Council, we need your permission since we have no legal authority to act on Winya.”
“How would you proceed from there,” Drell asked.
“We can hold them for one day while we question them, but if they refuse to talk then we will need to speak to their family members to find out if they have knowledge of what they were doing. We also hope to persuade several individuals who we believe are witnesses to speak up.”
Magistrate Drell held his angular chin in his hand, as he thought over what Thomas Magnum had outlined.
“That seems reasonable to me. Do you intend to bring the men back here to Atlantis?”
Tony fielded the question. “No, not on Atlantis but on one of Atlantis’ outposts where there are enough jail cells to keep them locked up while we question the others. Most importantly, we can keep them separate from each other, so they don’t know what is going on. If they are all held together, they can come up with group answers to questions that are not truthful. Keeping them all separate, in this way, no one knows what the other members of their group are doing or telling us, which will make them extremely nervous if they are guilty,” he explained.
“Very well, that sound wise. Tell me who you plan to question.”
Tony produced a list and started to read it. “Kadin Imo whose DNA and fingerprints indicate that he was the one who beat Leoosh practically to the death, his cousin Yek Imo, Pato Aliss, brothers Edo and Karn Wetz and Goss Rao.”
Tulee gasped, his florid, rather moon-shaped face turning pale. “But these boys…er young men are from fine upstanding families. There must be some mistake,” he protested feebly.
Dave gritted his teeth. “They may come from upstanding families but in my long experience investigating crimes, particularly violent ones, it was all too often the ones who came from the fine families that get away with it for so long. Far too many people think it is impossible for them to do wrong, so they turned a blind eye to their crimes then they are able to hurt other innocents before we managed to catch them.”
Magistrate Drell was stony-faced but unyielding. “Do you plan to take them into custody today?”
“No, we plan to head to Winya first thing in the morning,” Tony replied. “We need you to accompany us and verify we are acting under your auspices.”
“Why not do so this day,” Wodren asked. “Surely the sooner this is settled the better.”
“We have another matter of great importance to Winya which we wish to discuss with you both today. Can I suggest that we break for lunch and reconvene after we’ve eaten?”
Both men looked extremely curious but held their tongues, not wanting to appear as impatient children to their hosts.
Tony hoped they’d accept his proposal to examine the Winyan’s DNA profiles. Atlantis had already obtained many Winyans’ DNA looking for Leoosh Benn’s attacker, but they could reuse the tests to look for clues for the low rates of female births.
For now, it was mission accomplished! He’d managed to secure authority to arrest Leoosh’s attacker, the man from a good family, Kadin Imo and charge him with attempted murder. They’d also received Drell’s blessing to question the rest of his gang. Plus, if Rossi’s hunch about Pato Arlis played out, they just may have a credible theory to test as to why the birth rate of female babies was declining so rapidly.
All in all, it was a good morning’s work thanks to Radek and Dr Biro. And Wodren Drell seemed to have a nasty shake-up when he saw Leoosh’s battered little body.
Chapter 7
Tony looked around the somewhat eerie Balaran Prison in the Baldor city, which was one of the four main cities on the planet. It had been the planet’s capital before it had been abandoned when the Wraith attacked the Balarans. Michael had deliberately infected Balara and many other planets with the Hoffan plague to make them deadly to the Wraith. He wanted to wipe the Wraith out of existence after they rejected him following Beckett’s attempt to turn him into a human had failed. and he could never forgive them for their rejection.
In the utterly unitary view of the Wraiths who saw humans as nothing more than a food stock, humans who they couldn’t feed on had no intrinsic value to them. Balarans and other humans on infected worlds who survived the Hoffan plague (and many didn’t) weren’t just useless to the Wraith, they were deadly and might spread the plague further. To eradicate the imminent threat, the Wraith attempted to wipe out every survivor of the plague. A few of the population managed to escape in the chaos when the Wraith attacked Belara, travelling to other planets in small groups, but the Wraith continued hunting them down and killing them. Just like the animals they believed humans to be, put upon the various planets in Pegasus solely for the Wraith to feed off. Some Balarans such as Novo and Renni, who had helped rescue the Colonel, managed to hide out amongst the brave people of Todraeya, but sadly the vast majority of the Balarans had perished.
Now only three Belaran cities remained standing. Mekor, by far the largest metropolis on their former planet according to Renni, lay in rubbles, with many thousands of bodies under the ruins. Atlantis scientists, utilising ground penetrating radar (and a helluva lot more sensitive and powerful than anything Tony used in law enforcement) had conservatively estimated that up to 100,000 bodies were buried beneath the once majestic city. Oddly, Mekor was also the only city on the planet not built on the site of the former Ancient cities from when Ancients occupied the planet, prior to them either Ascending or abandoning Balar, leaving behind a wealth of Ancient tech as evidenced by the Mount Zeniche compound.
Dr Alison Porter, who was an anthropologist on Anne Teldy’s team, as well as being Clone Beckett’s partner (and most importantly as far as Tali was concerned) Bubbles the Powder Puff Girl, had theorised about what occurred following the Ancients’ departure. She believed the Balarans, who would have been simple farmers roughly ten thousand years ago, had sited their cities on top of the Ancestors’ underground cities. Gradually as time marched on over the millennia, the Belarans began building more sophisticated structures, even as they started to lose the knowledge of the former Ancients’ technologically advanced cities of science and their ongoing search for enlightenment. Finally, that knowledge of their presence on Balar had become little more than a fable told to their children, who according to Novo, assumed that the elders were becoming aged and demented.
The result was that the Lanteans had discovered three Ancient cities on the planet plus Mount Zeniche, all filled with tech goodies that left the Atlantis scientists in raptures and squabbling fiercely over the spoils. And very gradually over the last few months, General O’Neill had been building up the presence of the military contingent as they used Yaypor and Lokor as their secret base of operations in studying MCD –238β and manufacturing the vaccine to render Lavin harmless. This left Baldor unoccupied because it was the closest city to the Stargate, less than one klick away, and deemed by Homeworld (General O’Neill) to be too visible for the operation known flippantly as the War on Happy Zombies or by the scientists as the Mind Control Vaccine. Which in turn made Baldor a perfect spot for the ISIB to use to interrogate some sexual predators from Winya.
The former Balarans might not have been as technologically advanced as Earth was – they’d estimated, based on the tech they’d left behind that they were at the level of maybe mid-1970s back home. Even so, their prison cells were not medieval, which to the Winyans may or may not have been comforting. Tony noted with a touch of schadenfreude, that the fairly modern prison complex was eerie and more than a little unnerving. He expected that to the Winyan men, it must seem very creepy indeed, which as far as he was concerned, was all to the good!
They’d taken them all into custody today with Magistrate Drell smoothing the way with his people, telling them that the Lanteans were operating on his authority. They’d been glad of his presence as there’d been six outraged families, and yes some of the ‘fine upstanding families’ had been far from happy.
Drell had remained on Winya, offering to stay behind and try to placate the rest of his people. Tony had vowed to return for him tomorrow since he wanted Drell to bear witness to Lucius Lavin’s second trial regarding his failed attempt to gain control over Atlantis and the subsequent rape of his victims. He also wanted to track down Miril Argou’s widower, who according to Willa, was still alive. He needed to collect a deposition from Miril’s husband if possible that Lucius had stolen the Winyan healer’s fertility potion following her death. Lucius’ theft would be highly suggestive of his intent to have intercourse for the express purpose of impregnating his partners – something that everyone took a dim view of. Barbara Biro and Radek Zelenka were both keen to get hold of it to analyse it too since it was quite effective on the Lantean females he used it on. Tony insisted that they needed to request permission from Miril Argou’s family before they started researching her work. Still, that was a task for another day.
The joint team of Air Force SFs and Marine MPs that would act as the security detail for the next 24 hours of this operation, swiftly managed to gain control over the suspects. As per their strict orders to avoid any physical force unless attacked, they used their impressive intimidatory skills, including their imposing physicality to cower the six Winyan males into entering the cells assigned to them. Cells that would make it physically impossible for the suspects to collaborate, Tony thought in deep satisfaction. Although Tony noted that only five of the men truly displayed any significant amounts of machismo. Pato Arlis was already cowered and submissive, even before they arrested him, and he concluded that Rossi might be right about Arlis – on both counts.
Rubbing his hands together in anticipation of interrogating these six individuals, Tony looked into the dark brown eyes of the co-founder of the BAU. “Are you sure you want to help? This isn’t something that Thomas Magnum signed up for,” he asked the veteran agent.
Rossi frowned before asking somewhat diffidently. “What if Thomas Magnum wanted to expand his role?”
Which brought Tony up in his tracks, not anticipating this development. “How do you mean, Dave?”
I mean, what if I want to make this assignment more than just a temporary one? Before I found out about the SGC and the fact that we are far from alone, I was feeling somewhat bored. I tried retiring once and I wasn’t very good at it, but lately, I’m feeling like it isn’t challenging me as much anymore. No matter how many serial killers we lock up it seems as if there are always dozens more waiting in the wings. I think I need a break from it.”
“But don’t you have friends, colleagues, and family back home on Earth? Besides, I suspect that now that you’ve been read in, Thomas Magnum will be called upon as required, so this won’t be the only time you go through the Stargate if that’s what’s bothering you. And don’t downplay the huge importance Dave Rossi has at the BAU. You do vital work, man,” Tony responded casually, trying not to get his hopes up.
Seriously, he’d hoped he’d be permitted to purloin Captain Cadman and Amelia Banks and send them to the federal agent training school to train them in the art of investigating crimes. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that the highly esteemed David Rossi would want to join their ranks. Stay cool, DiNozzo, he told himself firmly.
“Yes I know that Alex, but I’m also close to being burnt out,” Dave confessed ruefully. “I think I need a new challenge. As to my friends, colleagues, and family, that is why I was thinking what if I worked part-time consulting for the ISBI I could alternate. Three months here in Atlantis and then three months back at Quantico at the BAU.”
Tony still barely dared to hope that they could acquire the peerless David Rossi, but he also didn’t want to take him away from his family either. Penelope as part of her campaign to have Dave come here to be ‘Thomas Magnum’ had confided that Dave had multiple marriages and he and his ex-wife Caroline had lost a baby days after she gave birth. Then decades later Dave was hunted down by his daughter from another marriage that he never knew he had. She was a journalist and gave him the news that he also had a grandson.”
“Your family?”
Dave nodded, that’s why I want to spend six months on Earth. They are on the west coast, and I’m theoretically on the east coast, although the BAU spend much of that time flying all over the States. When I’m not working, I fly over to Cali to be with them. I can still do that even if I consult for the ISBI,” he said earnestly.
“Have you talked to Hotch about this, Dave? This is not a decision to be made lightly. Pegasus is far from home and can at times be pretty dangerous still,” he cautioned.
Dave shook his head. “Naw, I intended to talk to Aaron, but he was caught up with trial stuff – something to do with Colonel Sheppard I think. I ended up having a heart-to-heart with A.J. Chegwidden about it. We have commonalities that I hadn’t realised that we share, which Aaron and I don’t, so it was all good. He told me that he has no regrets about giving up his law practice and moving here.”
