6th February
17:18 GMT
Guy's eyes narrow.
"Doin'… What?"
"She worked on the neural programming system. She… Wanted to develop something that could be used in schools, but… That wasn’t what the government was funding her for. The data implanting system they… Well, so far as I know that they still use, that was largely her work. I think that the official record of her trial lists that as the reason why she was murdered."
Ring, one way transmit to Xalitan Xor.
Compliance.
"She was murdered by a former War Hound named Xalitan Xor, wasn't she? Personal revenge seems rather contrary to how everyone's been telling me they're programmed to think."
"Xalitan… None of them mind what was done to them. Since few of them remember ever being anything else… If you or I were forced into a strange body, had our minds reprogrammed and then were made to fight for a government that treated us with contempt, we would resent it. They were taught in such a way that they wouldn't. Some… The ones who had the early versions of the program, went mad when they kept getting contradictory instructions. But Xalitan didn't.. have that problem. My mother could have transplanted his brain herself and he wouldn't have borne a grudge about it."
"You believe that he was innocent?"
"Of course he was innocent." She frowns slightly. "I don't know why they bothered with the show trial. Father had to disavow him of course. He wouldn't let me go anywhere near the trial in case I tried to argue in Xalitan's favour."
"'Had to'?"
"Come on, Guy. The fix was in. Everyone who could change the situation had come to terms. All Jaggar Ton could have done is cut his own throat shaving." I glance at Onigar. "And probably hers as well."
"Father tried to convince me.. that Xalitan might have done it. Or perhaps he was trying to convince himself. Father did not become rich by being a scrupulously honest man, but… He did not… Not routinely betray his employees like that."
"So… It wasn't even anything to do with Xalitan being a War Hound who was succeeding outside of the military?"
"I don't know. I imagine that was convenient. By definition, War Hounds don't have family to cause a fuss when they 'disappear'." She shakes her head. "Perhaps he would have been disappeared in a few years anyway, but… I would have liked to have been able to spend more time with him."
"Did they tell you what happened-?"
"The ship he was being transported on malfunctioned and was.. probably lost with all hands. That most likely was an accident. I doubt they would have considered him to be worth the price of a ship and a trained crew."
"So what did your mom do that made your government wanna kill her?"
Onigar shakes her head. "I don't know. I don’t even know for certain that they had her killed. There are a great many parts of our government that can order someone killed."
"And once she was dead, that was one less loose end." I nod. "We're not here to investigate your mother's death, but if we find anything we'll let you"-. She's looking out of the window. "-know."
Xalitan Xor is standing on the balcony, and hesitantly brings his fists together at his chest.
"Xaly?"
"The ship crashed close to our-"
Onigar slowly walks toward him, her hands nervously reaching out to him.
"-homeworld, and I thought that he had the right stuff."
Xor remains stone-faced for a moment, before lowering his hands and allowing her to place her hands on his chest.
"I did not know that they threatened you."
"Of course you didn't."
"Your father spoke only to curse me."
"He thought that he had to."
"He was… Right. If he had told me you were in danger, I would have confessed. I have raged at him, cursed him, when… He wanted to exchange my safety for yours."
"I'm not safe. No one's safe." Onigar makes a gasping-laugh noise. "You have a power ring."
"I began working for your father after I risked my life to save his. I began working for my new master when he risked his life to save mine."
"In the interests of honesty, I wasn't.. really in that much danger. Look, Guy and I can.. go and interrogate these guys somewhere else while you two reconnect..?"
"No."
Xor's environmental shield flares.
"I came here for revenge. On my judges. On Jaggar Ton. I thought this was personal. One man's pride against another's. But it isn't. The mechanisms of the society which surrounds us are… Vast. The dishonourable behaviour I hate… It is not from any one person but from every person. And it is so everywhere that no one even notices!"
"Illustres." He looks at me. "When you first told me why you were an Orange Lantern, I did not understand what you were trying to tell me. I did not know what the universe being.. wrong could mean. Now, I think that I am beginning to understand. And I do not like it."
"Alright. What do you plan on doing about it?"
He delicately steps around Onigar and walks towards the branded War Hounds, leaning down to take hold of the shoulders of the closest. "Why do you do this?"
"We do as we are ordered."
"And when you are ordered to attack non-combatants?"
"We are told that not all fights are so obvious. We fight to preserve the state."
"Why?"
"This life makes sense. I serve. I fight. It's what I'm for. Isn't it? You are as we are. Why do you feel differently? Did you not fight who you were told to fight?"
"I did." Xor removes his hands from the man's shoulders and turns to me. "Illustres, do you have need of them?"
"There are questions I'd like to ask them. What do you have in mind?"
"This." He lays his hands on the man's head and-
Connection lost.
-orange light flares from his palms as my brand evaporates.
"Serving the dishonourable with honour undermines that honour. You cannot mark out some small part of the universe and say, 'here is honour' when all the rest is consumed with vice."
Xor lifts his hands off the defeated War Hound's head and steps back, the other man watching him curiously.
"You cling to what little you can hold so that you don't see your life running through your fingers. No more. We will not tolerate being treated like this. We will teach the Alignment honour once more or die trying."
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