Adrian jolted awake, his breath hitching as his eyes darted around the dim light of his quarters. His chest heaved as he ran a hand over his face, damp with sweat. For a moment, he stayed there, sitting upright in his bed.
The sound. He could still feel it, like it had been carved into his memory. A gunshot, a huge contrast to the whine of the charge rifles everyone was used to. He'd heard recordings of mechanical rifle gunshots as well, but even that sounded different. Why? It didn't make sense. It never did.
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, his bare feet meeting the metal floor. Across the room, his desk was cluttered with law texts, worn from long hours of study. "Darren Williams - On the Subject of Interstellar Regional Jurisdiction, vol. 2" sat on top, a title he could recite from memory at this point. He reached for it out of habit, but his hand hesitated. The dream still buzzed in his mind, fragments of smoke and sound refusing to fade.
A soft chime from the communicator on his desk broke the silence. Ellie's name flashed on the screen, bright against the dark backdrop. He stared at it for a moment before sighing and tapping to answer.
"Adrian!" Ellie's voice burst through the speaker, bright and familiar. "Please tell me you're not still buried under a mountain of books. It's Saturday, for crying out loud."
He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples. "Good morning to you too, Ellie."
"Don't dodge the question," she shot back. "Have you seen daylight today? Or yesterday, for that matter?"
Adrian glanced toward the viewport, where the cityscape of the Odyssey stretched out. The further parts of the street curving up, as the horizon was the ceiling blocking the ground, instead of the opposite. He never really thought much of the curvature, as he grew up with the sight. Towers of glass and steel reached toward the painted sky, with their reflective surfaces bright from artificial sunlight. The streets below looked lively, full of people going about their day.
"Uh, yeah, of course I have... I'm just busy," he said, trying to sound firm. "The exams are coming up, and I need to stay ahead. My provisional license won't count for shit if I screw this up."
"You've been saying that for weeks," Ellie countered. "You can't study yourself to death, Adrian. The Daily Brew updated their menu, and you're coming with me. New pastries, new drinks. You'll thank me."
"Ellie-" he started, but she cut him off.
"No excuses. Meet me at our usual spot in twenty minutes. If you're not there, I'm coming to drag you out myself."
The call ended before he could argue. Adrian stared at the communicator for a moment, then sighed and stood, grabbing his satchel. She wasn't wrong. He needed a break.
---
The Daily Brew was crowded, the familiar sounds of conversation filling the air as Adrian stepped inside. Ellie stood by the baked goods display, her jet black hair easily recognizable.
Ellie pointed at a crescent-shaped pastry in the glass display. "What's this?"
"Croissant," the barista said with a grin. "It's traditional Earth food. Flaky, buttery, and amazing."
Ellie raised a brow. "Traditional pastries? Sold."
"Hey, Ellie," Adrian said, walking up to the counter. "Anything catch your interest?"
"Shhh... I'm trying to decide what to get," Ellie said, her gaze rapidly switching between the cupcakes and the so-called croissants. "Actually, I'll have one... no, two of each! And a third croissant for my friend, please."
"Damn, it really does smell good."
No response. Adrian looked at Ellie to see her intently focus on the pastries being loaded up onto a plate. "Odyssey to Ellie? I'll go sit in that corner over there. Looks cozy, no?"
"Yeah," she replied, obviously not listening.
As Adrian sat down, Ellie soon followed with her hands way too full, and sat down. She picked up a croissant and started eating it with one hand, and pushed one over to Adrian with her other hand.
Adrian picked it up, eyeing the flaky layers. He took a bite. The crisp layers shattered under his teeth, giving way to a soft, rich center. He chewed slowly, grudgingly admitting it wasn't bad.
"Well?" Ellie leaned forward, eyes sparkling.
"It's... fine," he said, smirking when she gasped in mock offense.
"You're impossible," she muttered, reaching for a cupcake. "Anyway, what's with the face? You look like you didn't sleep again."
Adrian shrugged, setting the half-eaten croissant down. "Same dream."
Ellie stopped mid-bite. "The one with the gunshot?"
