288 Indictment 2

As the indictment finally started, council member Jackson led with the first and most pressing issue.

"You do not, council member. The recent crimes committed by members of the 125th have been committed without my consent or knowledge, it has only been 4 weeks since I was first alerted to those matters due to operating outside the net for some time. After becoming aware of those issues within my unit I've executed a widespread purge and currently estimate that 70% of the criminal elements have been removed, with a further 25% being added to that over the next week."

With Dax presenting what could hardly be called an adequate criminal defence, Solaris continued to worry about the current situation, that is until council member Jackson opened his mouth again.

"Very well, let's move on to the next issue then."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, that's how much of a free reign this unit of ours has. The blank check for funding is not the only advantage of being a Hellwalker~"

Having already expected Solaris' response, Phillipa casually explained what was going on just before objections were raised.

"I hardly find that explanation acceptable! Commander Dax, you state you simply weren't aware of the long stemming corruption within your own unit? I find that hard to believe."

"But that's exactly what happened, recent operations have 'taken me outside of the net' for some time, meaning I've not been able to communicate."

"What kind of operations would require you to be gone for over a hundred years?"

"That's classified, and I can't comment on ongoing investigations without approval from both the administrative AI and the minister of special war affairs."

Responding to Representative Stone's questioning with a boilerplate response, Dax made Representative Stone turn to the people beside her for answers.

"The officially stated reason for commander Dax's recent operation is deep recognisance of the Emergence space and joint weapons development in cooperation with Lazarus. Therefore the recent operation is and will remain classified on a need to know basis."

"I will be leading my party to file an injunction against the 125th and the minister of special war affairs, countless innocent people have died these recent days and their next of kin deserve at least an explanation as to why if not an outright apology."

"Representative Stone, such a move will put our national defence at risk doing this time of crisis, the 125th is an integral part of our fight against the Emergence."

"I've yet to see evidence which supports that, if anything the 125th looks like an out of control black ops unit with widespread corruption and zero accountability."

"... This is bad."

Commenting on the minister and representatives infighting, Phillipa's smile had disappeared as she filled Solaris in on the details.

"With recent events being as they are, there's a good chance this injunction will pass it's needed 90% approval in the galactic senate, if it does they can call into question the needs of our units budget and a resulting investigation will ice all our current operations, allowing the Emergence to run rampant on the outer systems until we've cleared up suspicion."

"I thought that the minister was in charge of the 125th, not the senate?"

"Yeah he is, but with enough votes from the Senate, Representative Stone can challenge that. Such an incident has happened before where a black ops unit was forcefully dissolved and all its members jailed for life."

Unless Dax could clear up doubts that the senate had about the 125th, an injunction could mean months of delays in deployment of the still highly classified manatech weapons technology putting countless systems near the current front line in the risk of falling, something a majority of the Senate appeared to have no problem with.

"Minister Jackson, I request approval to explain recent events as well as how they are connected to recent weapons development which is essential to stopping the Emergence's advance."

��... Fine, as long as it doesn't leave this room."

Figuring Dax had something on his mind he wanted to state for the record, Jackson allowed him to temporarily breach information control guidelines.

"The culprits behind the recent terrorist bombing was concluded to be the drug and slave cartel involved with criminal elements within the 125th, all these elements have already been purged with extreme prejudice. An injunction against the current 125th at this point in time will not deal with the corrupt elements which have already been dealt with, it will only serve to impact the combined war effort as 125th is in the process of implementing a next generation weapons system in close cooperation with Lazarus which will be crucial against the Emergence. In the event of a possible purge of the 125th, Lazarus will no doubt cut off all connection to the Galactic Empire itself and take their new technology with them."

"All that is well and good if you believe this 'next generation technology' actually exists, but I believe it's nothing more than a convenient excuse to get out of a possible investigation."

As expected Representative Stone and her coworkers hardly believed what Dax was saying, if anything, his words also brought attention towards Lazarus.

"I'm not sure Lazarus is even allowed to just up and leave the Empire like that, there are countless-"

"And none of those rules apply to Lazarus, as a prerequisite for their technological aid was to not be part of the Galactic Empire. After all, the founders are not citizens of the Empire itself, thus it would be unreasonable for them to be tied to our existence."

With the administrative AI stepping in to correct the Representative with what was until this point highly classified information the topic of discussion immediately switched to Lazarus.

"That's preposterous! Who do they think they are!? This entire conflict with the Emergence has highlighted the failure of government bureaucracy within this Empire, no one should be above the people, no matter how many unneeded technologies they grant us."

There had always been of convincing the general public of the need to fund Lazarus due to the secrecy of their overwhelming technological advantage, but a member of the galactic senate calling their need into question was a first.

It seemed Representative Stone hadn't been made aware of how important Lazarus was, or she had purposely repossessed it.

"Unneeded technology? I-"

"Permission to breach information control level 4."

Before Council member Jackson got into an argument with the entirety of the galactic senate, Dax stepped up to convince them on his behalf, although he needed to disclose classified information.

"-... Granted."

After glancing at the administrative AI's avatar and getting no response, Minister Jackson begrudgingly agreed to Dax's request. Following immediately after that, Dax took control of the room through his interface and prepared screens to display evidence.

"The recent terrorist bombing was an attempt to assassinate members of my personal unit equipped with still experimental n-class technology developed by Lazarus, after failing at a regular surprise attack, the would be assassins detonated half a ton of explosives packed into so called 'automounts landmines' standing no more than 5 meters from my people. This was the result of such an explosion."

As Dax displayed an image of the scorched crater which had remained after the bombing silence fell on the room, all eyes were instantly focused on the epicentre of the blast where an eerie pentagon void appeared to have avoided the devastation just around it.

"This is the power of the 'useless technology' Lazarus is currently integrating through the direct support of the 125th. Although I can't go into details at this moment, N generation technology has the ability to transform a single combatant into something rivalling that of a current operational drone battalion."

"T-there's just no way something like that can be true, those images are obviously fake."

Presented with something which appeared so powerful it appeared to possibly have broken multiple laws of physics, Dax didn't look down on anyone who didn't believe the pictures, after all, the first time he saw mana at work he also initially rejected it as some kind of illusion.

"Solaris."

Therefore a live demonstration was needed.

"Y-yes, sir?"

Quite surprised that Dax would suddenly call out to her like that, Solaris stiffened up slightly as the attention of the entire room suddenly descended on her.

"Demonstrate the power of N generation technology for the Representatives and council members present."

"Yes sir."

Standing up straight, Solaris spread out her wings as she called on the rule breaking power of mana, finalizing the spell she weaved with a single word incantation.

"Phalanx."

As numerous defensive spell formations and shields made out of sturdy mana crystals materialized from thin air around Solaris, Dax wordlessly pulled out his pistol before turning to her, quickly emptying the entire magazine into her shields without a single one of the shots managing to price them.

"If we need to demonstrate the destructive output too, I suggest moving to a different location… Although looking around it appears that is not necessary."