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The next couple of days were very hectic. We no longer had Aelwyn to do most of the footwork but things went surprisingly well without him. It seems that he hadn't been completely truthful. The older CBHs had gotten into a routine and they handled it pretty well on a daily basis. It was only when something out of the ordinary happened that they needed direction. After talking to them Ansulm found out that Aelwyn had been doing a whole lot less than he had been claiming.

But that wasn't the thing that had things so terribly hectic. Ansulm was preparing for something he called a Court Martial to determine if Aelwyn was going to be punished. He was a little bit short tempered as he prepared, but he was deadly serious about it. He made copies of the tape and he took photos of my black eye. He also made a summary of how I was treated by the Overseers and went over it again and again trying to make sure he got the basic idea of how I was treated across to the jury.

In the evenings I was able to sit in my recliner and watch TV with Ansulm like when he first got here, but it wasn't the same. There was a gulf between us that I wasn't sure I would ever be able to cross again. I wasn't sure I would ever be able to trust anyone to be honest.

Finally the day of the Court Martial was here. Ansulm made me get dressed up in a suit. I didn't have one so they had brought in a tailor a couple of days earlier to get me fitted for it. I got dressed in it and Ansulm tied the tie for me. He made sure that my hair was combed just right. And then we headed out into the school to the Library. When we got there there were more Dog Gods than I had ever seen, I counted 28 including Ansulm. So far Aelwyn wasn't there yet.

As I walked past, many of the Dog Gods shook their heads in what looked to be sympathy when they looked at my black eye. It was really colorful at this stage, a conglomeration or red, purple and yellow, it looked even worse than it felt. We walked up to the Librarians desk at the front and standing behind it was a Dog God that seemed to be the same stature as Ansulm. Ansulm went up and shook paws with him as I followed.

"Dagmar it's good to see you, despite the less than perfect circumstances." Ansulm said cordially.

"Yes it's good to see you too. Is this the young human that this case revolves around." Dagmar replied.

"Yes this is Mouse." Then he turned to me and said, "Mouse this is Dagmar."

"He has a name?" Dagmar asked incredulously. "I thought you said in your last report that the kids at the school weren't responding to the names you tried to give them. They only responded to those stupid numbers tattooed on their forearms."

"That's still true for every one of them except Mouse. He responded to his name since I met him. Actually he'd been responding to it even before I got here. That's why I had so much hope for him until Aelwyn sent him back into his shell."

"Let's not talk about that until after the trial. I don't want to be biased, but given the facts I've seen so far it is going to be hard enough as it is to remain impartial." They shook paws again and we walked to a table in front of and to the right of the Judge's desk. We sat down and waited.

Aelwyn was led in by two MP's. His paws were cuffed in front of him and his usually wagging tail was between his legs. They sat him down at a table beside ours. He was haggard looking, the stress of the last several days looked like it had aged him years. He looked over at our table and I smiled at him. His ears flattened and you could see a spark of anger rise in him, which only made me smile more smugly.

Dagmar rapped the gavel on the librarians desk to bring the proceeding to order. "I would like to call to order this Court Martial of Aelwyn von Orndorf." He faced Aelwyn and asked, "You are accused of abuse of power and assault on a child. What do you plead."

"I plead not guilty Sir." He said his voice almost a whisper.

"Would Ansulm von Dresden please approach the stand. Ansulm stood up and walked to the librarians desk. "Is it correct that you're taking the role of Prosecutor?"

"Yes your Honor." Ansulm said respectfully but firmly.

Would you please call you're first witness."

Yes your Honor. I would like to call the young CBH known as Mouse to the stand. Mouse please come up here." Ansulm said as he pointed up to a seat by the desk.

I walked up to the chair and before I could sit down another Dog God came up to me and said, "Please place you left paw, er... hand on the Bible and raise your right hand." I placed my hand on the Bible and raised my right hand. He continued, "Do you Mouse solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"

I looked up at Ansulm with my best clueless CBH look, but this time I wasn't faking it. "Mouse what he is asking is do you promise to tell us the truth?"

"Yes Sir." I said firmly but quietly.

"Good. Please be seated." He said pointing me to the chair.

"Your Honor, Mouse has been taking care of my house work and cooking for me since the day I showed up at the school. He is the only CBH who has show any initiative since I've been here." Then he told the court the story of how I was the only CBH at the school that had been making my own food and taking care of myself and how I had helped myself to one of the Overseer's houses. After finishing this he paused for a second and said to me, "Mouse please remove your jacket and shirt and show your back to the Judge and to everyone else in this room."

I sat there in shock with my mouth open for a moment. "Please Sir, don't make me do this." I begged in almost a whisper.

"Please do as I say Mouse. They need to see what was done to you." He said gently.

