I felt a touch better after hearing the woman’s confident declaration and well-thought-out arguments. And knowing that there were more than a dozen people here in this room willing to bat for Kade was reassuring. Logically, I knew it was incredibly unlikely that the court would ever rule in the Eumadians’ favour. But at the same time, I’d seen some profoundly bizarre things happen in the galaxy, which made it impossible to simply assume our victory. If I’d learned nothing else in my twenty-eight years alive, it was that life loved to throw a curve-ball.
When it was the Eumadians’ turn to speak again, Volgoch stood up, addressing the court in that same flat monotone. “We have been accused of kidnapping babies. This is entirely untrue. The Vangravian babies are given to us by their mothers. They do this willingly and deliberately, and they are entirely satisfied with the way we care for the children.” He went on to detail the supposedly mutually beneficial agreement they had with the Vangravians, to ‘care for’ the excess children born, who would otherwise not have a safe home or adequate resources to raise them. His story was fascinating, even as it was horrifying. I had wondered how the Eumadians had such a steady stream of Vangravians to train, but if their mothers were willingly handing them over, it explained why the Vangravians hadn’t declared war on Eumad for their child-trafficking activities.
Once Volgoch sat down, the defence team stared at each other in bafflement. “Uh… Your Honour, this topic would require more time to explore properly,” the Solof lawyer said, sounding less confident now. “We do not have an expert witness on Eumadian affairs, and we cannot currently verify the truth of Volgoch’s statements.”
Accurately researching what Volgoch had said would take weeks, if it was even possible at all. Where the heck would we find a Eumadian expert who wasn’t Eumadian themselves?
Unless, of course…
Risking the displeasure of the court if I was overheard, I leaned over to Kade. “Do you know where they get the children from?” I asked him. I was a little frustrated with myself that I hadn’t thought to ask earlier. Kade nodded, seeming entirely at ease with the question. “And is it what Volgoch says?”
“Not exactly,” Kade replied.
I moved to catch Associate Nors’ eye… but then had a second thought. “How confident are you about the truth of what you know?” I asked Kade.
A faint smirk tilted his lips. “Very.”
That was good enough for me. I raised my hand in the politest ‘may I speak’ gesture I could manage, and Nors immediately sat up. “Your Honour, I believe Lieutenant Hill has some information that may assist us with this issue,” she announced. Given that the Eumadians were not Alliance members, and that they didn’t really understand all of the usual court processes, we’d been warned that proceedings might breach the usual protocols. In this case, that worked in my favour, if it meant I could interrupt the court to toss my own ideas into the mix.
“Lieutenant Hill?” the second judge said, a woman who still had vibrant feathers, and a prominent plume of blue on the top of her head. “What would you like to add?”
I stood up respectfully. “Your Honour, I believe Kade himself could provide expert information on the process by which the Eumadians acquire the Vangravian children.”
“Objection,” one of the Eumadians’ lawyers spoke up immediately, and I idly wondered how the man was expecting to live with himself once this was over. Did he actually believe in his cause? Or was he just being paid enough that he didn’t care? “It has been proven that dimari are dedicated to obeying their master’s orders, rather than to telling the truth. How would we know that Kade is not simply saying what his master wants him to say?”
That stumped the judge… but only for a moment. “Lieutenant Hill, would you be willing to order Kade to tell the truth to the court?”
“Of course,” I agreed easily.
“Then I’m happy to admit Kade as a witness.”
There was a bit of shuffling as we moved out of the way to allow Kade to walk to the witness stand. Once he was there, I stood up and said, “Kade, you are to tell the court the truth, in response to any questions you are asked, to the best of your knowledge, and to also inform the court where there is any doubt as to the accuracy of the information you know. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Kade replied, still not looking at all stressed by having to speak to a room full of angry people.
“Please continue,” the judge said to the Solof lawyer.
She stood up, smoothing her skirt to compose herself. “Kade. You were raised on the planet Eumad, under the care of Eumadians. Is that correct?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Kade replied, and I was immediately impressed that he’d thought to address her that way. Somehow, we’d neglected to teach him the appropriate ways to address people in court, too caught up in all the other details we needed to worry about. Hopefully, he’d picked up on the ‘Your Honour’ title used for the judge, as well.
“Volgoch stated that Vangravian babies are given to the Eumadians by their mothers, freely and willingly. Is this true?”
“Not entirely, no,” Kade replied. “Vangravian children are only given to the Eumadians if they are male. And they are not given freely. They are sold. The Eumadians pay a fee of twenty thousand credits for each child they buy.”
I looked across to Volgoch as Kade spoke, wondering how he would react to being called out on his lie. He sat there, entirely impassive, like this case was the most boring thing he’d ever taken part in. Either he was supremely confident in his ability to manipulate the courtroom to do his bidding… or he just didn’t care.
The legal team looked at each other in consternation at Kade’s words. They muttered amongst themselves, then the Solof woman spoke again. “Why would any mother sell her own child? Can you give us more details, please?”
Kade nodded. “Vangravian society is a vehemently matriarchal one. They see females as supreme, and males as worthless. A Vangravian woman would never consider selling her daughter into slavery. But their sons are considered expendable.”
“So all dimari are male?” the lawyer clarified. We’d all suspected as much, never having seen a female dimari, but this confirmed it.
“Yes, ma’am,” Kade replied.
The woman seemed to be struggling to find her next question. “If that is that case, then why are male children born at all? Surely the Vangravians could make use of gene selection technology to only birth females?”
“They could,” Kade agreed. “But the boys are too lucrative. It only takes three months to gestate a Vangravian child. A few select males are kept for breeding purposes, but the rest are sold. It’s very common for a woman to deliberately have a boy as her first child, so that she can sell him. That puts her in a far better economic position, in order to raise her subsequent daughters.”
