SHADES OF JUSTICE
Henry N. Silva
NOTE: The following story is technically a sequel to my book Sunrise Order. That said, I did my best to structure this story in a way where it can be read without needing to also read the book that precedes it.
Dean faces the blue sunset…
In times of stress, the sun of his home-world usually manages to put him at ease. He cherishes that blue sun, against the reddish-gray sky, the two colors meshing perfectly together, across the world of Deltax…
But everyone knows that Dean doesn’t just admire the sun for its beauty. He needs that sun, more than any ordinary human ever could…
He remembers hearing the bedtime stories from his parents, over and over, when he was just a little boy. Night after night, they told him of the time, centuries ago, when humanity first came to Deltax, and how some of those very first settlers became blessed by the blue sun. These chosen few soon found themselves with heightened strength and intelligence. They were humans no more…
They and their descendants became known as the Sunchildren, and together, they formed the everlasting Sunrise Order.
And you’re a Sunchild too! Dean remembers his mother first saying to him, so long ago…
Standing in front of his own airship, Dean now takes his eyes off the sun, focusing instead on the small town ahead of him, surrounded by vast desert, common for the western region of the planet… As he makes his way into town on foot, he finds himself greeted by a fellow Sunchild, Fodir. The two of them bare black Sunchild armor, accentuated by patches of purple, the color of The West…
A warm smile sweeps across Fodir’s face, “You picked up the distress call too, I see!”
“Why did our radars pick this one up, though?” Dean asks, as he looks around, “Isn’t this Northwest territory?”
“Actually, this community is technically right on the border between West and Northwest,” Fodir explains.
“Oh,” Dean refocuses his attention on a small house, just behind his peer, “So what happened here?”
“Some kinda domestic dispute, it looks like. A few Northwesterners got here right before me, though.”
“Should we go take a look anyways?”
Fodir nods, “Might as well.”
They step indoors, only to find a small girl, curled up on the floor and crying, just beside the entrance…
Dean kneels down, meeting her at her level, “Hey, kid. Can you tell us what happened here?”
The girl does her best to speak between sobs, “Mommy killed daddy… Mommy killed daddy!”
Dean stands back up, looking over just as the mother is being taken from the kitchen to the outside, a Northwestern Sunchild grabbing her by each arm. They too bare black armor, only theirs is accentuated by a lighter shade of purple, more magenta than anything else… Dean manages to get a good look at the mother as she passes him. He can see the pure, unfiltered insanity in her eyes. She snarls as she sees him, making no acknowledgement of her daughter whatsoever. No remorse…
Another Northwestern Sunchilddd then steps out from the kitchen, one whom Dean already happens to know, a man by the name of Rakk.
“So what’s gonna happen to her?” Dean asks him, “The mother, I mean.”
Rakk merely shrugs, “You know how it goes. We’ll decide if we should send her to The North or not. If we keep her here, then we’ll decide her fate ourselves. If we send her north, then it’ll be up to the government.”
Fodir grits his teeth, “You mean the same government that was recently exposed as corrupt?”
“Corrupt or not, it’s the global government,” Rakk snaps back at him, “and rules are rules.”
Dean eyes him critically, “Your rules. Not ours.”
Rakk remains unfazed, “Even so, we got here before you guys did. That woman is under our jurisdiction now.” With that, he leaves…
The pair of Western Sunchildren say nothing more, returning their attention to the helpless child on the floor…
MONTHS LATER
Dean steps into a bar, deep in thought… Even now, he cannot stop thinking about the ‘domestic dispute’ from several months prior. There was a time where he only cared about himself, but that time was over for him now…
Soon enough, he recognizes Rakk, sitting alone atop a barstool, and decides to join him.
Rakk looks to his left, “Ah, look who it is!”
“A bit far from home, no?”
The Northwesterner takes another sip of his drink, “Maybe I just like it here.”
Dean gets to the point, “I heard all the charges were dropped for that woman… Why?”
As per usual, Rakk shrugs, “I wasn’t part of the decision to send her north, nor was I part of the court’s ruling up there.”
Dean presses on, “Your actions have allowed a guilty person to walk free. Had you just let us handle it, none of this would’ve happened.”
Rakk places some money on the counter, standing from his seat. For a moment, it seems he is about to say something new in rebuttal, but suddenly stops himself, instead leaving the bar in silence…
The Westerner continues to sit alone, wondering what Rakk had wanted to say to him. Did he want to admit defeat? Did he simply feel that Dean wasn’t worth arguing any further with?
Whatever the answer, it was beyond Dean, at least in that moment…
DAYS LATER
The Western Sunchild finds himself returning to the same bar, this time on business…
There to great him just outside is Fodir, his usual warm smile in tow, “Nice to see a familiar face!”
Dean waves to him, “At least we’re deep in western territory this time. No need to worry about Northwesterners getting in the way… So what happened?”
Fodir points to bar behind him, “Some guy had too much to drink in there, started going crazy.”
“Shouldn’t be too hard to handle, then.”
They step in, only to find the place empty and destroyed. An older man stands in the middle, visibly drunk, a broken glass bottle in his hand…
He points his makeshift weapon towards the pair of intruders, “Leave me alone!!”
Dean takes a deep breath, “Relax.”
“I said leave me alone!!”
Dean continues to remain calm, “We’re not gonna hurt you.”
Fodirrr steps up to drunkard, who raises the broken bottle in defense… And then Fodir snaps his neck.
Dean recoils in shock, “What the hell?!”
Fodir briefly looks down on the now-dead man on the floor, before turning his head towards Dean. The warm smile from his face long gone, his eyes now seeming ‘empty,’ and cold, “You didn’t see? He was gonna attack me.”
“You didn’t need to take it that far!”
Fodir sighs, “My parents were drunks. Just had a traumatic reaction, I guess.”
“That’s not a valid excuse! You basically just broke the law!”
Fodir walks up to him, his expression still blank, his eyes still cold, “We are the law.” He then makes his way back outdoors…
Dean remains there in the bar, alone with the body, overcome with shame, and acceptance…
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