Pell took a deep breath and looked toward the arbitration bench, where three arbiters sat, one from the Fourth Chapter an Honor Guard, one from the First chapter, and one from the Eleventh chapter.
In the entire Hall of Arbitration, there wasn't a single mber from the Departnto Juris. On Vostroya, Imperial Law was neither enforced nor influenced by the Departnto Juris.
Pell stepped into the defense stand. He was the first Eleventh chapter candidate to undergo the final assessnt, and he had to defend the honor of the chapter
The candidate from the First chapter glanced at his opponent, lifted the gavel, and struck it once.
"Prosecutor, please deliver your opening statent."
Golovin, once defeated by Nareth, now had graying hair.
After losing to what appeared to be a ten-year-old boy, Nareth, the top gold-dal letigator of Teizca fell into a slump, deeming himself useless, and wandered through bars drowning his sorrows.
But just a year later, Nareth unified Vostroya and was crowned monarch.
Realizing that he and the miracle-working monarch were worlds apart, Golovin regained his confidence, his career climbing steadily until he beca Vostroya's top lawyer.
Later, when he learned that the monarch was no ordinary man but a Primarch, he was completely at peace.
Today, he charged no defense fee, he was here purely to defeat the Primarch's offspring.
Golovin glanced at the giant across from him, took a deep breath, suppressing his fear, letting his professionalism and hunger for victory overco it.
"Honorable Arbiter, the defendant Greenwood's lasgun manufacturing plant has violated the Omnissiah's Codex of Guidance, Chapter Eleven, 'Factory Governance Regulations,' Article Eleven of the Factory Managent Rules, Clause Five."
"Without certification and approval, no changes may be made to any manufacturing procedure."
"Unauthorized changes to the production process create safety hazards that could affect the do, and even the entire hive."
As Golovin spoke, he operated a data-slate, projecting a holographic image.
"The A-005 munitions factory in the lower hive once illegally altered its production process, causing an explosion that killed 404 workers."
"…"
The arbiters watched Golovin's impassioned rhetoric. By normal standards, his performance was excellent.
After eleven minutes of statents, the nobles and rchants in the audience burst into applause, saluting the gold-dal lawyer's skillful argunt.
Golovin looked confidently at his giant opponent, then said in a deep voice:
"Honorable Arbiter, my statent is complete. Please judge wisely."
The presiding arbiter turned to Pell.
"Defense, please present your response."
Under the gaze of his opponent and the three Shadows of Order, Pell calmly rose.
"Honorable Arbiter, esteed arbiters, indeed, Greenwood has violated the Omnissiah's Codex of Guidance."
"However, when Lord Howard Fender implented reforms in Vostroya, he added annotations to the Codex."
"In Chapter Eleven, the annotation specifies that if a factory owner, after completing the analysis and testing stages, can prove that an improvent is highly effective and that thirty-three experintal runs occur without incident, they may implent the improved process while awaiting approval."
As Pell spoke, he operated his data slate, displaying data and recordings one by one.
Golovin's face turned ashen, he realized he might once again lose to the Primarch's offspring.
Last ti, after his defeat, he had morized 200 million words of appendix laws. Today, however, he had been undone by not knowing the annotations.
'Five hundred million words of annotations, only an augnted or a techpriest could rember them all.'
He looked at Pell. The image of the black-robed giant slowly overlapped with the figure in his mory, and he felt montarily dazed.
The presiding arbiter sighed. Victory was important, but the spirit of a just judge was even more so.
And he knew that in his evaluation, maintaining impartiality was one of the most important criteria.
He lifted the gavel and struck it hard.
"The defendant Greenwood is not guilty!"
Golovin ca to his senses, leaving once again in the shadow of defeat.
Five days later, he would return to the arbitration hall to face, once more, the Primarch's prospective offspring as his opponent.
He knew this was the 1,133rd final assessnt for the Shadows of Order.
Five minutes later, the audience had left the hall.
The Honor Guard mber from the Fourth chapter allowed a faint smile to cross his stern face.
"You have both passed the final assessnt. You will now receive your power armor and beco true Shadows of Order."
Seeing the arbiter's puzzled look, the First chapter's "Lawyer" explained:
"The most important criterion in judging an arbiter is resisting the influence of either side's eloquence, restraining the temptation to beco a Legion warrior, and maintaining impartiality at all tis."
"That is the true Arbiter, and the requirent of Lord Howard Fender."
Eleven days later, in high orbit over Vostroya.
Clad in black power armor, Pell Koschelny stood before the viewport, gazing at his shrinking howorld with a surge of emotion.
Having just beco a full Shadow of Order, he could now follow the Primarch into the Wheel of Fire System to wage war against the Orks.
At the sa ti Pell set out for the Wheel of Fire, Wilshire of the Second Legion had already boarded the Throne of Shadow's Sovereignity.
As a new recruit from Terra, Wilshire had undergone augntation on Luna. Ranking second in his class after completing initial training, he was originally slated, like the rest of the top fifteen, to be a candidate for the Luna Wolves.
But before the augntation surgery, Eleventh Legion "Shadow of Order" officer Bradshaw approached him with an invitation, and Wilshire sensed a special interest from the instructor.
Requesting five days to consider, Wilshire began researching everything he could about Primarch Nareth and the Eleventh Legion.
He sought out another instructor from the First Chapter's Shadow of Order, Hollis, and asked about the Primarch and the Legion's philosophy.
As a forr mber of the Primarch's Honor Guard, Hollis gave a thorough explanation.
The philosophy of using the rules to strike precisely and establish order deeply appealed to Wilshire.
Compared to the gangster-like culture of the Luna Wolves, the Shadows of Order's ideology attracted and suited him far more.
He also learned that the monarch had not only discovered the first Knight World but had also provided supplies for the Great Crusade.
The Primarch's simultaneous lightning assault on the Araneus Continuity with six chapters had beco a classic case study at Luna's training base and strategic analysis rooms.
Though the lecturers' limited knowledge of the war left many questions, Wilshire only beca more interested.
After careful thought, he accepted Bradshaw's invitation.
Even so, Wilshire worried, by his results, he should have been assigned to the Luna Wolves.
Later, Bradshaw sohow managed to change it, Wilshire guessed through so use of rules and trade-offs, to bring him into the Eleventh Legion's special candidate training camp.
As a key trainee for both Bradshaw and Hollis, he received far harsher training than others:
Zero-gravity exercises aboard derelict warships near Pluto
Hunting drills in Necromunda's underhive
Armored vehicle training on agricultural world plains
By the ti the candidate pool swelled to 1,133, Wilshire ranked first in every program.
He thus beca the only recruit jointly recomnded by two forr Honor Guard mbers, to serve at the Primarch's side as one of his Honor Guard.
...
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
[email protected]/DaoistJinzu
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