Tony realised that Dave had given it a lot of thought and it was not just a spur-of-the-moment act. “Okay, if you talk to Aaron and Garcia and you still want to consult for us part-time, I’ll forward a request to General O’Neill,” Tony promised.
Rossi nodded, looking pleased. “Fair enough, but the Princess will probably think it’s an awesome idea and Hotch isn’t likely to veto the proposal either,” he warned the man he was likely to be working for on a semi-permanent basis.
Tony shrugged, it was not like he didn’t want to poach someone of the calibre of David Rossi, even if it was part-time. He was simply mindful that the guy finally had a family back on Earth and he had a team that, unlike Tony’s old one, was as good as a family.
“Okay, so what do you say? Wanna help interview our Winyans of interest?”
“Hell yeah. Let’s go,” Rossi said, realising he’d been wasting valuable time.
“I’m going to focus our attention on the five associates of Kadin Imo since I intend to charge him, so we don’t need to interview him in the 24-hour holding period. He can cool his jets in his cell and wonder who might be ratting him out,” Tony told him with a predatorial grin.
It almost made Rossi pity the young Winyan. Almost, not quite! He’d seen what the 26-year-old had done to a defenceless child. He wonder what the penalty was for what he’d done on Winya. They’d stoned the young woman he’d been betrothed to for adultery, after all. Hopefully, he was looking at something equally barbaric!
~o0o~
Meanwhile, back aboard the Odyssey, Lucius Lavin’s second trial was getting underway. Initially, Aaron stood up and requested leave from the Tribunal to present the charges in two parts, beginning with the charges involving the attempted takeover of the Atlantis Base. This involved breaching classified security information and his reckless endangerment of Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex and Dr Carson Beckett. He’d knowingly sent them to a planet occupied by three Wraith hive ships to gather his special herb, so he could potentially continue drugging the Lanteans, Winyans and people he met during his trading trips. Plus, he was being charged with the wilful endangerment of the Atlantis base by sending three drugged personnel to M6H-491 to gather his herb without adequate security measures, almost resulting in the Wraith following the trio back to the City of the Ancestors.
As Hotch pointed out, if the Wraith had overrun the city as had nearly happened, the result would have been a devastating loss of life since Atlantis personnel were all drugged and unable to operate autonomously. They would have been extremely vulnerable to attack. During his description of the events, the members of the tribunal looked extremely grave. Even Kalan, whose planet had been fortunate during the war against the Goa’uld and then the Ori, mostly remaining unscathed, was still able to understand just how precarious a situation it could have been if Sheppard hadn’t ordered the Stargate to be closed when he did. Just a few seconds would have been enough to cause devastation from a swarm of feeding Wraith, not to mention how dangerous it would have meant to the Pegasus galaxy, and ultimately to their own galaxy, but for Sheppard’s quick reflexes. Had the Wraith managed to gain control over the Atlantis base it would have been a disaster of immense proportions.
Then Persequor Hotchner moved onto the second raft of charges which he wanted to have heard separately, during the second part of the hearing. He outlined the multiple counts of rape – non-consensual intercourse with individuals who were drugged and unable to disobey Lavin’s orders to have sex with him, of four female residents of Atlantis, plus several counts of non-consensual oral sex with a male who had dared to mock him before he was drugged. (It didn’t escape the Members’ notice that the persequor failed to name the victims in this instance).
Janae Progenius had previously pointed out to Aaron the clause in the Ancients ‘Code of Laws, which made it a crime for someone to intentionally impregnate another individual without their consent. It would seem that the science-loving Ancients disagreed most emphatically that a female’s only purpose was a reproductive one. So, they had also added the significant charges of Lavin forcing his female victims to fall pregnant due to involuntary ingestion of a fertility drug while he raped them multiple times. Agent Paddington was hoping to track down Miril Argou’s husband to testify that Lucius had stolen her fertility remedy after the Winyan healer had died.
The members of the Tribunal asked Paracletus Hano if Accusatus Lavin had any objection to the trial being held in two parts and naturally Lavin did, not that he had any real reason as to why he disagreed with the plan, just that it was grossly unfair to him. Even Tulee, who was having trouble looking Lucius in the eyes, appeared to be nonplussed at his reasons for objecting to the request. Hotch had profiled the monster because while he may not be working as a profiler right now, he was unable to switch his profiling off when it came to dealing with evil. He’d swiftly concluded that Lucius was a malignant narcissist, and he was happy to draw out his legal hearings using every trick in the book for no other reason than he didn’t feel like he had done anything wrong, as witnessed during his chilling tête-à-tête with Col Sheppard.
In Aaron’s time at the BAU, he had seen his fair share of hair-raising interviews with serial killers, the worst of the worst but he considered that Lavin’s confession to Sheppard had been right up there with the most heinous individuals such as Dahmer and Manson. So, Hotch figured that given any opportunity to mess with the legal process, the man was going to grab it with both hands.
He requested permission to speak to Lavin’s claim that it was unfair. When given time he said. “If it pleases the Tribunal and the Venerabiles Sodales, I have prepared an alternate option, of holding the hearing of the sexual assault charges as a completely separate trial.”
He knew that the members of the Tribunal were keen to get back to their home worlds.
Decerno Teal’c spoke. “May I ask Persequor Hotchner why he didn’t already do so? He separated this hearing from the one involving Colonel John Sheppard,” he said, turning Sheppard’s name and his rank into a single moniker.
Aaron responded by saying, “I thought I would try to save the Tribunal Members valuable time by cutting down on opening and closing statements and deliberation for two separate trials. But I am prepared to do so if you believe that having one hearing consisting of two distinct parts would disadvantage the accusatus in any meaningful way.”
Ishta leaned forward in her seat and Aaron could practically read her desire to facilitate him. Frowning, she said, “Can you explain why you wish to proceed in this manner and not simply combine all the charges into one unified whole?”
“Yes, I think I can justify my request,” he responded.
Ishta nodded, her eyes focused on his face like lasers. “Then please do so, Persequor.”
Aaron nodded, “These charges are all related inasmuch as they allegedly took place during the event where Lucius Lavin was able to unlawfully reach Atlantis after he drugged Dr Beckett, ordering him to take Lavin to Atlantis. This broke one of our most crucial security measures in revealing our gate address to an outsider. We can’t have just anyone coming here without proper vetting to determine that they do not have evil intentions, which in this case he did,” Hotch emphasized frowning forbiddingly.
“Once here, one by one he infected people with his ‘special herb and forced them to do what he wanted, he continued. “Many of the crimes he has been charged with are related to the existential danger that Atlantis and her people found themselves in. All because Mr Lavin wanted to use Atlantis’ resources, chiefly our people and our advanced technology to acquire more of his special mind control plant which he was running out of due to the Wraith now occupy the previously uninhabited planet where he gathered the herb. There was no way he was going to risk his life by returning to the planet, overrun with three hive ships worth of Wraiths,” Aaron said with more than a touch of scorn, “but he didn’t mind endangering our people.”
He glanced around at the members and saw Admiral Chegwidden watching closely from the audience, although this trial was even more private than the others out of deference to the victims and the need to ensure that no word got back to the IOA. He nodded in acknowledgement to A.J. who gave him a thumbs up in return before Hotch refocusing on explaining his reasoning.
“The second raft of charges are not focused on Atlantis and her people’s security – they relate to the acts he allegedly inflicted upon five people who were living on Atlantis,” Hotch explained. “These five individuals had their whole lives irrevocably damaged by his selfish choices to engage in multiple acts of non-consensual sexual intercourse with them,” he stated baldly as he watched Tulee Hano’s expression of shock and disgust. Aaron wasn’t sure if it was aimed at Lavin or his unfortunate victims.
Pressing on, he explained, “What’s more, three of the four females were deliberately impregnated by him, against their will. What happened to them changed their lives forever. It changed their partner’s lives forever too. One of the victims is dead, another had their relationship with their partner destroyed. Two survivors face the lifelong legacy of his attack upon them by bearing a child from an act of rape and that is something which will live with them for the rest of their lives.”
Hotch could see that Ishta was angry – good!
Plugging on, he continued, “Because these crimes are personally devastating for the victims, we want them to receive justice for what was done to them. Justice for what was done to their innocent children and for the people who they were with, and in some cases, remain close to.” He noted that Kalan was very engaged, particularly when Hotch mentioned children, which was not too surprising. The Orbanian leader was a father, after all, and could identify with innocent children suffering.
Frowning, he implored the tribunal, “ We do not want their suffering to be overshadowed by the extremely serious charges faced by the Accusatus Lucius Lavin, who is also facing charges of attempted piracy of the city or and the illegal acquisition of extremely classified information that Lavin allegedly acquired while he was on Atlantis. We don’t want the five victims’ voices to be drowned out by those other charges.”
Ishta smiled in a predatorial manner at Hotch. “Good answer, Persequor Hotchner. I do not wish for these five victims to be made to feel less important than the security and safety of the whole base. I can see why they are interconnected, since they would never have been placed in such a vulnerable and unsafe situation as they were if Lucius Lavin hadn’t allegedly almost succeeded in taking over the great city of Atlantis for his own selfish and evil goals.”
The Jaffa warrior glanced at her fellow members. “I believe that this is a case where it would be more appropriate for Decerno Teal’c to decide if we divide the one trial into two equal yet separate parts, as Persequor Hotchner has suggested or combine all the charges as requested by Accusatus Lavin.”
Kalan and Jonas nodded in agreement. “Yes I believe that is the appropriate role of the Decerno,” Jonas said, knowing if the decision was made to combine the evidence and charges, Hotchner would immediately petition the tribunal to hold two entirely separate hearings on the matter. Jonas was inclined to agree to the petition, even if it wasn’t his preferred option as he guessed Ishta would do too.
Jonas watched as his old teammate and friend bowed his head as he considered the matter he’d been asked to rule on in his role as Decerno (the decider). He knew that just because Teal’c and Ishta were life partners, he was not an individual to be easily swayed by anyone from doing what he thought was right. When it came to his honour, he could be the most stubborn person Jonas had ever encountered. So, they waited. Five minutes in silence as the Jaffa warrior turned stateman of the Free Jaffa Nations, deeply contemplated the situation. If Quinn didn’t know better he would say that Teal’c was in a meditative state of Kelnorim. It was interesting to note that Lavin became increasingly anxious and jumpy as the silence stretched out.
At the nine-minute mark, Decerno Teal’c raised his head, and announced in his deep voice, “After much contemplation, I have decided that the fair and equitable decision is to ensure that the five victims have a chance to tell their stories in a way that gives them equal importance to the equally serious endangerment of Atlantis with the charges to take it over by force and subterfuge. Further, I can see no real danger that the Accusatus’ rights accorded by the Ancestor’s code of law would be in any way jeopardised. Indeed, nor could Accusatus Lavin, when he was asked to identify how it would negatively affect his hearing. Therefore, I have decided to grant the request of the Persequor.”