"Yeah. It's always the same. And it's not like the stress from school is helping." Adrian supported his chin with his hand. "There's just so much paperwork. I've signed so many forms declaring that I won't abuse my status, won't do this, won't do that… And then there's the memorization - thousands of laws, precedents, case studies…" he trailed off. "Either way, I'm rambling. I know what I'm learning is important, at least. How's security treating you?"
"Depends. Does sorting through incident reports and listening to old people on the phone until midnight count as being treated well?"
"Didn't you go through three years of academy training for this?"
"Those recruitment seminars back in general education made it seem so... cool! Like I would actually be doing something. Investigating crime scenes, interrogating suspects, and going 'Actually, one more thing' when I caught the suspect in a contradiction. And everyone on the force treats me like I'm an idiot just because I'm a new recruit!"
Adrian gave Ellie an understanding look. "Come on, Ellie. The only person I have to deal with on a regular basis is Selene, and she doesn't treat me like I'm an idiot. She treats me like i'm a newborn baby, that also happens to be an idiot. I'm assuming her mentor was the same to her."
Ellie paused, as if trying to put a face to the name. "Selene- oh, that scary woman. Poor you," she said sarcastically. "It just seems unfair, though. Why can't we choose if we wanna investigate crime scenes, or learn every single possible law?"
Adrian's face got serious. "Ellie, if I find out you lose your job because you skimped on learning those laws, I'll be supremely disappointed. Laws are laws, you hear me?"
"...Of course, mister lawyer who barely has his provisional license. You're the pro." She took another bite of her pastry. "Hey, look over there! They have an old school board game shelf! What do you say to a good old game of kings?"
"So I can lose in less than a dozen moves? No thanks. I actually never understood why you joined the security force when you could've made a career out of humiliating people who are stupider than you."
"I did. It's called law enforcement. Either way, I just like figuring stuff out. Not that it helped that much on my judicial-related exams. I swear those precedents were randomly generated!" she huffed. "Actually, enough sitting around. Wanna go for a walk?"
Adrian agreed. They stepped out of the Daily Brew, and the contrast was immediate - the café's tranquility gave way to the lively chaos of the Odyssey's streets. The artificial sun cast a warm glow. Adrian shoved his hands into his coat pockets, walking beside Ellie down the gently curving boulevard.
"You ever wonder," he asked, nodding toward the distant cylinder edge, "what it'd be like to see a real sunrise?"
Ellie glanced over. "A real one? Not really. Never trusted the idea of standing on a rock ball where the air can just... leak out."
He laughed. "You- we both know that's not how it works. Either way, there's no way those speeches from the Constitutional Guardian don't make you at least a little bit emotional. The way he talks about it, you'd think getting a nanosecond of sun exposure was the same as eternal salvation."
Ellie raised her eyebrows. "You actually like those speeches? 'Seventy years of sacrifice," she started, mockingly making her voice deeper. "'The courage of our ancestors.' 'Humanity's second chance.' He's been giving the same speech since before I was born."
Adrian pondered for a second. "Maybe I've just developed a soft spot for protocol and repetitive monologues after all those statutes and precedents. But you gotta admit that the man does have a way with words. I still remember when he said no government should ever be beyond the judgment of its own people."
"That's actually kind of profound."
"Right?"
"But not profound enough to hear every single Founding Day. There's gotta be a limit-" she said, before being interrupted by buzzing from her wrist. "Huh, they need me at the station. Actually the station right in this sector."
"They need the rookie on a saturday?"
"I guess. It's not far, so feel free to tag along."
"Sure-" he started, before being interrupted by a chime on his own communicator. "Scratch that - apparently Selene wants me at the courthouse. I guess we don't get much of a break after all."
"At least it sounds important," Ellie started, with excitement in her voice. "No way they'd make me come on a saturday just to file incident reports."
"Wish I could say the same - I can't count how many monotonous tasks Selene put me up to on the weekends. Anyways, I guess it's work time, then. See ya."
---
"What? An attempted murder case? You sure about this, Selene? I'm still only on my provisional attorney's license."
Selene took a sip of her coffee. "The case was assigned to me," Selene said. "But your provisional license permits supervised representation, and I think you're ready to take the lead."
