Titan's Plague: The Trial by Tom Briggs (story reading .txt) 📕

her black briefcase. “You doing all right?” Nancy asked.

“I’m good, just wondering what it’ll be like traveling with the rich and famous back to Earth.”

“How’s the settlement going, then?”

“I had a message from Joel Chevelde. He sent me a proposal from the McLears.”

“Excellent, what’s he think?”

“He thinks it sucks. It blew my socks off, though.”

“He can be greedy when he wants to be.”

“You don’t think I should listen to him?”

“No, you should. I meant greedy in a good way, in how he fights for a client. If you’re happy with what they’re offering, and he thinks he can get more, tell him to counteroffer and see what they say. Since I don’t expect you want half the company, and you don’t want a big fight, tell him to accept whatever they come back with. Take the money and run.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“Thought you would, but first, we have to get you from under your responsibility to the state.”

“Right, so how are you feeling?” Pati asked.

Nancy shrugged. “I’m all right. Not a lot of sleep last night. I watched video until I passed out. That’s how I found out about you talking with Connie Pearson.” She nodded to the door Pati stood next to. “Ready?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Nancy opened the door and led Pati in. The room was small for conferences, although it only held a small table with two seats on each side. There were video screens on both ends, while the wall with the door and opposite were flat-white with no ornaments. Nancy walked to the seats opposite the door and took one. Pati took the other.

Nancy opened her briefcase with the hinges facing where Jack Reagan would sit. Then she pulled out her tablet and placed it next to the briefcase. She started tapping the screen when a knock on the door was heard.

“Come in,” Nancy said, without taking her attention from the tablet.

Jack Reagan stepped in, followed by another male; both were wearing black suits. “Good morning,” he said. His expression was stern, and he did not have the look of someone who wanted to chat.

Nancy nodded. Neither entrant looked at Pati, so she decided not to greet them. Jack Reagan and this guy were her enemies, and if they gave her no reason to be courteous to them, so much the better.

They took the seats opposite of Nancy and Pati, with the tall, black-suited male sitting across from Pati. He carried in a black briefcase and placed it on the floor where Pati couldn’t see it. He pulled out an electronic device and placed it on the table.

“This is Harry Meldrom, he’ll be assisting me today,” Jack Reagan said.

“Pleased to meet you, Harry,” Nancy said as she extended her hand across the table. He was obviously of European descent, pale with light-brown hair. He also looked older than Jack Reagan. Maybe in his middle-forties, adjusted for life on Titan, because he seemed too tall to be from Earth.

Harry took Nancy’s hand, “Yes, Ms. Tate, I’m happy to be working with you,” he said.

Harry now glanced at Pati and nodded, as if he’d just been given permission to say hello. Jack Reagan also nodded but immediately turned his attention to his own briefcase set across from Nancy. He pulled out a tablet, set his briefcase on the floor, and returned his attention to Nancy. “Harry will be taking additional recordings for state purposes,” he said.

“Go right ahead,” Nancy said.

“Fine, then I’d like to call this settlement conference to order. This is Jack Reagan and Harry Meldrom negotiating for the state,” he said. In response, Pati heard the recording mechanism confirm activation. While all the previous settlement conferences were confidential, the final settlement conference would be recorded to determine if one side was purposely refusing to settle.

“This is Nancy Tate, counsel for Pati Lynch, who is also in attendance,” Nancy said.

“I would like to reference the last hearing,” Jack Reagan said, “and despite the results tabulated, the state feels confident a labor sentence of ten years is appropriate to protect the public from a repeat offender. This sentence will also allow the defendant time to rehabilitate to a behavior that will be supportive of the common good rather than a habitual tendency towards violence that has been documented and presented as evidence.”

Pati felt her face turn red. Ten years on an ice-miner! Jack Reagan should drug-tested for suggesting that kind of sentence. That bastard wasn’t on the ship with her; he wasn’t the one Bruno attacked and tried to kill. He never spent a moment with the twins. Never experienced a situation where, had he stepped in the wrong direction, he might be fatally injured, only to see the twins watching him.

Nancy’s right hand lightly grabbed Pati’s left forearm, nonverbally telling Pati to settle down. Pati took a deep breath and turned her attention from Jack Reagan to the table.

