Pell took a deep breath and looked toward the arbitration bench, where three arbiters sat, one from the Fourth Chapter an Honor Guard, one from the First chapter, and one from the Eleventh chapter.
In the entire Hall of Arbitration, there wasn't a single member from the Departmento Juris. On Vostroya, Imperial Law was neither enforced nor influenced by the Departmento Juris.
Pell stepped into the defense stand. He was the first Eleventh chapter candidate to undergo the final assessment, and he had to defend the honor of the chapter
The candidate from the First chapter glanced at his opponent, lifted the gavel, and struck it once.
"Prosecutor, please deliver your opening statement."
Golovin, once defeated by Nareth, now had graying hair.
After losing to what appeared to be a ten-year-old boy, Nareth, the top gold-medal letigator of Teizca fell into a slump, deeming himself useless, and wandered through bars drowning his sorrows.
But just a year later, Nareth unified Vostroya and was crowned monarch.
Realizing that he and the miracle-working monarch were worlds apart, Golovin regained his confidence, his career climbing steadily until he became Vostroya's top lawyer.
Later, when he learned that the monarch was no ordinary man but a Primarch, he was completely at peace.
Today, he charged no defense fee, he was here purely to defeat the Primarch's offspring.
Golovin glanced at the giant across from him, took a deep breath, suppressing his fear, letting his professionalism and hunger for victory overcome it.
"Honorable Arbiter, the defendant Greenwood's lasgun manufacturing plant has violated the Omnissiah's Codex of Guidance, Chapter Eleven, 'Factory Governance Regulations,' Article Eleven of the Factory Management Rules, Clause Five."
"Without certification and approval, no changes may be made to any manufacturing procedure."
"Unauthorized changes to the production process create safety hazards that could affect the dome, and even the entire hive."
As Golovin spoke, he operated a data-slate, projecting a holographic image.
"The A-005 munitions factory in the lower hive once illegally altered its production process, causing an explosion that killed 404 workers."
"…"
The arbiters watched Golovin's impassioned rhetoric. By normal standards, his performance was excellent.
After eleven minutes of statements, the nobles and merchants in the audience burst into applause, saluting the gold-medal lawyer's skillful argument.
Golovin looked confidently at his giant opponent, then said in a deep voice:
"Honorable Arbiter, my statement is complete. Please judge wisely."
The presiding arbiter turned to Pell.
"Defense, please present your response."
Under the gaze of his opponent and the three Shadows of Order, Pell calmly rose.
"Honorable Arbiter, esteemed arbiters, indeed, Greenwood has violated the Omnissiah's Codex of Guidance."
"However, when Lord Howard Fender implemented reforms in Vostroya, he added annotations to the Codex."
"In Chapter Eleven, the annotation specifies that if a factory owner, after completing the analysis and testing stages, can prove that an improvement is highly effective and that thirty-three experimental runs occur without incident, they may implement the improved process while awaiting approval."
As Pell spoke, he operated his data slate, displaying data and recordings one by one.
Golovin's face turned ashen, he realized he might once again lose to the Primarch's offspring.
Last time, after his defeat, he had memorized 200 million words of appendix laws. Today, however, he had been undone by not knowing the annotations.
'Five hundred million words of annotations, only an augmented or a techpriest could remember them all.'
He looked at Pell. The image of the black-robed giant slowly overlapped with the figure in his memory, and he felt momentarily dazed.
The presiding arbiter sighed. Victory was important, but the spirit of a just judge was even more so.
And he knew that in his evaluation, maintaining impartiality was one of the most important criteria.
He lifted the gavel and struck it hard.
"The defendant Greenwood is not guilty!"
Golovin came to his senses, leaving once again in the shadow of defeat.
Five days later, he would return to the arbitration hall to face, once more, the Primarch's prospective offspring as his opponent.
He knew this was the 1,133rd final assessment for the Shadows of Order.
Five minutes later, the audience had left the hall.
The Honor Guard member from the Fourth chapter allowed a faint smile to cross his stern face.
"You have both passed the final assessment. You will now receive your power armor and become true Shadows of Order."
Seeing the arbiter's puzzled look, the First chapter's "Lawyer" explained:
"The most important criterion in judging an arbiter is resisting the influence of either side's eloquence, restraining the temptation to become a Legion warrior, and maintaining impartiality at all times."
"That is the true Arbiter, and the requirement of Lord Howard Fender."
Eleven days later, in high orbit over Vostroya.
Clad in black power armor, Pell Koschelny stood before the viewport, gazing at his shrinking homeworld with a surge of emotion.
Having just become a full Shadow of Order, he could now follow the Primarch into the Wheel of Fire System to wage war against the Orks.
At the same time Pell set out for the Wheel of Fire, Wilshire of the Second Legion had already boarded the Throne of Shadow's Sovereignity.
As a new recruit from Terra, Wilshire had undergone augmentation on Luna. Ranking second in his class after completing initial training, he was originally slated, like the rest of the top fifteen, to be a candidate for the Luna Wolves.
But before the augmentation surgery, Eleventh Legion "Shadow of Order" officer Bradshaw approached him with an invitation, and Wilshire sensed a special interest from the instructor.
Requesting five days to consider, Wilshire began researching everything he could about Primarch Nareth and the Eleventh Legion.
He sought out another instructor from the First Chapter's Shadow of Order, Hollis, and asked about the Primarch and the Legion's philosophy.
As a former member of the Primarch's Honor Guard, Hollis gave a thorough explanation.
The philosophy of using the rules to strike precisely and establish order deeply appealed to Wilshire.
Compared to the gangster-like culture of the Luna Wolves, the Shadows of Order's ideology attracted and suited him far more.
He also learned that the monarch had not only discovered the first Knight World but had also provided supplies for the Great Crusade.
The Primarch's simultaneous lightning assault on the Araneus Continuity with six chapters had become a classic case study at Luna's training base and strategic analysis rooms.
Though the lecturers' limited knowledge of the war left many questions, Wilshire only became more interested.
After careful thought, he accepted Bradshaw's invitation.
Even so, Wilshire worried, by his results, he should have been assigned to the Luna Wolves.
Later, Bradshaw somehow managed to change it, Wilshire guessed through some use of rules and trade-offs, to bring him into the Eleventh Legion's special candidate training camp.
As a key trainee for both Bradshaw and Hollis, he received far harsher training than others:
Zero-gravity exercises aboard derelict warships near Pluto
Hunting drills in Necromunda's underhive
Armored vehicle training on agricultural world plains
By the time the candidate pool swelled to 1,133, Wilshire ranked first in every program.
He thus became the only recruit jointly recommended by two former Honor Guard members, to serve at the Primarch's side as one of his Honor Guard.
...
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
[email protected]/DaoistJinzu