I was embarrassed. I was sure they would all hate me when they saw how bad I had been, but I complied reluctantly. I removed my jacket and loosened my tie pulling it over my head. Then I unbuttoned my shirt and pulled it off. I turned my back to the Judge and showed him the scars.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" The judge said with a gasp. I hung my head in shame." He took a moment to regain his composure and said to me, "Please turn and let everybody see your back."

I turned around and everyone in the room gasped. I felt so embarrassed. Everyone knew how bad I was. I turned back to face the room, my face crimson with shame. "Can I put my shirt on Sir?" I pleaded, my voice breaking as I said it.

"Of course. Get dressed and sit down please." Ansulm replied to me. Then he addressed the court, "I guess you're all wondering why Mouse has these scars." He paused as a murmur went around the room. "It seems that Mouse here had a hard time in The Collective School before we took it over. He got those because he showed initiative and wanted to be the best he could be. That got him scourged with the cat on a regular basis. His terrible crimes were things like reading ahead in a text book. He's had a real issue trusting anyone when we got here and with good reason. They were always trying to trick him into screwing up so they could punish him more. The first couple of days I was here I felt like I was making good progress. Then Aelwyn showed up and Mouse went back into his shell."

"I was taken in by Aelwyn's feigned hero worship and I trusted him implicitly, even though I should have seen the warning signs. But until Mouse recorded this I was blind to the whole situation." He played the recording.

"Hey Mouse get your sorry ass over here."

"What do you want?"

"Don't you mean "What do you want Sir?"

"Let go of my balls... Sir!"

"Why should I, you disrespectful little cretin. I told you to stay away from my meal ticket."

"Please quit twisting my balls Sir! Why do you hate me so much Sir?''

"You aren't significant enough to hate. I don't give a damn about you humans, you fucked up your world and blew your chance. It's our time now."

"Is that sorta like you being too insignificant to meet The Alpha?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"That's what Ansulm said. He said you were desperate to meet the Alpha but 'Woden is a busy, busy Shep, he only has time to meet with senior staff, not low level staff like Aelwyn.' I never realized you were so low level that you couldn't even talk to The Alpha." "Oooph"

"That's not true..."

"You need to do better than punching me in the gut to make me fear you. The overseer's used to whip me with the cat until I couldn't stand up straight, but then they had enough balls to leave a mark."

"You motherfucker. You think I'm afraid of you?"

THUD

"I wonder what Ansulm will think of my black eye?"

"He'll believe me when I tell him you ran into the door. You're just a stupid CBH, he'll believe me before he believes you. Now shut up and get in your room before I really have to hurt you."

Ansulm pushed the button and turned off the recording. The room was completely silent. "How long has he been intimidating you like this?" He asked me.

"Since the first day he arrived Sir." I answered.

"And why didn't you tell me?" He pressed on.

"Because like Aelwyn said you would never believe the word of a CBH over a fellow Dog God Sir." I replied and watched as he hung his head. I could see that this cut him deeply.

"You're right unfortunately. Usually Sheps have too much honor to even consider behaving like this. I can't believe that I was fooled by it. Do you really think of us as Gods?"

"At one time I did Sir. But now I know better." I replied stoically, which caused Ansulm to wince and the rest of the Dog Gods to murmur.

"I have no further questions for the witness." Ansulm said and sat down.

"Does the defense wish to cross examine the witness?" Dagmar asked.

The God Dog in charge of the defense approached the desk. "No your Honor. We feel the young human is not a capable witness. He has a history of disobeying rules and he only has an IQ of 85. For those of you that don't know an IQ of 85 is considered low average even for a human."

"Objection!" Ansulm stood up and blurted out.

"Objection sustained." Dagmar said. "Mathias this young human is not the one on trial and after what he has been through I will not allow him to be abused anymore in my courtroom. Besides I really don't think you will help your case by making him seem even less capable. Abuse of the helpless is a serious offense and is the crux of this case. If you impugn this young human again I will hold you in contempt of court. Trust me I am NOT in the mood for any more of this after what I've seen so far." You could tell that the judge was livid.

"Yes your Honor." Mathias said visibly shaken, his tail tucked between his legs because of Dagmar's wrath.

"If you have no further questions for the witness please be seated." Dagmar said dismissively. Mathias returned to his seat. "Please go back to your table Mouse." I walked back to the table and sat down next to Ansulm. Then Dagmar turned to Ansulm, "Would you please call your next witness."

"I have no further witnesses your Honor." Ansulm replied. I was surprised he didn't call Aelwyn to the stand. I wanted to see him squirm.

Dagmar turned to Mathais and asked, "Does the defense have any witnesses?"

"Yes your Honor I'd like to call Ansulm von Dresden to the stand."

Ansulm went up to the stand and was sworn in.

"As the head of this school and the alpha Shep in this situation why didn't you stop this situation before it got this far? Mathias asked.

"Do I have some culpability? Yes I do. I should have protected Mouse and I'm going to have a hard time living with myself over my failure to protect him. My failure was failing to understand that I was working with a sociopath, a sin of omission not a sin of commission." Ansulm said, his usually proud head hung in shame.

