Bandit Country And Other Things...

[athersgeo]

What is this 'Bandit Country' I hear you cry. Simply put, it's semi-what Gamine and I were yacking about in cryptic terms the other day. It's an idea I've been floating as a novel (yes, that's as in fully fledged, paid for book novel) for the better part of two years, now. So far, it's not REALLY got off the ground for a whole bunch of reasons (one of which is that I've committed myself to writing Far Future - though, believe you me, if I actually got it really going, I would probably put Far Future on hold while I wrote it because I will never get paid to write Far Future, but I just *might* get paid for Bandit Country), but it getting off the ground has got a HUGE step further this week. Another chunk of the plot has slid into place, and I think I can finally tie another idea that I've had lurking around into this which gives me a place to start. Far Future isn't on hold yet (no panic on that front), but I'm definitely gearing up for it.

And on that note, time for a little more commentary...

Disclaimer: Wes, Jen, Katie and Alex don't belong to me; they're borrowed from BVE et al. No harm, no foul, no money made. Everything else does belong to me (even the loathsome Joshua Carmen), including the legal process and Time Force set up. You're welcome to borrow but please ask me first.

A legal note: I'm not a lawyer, nor have I got an extensive knowledge of due legal process, so apologies for any obvious gaffs.

Or you could put them down to this being a year 3000 court...

First and foremost, thank you to everyone who has waited patiently for this chapter. As most people know by now, this has been a physical struggle to write. I'm not fully fit now -- although I am well on the road to recovery -- but fit enough to start doing a few more of the things I like, chief amongst them being writing. Secondly and by no means any less important, thank you to Gamine for helping me write, refine, polish and make coherent a chapter that was started over three weeks ago and for being an absolutely wonderful friend. Thirdly, thank you to Chris for putting up with me working odd bits of exposition off him.

Please offer feedback -- it tells me how I'm doing.

~*~

Future Imperfect -- From Out Of The Frying Pan...

Meat Loaf is to blame for this one - there's a track on Bat Out of Hell II with this title, and it's one of my favourite songs. It also meant that I had a nice way of doing the split between this and the next chapter.

Wes woke.

The room was dark and silent...and empty.

He groaned, falling back against the pillows for a moment.

This was where I got to, then my back made it practically impossible to sit up in front of a computer. Three weeks later, I picked up...

This was getting to be a nightly routine. One that had started with the trial's opening day when Carmen had started painting a picture of Merle Askot as a leading candidate for humanitarian of the century.

And the witnesses!

A steady parade of people testifying that Merle Askot was a veritable saint and a scientific klutz.

After the tenth recitation of that particular script, even Wes was beginning to doubt whether Askot had done what they all thought she'd done.

And then had come something worse -- the current director of Time Force Temporal's deposition.

He rolled out of bed, as he recalled Hawking's deposition.

Wes watched as Carmen paced before the witness stand in a fashion familiar to Wes. Wonder if there's a time when lawyers don't do that? he found himself idly musing.

"So, Director Hawking," Carmen finally began. "Can you explain to me the nature of my client's secondary charge of temporal violation?"

"Certainly," Hawking answered. From somewhere behind him, Wes heard Alex groan. "Put succinctly," Hawking began.

"First time for everything," Alex muttered.

Gotta feel sorry for Alex for having to put up with Hawking!

"Temporal violation is an offence where the timeline is put in serious jeopardy by the actions of individual or individuals."

"Define serious jeopardy," Carmen pursued.

"Well," Hawking answered thoughtfully, "serious jeopardy is when destiny force is called into play or is likely to be called into play."

"I see," said Carmen, pacing away.

Wes wondered where this line of questioning was going to lead.

"Hypothetically speaking," Carmen continued, "what would be the effect of -- for example -- drawing a person from an earlier time period into this one?"

"It would depend on the person," Hawking replied. "But generally speaking...may I speak generally?"

"By all means, director," Carmen answered.

Hawking nodded. "Generally speaking, extracting someone from an earlier time period is disastrous for the timeline."

"Disastrous how?" Carmen pushed.

"At the very least, something of that nature will invoke Destiny Force to rectify it. At worst, you could be looking at the complete and utter collapse of this time. That is the reason that temporal violation carries such a heavy penalty."

Wes watched Carmen nod thoughtfully.

"I see."

Again Carmen paced across the courtroom.

