Bane sat in the court room aware of all the cameras. The number of reporters were limited, but there were so many cameras it was like looking at a giant fly. They covered every angle and direction. She tried her best to ignore them, but knew that there were friends and family out there, watching. Her Advocate sat beside her, blocking out a lot of the cameras for which she was grateful. He had all sorts of com pads and written notes on the table they sat at together. The room was also packed with people, most of them in uniform, high-ranking, and giving her ugly stares. In front of her sat the military panel of seven men – all generals. It was their remit to decide her innocence or her guilt.

The Prosecutor stood up and began talking and his speech lasted a full forty-five minutes. She noticed several of the panel were severely bored. She was too, the man was painting her as a crusading terrorist using the war to further her own evil desires, like some wicked witch in a children’s story. Advocate Evensis did not seem bothered by the ranting. When the Prosecutor finally sat down Evensis stood up. His opening speech lasted less than fifteen minutes and Bane began to wish she had a drooling limping monkey for an Advocate.

~ * ~

Mal walked with Zoe along one of the streets on Boros. He knew she was not happy about all this chasing around he was doing and he wanted to talk to her about it. He had been trying to find the right words for some minutes now.

“You know how we keep dancing to this same tune?” Mal began.

“Sir?” Zoe said, puzzled.

“You know, I tell you the plan. You hate the plan. You make a few suggestions and we change the plan slightly. Or circumstances dictate that we have to make a new plan –“

“I get it, Cap’n,” she said, smiling a little.

“Well. This thing I’ve been doing for Bane.”

“It’s admirable what you’re doing,” said Zoe.

“But?” Mal asked.

“But we can’t possibly take on the Alliance single handed without drawing a whole lot of attention to ourselves, sir. Tho