“The state’s characterization of my client is borderline unethical,” Nancy said. Jack Reagan started to respond, and when Nancy held up her hand, he stopped. “My client suffered a traumatic event,” she continued. “One she is forced to recall, time and time again, because the state, without evidence, continues to insist that her actions met the definition of murder. And yet, centuries of legal proceedings of this type have affirmed, time and again, that actions taken in self-defense do not meet that definition. As of today, my client has provided all the evidence needed to sustain a self-defense argument, and the state has not provided a shred of evidence to contradict her testimony. So, while we have no issue with the state offering an unrealistic sentence at the beginning of negotiations, we maintain the characterization of my client is uncalled for and counterproductive to reaching a settlement.”

“The state is interested in settling this murder trial,” he said. “But it also must be cognizant of the character of the defendant and allowing violent criminals to walk the streets of Karakorum can mean we’ll be back here in another year trying a new case.”

Nancy put her hand on Pati’s arm again and stood up. “Your mischaracterization of my client is not facilitating a settlement.” Nancy put her tablet back into her briefcase and closed it. “We can leave now. I have no problem maintaining that you did not come here for settlement purposes.”

“Counselor, I am only answering why I have proposed the terms I have, and as far as what you call, ‘characterization,’ every word I used in reference to your client is verified by events. A criminal is a person convicted of a crime, which your client was. A violent criminal is a person convicted of a violent crime, which your—”

Nancy pointed her finger at Jack Reagan. “I don’t disagree that your language can be theoretically correct. However, if you wish to reach a settlement for this case, you do not start by insulting the defendant. You started this negotiation by referencing the score tabulated in the last hearing. Let me reference it as well and point out that as it stands, my client would not receive a sentence as harsh as the one you just proposed. Explain how you intend to negotiate in good faith when you begin with that proposal.”

Jack Reagan’s face remained unmoved during Nancy’s speech, and when she apparently finished, he folded his arms and sat back. “The score could still go higher.”

“We’re down to closing arguments. I know what you will say, and I have rebuttals for every point you might make. I even have rebuttals for points you cannot make. I’ve done this before, and I know my client will walk free after the JJ runs a score.”

“There’s the possibility additional evidence will present itself,” he said.

“And you’re wasting the state’s money on the possibility that evidence will present itself,” Nancy said. She picked up her briefcase. “I now maintain that you have not negotiated in good faith and we’ll let that data be added for the final hearing. Let’s go, Pati.”

Pati stood up and followed her to the door.

“I’ll do one-year labor with limited confinement,” Jack Reagan said before Nancy opened the door.

She stopped and beckoned Pati to follow her back to their seats. Once they were seated, she took her tablet out and tapped a few buttons before setting it next to her briefcase again. “One-month confinement with bracelet monitoring,” she countered.

Pati wanted to hit Nancy until she thought about it. It would be longer than then till she could get on a short cruise back home, and she’d seen everything she could on Titan, anyway. Why not?

“A year with no confinement,” he replied to Nancy.

“We’re not talking years, and I’m not going for more than two months. She’ll be leaving Titan in that amount of time, and you’ve modified settlements before with that stipulation.”

“I absolutely intend for her to leave Titan,” Jack Reagan said. “Preferably as part of the repatriation program.”

The guy next to him laughed, shaking his head. “You sure she deserves just that?” Harry Meldrom mused.

Stupid punk, Pati thought. If he didn’t shut up, she’d do more than think about his stupidity.

Jack Reagan smiled, “Harry, come on, we’re trying to settle here.”.

“Ah, Jack, quit kidding around,” he said and waved dismissively at Pati. “This convict is trying to escape justice by pleading self-defense. They will all lie, cheat, steal, do whatever it takes to literally get away with murder. She killed three guys who she was supposed to see through their own sentences. Now she comes up with some story about how they mutinied—how convenient—especially when she’s the first prison ship commander to have a mutiny.”

“Shut him up,” Nancy said.

Pati had had enough, and Nancy’s hand was on her arm again. This time, she didn’t hold her temper. She stood up and reached over with her right arm. Harry Meldrom did not wear his collar buttoned, and it gave her a good point to grab. His face turned fierce as she grabbed him,