He looked at Aaron. “Persequor-Hotchner,” he said, running his job title and last name together as was his wont,” you may proceed to present the case to the hearing in two separate parts comprising of the attempt to overthrow the legitimate inhabitants of the great city and the danger that it placed them all in which will be part 1. You may then present the experiences of the five alleged victims of non-consensual sexual attacks by the Accusatus in part 2.”
After that small but highly significant victory for Sofie, Miko, Monique, Teyla and First Lieutenant Emilio Navarro, the hearing moved on to Dicitur Ostium (Opening statements) presented first by the Persequor, followed by Paracletus Hano.
~o0o~
Tony and Rossi had barely begun to interview Pato Arlis when he broke down in tears. They’d only just had a chance to introduce themselves for the recording of the interview when the combined presence of the mighty Thomas Magnum, and Agent Paddington – who’d captured Lucius Lavin, when Arlis burst into tears. It seemed that Pato Arlis was desperate to confess his sins and even though they offered to arrange for him to have legal advice, he was insistent that he had to tell them the truth.
Soon, everything was spilling out, how Imo and his gang were angry that Lavin’s whores had cost them the chance of marrying and having children. How they decided that even if they couldn’t have mates, there was no reason why their physical needs couldn’t be met by using Lavin’s whores to service them, since they’d clearly enjoyed taking care of his insatiable lusts – they’d even done it brazenly, out in public.
The females had shown no respect for the sensibilities of their fellow Winyans with their lewd acts of depravity and Imo had insisted that their sheer and utter wantonness meant they didn’t deserve the respect normally afforded to decent moral females. Unbetrothed Winyan women were permitted to be ‘social’ before marriage but were also expected to exercise discretion and portray the outward appearance of chasteness and modesty. Normal Winyan females did not partake of threesomes, let alone the orgies his six whores had done, and not even behind closed doors but out in the middle of the town square, no less. It was shocking and Arlis told them that as convicts, they had lost any rights to protect their virtue because they had none.
However, practically, it wasn’t that simple. Lahn Yeeps was off-limits. Her father, Yas was foolishly devoted to her, indeed he had defended her and Lavin’s other whores at their trial when no one else had done. He was also still a strong, able man who refused to see that his daughter was a whore – plain and simple. According to Arlis, Barden Imo was afraid if they targeted his daughter the man would beat them to a bloody pulp. The Upo sisters were also viewed by Imo and his fellow rapists as problematic because until recently, both females lived with their father Lort Upo and Imo did not want anyone to know what they were doing.
“How did he expect to keep it quiet,” Tony asked Arlis. “Surely Neese and Ota confided in each other if not in the other three women,” he observed.
Hiccupping from all of the sobbing Arlis had already done, he shook his head. “No! Kadin told both women that they were the only ones that we were using to service us and if they said anything to anyone, they would hurt their children and recruit the rest of Lavin’s whores too.”
Tony looked at Dave, disgust written all over his face. “Explains why Neese and Ota have refused to talk.”
Yeah, it does,” Dave agreed in frustration.
“What went wrong the day that Leoosh Benn was attacked, Pato,” Rossi asked gently, recognising they would get more information out of Arlis with a softly, softly approach.
Wiping his dripping nose with a sleeve, Arlis started speaking as Tony stood up and handed him a clean handkerchief since he figured Arlis probably wasn’t familiar with tissues. He missed the look that Arlis shot him, too grossed out by the snot, even though as the father of an almost six-year-old, he should be immune. Turned out that kiddie snot was gross, adult snot was beyond gross and more like up-chuck territory. SSA Rossi however was made of sterner stuff since he’d regularly interviewed the most heinous serial killers on the planet and he caught the look that Pato sent Tony, catalogued it, and filed it away for future reference. Right now, he was focused on what their witness/informant was telling them. With luck, it could be used to prise confessions out of all of Imo’s gang but that would wait ‘til later.
“Imo was visiting Ota, wanting her to service him. He said he was feeling very restless. We told him that the children would be out of school soon, but he wouldn’t listen. He got like that when he was very restless. Sometimes it took two or even three times to make him reasonable again.”
Both men mentally paraphrased Pato Arlis – Imo was horny as fuck and thinking with his little head.
Dave nodded. “Go on.”
Arlis obliged. “Imo said he was too impatient to prepare her which were the rules everyone agreed to, and he demanded she give it to him like she’d done to Lavin.”
Dave looked confused so Tony after nearly two years in Philly working Vice explained succinctly, “They sodomised her, probably so she didn’t fall pregnant.”
Arlis nodded, looking deeply uncomfortable. “Ota resisted. She didn’t want to get pregnant, but Imo is very strong, and he held her down. She was crying and when Leoosh came home he thought Kadin was hurting his mother and he threatened to tell his aunts. Ota told him to run away because she was terrified that Imo would hurt him.”
Tony already knew why, but he needed to get Arlis’ reaction for the record. “Why didn’t Ota tell anyone what had happened after Leoosh was nearly killed?”
Arlis blushed bright red and refused to make eye contact with Tony which made him confused. “She probably thought that no one would believe her. Imo and his cousin Vek were constantly telling Neese and Oto that no one would believe them and if they asked any of Lavin’s other whores they would say that it wasn’t true. And even if they were believed, people would say she brought it on herself when she became Lavin’s whore.”
Dave threw a look of rage over at Tony and growled. “Kadin Imo is one super manipulative bastard!”
Tony wholeheartedly agreed. A sexual predator for sure. He was loath to think that Mayuna Pavu had dodged a bullet in not marrying him because the poor little girl had been stoned to death after miscarrying her rapist’s baby and no one deserved that. But shit, Imo was not a nice person!
“Did Kadin Imo say how many times he had Ota ‘service’ him,” Rossi asked, his grimace expressing his extreme unhappiness at the euphemism when they meant rape.
“He bragged that he was on their third round when Ota’s little piece of faeces burst in without knocking. Said he was an ill-mannered, ill-bred little manure hole.”
“Did he tell you what happened to happened to Leoosh?”
Arlis nodded at Rossi. “Yes, he told us that he caught up with him on his way to the Upo sisters’ house and he dragged him away to a secluded spot out of the village and tried to scare him into keeping quiet. He threatened to kill his siblings if he told anyone, then when he was good and scared, Kadin decided that he needed to be taught a lesson.”
Tony thought that it was lucky Imo hadn’t realised that their puddle jumper had been parked a little way further on in an open field that couldn’t be seen from the scene of the crime. If he’d attacked the boy somewhere else, it was unlikely Leoosh would have been found in time to be evacuated to Atlantis.
“Why are you telling us all this and why didn’t you consent for us to get you someone to advise you, Arlis, “Tony asked him, curiously.
Dave followed up with, “Even though you are helping us by telling us what you know, and you had nothing to do with attacking and hurting Leoosh, you are still in a lot of trouble for what you did. Why did you decide to confess?”
Glancing sideways at Tony, unable to look him in the eyes without blushing furiously he started becoming visibly distressed.
“Because I’m a sick monster. I’m tired of trying to hide it from everyone. I’m hoping that we’ll all get sentenced to death.”
He paused and when neither man said anything, Pato started sobbing again. “I’m not even a real man. I don’t want to be with a woman; I have dreams that I’m lying with a man. Not someone like Imo…someone who is kind and would love me,” Arlis whispered shamefully.
Tony gently placed his hand on Arlis’ shoulder. Even though he was a rapist, Tony felt sorry for him… a bit like Jeffery White, who turned out to be a serial killer and coincidentally also had the hots for him. Not that it stopped White from trying to slit his throat though. Still, growing up gay person would mean a very hard life on Winya – hell it wasn’t exactly easy back on Earth and their attitudes were more advanced than Arlis’ people. He was surprised when the young man jerked away from his touch, so he tried to give him some words of comfort.
“Pato, many people on the planet where Thomas Magnum and I were born, recognise that some people are attracted to individuals of their own sex. That doesn’t make them monsters though. I’ve known quite a few guys who are attracted to men,” he told him. “And none of them are monsters, they are all good men.”
Finally managing to look into his eyes for a fraction of a second to see if Tony was telling him the truth, Arlis blushed again and looked away again. That’s when the clue bus hit him, and Tony realised that Arlis had a crush on him. While he felt a certain degree of sympathy for the young man, he was not sure how to feel about a rapist lusting after him.
“Are you attracted to men,” Arlis asked in a voice barely above a whisper.
Dave could be seen manfully struggling trying not to grin at Arlis’ hopeful tone as Tony flashed him a look.
“No, Pato, I’m not,” he tried to let the young man down gently, “but I have a couple of really good friends that are. I think you might be surprised, I honestly doubt you are the only one who feels like that on your planet.”
Once again, Arlis made a brief, blink-and-you’d-miss-it eye contact to try to figure out if Tony was telling the truth or if he was playing with him.
Dave nodded sagely, “I agree, I doubt very much that you are the only one attracted to a member of their same sex.”
“One of my friends was attracted to other men and he had a partner who loved him. He also had a mother who loved him too. He was an agent I worked with who died a hero, trying to save other people,” Tony told Arlis, thinking of nice guy Ned Dorneget and his mother CIA agent Joanna Teague who’d been Tony’s partner as they dismantled The Calling. Teague was determined to see justice done for Ned and all the other families of people who The Calling had murdered, and she was so proud of her son.
Even his gentlest of rejections of Arlis’ affections affection seemed to deflate Pato, and he started crying. “I’ll never find anyone who will love me. I’m not even a real man…even my…my,” he pointed at his dick, “doesn’t work. It never gets hard or juts out the way other males do. Why would anyone want that? I sometimes feel like I should have been born a girl but instead, I’m a male, but not a real male as I can’t make it stand up like Imo and his friends can,” he sobbed. “It’s so tiny compared to the other males and I hate it,” he confessed impulsively.
Tony looked at Dave. He realised this was a complicated and complex identity issue, but it looked as if Rossi might have called it right. Pato could very well be intersex if he wasn’t gay.
Chapter 8
Hotch started his case against Lucius Lavin with John Sheppard, who in this trial was his star witness, not as the victim as he had been in the previous three trials. Dr O’Shea thought that testifying in this hearing would help him regain his sense of mastery and he could see why. The man had singlehandedly saved the Atlantis expedition from being taken over by Lucius Lavin. Atlantis was extremely lucky that the commanding officer happened to be sick with a head cold when they’d visited Lucius’ planet, or else like everyone else, he would have ended up ensnared in the grifter’s treachery and manipulations. By the time the Daedalus would have arrived on a supply run, who the hell knew what might have happened?
So as the only expeditionary member who had not been affected by the special herb, it was only logical that Sheppard was going to be the primary witness. Hotch certainly planned to use others as secondary witnesses but because their judgement had been flawed by MCD –238β he’d have them focused less on historical facts and more on their own experiences. He would get them to explain how they were feeling and what they were thinking as Lavin moved them around like action figures in a game as he crossed off his list of objectives – uppermost, more supplies of his special herb and acquiring a puddle jumper. He surely must have realised once he started perusing the Atlantis database that Earth was in regular contact with the base and a supply ship would turn up sooner or later. Lavin might have thought he’d be able to ‘persuade’ the Daedalus to join him, just as easily as he had done with Atlantis and who knew – he might have succeeded – temporarily.
