The Tribunal Hall had been built for moments like this.
High ceilings, stone pillars, raised seating on three sides, all of it packed with academy elites, military officers, and reporters whose recording crystals drifted in tight formation above the central floor.
The room was designed to hold two hundred people. Four hundred had shown up. Every seat was filled and the aisles were crammed with standing spectators who had pushed past the capacity limits because they refused to miss what was coming.
At the far end, the judge's seat sat elevated on a platform ten feet above the floor. It was a massive chair made from a block of black granite, built to make whoever sat in it look like a god passing judgment on mortals.
Instructor Vespera sat in it.
