The entire room had gone into absolute uproar, absolutely deafening. The joyous cheering of a ravenous crew and the gasping shock of the unrelated. The room was so loud the floor shook and the windows rattled. Sunny was stunned by the roaring of the humans, she had once heard that humans were capable of using their voices as sonic weapons.... She hadn't believed it.

At the head of the semi-circular table, the main human was slamming a strange wooden object against his desk. The noise was loud, but it wasn't nearly enough to quell the roaring of the room.

Sunny's head was swimming, and overwhelmed by the noise she lurched to her feet and let off a horribly blood chilling screech, the battle cry of the Drev. It reverberated with enough power to shake the windows even harder than the humans had managed. The desk rattled.

The entire room went dead silent hundreds of eyes stared at her from the stands, and she slowly sat herself back down on the witness stand and turned to look at the judge. He was leaning back in his seat staring at her. She turned to look at Captain Vir standing at the center of the court still brandishing the prosthetic leg in his defense looking at her with wide eyes. She was momentarily worried that the man would fall into some PTSD induced panic, but the man stood straight then, on the leg she had given, and nodded encouragingly.

Since she had given it to him, he hadn't worn it once. She assumed he hadn't even kept it. It wouldn't have been personal if he didn't, she understood, but seeing him wear it now was.... Was surprisingly....

No, she didn't have a word to describe what it meant. Why the human would fight for her like that made no real sense, filled her inside with an odd warmth, like consuming heated water, not unpleasant but not necessarily comfortable either.

"Objection your honor!" The prosecutor called, "The Dawson V Cybercorp case was not intended for this means as we all well know. Yes the prosthetic is part of his body, but that does not establish a genetic link to another group of people, or aliens for that matter. Additionally the Galactic Assembly does NOT recognize Drev cultural law."

"That is untrue your honor!" The defense argued, "Adoption doesn't connect someone by DNA either, and yet the Galactic Assembly has chosen to accept our human custom." He raised his hand to cut off the other lawyer as he forced his way through, "Captain Vir, as a member of the Galactic Alliance has chosen to adopt Sunny's clan and ONLY Sunny's clan. Those are the Drev cultural rules. Her gesture does not speak to her entire race, but simply her immediate family. Additionally, Captain Vir's action has not broken any of the clauses under the Drev Action of Surrender Treatise. IN ADDITION!" He raised his voice over the calling of the prosecutor, "Captain Vir's orders were to 'foster good will with the galactic community' NOT 'foster good will with members of the Galactic Alliance only."

The room grew loud once again, and the judge was hammering his wooden mallet against the desk. Sunny remained where she sat in silence watching as the humans rolled and boiled around her.

The defense wrestled control back before the prosecutor could continue. It was like watching two men wrestle each other with words beating each other down into submission so they could continue speaking, "Looking at it through the sphere of his orders, 'to foster good will in the galactic community' I wonder why anyone would be displeased with him. The Drev are a dangerous race, as dangerous as some have argued humans are. It seems that the best option would be to make friends with a potentially dangerous enemy, it shocks me that no one else has though of this, and it took a man who had been directly involved in the war to finally put aside that prejudice."

The judge raised his hand for silence glowering at the prosecutor as he turned to Vir, 'Is that true?"

Vir paused glancing over at the defense as if he wasn't supposed to speak.

"Is it true that by befriending this Drev ad brining her onto the ship, you wished to promote galactic prosperity?"

The defense nodded to Vir, and the look they shared was one of caution. Vir took his place behind the desk looking up at the judge, "Not in so many words your honor...... but, I have never wanted to make an enemy in my work. I never hoped for war, and I never hoped to put Earth in danger. Sunny came to me looking for understanding after her race was disbanded, and fighting with my own better judgement, I took her in. I have thought everything that you have thought, but since being aboard the ship, Sunny has done nothing to indicate that she is a threat the Galactic Assembly or Earth. She has been an invaluable asset. He motioned down to the leg which now glittered in the light above. I consider her one of mine. It has taken me a while to make this decision, but I will not be dissuaded, and I continue to plead not guilty to all the charges that have been brought against me."

