2: Rumors
The faint rumors of events that would cumulate into the Great Matter were muted, and somewhat unbelievable. I first heard of it from another one of my sailor counterparts, the friend of a friend.
-Good morning.
-Good morning, Dyka.
Dyka was a soldier who came from the Cascassa galaxy, another delegate of the Counsel. She was passing through and asked me to pass some important news about legislation to Koogairu. She had been injured and could not attend the meeting.
-I’ll take this and bring it to her, I promised.
-Thanks. Oh, hey. She had turned to me. -I heard something of interest that may intrigue Koo. There’s an investigation of some kind going on.
-Really?
-Yeah. I overheard it. Don’t tell anyone else but Koo, because I don’t think we’re supposed to know yet. But the Three talked to the Barrister - Kepe, she just came back from a Vika galaxy - and ordered an investigation on a possible Number One case.
-Number One?
That certainly got my attention. It surprised me that anyone would dare to break such a rule! But I kept my promise to keep it under wraps, only to tell Koogairu about it. And I did, as she nursed her wound.
-Hmm! She seemed surprised about the news. -Might have some action at last. It was probably one of the backwards ones, of course. Stupid hicks.
-Backwards?
-You know. There was a slight look of disgust in Koogairu’s voice. -Those galaxies.
I got the point. There were several galaxies filled with undesirables. Many of the galaxies in the west of the universe, particularly, known to us as the Vika galaxies. They were very wild, very disorderly, and many did not have the capacity to even leave their own planet. Many of the planets were also uninhabited. Those galaxies were the home of pirates, murderers and other lowlifes. Of course, before the Great Matter, those galaxies were normally ignored.
-Unusual, of course, that the Three would care, she chuckled. -We generally just ignore those galaxies. Nothing good ever came from them.
I also gave a nod, laughing along with her. Nothing good ever had come from them. Those galaxies had nothing to offer even if there was any good or decency among their populaces. Such things were better left alone, left to the pirate fighters - such as Kepe. But I digress.
It had been about a year before the Great Matter really began to take a hold of the counsel, or anyone for that matter. At first, the matter was simply put under the rug, for no one heard anything else of it for a good amount of time. In fact, most people were liable to shrug it off as simply an open-and-shut case. I myself gave a shrug and let it slide; after all, with no more news on it, it was probably already taken care of.
Of course, that would not have been new at all. Though the laws were strict on Number Ones, there could be easy leeway. There were many, many instances where a sailor soldier had broken the rule and had, in the emotion of the moment, brought forth their sailor crystal and resurrected a dead partner as they lay on the ground after a hard battle. It was normally a one-time-only ordeal, an unfortunate and sad event, one that normally cumulated in a simple reprimand from the Three, an apology from the offender, and it was the end of it. For all sailors deserve a second chance; sailors have emotions as well.
So nothing was mentioned, not even a breath, for many months. The bombshell, of course, would hit all the harder when something was finally said.
-Probably nothing. Koogairu accepted the paper graciously. -So, sister, let’s just forget about it for now, shall we?
-
Battles were fought, battles were won, and the year passed quickly. The rumors of the Number One in the distant Vika were all but forgotten by me. There were things to do, students to teach, and royal Ydhh and Themis functions to attend. I lived a busy life, or so I thought.
Then, I loved what I was. I accepted the way things were. Several nights, I would dream myself in the Seemarin senate, showing myself to be an upstanding citizen of the sailor world. So many people would look upon me as a model for the next generation, and when I was reborn, I would take what I could from my previous life and use it once more. My greatest desire was to help people, to risk myself and to die for them if I had to.
Of course, as the months went by, I also thought, if I could not become a senator, I could also become a pirate fighter. Pirate fighters were hardened sailor soldiers who fought in the Vika pirates and criminals who infested the barbarian worlds. There were many favorite fighters, many who were commercial successes. I had a large poster of one - a certain Sailor Kepe - on my wall before the Great Matter. But I digress.
After a year, stories began to come out of one particular Vika system. This one was one situated in the west somewhere, trillions of light years away from Ydhh. However, as the stories began to mount, people began to talk about it more and more. What was once a rumor became regular talk over the table.
-I hear, the Ydhh princess suddenly noted one day, -that there is to be a Number One trial sometime soon. Is this true, Themis?
-A Number One...trial?
-You have not heard? The Ydhh princess was genuinely surprised. -Some of the soldiers passing by recently have been speaking of it. I think it involves Kepe.
-Kepe…..
I consulted Koogairu on this that night. As she was our senator, she probably knew more on it. So I asked her.
-It’s true, Koogairu replied. -Its starting to gain a lot of momentum. The Seemarin has approved of a crackdown in order to reign in the lawlessness of the heathen galaxies. Several people have already been rounded up for it in one of the Vika galaxies, and they’ll be facing tribunals for multiple infractions. But I guess the worst is yet to come.
Twenty soldiers, rounded up for questioning, and then imprisoned, to put on trial. It was news instantly.
MONSTERS OF THE UNKNOWN! One headline glared, with their pictures strewn up on the front page for all to see. THE CRUSADE OF ALL TIME TO STAMP OUT LAWLESSNESS HAS BEGUN!
That was shocking enough, for the soldiers looked like us. They did not look evil or menacing at all, as people tended to think. They actually looked normal, almost sad, in their pictures. I would have almost pitied them, if I was not of the mind that they were traitors. They knew of the rules; they willingly broke them, and they had a greater price to pay than a simple slap on the hand.
But to think, that there was still one left, one more person we had yet to meet. That I had yet to meet. For those same twenty soldiers were somehow very willing, for many reasons, to give up much more tempting information to their interrogators. But I did not know of this. I knew nothing.
What I knew was that being a soldier was a privilege that was not to be taken lightly. All whom I met were colleagues and acquaintances, mainly the soldiers I met. I did not differentiate between my life as a soldier and my normal life because…..well, there was no reason to separate the two. After all, being a soldier was a part of my life, and many people knew I was a soldier, and accepted it. Some people’s very future was dependent on the fact that they were a sailor soldier. Soldiers were to be the leaders of the community and of the galaxy, they were the upstanding heroes. Everyone knew who we were.
Never, however, had I questioned that there could be another way, because for me, there was no other way. All of those who defied the rules were barbarians, and deserved punishment for not following the rules.
But again, this was before the Great Matter. And, of course, this is before I met one young lady named Usagi.
