Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 612: Crime or No crime?

The air in the Council chamber was thick enough to choke a vacuum-rated ventilation system. It smelled of old bureaucracy, and the distinct, musk-like scent of Nine’s sheer, unadulterated terror.

The smell was not unpleasant, but it was overwhelming. Like standing in the midst of a room filled with smoke, a layer of crushed fermented pineapples and beneath it all, dry leaves and a metallic tang.

Sunshine stood tall, her boots planted firmly on the cold polished floor_ ready for whatever was to come. That smell emanating from Nine seeped into her hair, but she did not have the energy to berate him. The insectoid beside her was a vibrating mess of chitin and nerves. The clicking of his mandibles sounded like a frantic typist on a deadline.

"Nine," Sunshine hissed under her breath, not moving her lips. "If you vibrate any harder, you’re going to make them think that we did something wrong."

"I can’t help it!" Nine whispered back, his voice a frantic trill. "The council! The screens! The looming threat of being demoted to ’Space-Scrap Collector! No one respects those guys, do you know the things I have done to get here, Sunshine? They don’t even get badges. And chances of leveling up are minimal. I don’t want that; I would be a disgrace to my family."

Sunshine gave him ’The Look.’ It was a gaze that she usually gave him when he was talking nonsense and panicking_ a mixture of shut up or you will hear it from me later. Nine swallowed hard, his antennas drooping. The mandibles stopped moving but the musk scent increased.

The chamber was an intimidating cavern of high-tech minimalism. Five massive screens hung from the ceiling like frozen digital gods. Currently, they were dark, reflecting the two repairmen like ghosts in the machine. Vortan, their direct superior and the only person who usually stood between them and a court-martial, was nowhere to be seen.

"Why do you think they sent us in first?" Nine leaned in, his many-jointed elbow bumping Sunshine’s ribs.

"To intimidate us. And I have to say that judging from the way you are shaking, they have succeeded." She replied.

"Something is wrong if they feel the need to do so." Nine said

Sunshine shrugged, though her own heart was drumming a steady rhythm against her ribs. "Or maybe you are just being paranoid."

Nine sneezed_ a high-pitched skree!_ and wiped his snout. "Sunshine... do you think they know? About the..."

"Shh!" Sunshine snapped. "The walls have ears, Nine. And the floors have sensors. And the ceiling probably has cameras. Just. Be. Quiet. Remember our code, my friend."

Nine nodded.

The screens flickered to life with a low hum that vibrated in Sunshine’s teeth. Commander Melvin’s face filled the central monitor. He looked like he hadn’t slept since the Great System Crash of the 1300’s. His expression was a mask of cold, professional indifference.

The heavy doors behind them hissed open. Vortan walked in, his stride purposeful, stopping a respectful distance from the two repairmen. He didn’t look at them.

"The council convenes," Vortan announced. His voice was like grinding gravel, steady and unyielding. "The matter at hand is to determine whether a code of safety and conduct was broken or not."

Commander Melvin raised his voice, his eyes scanning a digital readout off camera. "Vortan. You filed a report stating that the lives of Repairman Sunshine and Repairman Nine were in imminent danger. You claim this necessitated their direct interference in the sovereign affairs of the Glacian territory. Is this the official stance?"

Vortan nodded once. "It is."

Sunshine and Nine exchanged stunned glances, it seemed like Vortan had reported in their favor. This had nothing to do with the beacon but their decision to play ’hero.’ 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Commander Melvin shifted his gaze to the two figures standing in the center of the room. "Repairmen. Is it true? Were you truly facing a terminal threat, or were you simply playing hero in a territory that doesn’t belong to us?"

Nine’s head bobbed so hard Sunshine thought his neck might snap. "Oh, yes! True! Very true, your Commandership! Terminal! Extremely terminal! There were sharp teeth! So many teeth! And the fire was everywhere! We were afraid the water would crash us! I saw my ancestors, sir, and they told me it wasn’t my time yet, I had to find a way to survive. We could not help taking up arms. Death Sir, I saw death. It was the color of blue..."

Sunshine winced. "Too much, Nine. Way too much."

Nine shut up.

A senior officer on the far-left screen_ a man with skin the color of a ripe tomato and a forehead that seemed to go on for miles, leaned forward. "If the danger was so great, why did you not use your standard-issue emergency translocation system? You have the technology. Why risk diplomatic fallout when you could have simply... vanished back here? Don’t you know that repairmen are not allowed to interfere in the wars of other nations?"

Sunshine felt the sweat start to prickle at her hairline. She couldn’t tell them they had ignored the repairman disaster rescue agency’s calls to save a group of Glacian civilians. She couldn’t tell them she’d stayed because it was the right thing to do in her opinion. In the Repairman Code, ’doing the right thing’ was often looked at as an offense worth firing over.

"I_" Sunshine started, but Vortan stepped in.

"The system malfunctioned," Vortan lied smoothly.

Sunshine almost blinked in shock. The legendary, rule-abiding Vortan was covering for them again?

Vortan continued on smoothly without a trace of nervousness. "It seems like something tampered with it. It was my fault for not pulling them out in time."

A third officer, with a humanlike face narrowed her gaze. "Even so. The code is absolute. Repairmen are observers and fixers of machines, not soldiers. They should have stood aside and waited for rescue. By engaging, they have broken the Prime Directive of Non-Interference. This is a crime, Commander. Plain and simple."

The word ’crime’ echoed in the silent chamber. Nine looked like he was about to faint.

"Indeed," Red face piped up. "If we start helping others fight their wars, then we will be pulled into inter-galaxy wars. We will be expected to ally with some species and become foes with others. Repairmen survive due to neutrality, that is our way. We have no friends or enemies; we are just an association of working creatures. These two are criminals and they should be punished as such."

Nine’s claw reached for Sunshine’s hand. He pinched her soft palm in the process of seeking for comfort. But Sunshine did not wince and neither one of them reacted to the blood Nine had drawn accidentally.

Suddenly, Melvin’s console chirped. He looked down, his eyebrows shooting up toward his receding hairline. Before he could speak, the massive, reinforced doors at the back of the chamber groaned and swung wide.