"My client," he finally said, "is charged with aiding Jack Scotts' efforts in pulling Captain Scotts from her time period. In your expert opinion, director, what was the effect of this action on the timeline?"

"We in the temporal department have been looking into this matter," Hawking replied.

"What?" Jen murmured softly.

"They're bound to have done, Jen," Alex answered. "It's germane to the case."

I think I'd just learned the word 'germane' at this point. It starts popping up all over the place after this point!

"You have?" Carmen queried, faux surprise in his voice. "And what was the conclusion drawn?"

"That the effect on the time line has proved to be minimal."

"Minimal? Define minimal."

"Certain names and places have been altered, but events have basically unfolded as they needed."

They have? Wes found himself wondering, surprised.

"I see. So in fact, my client has done little wrong here?"

"On the contrary, she is alleged to have committed a temporal violation."

"But it's had no effect on the time line. You've just said that it's likely that an event such as pulling someone from their time period to this one would cause major upheaval. Yet you're saying there's been no effect. How is that possible?"

There was an electric pause. The pit of Wes' stomach filled with dread. He had a nasty feeling he knew where this was leading, or at the very least, what Carmen was hoping this would lead to.

"There are two reasons...two potential reasons," Hawking finally answered.

"And what would they be?"

"Well, the lack of time line damage suggests either Destiny Force has been at work or Captain Scotts wasn't pulled from a previous time period."

Jen gasped. Wes groaned. He could see where this was going: Carmen was going to try and void the temporal violation charge by proving that Jen originated in the thirtieth century. Between that and the trail of witnesses that described her as a scientific incompetent who couldn't turn on a Bunsen burner much less perform a complicated piece of brain surgery, the judges would have no choice but to dismiss the charges.

"No further questions." Carmen's tone was smug.

And even if van Zyl cross-examines him, Wes realised, the damage has already been done. He groaned again. Things had just got a lot more complicated.

Wes shook himself out of the memory as he entered the living room. The night after that first insinuation that Jen hadn't originated in the twentieth century had been the first night he'd woken up to find her curled up on the sofa in the living room, crying.

And you have to feel for Jen at this point, too.

"What if he's right?" Jen asked. "What if..."

"'What if' isn't the truth, Jen," he replied, drawing her into an embrace. "And you know that."

"Do I?" She pushed free of his arms. "I don't know anything about me. I can't trust my memories...hell, even Temporal don't know for sure."

Wes grimaced, trying to keep his voice calm. "Then trust me."

"What?"

"Trust me," Wes replied, pulling her back into his arms, desperately hoping she'd believe him. "I know the truth. It doesn't matter what Carmen tries to prove, I know the truth. I know who you are."

"How? How can you know that?" Jen demanded, breaking free again, to Wes' chagrin. "How can you know that when I don't?"

He shook his head, clearing the memory from his mind, as his eyes fell on his quarry, who was curled up in her usual spot on the couch.

"Jen?"

She looked up, eyes dry. For once it seemed as if she hadn't actually been crying. "Sorry -- I didn't mean to wake you." Her voice sounded distant. Strained.

"It's OK." Wes kept his voice calm as he sat down on the couch. It wouldn't help matters if he showed his own fears and hurt.

"It's not OK." Jen sighed. "None of this is 'OK'."

Wes offered her an encouraging smile. "We'll get through this. I promise."

Wes watched as a look of both love and shame crossed her face. "I don't deserve you."

"Why? What on earth makes you think that?"

She gestured vaguely. "This. Me. I've been..." she shrugged helplessly. "Been punishing you because of my fears. Why are you still here? You'd be better off without me."

Wes snorted, wishing he could have five minutes alone with Carmen -- or better still, with Jack Scotts. "No I wouldn't."

"What?"

"Be better off without you," he replied. "I wouldn't be." Jen just stared at him, silent and incredulous. "Jen, I love you. I love you. Not your past, not where you come from, not what Carmen might be making up tomorrow. You."

"But tomorrow it's not Carmen going to be saying stuff," Jen replied softly.

"Tomorrow's your day?" Wes queried. Mutely, Jen nodded. "Then it's your chance to put the record straight."

"But what if I can't?"

"You can -- and you will. I know you will." He held his hand out to her. "Remember -- you can squeeze my hand when it starts to hurt," he added. It was the offer he'd made the morning she had decided to get the full story from Alex. She'd accepted the offer that morning but each time he'd repeated the offer since the start of the trial, she had refused it...and each refusal made him die a little bit inside.