But that was purely speculative, and Col Sheppard was doing a highly credible job of outlining the events that unfolded after they arrived on Winya to find it inhabited and therefore in need of their stargate, much to Dr McKay’s disappointment. As he explained, they’d stumbled on Winya while collecting unused gates which they planned to use to build a gate bridge between Pegasus and the Milky Way, thereby negating the need for a ZPM to open a wormhole to Earth.
John recounted that initial contact when one of the first things Lucius wanted to trade with them was their puddle jumper for his so-called remedies, including one he swore would cure Sheppard’s cold in seven to ten days. Aaron noted that Jonas Quinn had a big shit-eating grin plastered across his face and he figured that the Langaran, who’d spent over a year on Earth after falling foul of his own government, knew full well that a cold took a week to ten days to run its course. And that was without any miraculous cures which meant Jonas was aware that Lucius was a big fat fake.
In Sheppard’s engaging yet laconic manner, Aaron and the rest of the people present at the hearing got to see from his point of view how easily Atlantis had been breached. It was also an opportunity for people such as himself and the tribunal members, who only knew him after his abduction and torture, to visualise Colonel John Sheppard as the commanding officer of Atlantis as he’d been before his capture and torture by Kolya’s men had left his shaken, at how easy it had been to subdue him. He was definitely on the way to recovery and while Hotch knew that this was going to help him regain his self-confidence in many regards, he was also aware that it wasn’t without its risks either. To a man such as the colonel, who still struggled with the knowledge that he’d failed in the task he set himself to bring Lieutenant Aiden Ford home after his run-in with a Wraith had addicted him to the Wraith enzyme, Hotch feared that when he learned of Teyla’s rape by Lavin, it may his undoing.
Having read his jacket cover to cover, Aaron knew that his loyalty to his people was John Sheppard’s Achilles heel, although many might disagree. But when it came to his team he was nothing short of a Momma Bear protecting her cubs. While he knew that Lavin had raped four people on Atlantis during his failed takeover and sexually assaulted another, he did not know that one of them was his own teammate and his friend. They’d gone to a lot of trouble to let the five witnesses testify anonymously, even willing to modify their voices if they wanted it, so the women could remain anonymous, Teyla had declined. In fact, she was incredibly dogged about wanting to give her testimony in open court, determined to face down her rapist and regain in her own words to Alex, ‘her self-respect’ by staring him down. And since Sheppard had been the CO and second in charge when Lavin had raped his people, Aaron knew that John was planning on being there in the court for the entire case. Once he finished giving evidence, there wasn’t any legitimate reason to bar him from doing just that.
He already knew about Dr Girard because she’d told him she was going to be testifying and when they had given the colonel a brief outline of the case after his own case against Lavin had found him guilty of conspiring and accessory to his kidnap and torture, he’d quickly deduced why she was so intent on testifying. He’d become extremely upset over learning her fate, but he had never really known her all that well prior to a few months ago. Alex and he were convinced that learning about Teyla and Torren was going to push him to breaking point and Aaron hoped he’d be able to get through it.
However, for now, they needed to focus on demonstrating to the Tribunal just how simple it had been for one narcissistic huckster to overpower the entire Atlantis base.
~o0o~
Dave was staring intently at Pato Arlis, something niggling at him, but he wasn’t exactly sure what. He looked at Alex who shot him a puzzled look and he gave the agent a subtle shrug before he finally received an epiphany.
He said, “Hang on a minute, if you are impotent then how did you rape Ota and Neese?”
“Impotent?”
Dave took a deep breath. “You can’t achieve an erection,” he explained carefully.
“Oh, well no, I can’t. And I only pretended to rape Nesse because we were playmates growing up and she knew my secret. She covered it up for me.”
“But why pretend, Pato,” Tony asked him gently, trying to wrap his head around this latest information.
“I was afraid that if the other men thought I was a freak they would hurt me. Kadin is not a nice person, and he is very angry because Mayuna become Lavin’s whore. Now he is restless all the time and won’t leave Neese and Ota alone. If I pretend to want Neese like that, it gives her some peace at times, and they think I’m normal like they are.”
Dave said angrily, ”There is nothing normal about Imo or his friends. How did you become involved with them in the first place?”
Sniffing forlornly, Arlis told him, “Edo Wetz was kind to me. He’s not very brave…like me. He told me that the others thought I was weak, girl-like and he suggested that I join them and prove them wrong, so they didn’t gang up on me.”
Dave and Tony both understood the subtext of what Pato was really saying, so they didn’t rape him too.
Tony frowned. “Okay, I get you only pretended to rape Neese because she kept your secret, but how did you avoid being with Ota?”
“Kadin and Vek are pretty jealous when it comes to Ota. They aren’t all that happy about sharing her. They have lots of extra times with her compared to the Wetz brothers or Goss Rao. So, when I joined the gang I said, that I preferred Neese’s skin colour to Ota, and they believed me,” Arlis shrugged.
“Sometimes he ‘let’ us watch them and I wondered if when he is with Ota, he pretends she is Mayuna.”
After they’d concluded their interview with Arlis, which had gone nothing like either agent expected, Tony excused himself so he could call to see if Aoife could make an urgent house call. Col Lorne agreed to fly her in asap and Tony sighed. It was pretty clear that Pato was a suicide risk and that they needed to do something to help him. He struggled to know which pronouns to use about Pato, and Tony figured if that was confusing to him, Arlis’ whole identity must be a hundred-fold more confusing to the youngster. In the absence of more concrete information on the Winyan’s true gender, Tony decided to just stick with the assigned one until Arlis advised otherwise. The last thing the agent wanted was influence Alis one way or another, so he’d leave it in Aoife’s capable hands.
As he entered the room that he and Dave had set up as a temporary ops centre, the FBI agent (and hopefully ISBI’s latest consultant) flashed him a look of concern. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, but I needed to contact Atlantis. Col Lorne is going to bring Dr O’Shea to Baldor.”
“Good call. What are we going to do about Arlis? It’s fairly obvious he’s in fear for his life.”
Not to mention if Arlis is Trans and decides he wants to live as a female, there is no way he can do it on Winya. I think they would probably stone him if he decided to live as a trans female,” Tony said worriedly. “But right now, we are going to use what he told us, to make the others confess, and then we distract and obfuscate so the others never realise that Arlis sold them out cuz they’ll kill him,” he said determinedly.
Sighing helplessly, David said, “Your right again. Let’s get to it! Time to up the ante and use mind games to psych them out,” he said grinning faintly at the prospect.
They decided to start with the younger Imo first. Vek talked a good game, but he wasn’t quite as tough as he liked to make out. As they were leaving the operations centre for the interview room, Dave commented pensively, “It’s a damned shame that the medicos never managed to get a rape kit from Ota the night she and Leoosh were evacuated to Atlantis. It would be cold hard evidence that Kadin Imo raped her.
Tony nodded, “Yeah, I know, but at least we understand now why she was so obdurate. She might feel more comfortable telling us what happened though now she’s accepted Halling’s offer of asylum with the Athosians, regardless of the appeal.”
“Also, if she and Neese discover that they were both being lied to and manipulated then it might change her mind too,” Dave said reasonably.
Tony held up crossed fingers. “Hope you’re right!”
It turned out that Vek Imo was quite an easy nut to crack now that they had information to confront him with. He’d confessed through the simple enough expedient of them insinuating that Kadin Imo had thrown the other men in his gang under the bus to get off lightly. By the time they hinted that Kadin blamed his cousin, Vek Imo for attacking Leoosh after the young boy caught Vek raping his mother and he threatened to tell the rest of the villagers, Vek had flipped on his cousin. Vek Imo vehemently denied the allegation and insisted it had been Kadin who had made Ota Benn service him, even though they tried to persuade him that there wasn’t time because her son would be returning soon from school.
He also said that ever since Kadin’s betrothal to Mayuna Pavu had been ruined by Lucius’ special herb, he was constantly angry. Vek claimed that even though their betrothal was dissolved because of her crimes, Kadin still desired her and forced her to service him every day. She resisted so he threatened to hurt her cousin Ota if she didn’t take care of his needs. From his cousin’s description, Kadin became more violent during the sex he forced her to have. He claimed that his cousin while he was drunk, confessed to Vek while he was drunk that the day before Mayuna lost the baby, he’d lost his temper when she refused to have sex with him. He told Vek that he beat her so badly that she lost consciousness and for good measure, he kicked her several times in the stomach before raping her while she was passed out.
Both men were grim-faced, realising that Mayuna had lost her baby and ultimately her life because the man to who she had been betrothed had beaten her and caused her miscarriage. It was a lot more than they expected to learn, and both of them felt enraged by how much pain Kadin Imo had caused.
Praying that Vek hadn’t been the only one there when Kadin confessed to attacking and raping Mayuna, Tony said, “Well we’d like to believe you Vek, but you see, it comes down to your word against your cousin and a lot of people might believe him, although Thomas Magnum and I think you’re probably telling us the truth.”
“I am. I am telling the truth. I swear to the Ancestors that I’m speaking the truth,” he babbled desperately.
Vek it seemed, saw nothing wrong with forcing Ota and Neese to service the needs of a bunch of lowlife guys against their wills because they viewed them as whores, but he didn’t want to carry the can for attacking and almost killing a little kid.
Dave caught on fast to where Tony was headed, making them a good team together. “I believe you, Vek but if only someone else was also there when your cousin told you about what he’d done to Mayuna. That could make a big difference.”
“But there was Thomas Magnum, Agent Paddington. Goss Rao was there, he heard everything Kadin said about what happened to Mayuna. Ask him, he’ll tell you too.”
Oh, we intend to, Vek Imo!
And honestly, the rest of Imo’s motley crew was no more of a challenge than Vek had been, particularly given the distinct advantage of having accurate intelligence to use to force confessions out of the Winyans. None of them was in the running for master criminal of the Year. Probably the toughest interview was with Goss Rao who had been the other party to witness Kadin Imo’s drunken confession regarding the attack on his former fiancée, Mayuna Pavu. However, as all of these men were scared and unsettled, having been rounded up and taken to Belara and put into separate prison cells to soften them up, it was child’s play for even a halfway decent interviewer to feed their fear and paranoia – and Tony and Dave were far from being halfway decent interviewers – they were among the best that the US had to offer.
If the cost hadn’t been so high for their victims, it might have been amusing to see how the men were all so ready to believe that one of their own had thrown them to the wolves (or what passed for an equivalent of a canid-like predator on Winya). The so-called honour among thieves (or rapists in this case), wasn’t exactly a high bar in general but in this bunch, who were nowhere near as tough as they might like to think, it was all but non-existent. They had no trouble believing that one of their group would rat them out to save their own skin. Probably because that was what they’d have done if one of their friends hadn’t got in first. Of course, the fact that the first one to spill his guts hadn’t done it to blame anyone else but because he couldn’t live with what he’d been a party to was not something they planned to share at this stage, if ever.