"Permission to speak now, your honor." The prosecutor growled receiving the angry eye from the judge, but he waved a hand and let him go on.

"Perhaps this is a touching sentiment, but the fact remains, she was not a member of the alliance until he put on that leg. So the question remains, how long has he been wearing the leg?" It seemed as if the entire room hand turned to look at the captain. It seemed as if the man was rocking back and forth from normal to corpse pale. Wide green eyes horridly glanced at the defense attorney. The man remained tall, he was a good actor, and you wouldn't have been able to tell if he was suffering from nerves.

"In expressing caution, he had not worn the leg till now. To take such a gift from another race immediately would have been impulsive and imprudent. Additionally, he was, originally very cautions of the Drev, and rightly so. Some." He glanced pointedly at the prosecutor, "Would think that wearing of the leg is required for it to be deemed part of the body by Dawson V Cybercorp, however we know that most who use prosthetics take them off during times of sleep. Dawson V Cybercorp simply stated that prosthesis were part of the body in all circumstances when meant to be worn. Once that leg came into his possession, it would have been legally considered part of his body."

The room was about to erupt again, but the judge stood immediately, "The next person that disrupts this case will be escorted from the premises immediately...." He paused, "Do either of you have anything else to say in regards to this case that we haven't already heard? If we go much further we will go in circles."

The prosecutor made a few more feeble points before the judge seemed to have had enough and dismissed the court for deliberation. The entire room stood up with a mummer and headed towards the doors. Captain Vir was pulled out a side door by a pair of two MPs in the company of his defense attorney.

Sunny, Krill and the others were pulled into another side chamber, away from the crew, where they would not be influenced by the opinions of others were they to be called back to the stand.

***

Back in the deliberation chamber, the admirals, commanders, and representatives from the Galactic Assembly had seated themselves at a large conference table. A soft murmur rose into the air as members of the assembly sat with the human disciplinarians, and another small group of unbiased officers brought in for the purpose of trial. They were from lower departments, specifically picked for their lack of knowledge regarding Captain Vir and his crew. Of course, lack of knowledge was a relative term, everyone knew about the man who had made first contact, now it was just a matter of being unbiased.

.... A rule that already seemed to have been broken.

A young commander, with a strict haircut and a straight posture stood as the first willing to speak his mind, "We cannot let his behavior continue. This is the army not a pirate ship, while we must acknowledge his service, I question his methods."

A member of the galactic assembly stood as well, A Rundi representative, "Your human Captain is invaluable to the Galactic Assembly, if you were to remove him we would hire him, so this changes nothing. If you were to imprison him, the Galactic Assembly would be very displeased"

"Aren't you the ones who were worried about humans entering into talks with the Drev?" Asked the admiral, from the head of the table.

"Yes, we were worried about it, but we would much rather have the Drev with us than against us. Unlike you humans, we understand the meaning of compromise."

The room burst into uproar for a moment. A hand slammed down on the table, "This is not about his value, this is about his guilt or his innocence. I for one think he is guilty, allowing an enemy agent aboard the ship, and so close to classified information..... it's unacceptable. Not to mention he went and brought the thing to Earth with him."

Another representative from the GA took to their feet, 'I am ever more appalled by your human's sense of justice. Clearly he was called hear under bias and assumption. The ENTIRE Galactic Assembly knows the location of earth, it is no great secret, however, no one has yet been willing to visit accept that Vrul and that Drev. Additionally I take offence to calling her that THING, what am I to you human a THING as well?"