Somewhat to his surprise -- and delight -- tonight was different. He felt her timidly take hold of his hand.

"I trust you," she murmured softly. "And I love you...I don't think I deserve you -- but I do love you...and I'm sorry."

This is the first exchange in Future Imperfect that I really like. It's a sweet little exchange that says so much about Wes and Jen's relationship at this point; it also shows how much better I do when not drugged to the eyeballs.

~*~

Wes took his customary seat in the courtroom feeling almost as nervous as Jen was. She was to be the first witness for the prosecution after a week of hearing people vouch for Askot. As if that wasn't nerve-wracking enough, then there was Carmen's insinuation that the whole temporal violation charge was bogus.

"Today's the day, huh?" said a voice.

Wes looked round to see Katie sliding into the seat next to him. "Hey Katie." He noted the lack of Time Force uniform. "Off duty?"

Katie smiled faintly. "I actually quit Time Force when we got back to this time," she replied. "The only reason I was back in uniform during the Biocon mess was that Alex all but hog-tied and dragged me in."

And Wes learns this for the first time...

"How come?"

"How come I quit or how come Alex dragged me back?"

It was Wes' turn to smile faintly. "Both?" he suggested.

"The quitting's easy. Momma needs me at home more than Time Force needs me. I have three kid brothers; Momma has to work." Katie shrugged. "The math on that one's easy." Wes nodded. "As for Alex..." Katie sighed. "I had information he needed. Unfortunately, he couldn't ask me for it until I knew the full story and I couldn't know the full story until I was a legitimate officer again."

"Information?"

Katie nodded towards the as yet empty witness stand. "About Jen and the Scotts family. I've known Jen just about my whole life. Alex knew I'd be able to identify Jack Scotts."

Yes, there is a story in there, and sooner or later you'll get the adventures of Jen Scotts and Katie Walker...

"Ah." Wes nodded, understanding coming in a rush.

Katie opened her mouth to say something else but in that instant, the tribunal judges entered the chamber.

"The court will come to order," announced the tribunal chair and instant silence fell over the court.

The trio sat down. Wes watched as Pieter van Zyl, the prosecuting attorney, got to his feet.

"I would like to call my first witness," he announced in his calm, unruffled tones.

"Witness name?" said the tribunal chair.

"Captain Jennifer Scotts of Time Force Covert Operations."

This was originally just one line: "I'd like to call my first witness Captain Jennifer Scotts." Which, when I read it back to myself, put me in mind of Monty Python and MST3K. So rather than hand over something so easy to mis-interpret, I rewrote.

"Witness called," acknowledged the tribunal chair.

Wes watched as Jen made her way to the witness stand. The pale, strained expression on her face told him just how nervous she was.

"Haven't seen her look that nervous since she took the exam for the Time Force academy," Katie murmured sotto voce. "And she puked her guts up twice that day!"

Nice mental image there, Katie - way to make Wes feel less worried...

"Captain Scotts," van Zyl began, "you were assigned by Major Collins on a then top secret mission, one month ago. Could you please tell me what that mission was?"

Wes watched as Jen swallowed. "I was sent back in time to the twenty-first century on the trail of Biocon."

"Biocon." van Zyl started to pace. "A man of many faces. You knew him by one guise?"

"Yes I did," Jen replied.

"Which guise was that?"

"He was Jack Scotts -- my uncle and guardian."

van Zyl nodded. "Your guardian -- how old were you when you were placed in his care?"

"Six."

"Do you remember the day you were placed in his care?"

Wes frowned at the strange question.

"No I don't," Jen admitted.

van Zyl nodded as if he had been expecting that response. "As far as you were aware, your guardian died when you were...how old?"

"Eighteen -- I had just had my birthday."

Again van Zyl nodded. "For the court, could you tell us how old you are now, please?"

"Twenty six," Jen answered, sounding a little more confident. Wes got the impression that the relatively gentle questions so far had purely been designed to put Jen at ease and they had clearly done that.

"So as far as you were aware," van Zyl continued, "Jack Scotts had been dead eight years when Major Collins assigned you to the Biocon mission. Correct?"

Jen nodded. "Yes."

"What was your reaction when you caught up with Biocon and learned the truth?"

Carmen bounced to his feet. "Objection!"

And enter the obnoxious lawyer... I had FUN with Carmen here.