They would be doing a great deal of investigating Winyans’ attitudes to homosexuality and intersex individuals so that they didn’t endanger Pato Arlis’ life. That was simply not happening so they wouldn’t be divulging why he confessed with such alacrity. However, after speaking with Edno Wetz, a thin rather nervous individual who possessed rodent-like features, he confirmed he recruited Pato since his pals had regularly made jokes about him being a wench-boy, a term Dave and Tony took to meaning they thought he was effeminate and therefore suspect in a society that valued sexual uniformity to an arbitrary standard. They also saw nothing wrong in punishing young women with death for being victims of rape.
Edno admitted that he liked Arlis, they were childhood friends, even if he wasn’t a typical boy, although they were not as close as adults since he’d taken to hanging out with his brother and Kadin’s gang. According to Edno, there had been two other individuals, Nao Muni and Ondo Bula who were no longer members of the Imo’s coterie of disaffected bachelors. They had drifted away, alarmed when Kadin first began to consider forcing Lucius’ victims to have sex with them. Edo thought if the Imo cousins saw that Pato was willing to have sex with ‘the whores’ then his reputation as a wench-girl might die down and Goss and Vek might stop threatening to make him their wife.
They’d also elicited a full account of Kadin’s drunken confession from Goss about Imo’s violent assault on Mayuna the day before she miscarried her baby and how, when her punishment had been brought forward, he’d threatened Goss and Vek if they ever ratted him out. All in all, they had Kadin Imo dead to rights over the assault of young Leoosh Benn and a pretty decent circumstantial case of rape and assault against Mayuna Pavu who was twice over a victim of Winyan males. Yes she was long dead, and they couldn’t change that, but they could make damn sure that those who were responsible for her death would receive justice. Plus, they had uncovered the forced prostitution ring which they would expose its rottenness to the rest of the Winyans hopefully with them being punished for the abhorrent acts. But most importantly, with Halling and Yas Yeeps’ help, they would manage to pull off the rescue of the four remaining victims, Heleen and Willa Upo, Ota Benn, and Neese Luta and their seven children and that was something worth celebrating.
Having gathered enough intel via the confessions they collected, they had enough evidence to charge all involved. Even though Pato hadn’t raped anyone, he’d still known about the forced prostitution ring, but they decided that they would charge him, mostly as a temporary measure to protect him. Given that both experienced agents felt he was a suicide risk, they wanted a clinical psychologist to advise them on how to proceed. And with word that Dr O’Shea and Lorne were 30 minutes from arrival, they decided to take a break and get some food. They also decided to charge Imo, but they let him stew for a while yet before they tried to elicit a confession.
Tony reckoned that Kadin Imo was in for one very nasty surprise.
~o0o~
Dr O’Shea arrived on Belara, kindly flown out there by Lt Colonel Lorne who was gradually turning over more duties to John Sheppard, especially the light duties. As he commented to Tony, Sheppard would have leapt at the opportunity to fly her out there, but he was caught up in the second of the Lucius Lavin hearings. Before they left, Lorne grabbed a bite to eat but the psychologist had come straight out of a counselling session, having asked Dr Nkusi to handle her last patient and hadn’t stopped for lunch.
Tony frowned at that information. “I didn’t mean for you to drop everything to come here. I meant when you had a free moment, “ he said regretfully. “I hope you didn’t cancel anyone on our account Doc,” he said.
Aoife chuckled. “Just one,” she said with a wink. “One of my lifers and I didn’t blow her off, I asked Umwali Nkusi to fill in for me. While the presenting problem is a germophobic hypochondriac, I think she may have a mild underlying generalised anxiety. I was right keen to bunk off, and I figured a second opinion wouldn’t hurt before I try to persuade her to try anti-depressants that I already know she’ll refuse. “‘Because they won’t help, Doc.’”
Dave and Tony exchanged knowing looks. Although neither profiler had anything beyond very basic clinical training, they knew what O’Shea was referring to. Every therapist had experienced at least one long-termer during their career and if they said otherwise, they were lying to you or fooling themselves. However, Aoife was under no illusions about what she called lifers – they were the individuals who would turn up for counselling with her on Atlantis, week in and week out but unfortunately, they didn’t want to put in the work to address their problems, utterly convinced that nothing was going to work.
Lorne said he was keen to check in with the personnel assigned to assist Alex in guarding the Winyan suspects, so he wandered off and left them to it. Dave and Tony then proceeded to fill Aoife in on what she needed to know about Pato Arlis. Since Dave and Tony hadn’t had lunch, they ate too while they briefed her on the interrogations and in particular the one with Pato Arlis. It wasn’t long before she began frowning.
“Bloody hell, Alex. My ex-husband might have been gay and more than a few of my clients might have been too over the years, but I have absolutely no feckin experience with anyone who is trans or intersex. I’m likely to make a right bags of it. And although I could be wrong, I don’t think Umwali has either. I’m pretty sure I’m not qualified to deal with such a complex situation,” she said rather nervously.
“Maybe not, Doctor,” Dave replied, “But you are the closest thing to an expert that we have and that’s just the reality.”
“Besides, would you want someone even less qualified to deal with Arlis, like, oh say, Dr Keller for example,” Tony asked her guilelessly.
And yes he realised he was hitting O’Shea below the belt but still, he spoke the truth. Keller was not likely to be very empathetic; a fact they’d all observed during Monique Girard’s sojourn in the infirmary. Keller had on occasion been quite short, almost rude to her and that was not how you treated a victim who had already been treated atrociously and was suicidal. And if he wasn’t mistaken, Pato Arlis’ risk of suicidality was just as high, too.
Aoife scowled at him. “Ay, that one talks a right lot of gobshite when it comes to psychological matters,” she admitted as Tony choked on the mouthful of water he’d been in the process of drinking and Dave had to bang his back several times with vigour as he fought to catch his breath. Thank goodness for Vala and her healing of his lungs, otherwise, he’d have been sucking on his emergency inhaler by this point.
Aoife looked at him dispassionately as he struggled to regain his breath; it seems he wasn’t forgiven yet for his manipulation. Glaring at him, she huffed in frustration. “Well, I guess I cannot be making a worse haymes out of it than our CMO,” she said grudgingly as Dave looked to Tony his eyebrows raised, having noticed that her accent and her language had become more colourful when she was emotional.”
“The Irish Force is strong in our Doc when she’s fired up or is pissed off with you,” Tony said with a wink at Dave as she side-eyed him, although he thought he detected a faint twinkle in her big brown doe eyes. But it could have just been a reflection of the light, he conceded.
“Stop being a moran, will ye and tell me what you are planning on doing with this Arlis fella. Then we’ll try to figure out where we go from here, shall we?”
So, the three of them talked about how they needed to be extremely careful not to let any of the other suspects know that Pato had blown the whistle on Imo and his gang, or his life would be in grave danger. As Dave pointed out, that complicated things because if they looked to be singling him out for special treatment, the other men would likely see it as being rewarded for ratting them out, so even Aoife counselling him would need to take place discreetly.
Tony explained that a lot would depend on Pato and how he wanted to proceed, and for now they needed to maintain the use of masculine pronouns for Arlis’ safety. They also needed to determine if he wanted to live as a male or a female who was gay or straight before they could make proper plans. Honestly, he didn’t think it would be possible for Pato to live as a female on Winya but surely, there had to be other people in the Pegasus galaxy who would be more accepting. After all, there were significant groups of indigenous peoples and ancient civilisations on Earth who accepted trans individuals.
Meanwhile, it seemed that the best option for keeping him safe for now was to charge Arlis, along with the others. And even though he hadn’t raped Neese, he was still complicit. He knew that she and Ota were being raped by the rest of the gang and had done nothing about it. Hopefully, charging them and keeping them all locked up would give Aoife time to counsel him and assess his state.
Dave nodded. “As Alex said earlier. Worst case, we might be looking to fake his death or say he’s dying or something so we can get him out from under and get some help for him. The kid is confused, and I think trying to treat him on the sly won’t be enough, but Arlis is going to need to accept our help, or this isn’t going to work.”
Aoife looked grave, “Aye, talk about well out of your depth. I guess I better be seeing him now,” she said ominously as they cleared away the remnants of their lunch from the room that was serving as their operations centre before Alex led her to the prison cell that was deliberately isolated from everyone else.
~o0o~
Aoife couldn’t remember ever feeling so nervous, so out of her depth as she did right now. At least not since she had first become a psychologist and first started treating patients decades ago. Entering Pato Arlis’ cell, she observed the Winyan, noting that Arlis was not a strapping individual, rather he had rather a weedy-looking build, and he had quite soft features, but they weren’t exactly what she would describe as feminine, simply not very manly. There was little to no evidence of facial hair, though his Adam’s apple was pronounced.
Alex introduced her softly, not as a psychologist since they doubted Pato would understand what that was. Instead, he announced that her name was Aoife, and she was a friend.
Arlis looked at her briefly before gazing at Alex with a moonstruck expression. “Is Eva Thomas Magnum’s friend, too?”
She smiled at ‘him’ gently. “Yes, I am Thomas Magnum’s friend also. And my name is pronounced Aoife. Ee- fa,” she said slowly and exaggeratedly. “Where I come from it means beautiful, radiant. It is the name of a Goddess,” she explained, trying to break the ice with the Winyan. What does your name mean,” she inquired in turn.
“Pato means a rocky tor,” he said, his voice neither light nor effeminate, nor was it deeply masculine. Somewhat deep for a female but still higher than that of an average male. Arlis if trying to fly under the radar was certainly not being given a lot to work with.
In my home country, a place called Ireland, we have a similar meaning name to yours. Ours is Tarin, and it means rocky hill. It is a unisex name, do you know what that means, Pato?
Arlis shook ‘his’ head. “No Ee-fa, I don’t.”
She smiled, letting ‘him’ know that she wasn’t disappointed. “That’s okay. Unisex just means one sex. It is a name we can call both males, and females,” she told Arlis as his eyes practically popped out of his head.
“Are all your names in Ireland uni-sex?” Pato asked in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Some are, not all but sometimes babies are born, and no one is sure what sex they are. A unisex name means they can decide later on and not need to change their name. Of course, some parents don’t choose a unisex name for that reason, they might just like the name.”
Looking at Aoife with wide eyes, Pato shifted his gaze back to Alex and Aoife immediately picked up the look of longing when Arlis watched the agent. It was the look of someone with a major crush and Aoife glanced at Alex intently. Feeling her gaze, he looked at her and nodded subtly to let her know he was aware of Pato’s feelings and would be careful.