Voices rose to a crescendo fought back by more table slamming and more deliberation. Finally a younger officer stood. He wasn't nearly to the level of his other compatriots. "SILENCE!" He barked, standing his ground as his superiors, commanders, and politicians turned to look at him some of their eyes narrowed that he would dare challenge them, "This is ridiculous, a political load of shit. That man out there is a hero, a hero for Earth. He served in the Drev war, and not once did he show a preference for them over humans. It would be popular political suicide to put him in prison or to discharge him. He's a folk hero, the people wouldn't let it happen. Not to mention he's a hero on every planet from here to Andromeda. I'm not saying the guy is perfect, he's an impulsive idiot at the best of times, but he gets the work done, and he's the most loyal man you have. And he managed to outsmart the prosecution which, I have a feeling, was set up based on political agenda. Someone wants that man out of power. The military is becoming worried about his power of influence over the people and the galactic Assembly. However, if you get rid of him, he takes most of that crew with him, and what if he stars freelancing? Than he isn't under your control anymore, and he can do whatever the hell he wants. He's too important to allow him free reign like that."

The room was quiet as the men contemplated.

"And what of a medical discharge, it said in his file that the loss of his eye also caused minor brain damage."

A head shake, "He was vetted for duty by the Vrul, who, may I remind everyone is ranked in the top 10% of medical professionals in the galaxy, and as a Vrul has barely any concept other than logic, he wouldn't have vetted him if he didn't think he could perform, so stop trying to find excuses. The question should be weather we are willing to consider the acceptance of the Drev's gift as an acceptance of the leg as part of his body, that's the important part."

"Damn judicial loopholes someone muttered."

"We should put this up to a vote, Finish this thing once and for all."

***

They filed back into the court room, a hushed mass of bodies staring towards the front of the room waiting for what was to be the moment of truth. Captain Vir was one of the last to step out of the box. Not many noticed form the back, but from where she sat at the front, Sunny watched his hands white knuckle against the desk. His non-prosthetic leg was shaking a little despite the look on his face. He rubbed at his fake eye.

The judges took their seat, and everyone else followed suit. The marine who had been removed for his outburst earlier was back in the court room eyed on either side by military MPs.

At the front of the room, one of the admirals shuffled the papers on his desk before standing slowly adjusting the cap atop his head, "Captain Adam Vir of the United Nations Space Corpse, this court finds you....."

The entire room sat poised on the edges of their seats, not a cough broke the silence.

"Not guilty of all charges."

This time, the judges were unable to calm the roaring which seemed to shake the entire building. Captain Vir Slumped against the desk in absolute relief as the crowd roared behind. Sunny felt all of her insides unclench. Over to her right, Krill had fallen to the floor, incapacitated by the sheer volume of the humans' pleasure. One of the Marines set caution to the wind and vaulted over the railing running over to slap his Captain on the back. When Vir finally stood his face had gone from white to flushed with exhilaration as the rest of the room broke down into chaos.

It took over an hour for things to calm down. Sunny was as relieved, but unable to approach the captain for the rest of the time as the other crew members made it to him first.

***

When she finally met him outside of the court room, he was looking exhausted but pleased surrounded on all sides by crew members and marines who seemed intent on beating anyone who had the audacity to accuse him again. Sunny liked the marines, they were a lot like her.

Captain Vir Grinned as she walked up stopping a few feet away. There was silence for a moment.

"You accepted." She said simply looking down to where the metallic blue of the foot was peeking out from under his uniform.

He smiled, "Yes, I did..... and I don't regret my decision." They stood for another long moment. The Captain cleared his throat, "Besides, I'm going to have to wear it from now on if I intend on keeping the ruling in our favor." Speaking of which, he turned to the side after a moment one hand covering his face as he removed the false eye.

"That's just wrong." One of the marines muttered.

Vir pulled the eyepatch from his pocket, and slipped it on quickly before standing back up, "Lord that thing is itchy as hell." He tossed the now removed false eye at one of the marines who fumbled it for a few seconds, nearly dropping it before standing there while holding it with a rather disturbed look on his face, "mind me asking why you wore it in the first place?"

The captain raised an eyebrow at him, "Look marine, I have a fake leg, and an eye patch, I'm one Arg away from being a space pirate, not something the court needed to see." He started walking towards the doors, "Now come on boys, let's go home."