A gasp rippled around the packed courtroom.

"On what grounds?" the tribunal chair asked.

"Supposition," Carmen answered.

The trio of judges exchanged glances. "Overruled," the chair announced. "A person's reaction is not supposition. Proceed."

"Captain Scotts?" van Zyl prompted.

"I was...shocked," Jen replied. "It's really not every day that you find out that not only is your uncle not actually dead but he's actually a criminal that he taught you to hate."

"I can imagine it's not," van Zyl stated. "What happened then?"

"I was angry. I realised that he'd lied to me my whole life..."

"Objection!" Carmen bounced to his feet again.

"On what grounds?" the tribunal chair enquired. To Wes' ears the words sounded just fractionally testy.

"God what an asshole that guy is," Katie mumbled, nodding towards Carmen. Wes had to agree.

"Hyperbole," Carmen replied.

There was another shared look between the tribunal judges. "Sustained. Mr van Zyl?"

van Zyl nodded. "You were angry. Why were you angry?"

Back was the nervous look on Jen's face. "I realised that if he was standing there in front of me, he had to have lied to me at least once in my life."

"How so?" van Zyl pressed.

"Well -- he had faked his death. And for most of my life, he had been around to make sure that I never forgot that my family died at Biocon's hands."

"When he, in fact, was Biocon," stated van Zyl. "I see. What did you plan on doing at that moment, when you realised all this?"

"I don't know," Jen admitted. "I was too angry to actually think. I know I said something to him...something not very complimentary." A slight titter ran around the room

Older, English, readers may be prompted to think of Willie Rushton at that point. Sorry!

and Jen smiled briefly. "I know I was planning to do my job."

Carmen bounced to his feet yet again. "Objection!"

"On what grounds?" the tribunal chair asked. Wes was sure there was irritation in his voice now.

And who wouldn't be annoyed with Carmen at this point. What he's doing is essentially trying to put Jen off. Worst of it is he's basically succeeding.

"Supposition."

There was no need for a shared glance. "Overruled. Please continue."

"Captain Scotts?" prompted van Zyl. "What happened next?"

"Biocon initiated the Alpha Project."

"Ah." van Zyl nodded. "The Alpha Project. We've heard a lot in the past week about the scientific and theoretical ins and outs of this project. Would you please describe what it was actually like?"

Carmen started to make a move. To Wes' amusement, the tribunal chair just balefully glared at the obnoxious lawyer and he subsided without a word.

I also rather like the lead judge.

"It was frightening. One second I was in full command of what I was doing, the next I wasn't. I was a complete prisoner in my own mind."

"Explain," said van Zyl, before Carmen could get in another call of hyperbole.

"Well -- I could see and hear what was going on," Jen replied, "but I couldn't do anything about what was going on...or what Biocon was ordering me to do."

"Did you try?" van Zyl asked.

"Wow -- that's a cold question," Katie murmured softly.

"Better him asking than Carmen," Wes replied. "And you can bet your ass Carmen would have done."

He certainly would have done - and he's probably sitting there now giving van Zyl a death glare for beating him to it!

"True."

Jen, for her part, looked affronted. "Of course. I tried so hard I gave myself a migraine headache."

"Objection!"

"On what grounds?" the tribunal chair asked.

"Conjecture."

"Mr van Zyl -- a migraine attack is a rather nebulous and potentially feigned condition..."

"Ouch," muttered Katie.

Jen opened her mouth to protest. van Zyl smartly stepped up to the tribunal panel and set a datapad before them. "I submit TFM report 0192A -- this is the bio-data that was pulled from Captain Scotts' morpher in the aftermath of this incident. It clearly indicates that Captain Scotts did suffer from a very severe headache the night following this incident that, if not of migraine proportions, was certainly painful."

"That will suffice. Objection overruled."

"Thank you. Moving forward, at what point, Captain Scotts, did you realise that you were the celebrated Shendraville 'survivor'?"

Jen sighed thoughtfully. "I suppose I half thought it when I realised who Biocon was, but actually knew... Not until Major Collins told me."

van Zyl nodded. "No further questions at this time."

He took his seat again.

"Mr Carmen," began the tribunal chair. "You have the witness."

And let the fun begin. This was a much better chapter from so many perspectives. For one thing, something actually happens! It also gets the plot/timeline moving along, which is good. It also showed me how I was going to get around not being John Grisham!

Now off to write what I intended to write on Explode today...