Well, that was one concern addressed. And Aoife could hardly blame Pato – Alexander Paddington was a handsome man, but it was more than that. He had a passion for his job, an empathy for people and an ability to communicate that made him very charismatic. If he weren’t one of her clients and she was twenty years younger, she might be looking at him like Pato did. As it was, she preferred her men to be the same vintage as she was or preferably a bit older which meant that A.J. (or Bertie as she called him in private) was just perfect for her.
Pato managed to drag his gaze away from Alex and watched her nervously. “Who are you, Ee-fa? Are you a seer,” he asked in a scared tone.
Alex fielded this question calmly. “No Pato, Aoife is my good friend. She is not a seer. She is good at helping people figure out stuff that is bothering them. She has been helping me too, especially with my daughter since it is just her and me. I called Aoife and asked her if she would try to help you figure stuff out,” he explained to the anxious Winyan.
“Still watching Alex with that lovestruck look, he asked her, “Help me figure out what stuff?”
“Alex explained you were having trouble figuring out who is the real you,” she said delicately.
“How can you help,” Pato asked her, despair apparent in ‘his’ voice and body language. “What do you know of my problems,” he asked with a touch of bitterness.
“Pato, I may not know a lot, but my former husband Liam was troubled like you are. He was uncertain who he really was. It took him quite a few years after we got married before he managed to figure it out.”
“And who was he,” Pato practically whispered, staring at her, and sneaking looks at Alex who was portraying open accepting body language.
After a brief discussion between themselves, it had been decided that Alex would make the introduction and remain around while Aoife tried to establish a rapport, with Arlis using Alex as a bridge. So far it seemed to be working.
“He is Liam, my former husband and my very good friend who also learnt that he was gay. Gay means that he didn’t love me or any woman romantically, although he did love me as a friend and family. But being gay meant that he wanted to be married to a man. He was sexually attracted to men, not women.”
“You must have been angry with him for pretending to love you,” Arlis said, watching her closely.
Aoife wasn’t sure if Pato was looking for signs of anger or deception, but she shook her head. “Liam wasn’t pretending to love me, Pato, he did love me, just not the way I wished he could. And he is still my best friend, even if he is in love with another man, now. Besides, how can you pretend if you don’t even know yourself what is wrong? It took him years to figure it out, so how could I be angry about that? He needed to figure out who the real Liam was, and it would have been horrible of me to be angry with him when he finally figured out who he was.”
“And he lives with another man as his wife?”
Aoife tried to explain. “No, they both live together as men, but they are lovers and husbands,” she tried to clarify, not even going into the fact that they were only able to legally marry each other in Ireland in 2015 because in their minds they had lived together as husbands for almost two decades before finally tying the knot.
“And you…you really weren’t angry with Liam when he married another man instead of you?”
“What sort of a family we be if I couldn’t be happy that he found out who his real self was and found his special person? Everyone deserves to find happiness. I was so happy for him that I became a marriage celebrant so I could marry Liam and his husband Connor.
Shocking her and Alex, Pato burst into tears. “You are a kind person Ee-fa,” Arlis sobbed, before latching onto her and weeping copious amounts of tears.
After the cathartic release, Pato glanced at Alex. “Thank you for bringing your friend to talk with me. Maybe she can help me although I’m not sure who I am. I wish I had a unisex name because I don’t feel like a real male, not like the Imos.
Aoife smiled and tried to be calm. “You aren’t alone, Pato. Other people feel like they have been born into the wrong body sometimes. Maybe we can figure it out together. Even if I haven’t been through what you have, sometimes you just need a bit of help from a friend. Will you let me be your friend too?”
Pato responded by bursting into yet another paroxysm of sobbing. Alex murmured that he would leave them alone, although he intended to monitor the interview via video without sound. He would also instruct the MP guard to go out of earshot but maintain visual contact with the cell. Of course, he knew that Aoife, despite her small stature, was a Taekwondo champion who was once again training in the martial art and taking no prisoners. He was pretty sure she would eat Pato for breakfast if he tried anything, but still, Arlis was in custody, and Tony had a duty of care, not just to Pato but to her too.
Notes
Haymes ~ Irish for a mess
Moran ~ Irish for an idiot
Chapter 9
The trial took a short recess so people could take comfort breaks before the hearing proceeded as Colonel Sheppard told the tribunal how looking back, there were red flags from the moment they met Lucius.
“We really should have paid a lot more attention to them.”
“What sort of red flags are we talking about here,” Aaron asked, as any good persequor would do.
“Well…his hitting on Teyla and asking her to be his seventh wife and her rejection of him for one thing. Although, none of us truly believed at that point that he was serious.”
Aaron glanced over at Lavin and noticed he was grinning, no, he was leering, and he made sure that he paused long enough for the Tribunal members to notice too.
“What other red flags were there, do you think?”
“His desire to acquire a puddle jumper and Lucius’ childish petulance when we refused to hand over a valuable piece of technology in trade for some damned jar of ointment. Later, I figured out why he’d been so insistent. He saw the jumper as his means of being able to fix his supply route problems for his special herb. He knew he’d be in a lot of trouble when it ran out,” John observed sagely.
“Was there anything else which in hindsight, should have alerted you,” Hotch asked, already knowing the answer to that question like any well-prepared lawyer would.
“Oh yeah, his desperate need to keep us there and engaged, so much so that when we stood up to leave, he grew desperate to stop us since we were his best shot at getting more of his wonder herb. Suddenly, the super friendly Winyans turned on us. They were threatening us as they closed ranks around the four of us and short of us using our weapons on them, which seemed unwarranted at that point, it was clear they intended to stop AR-1 leaving the planet because Lucius wanted us to stay.”
“What happened then,” Hotch asked, noting approvingly that the panel was curious, which was good. It meant the testimony was keeping them engaged.
John grimaced and ran his hand through his already unruly-looking hair and sighed. “Lucius noted our alarm at the villagers’ sudden and overtly hostile reaction to his obvious desire for us to remain. He rightly concluded that forcing us to remain there would be counter-productive to him getting what he wanted, so he called them off.”
“You make them sound like they were his army,” Hotch commented.
“No, more like a very angry mob that wouldn’t have flinched at the necessity of violence to make him happy,” John corrected the persequor.
“But in retrospect, if the Winyans had been trained soldiers, would they have still rushed to do his bidding, even if that might mean killing others?”
John nodded, “Oh, I’ve no doubt about it, in light of what happened on Atlantis.”
“Was there anything else that set alarm bells ringing?”
“Well… yes. Lavin’s insistence that we must come back asap.”
Aaron looked nodded slowly looking very puzzled, as if trying to understand something just out of his reach. “Tell me, why did you not pay attention to those alarming number of red flags and veto a return to Winya, Colonel Sheppard.”
John frowned. “I take full responsibility for that. You see, we were in a hurry to get on with our real reason for being there when we stumbled across Winya by accident. We were out scouting for disused stargates that we could harvest to create a star bridge between Pegasus and our galaxy.”
“Like Midway Station II,” Hotch asked.
“Yes, but unfortunately, the Wraith hi-jacked it and managed to use it to gate into the SGC back in Cheyenne Mountain, so we were forced to blow the original Midway up,” Sheppard said, remembering the melee.
“Anyway, Rodney, err Dr McKay had some arbitrary quota system he’d devised to locate stargates so he could build the star bridge. He was nagging at me to stop wasting time on Winya and get back to looking for stargates we could harvest, and I regret to say that I took my eye off the ball,” he conceded.
“What happened next?”
“I thought the quickest way to extract AR-1 out from under Lavin and his scary minions, who I later found out were all drugged and under his influence, was to send Carson, er Dr Beckett, back to Winya with a team to check out Lavin’s claims for his remedies. I radioed back to base and suggested that Dr Weir send a team to Winya to determine if Lucius had anything that might be worth us trading with them.”
“Did you honestly believe there was any chance of that?”
“No, not really, Lucius seemed to be your classic snake oil salesman.”
Seeing looks of bemusement, Hotch asked the colonel to reframe his statement.
“I thought he was a quack, a fake. Someone who conned people. He was no more of a healer than I was.”
“If that was the case,” Aaron asked, “Why send Dr Beckett back there without any backup? Surely someone should have been watching out for him?”
John sighed. “I wanted Carson to check it out because he is a doctor, none of my team is.” He thought about what he’d just said and added, “None of us are medical doctors, even though Rodney has several Ph.Ds. And as for sending Carson without backup, I did request that he be assigned a recon team to watch his back. I don’t understand why Dr Weir should have belayed than order.”
Aaron quirked an eyebrow, “Are you saying she didn’t have the authority to do so?”
“Not exactly. According to the IOA charter, she was in overall command of the Atlantis expedition but to be honest, I can’t see any good reason why she would let Dr Beckett go off on his own. A medical doctor is a resource we could hardly afford to lose, especially our CMO for no good reason,” he said looking genuinely perplexed. “He should have had a team protecting him, for sure.”
“Plus, it is against every single protocol to let a civilian, especially one who had no self-defence training, apart from being able to walk on his hands,” Sheppard snarked, “go off on his own to interact with an indigenous population we knew next to nothing about. Not to mention the distinct possibility of the Wraith turning up suddenly.”
“Would it be fair to say that by not having anyone to watch Dr Beckett’s back, Lucius managed to gain the upper hand, coming close enough to Beckett, succeeding in drugging him with the pheromone-based so-called special herb of his,” Hotch asked?
“Yes it is fair, and when he was under Lucius’ thrall and willing to do anything that Lavin suggested, Carson disobeyed our sacrosanct regulation that no one was to bring any stranger to Atlantis military base without prior permission from the military commander or Dr Weir.
“At that point, when a drugged Dr Beckett brought back Lucius Lavin ignoring strict standing orders, why didn’t Elizabeth Weir send the intruder back to Winya?”
“Honestly I don’t know why she let him stay,” he conceded his voice tinged with hurt and confusion.
“You didn’t ask her later after resolving the situation?”
Looking incensed he responded. “Of course, I did. She refused to discuss it. I reported the matter in my after-action report but there never was any follow-up by General Landry at the SGC.”
“And did you reach any conclusions as to why that might have been?”
“Yes, sadly, I reached the wrong assumptions. I concluded that it was because General Landry hates me and thought that Colonel Caldwell should have been given the job of military CO on Atlantis instead of me.”
“And did you discover the true reason why he ignored your report, Colonel?”
“Unfortunately. Agent Paddington during his investigation into my abduction by Kolya, was looking for motives or suspects and compared my personal copies of the report on Lucius Lavin’s infiltration and takeover of the base to the copies that Generals Landry and O’Neill received.”
“What did Agent Paddington discover?”
John looked deeply conflicted and simply furious. “My report had been doctored. Someone had removed my criticism of how an insurgent could gate to Atlantis and overthrow all the personnel.”
“Doesn’t the SGC have a special name for just such a scenario?”
“Yes, it is called a Foothold Situation,” he admitted. “And neither the SGC nor Homeworld Command knew that a full-blown Foothold had occurred. According to the doctored version, only Carson Beckett, Teyla Emmagan and Ronon Dex were affected by Lavin’s special herb. Dr Weir recognised the danger and ordered him thrown off the base, sending him back to Winya.”