Adrian sighed. "What if I get someone life in prison due to my... lack of skills? I already know I'm going to freeze up in that courtroom."
"That's the fun part. Anyways - the evidence against him is substantial. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. But difficult cases still need defending, and I wouldn't put you in that courtroom if I didn't think you were capable of it."
Adrian rolled his eyes. "I guess. So... I suppose the next step is to speak to the defendant?"
"You guessed right. The state has him in custody over at Cell Block B. Let's walk and talk."
Selene stood up, bringing her coffee cup in one hand and using her other hand to display information on her communicator.
"Suspect is Kale Renn, a 28 years old archival transfer technician. He was found in an alley next to a victim of a gunshot wound to the chest, named Dorian Vale."
"Gunshot wound? Like a burned hole from a charge rifle?"
"Nope. Bullet - from an old-school mechanical rifle."
Adrian stopped walking.
"Adrian?"
"Sorry, keep talking." He resumed his walking after a short pause.
"Working theory is either the rifle having been smuggled on board decades ago with the departure from Earth, or theft from a museum. In fact, the rifle was found less than 15 metres from the victim's body, with Kale's fingerprint on them. Furthermore, nearby citizens mention hearing a loud argument between two men in that alley."
"Have they confirmed it was the weapon used?"
"No, we're still waiting on forensic reports."
Adrian rubbed his chin. "So, let me get this straight. The suspect and victim were found next to each other. The weapon was found in the vicinity with the suspect's fingerprints on it. A loud argument was heard between them. And he's still denying the accusation?"
"Sounds like you got it. Cell Block B is right around this corner, so you might as well ask him yourself."
Selene showed her ID to two guards armed with pulse rifles. "Kale Renn?" One of the guards walked to Kale's cell, opened it, and pointed in another direction. "Consultation room is over there."
The consultation room was small, containing little more than a table and four chairs. A young man with blonde hair sat down on the opposite side. He looked exhausted. There were dark stains on the sleeve of his jacket, and he had been picking at the skin beside one of his fingernails. He still looked healthy, and he was uncommonly tall, even sitting down.
"Mr. Renn," Selene began, "I'm Selene Veyla, your assigned defense attorney. This is Adrian Solis. He's a provisional attorney working under my supervision."
The man looked at Adrian. "Provisional?"
"Yes," Adrian said.
"So you're a student?"
"I've completed the required training for supervised practice."
"That's not what I asked." Adrian hesitated.
Selene pulled out a chair. "You'll have both of us working on your defense, Mr. Renn. Adrian will be doing much of the preparation, but I remain responsible for the case. We'll explain the arrangement before you decide whether you're comfortable with it."
Kale leaned back. "Wonderful."
Adrian sat opposite him, opening his notebook. "Mr. Renn, I'd like to hear what happened. In your own words."
Kale stared at him for several seconds. "You're not going to believe me."
---
"I just don't understand why the weapon would end up way over there? I mean... this alley is a dead end, right? If the victim's body is laying like this, it means their back was facing the dead end. So the shooter would have to turn around 180 degrees and run away from the dead end... so why would the firearm end up all the way in by the dead end if the shooter just dropped their weapon in a hurry?
Ellie was talking to herself, but her coworker heard her loud and clear.
"It seems logical to me. The gun doesn't have a sling, so carrying it around would be cumbersome, especially if you're gonna be running. So maybe in his panic, he just tossed the gun as far as he could straight ahead before planning to run away?"
Ellie turned her head to see Lenny. "Oh, did I say that out loud? ...Well, I guess that could be the case. Although you would have to be a skilled gun thrower to toss it 15 metres. I know the suspect is tall, but... that might be a bit much."
Lenny shrugged. "Yeah... it is a bit of a stretch. It's probably more realistic that Renn ran towards the dead end, realized he was trapped, dumped the weapon and then turned around. Maybe he at first thought he had time to hide the weapon too."
"I guess. Still..."
"Ellie, I think you're reading too much into it. Remember those case studies at the Academy? Sometimes people just do stupid things," Lenny reminisced.