"Come on, this has been going on for 3 years, how couldn't you have seen some signs of it over that time. How weren't you complicit in this whole affair?" Mathias badgered.

"Looking back on it there were minor signs that might have pointed toward abuse. But every time I asked mouse he denied that there was a problem. I had no idea he was being threatened. You don't like to think about the possibility that the Shep you're sleeping with is a sociopath. I had him arrested as soon as I figured it out." Ansulm added, still not able to face the jury.

"No further questions Your Honor." Mathias said as he turned back toward this table.

"Would the Prosecution like to cross examine the witness?" Dagmar asked Ansulm with a chuckle that was echoed by all the Sheps in the room.

"I think I'll pass on that, Your Honor." Ansulm answered with a slight chuckle himself.

"Do you have any other witnesses?" Dagmar asked Mathias.

"No Your Honor." Mathias replied.

"Would Aelwyn von Orndorf please approach the bench." Aelwyn came up to the Judge his paws cuffed in front of him. "Do you have any last words for yourself?" Dagmar asked Aelwyn.

"Sir this whole thing is a farce. The humans had their chance and they threw it all away. It's our turn to be Masters of Earth. I'm sure we will do a better job than mankind did. Is it really prudent to destroy the career of an up and coming young Shep because of how he treated one of these retarded CBH's? Why do we owe them anything..." He said as he stared into the face of Dagmar and instead of seeing Dagmar's expression softening it got more severe. "They blew their chance Sir..." He had obviously misjudged the feelings of the other Sheps on this matter. They didn't seem to be feeling any sympathy for him.

"Do you have anything else to say for yourself?" Dagmar asked.

The severity of his situation was finally starting to dawn on him. He shook his head in disbelief then finally said, "No Sir."

"A leader thinks of those that are subordinate to him. I can think of nothing more vile than the abuse of power over those who are helpless. It is one of the reasons why mankind fell and I will NOT allow Sheps to fall because of it. The true character of a Shep is revealed in how he treats those he has power over, not by how he treats his superiors. Your behavior is an abomination. This court will adjourn while the jury comes to its decision." And with that the twelve Sheps that were sitting at a long table to the right of us got up and walked out of the room.

"They are going out to decide whether or not Aelwyn is guilty of the charges. Why don't we go get some lunch. I'm having a pizza delivered so you don't have to cook today." Ansulm said as he tousled my hair.

We went back to the house just in time for the pizza to arrive. A 30 something CBH came to the door to deliver the pizza, almost groveling when Ansulm gave him a large tip. We sat down to eat the pizza and had it almost finished when Ansulm's phone rang. He removed it from the holder that was wrapped above his bicep.

"Hello." He said then paused for a moment listening, then he replied. "Already? OK give us 15 minutes to finish up lunch and get over there."

"Well the jury has already come to a conclusion, finish up your pizza and let's get back over there."

We finished up lunch and hurried up back to the courtroom. We got in our seats and got settled. "The jury didn't take much time to deliberate." Ansulm whispered to me.

"What does that mean Sir?" I asked.

"It didn't take them long to reach a verdict." Ansulm replied.

"I mean what do you think it means about what they will decide Sir."

I have an idea, but I don't want to jinx it." Ansulm replied.

The jury came back into the courtroom and got seated at their table. "Would the Jury Foreman please rise." Dagmar asked. The Foreman rose. "What are the findings of the Jury?"

"Your Honor, the Jury finds Aelwyn von Orndorf guilty of both charges."

"You may be seated." Dagmar told him. He turned to Aelwyn and said, "Will Aelwyn von Orndorf please approach the bench." Aelwyn walked up to Dagmar's desk and stood in front of it.

"I have never seen such blatant abuse of power in my life. Abuse against one of the most defenseless among us. Of all the things that caused the collapse of Mankind the most devastating one was Abuse Of Power. That is why it is the most egregious offense in our system of jurisprudence. The damage that you have done to this young human may never be able to be undone. We cannot condone or tolerate this behavior, it is an abomination."

"I sentence you to 10 years in prison on Eden. You will also be castrated, we cannot allow such a defective sociopath to reproduce. Plus the empty sack will be a permanent mark of your shame so Sheps will recognize you wherever you go. After being released from prison you will only be permitted to work the most menial of jobs, you have proven that you cannot be trusted in a position of power. You will never be permitted to return to Earth, we need to protect the powerless from monsters like you." He paused for a moment glaring at Aelwyn then turned to the MPs and said, "Get him out of my sight!"

Aelwyn appeared to be in shock as they almost dragged him out of the courtroom. His ears were flat to his head and he took one last glance back at me as the was being led out. Everyone was staring at him so I took the opportunity to smile at him and inconspicuously flip my middle finger at him. But there was no fight left in him, he left the courtroom utterly broken.