“But that’s not what happened is it?”
“No, not at all.”
“Why lie about it,” Aaron asked as Colonel Sheppard’s face was filled with pain.
“To cover it up!”
Aaron decided at this point to give John a chance to regroup. His face had taken on a rather greyish hue, and he wanted him to have a respite. His testimony was far from over.
Walking over to the Tribunal Members, he requested permission for Colonel Sheppard to take a short recess before resuming his testimony. He explained that he wished to show the security logs for Atlantis following Lavin’s arrival, which would be presented by the current Head of Base Security, Captain Laura Cadman.
Eager to keep the hearing moving forward, they excused Sheppard for a forty-minute recess. Captain Cadman, hanging out in the Odyssey’s officers’ mess, was called to give evidence. She showed the security footage that had been archived by Janae Progenius, Atlantis’ artificial intelligence program and although it was video, with no audio, she was able to lip-read people’s speech if the camera had a clear view of people’s mouths.
Seeing people’s wonderment or confusion, Decerno Teal’c rose from his seat, asking permission to question Captain Cadman.
“Captain Cadman,” he said, running her rank and last name together as if it were one word, “You were not present during this foothold situation on Atlantis. Is that correct?”
“Yes, it is,” Laura confirmed.
“Then how are you able to speak with such great authority on what was said more than five years ago,”
Cadman smiled artlessly. “As a Marine explosives expert who was deployed by the US Secret Service, I acquired a valuable skill called lip reading. It means people who’ve been trained can watch a person’s lips and tell what they are saying even if there is no sound. People who cannot hear often use the skill to communicate with people who can hear. In law enforcement, it is a handy skill to have to read what people are saying when you are too far away to hear them or for security footage like this,” she explained.
Quinn was nodding, having come across the term while at the SCG. Ishta was looking puzzled, and she proceed to demonstrate, having Ishtar mouth a message to the audience but without sound. Although first, the Captain had her whisper the message to Jonas Quinn. When Cadman was able to read Ishta’s statement that ‘she was hoping that the raw fish wrapped in the salty weed and the sticky grain would be on the menu today,’ everyone was impressed by the captain’s ability. Kalan did not share her effusive sentiments over the sushi however and expressed his hope out loud, that it wasn’t!
From that point on, they listened raptly as she supplied commentary of conversations where she could get a clear visual of the speaker’s lips and one thing was very clear. It wasn’t only Carson, Teyla or Ronon who were drugged out of their skulls, most of the personnel were and those who weren’t were caught by the drugged ones and restrained while Lucius got up close in their personal space. By the point where Hotch had chosen to stop, every damned person on the footage appeared to be under Lavin’s control but it was time to get Colonel Sheppard back in and advance the timeline.
Before Cadman was released, however, Paracletus Tulee Hano request the chance to cross-examine her. Somehow, Hotch concluded, Tulee had a thing against females in positions of power.
“Did I understand you correctly when you said you weren’t on Atlantis when Lucius was here, visiting at the invitation of Dr Beckett and Dr Weir?”
Cadman smiled but there was nothing subservient about it, which was probably what annoyed Hano. “That’s right. I was assigned to other duties including serving aboard the Zephyrus bringing fresh supplies of food from Earth.”
“Then pardon me my dear girl, but why are you testifying? You are not a witness,” Hano retorted looking smug.
The Marine Captain smiled, a steely smile but it was a polite smile, nonetheless. “I am here in my professional capacity as the current head of Base Security on Atlantis. Part of that duty is maintaining our security logs, especially those of the Stargate and our gate room. Base Security is mandated to maintain the security logs including the video footage and as an element of my job, I am responsible for the security archives,” she explained.
“I am testifying in that capacity that this footage is part of that archive that we maintain, and I am certified by the Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre at University College as an Expert Witness Forensic Lipreader, one of just a handful in the UK, so I also offered my services to the Persequor Hotchner to help this tribunal understand what people were saying because the footage doesn’t have sound recorded,” she said very sweetly. “The Secret Service who I was working for, thought it might be useful to be able to testify to what terrorists might be saying during court proceedings,” she smiled at him a little bit like a crocodile just before it swallowed its prey.
When she was excused from testimony for the moment, Hotch made it clear that she would return at a later point. As she left the witness testimony area, Decerno Teal’c acknowledged her with a deep bow and said, “My thanks to you, Captain Cadman, that was most enlightening.”
Cadman in her turn, nodded and smiled back at him. No one was sure if he was referring to the information about forensic lipreading or her demolishing of the paracletus. There was no way Hotch could prove it but since he’d heard that Teal’c was a prodigious warrior, he guessed it was her smackdown of the misogynous Hano, which had quite honestly, been a thing of beauty.
Hotch figured that Capt. Cadman blamed Hano for Lavin’s young victims being handed a death sentence for being drugged. After all, she had been there with Alex Paddington during the investigation. Even now she and Alex remained convinced that there were likely more victims of Lavin’s non-consensual sex on planets where he’d traded while he had ready access to his special herb. As the former leader of the BAU Aaron had to agree with them. There were more victims – he shuddered to think how many.
~o0o~
The second part of Lucius’ trial regarding his insurgency of Atlantis was due to begin this morning and Teyla was due to testify first up. Aoife and Umwali were both determined to be in the hearing for her, sitting in the front row with Capt. Cadman, Amelia Banks and Ilsa Meier, and keeping seats for Kanaan, Alex and Ronon. The three men were waiting with her in the room set aside for the victims who were waiting to be called to testify. It could also be used when needed, for witnesses giving testimony in camera. While Monique, Miko and Lieutenant Navarro had opted to not face Lucius in court, the tiny Athosian woman chose to confront him. She told everyone that it was a crucial part of her reclamation of herself, and she refused to be swayed.
Everyone tried to tell her that it wasn’t necessary, she was strong and brave and had proven herself a more than mighty warrior over the years. As proof of that assertion, they’d offered as an example, her defence of baby Torren and Atlantis when Wraith Michael had come, intent on destroying Atlantis and taking Torren from her. Michael mistakenly believed that Teyla’s son contained Kanaan’s DNA as well as Teyla’s, both Athosians possessing the rare trait of being able to sense and even communicate psychically with the Wraith. Michael, responsible for terrible genetic experiments on the Athosians and many others, believed Torren’s genes would help him create an army of Super Wraiths.
And while it was true that Teyla had killed Michael defending her son and her home on Atlantis, it still hadn’t healed her. Ever since Lucius had gained control of her so effortlessly, Teyla without being consciously aware of it, had begun to distrust herself and her skills as a warrior of the highest order. It wasn’t until Alexander Paddington arrived in Atlantis to locate John Sheppard that she finally realized that she had lost respect for herself and her abilities. After Alex confronted her, doubting that Kanaan was Torren’s biological father and learning what had happened with Lucius Lavin, he asked her if she would lay charges against him. Her hesitation where once she would have confronted the monster right away and in all probability would have extracted a heavy debt from him, leaving him alive but broken, made Teyla realise how much Lavin had stolen from her.
He had taken away the happiness that she had been experiencing as she and Kanaan rediscovered their childhood-long friendship and it bloomed into one between lovers. He robbed Kanaan of the gift of being Torren’s biological father, although he hadn’t managed to steal his place as her son’s father. But as loving as her relationship with Kanaan was in the way that only two people destined to be together could be, Teyla knew looking back that it lacked the intimacy and trust that had once been there when they’d first begun to explore their relationship in the days after she’d stepped down as leader and joined the Lanteans fighting the Wraith.
And in hindsight, especially with the help of Alex, Aoife, and Laura, she’d come to understand that she couldn’t build trust and intimacy with another person when she has lost trust in herself. Which was why she was so determined to reclaim her power, to rediscover her warrior within. Alex, who was the first person to who she’d confessed the truth (aside from Kanaan) supported her, telling everyone else to stop protecting her. That she knew best what she needed to do to reclaim her power.
He’d given her the strength she needed, telling her at the time that if she decided not to publicly confront Lavin, and chose not to press charges against him, Alex would go with her in private to confront him, if that was how she saw fit to deal with him. His lack of judgement of her had given her the strength to dig deep and figure out what she needed to do. She decided that she needed to stop hiding the truth, accept that she had been compromised and deal with it. Teyla knew she needed to make Lavin pay for what he did to her and to other females, who’d dared to reject him, getting even by drugging them and taking away their free will. After speaking to Kanaan, the night that she’d shared her story with Alex, they had both talked it over, deciding it was time take a stand.
As Kanaan had said, “One day we will find ourselves having to explain to our son how he was conceived and why we did not stand up to the monster from whose seed he was born of. I want to look him in the eyes and tell him that we made Lavin pay for his crimes against you and Torren.”
The next morning, they beat a path to Agent Paddington’s office and informed him that they were done hiding from what had happened. They wished to make a formal complaint against Lucius Lavin for drugging Teyla, raping her, and impregnating her against her will.
Now many months had passed, and Alex had successfully hunted Lavin down, showing a great deal of ingenuity and skill in tracking down her Oogliusa. This was an Athosian word, it referred to a fearsome creature, a mythical two-headed six-tailed beast with terrifying razor-sharp teeth and foot-long talons that could disembowel a human in seconds. This creature was known and feared by all Athosians from legends passed down through the ages. And Teyla realised that she had allowed Lavin to become her personal Oogliusa and it was time to slay it and regain her self-respect. She vividly remembered the day that Alex informed her that he’d captured her Oogliusa while he’d been visiting the Winya victims and how impressed she’d been. Just as she’d been impressed by how he’d managed to track down John when they’d all failed.
Teyla couldn’t help wondering about when Michael abducted her people to use them for evil depraved experiments, creating chimera-like hybrids, many of the Athosians dying agonising deaths. While it was futile to wonder if Alex had been on Atlantis back then, might Alex have been able to find her people long before they did? She suspected he might. Still, that was in the past and it couldn’t be changed. The important thing was that Alex Paddington was helping her reshape their future. Now it was her chance to take back her autonomy, as the people from Earth said.
Independence and self-rule were extremely high on their list of qualities that were important to Athosians. They were a proud people, who were nothing if not survivors, who refused to let the Wraith cower them. They may be living in their shadow, but they always sought out the good in what they had, teaching their young ones the culture and beliefs of the Athosian people, and observing the values of the Ancestors. Now it was time to crush her Oogliusa once and for all.
As Persequor Hotchner rose to his feet and called her name as the first witness of the day, Teyla took a deep cleansing breath. She mindfully emptied her head of her remaining doubts, letting go of her fear, hate, and anger, centring herself. As she prepared to enter the chamber, she looked one last time deep into the eyes of her soulmate, then at Alex, her saviour, and finally Ronon Dex her friend and fellow warrior. With Kanaan by her side and Alex and Ronon flanking her, they proceeded into the tribunal chamber.
~o0o~
Aaron wasn’t the only one watching in awe as Teyla Emmagan, accompanied by Kanaan, Alex and Satedan warrior Ronon Dex escorted her in. It was not like they were her support squad so much as she was their queen with her regal air, and they were her subjects. Even though the three males all physically overshadowed her, in particular Ronon with his height and musculature, her aura filled the chamber, making the tiny woman feel like she occupied the whole space simultaneously. Her presence was extraordinary.
Teyla touched foreheads first with Kanaan and then Alex, which Aaron understood to be a gesture serving several purposes: a greeting, a farewell, gratitude, or even appreciation. However, as she exchanged the gesture with Ronon, the persequor suddenly realised it had another crucial function. It was used to signify respect, although, in this situation, he felt that it signified mutual respect between the pair as the Satedan and the Athosian proceeded to the central part of the space between the raised dais where the three Tribunal members sat. Opposite the dais, but on ground level, arranged in a horseshoe was a table and chair for the persequor and directly in front of his table but ninety degrees to his right a chair had been placed for witnesses to give testimony or they were free to stand if they wanted. At the opposite end of the arc, was an identical table with two chairs for the Accusatus and their paracletus to sit while in the middle of the arc, intersecting the persequor and the paracletus was a tall imposing-looking chair made of some sort of wood, possibly walnut. It reminded Hotch of a throne albeit a spartan one, sans any embellishments and this was where the Decerno resided during the hearing.
Thus, it was into the negative space between the dais and the lower arc of the tribunal members into which Ronon and Teyla marched with purpose and Aaron noted that the pair matched each other’s strides. Despite the quite large discrepancy between their heights, they moved as one in perfect synchronicity, arriving at an invisible point in the middle of the space and coming to a halt, courteously bowing their heads as they faced the dais, waiting.
Persequor Hotchner stood up quietly, waiting to be acknowledged.
Jonas Quinn spoke, “Persequor Hotchner, you may address the Tribunal.”
Hotch felt a rush of relief. He wasn’t sure if this was going to work but Alex seemed confident that it would. However, Paddington was also able to read the Ancient Codes of Law written in the original Ancient dialect, which according to Alex was called Alteran. Hotch had to settle for a translated copy, so he wasn’t anywhere near as convinced that they could pull this off, but Teyla had been determined. Alex had promised to support her in facing up to her demons and Hotch just hoped he could make it happen for her.
“My thanks to the Venerabiles Sodales of the Tribunal and Jonas Quinn of Langara. Teyla Emmagan, former leader of the Athosians, Daughter of Tagan and Leader of Athos before her, would beseech this imminent body to grant her a request before she begins her testimony.” He crossed his fingers and held his breath. If the Venerabiles Sodales said ‘Sorry. No. Just get on with it,’ then they were scuppered before they’d begun.
Ishta who evidently felt some connection with Teyla – being that rare species, a female warrior able to match her male peers in battle – leaned back in her seat and regarded him with interest. “And what would Teyla Emmagan ask of us, Persequor,” she inquired her dark brown eyes alight with curiosity. He supposed it was not surprising – the hearings had fallen into a predictable enough pattern that made anything novel break up the regularity of the hearing.
Taking a calming breath and making eye contact with each of the Tribunal Members in turn, Hotch proceeded to do his utmost to pull off Teyla’s request. “As the Venerabiles Sodales probably know, Teyla is Athosian and as a part of her culture, she practises a form of meditation combined with a martial art using bantos rods. She requests your permission to prepare herself mentally and physically – as set out in the Ancient’s code of law – for her testimony into what happened to her six years ago on Atlantis during its occupation by the Accusatus. She wishes to undertake a ritual known as a Ba Maytu Xne or a Trial of Trust.”
~o0o~
Teal’c who was sitting listening to the proceedings in a state which could be described as lightly meditative, felt a frisson of emotion reverberating throughout the room and pulled himself back, trying to determine the origin. His good friend and former teammate Daniel Jackson would probably describe it as having taken place on a higher plane while Samantha Carter would now doubt explain it as taking place on a subatomic level. All Teal’c knew was that as someone who had practised Kelnorim for over a century, as well as other lesser forms of meditation, he was attuned to the atmosphere. This was why he was so sensitive to the outpouring of emotional pain which he felt emanating from the tiny Athosian standing in a state of deep supplication before the tribunal.
The three members of the tribunal began to discuss the request in hushed tones, Teal’c tuned in to the emotions around him. He sensed in the Persequor Aaron Hotchner, a feeling of tentative optimism vying with a sense of deep protectiveness that was less pronounced but still evident. It seemed like a reasonable position for the persequor to adopt if it helped Teyla Emmagan get through her testimony and come out the other end stronger for it. Teyla Emmagan was the victim here and the Jaffa Warrior understood she could have chosen to testify without having to confront the man accused of defiling her. Teal’c could only imagine how he’d feel if that had been Drey’auc (his former mate and mother of his son) in Teyla’s position. So, he admired the fact that the Athosian was going to face the Shol’var down; she was a true warrior and he wished her well.
Jonas glanced around the chamber as he began to address the hearing. “As someone who accuses Lucius Lavin of causing harm to herself and her family and is willing to testify to that effect in this hearing, we applaud Teyla Emmagan for her courage. The Athosians no doubt are aware that the Ancestors who they deify, have indeed written by their own hand in their Code of Law that Victims should be permitted to testify in a manner that is meaningful to them. Although it is our understanding that this decision falls under the jurisdiction, not of ourselves, but of the Decerno. Therefore, we must consult Decerno Teal’c on whether to allow or disallow Teyla Emmagan’s petition,” he concluded.
Teal’c bowed his head in acknowledgment before rising from his seat and approaching the petite Athosian and the physically imposing Satedan warriors waiting suppliantly for his ruling.
With great ceremony, he placed his huge palm underneath her chin – his hand callused from a century of training with a wooden staff and fighting with a Jaffa Staff weapon – and with infinite gentleness, lifted her head. Staring deep into her eyes, he took note of her calmness and determination, but he also saw her self-doubt and took in the grievous injury to her spirit. She hid nothing from him, nor did she strive to – theirs was an open and spiritual communication between two warriors who had no need of words. He knew her spirit as she knew his.
On a deep level, something which the Jaffa could never have properly explained to anyone who was not of a warrior cast, on a profoundly instinctive basis, he recognised in Teyla, someone who was riddled with self-doubt. She was lacking in the ability to trust herself because that trust had been stolen from her.
Teal’c understood this distrust perhaps better than most. The proud Jaffa had once served as the First Prime of Apophis, wanting to avenge his father’s death at the hands of another Goa’uld system lord, but had encountered SG-1 and Colonel Jack O’Neill and recognised in him a fearsome warrior. He’d helped them escape from his Master and joined SG-1, helping to defeat various Goa’ulds over the years. Unfortunately, Apophis had eventually captured him, and to punish him for his treachery had brutally brainwashed Teal’c to believe that his time with SG-1 was a fiendishly clever subterfuge – that he still worshipped Apophis as his god. He turned against his team and tried to destroy them, and although they saved him and brought him back home to the SGC, his mind was surrendered to Apophis. To break that hold required his mentor’s intervention, administering an extremely dangerous Jaffa ceremony known as the Rite of M’al Sharran. His symbiote was removed, causing him to become physically close to death and forced to relive his past, remembering when he realized that the Goa’uld were false gods.
Although he recovered his mind and resumed his place beside his brother warrior Jack O’Neill, the fact that he had been brainwashed and forced to betray his Tau’ri family and denied his relationship with Bra’tac had eaten away at his soul. He felt weak for not being able to resist Apophis, feeling he was not worthy of respect as a Jaffa warrior, and he constantly doubted himself. When he was taken in so easily by the Goa’uld Imhotep pretending to be a charismatic Jaffa called Kytano, and the former First Prime of Imhotep, who preached freedom from the slavery of Goa’uld oppression, it had been the last straw. It had all but destroyed his fragile trust in his abilities.
Despite defeating Kytano (in reality Imhotep, a minor Goa’uld) the fact that he had been taken in so easily, where his Tau’ri brother O’Neill had seen Kytano for who he truly was, had been very painful. It had also caused great tension between O’Neill and himself.
It had taken losing his former wife, Drey’auc, for him to start trusting himself once more. Her determination not to take up a new symbiote after her previous one matured, was mostly due to her trust in Teal’c and his belief that by accepting the strength and good health afforded by a Goa’uld juvenile, Jaffa had traded themselves into a life of perpetual slavery. Drey’auc refused to be shackled to the false gods anymore, preferring to die free. Her courageous decision and subsequent death had caused a terrible rift with his son Rya’c, the young man, himself on the cusp of warriorhood, had blamed Teal’c for his mother’s death.
Yet, it was his son’s accusation that Teal’c didn’t trust him because Rya’c had been brainwashed by Apophis as a child, which gave him the shock he needed. Apophis used Rya’c, creating a child suicide bomber intended to destroy the SGC and as revenge for Teal’c’s betrayal and that reminder had brought about a turning point for him. Teal’c had spoken to Rya’c, the first time he talked to anyone about his own brainwashing at the hands of Apophis. He told Rya’c how badly it had affected his faith in himself, and it was himself who he distrusted, not his son.
That emotionally charged conversation had begun the healing for the father and son, who both still blamed themselves for being brainwashed. The process was further cemented by their subsequent battle, ably assisted by their mentor Bra’tac who’d trained both warriors, the trio saving the Tau’ri from Anubis’ new terrifying weapon, which he stole from the Ancients. Teal’c and Rya’c felt they had both avenged the betrayal that Apophis had forced them to carry out against their valued allies who fought the Goa’ulds.
So yes, Teal’c understood probably better than anyone, except possibly Ronon Dex or John Sheppard about what Teyla Emmagan was feeling. He hoped that she too could begin to find her self-respect and learn to trust her inner warrior again. Maintaining her gaze, warrior to warrior, he searched her heart and soul for several long minutes before nodding in acquiescence.
“I judge there to be no duplicity nor intention to cause harm to anyone in the Tribunal,” he announced with great solemnity. “I do find in her heart, a genuine desire to regain her equilibrium so that she may stand witness in a manner that respects her culture and beliefs. I grant this request in the name of the Ancestors and the noble pursuit of justice,” the Decerno ruled. He bowed in turn to each of the three Venerabiles Sodales before once again turning back to face Teyla. He was surprised when she approached and touched foreheads with him but understood it to be an expression of her thanks and respect for Teal’c the Warrior and Decerno, thus he gracefully embrace the Athosian gesture, sharing a few moments of communion.
As he retook his seat, Teal’c noted automatically that the Persequor Aaron Hotchner heaved a subtle sigh of relief. He seemed genuinely happy that Teyla Emmagan would be able to prepare for her testimony in a way she deemed meaningful for her. The Decerno was pleased that he’d wanted to accommodate her needs and values, even if they were very different from his own Tau’ri ones. He had a good heart!
Notes:
Shol’var – Goa’uld/ Jaffa word that means a coward. (Something the Goa’ulds repeated referred to Teal’c as after he defected to the T’auri in Children of the Gods)
