Save the Day Program, once again. (Gundam IBO/Satisfactory SI): Chapter 42

Gaelio Bauduin stared blankly as the trial of the Seven Stars took place in front of him.

Rustal Elion stared coldly at the former heiress of the Issue clan, who was now dressed in a prisoner’s outfit and stared at the ground with despair.

“Carta Issue, you have brought great shame to not only your family and ancestors, but to Gjallarhorn as a whole. After analyzing all the evidence, this council has come to the conclusion that you are guilty of all the crimes placed on your shoulders.”

If it were any other time, Gaelio would have raged against this sham of a trial, knowing that Gjallarhorn was just trying to push all the blame on his childhood friend.

Unfortunately, he was not in a position to do anything.

Unless he wants his sister’s life to become a living hell.

And yet, the heir of the Bauduin family could not help but sneer at his fellow members while sitting beside his father, Gallus Bauduin.

With the death of Iok Kujan, the family had already fallen into a state of internal strife, leading to a situation where the family was now teetering on the edge of destruction. So much so that they did not even bother to send a representative to today’s trial.

The same went for the Falk family. In fact, things were even worse for the Falk family since the majority of their family was outright killed by mysterious assassins, leaving behind a fifteen-year-old boy from their branch family to represent them in this trial.

And now, with the ‘actions’ of Carta Issue serving as the trigger, Gjallarhorn did not even waste a single moment before expelling the Issue family from the Seven Stars on the grounds of corruption.

As for the Baklazan family? Nobody knew where they disappeared to. After the assassination of the Falk family, the ever-cautious Baklazan family did not take any chances and ran away immediately, going into hiding in a place that nobody knew of.

They did send a representative to the trial, but like with the Falk and Kujan families, these representatives were nothing more than puppets.

This meant that, out of the seven families that made up the Seven Stars, only three families had managed to send actual representatives and not figureheads for this trial.

Iznario Fareed, the current head of the Fareed family, along with his son, McGillis Fareed.

Gallus Bauduin and Gaelio.

And Rustal Elion, head of the Elion family.

Rustal took out a datapad and started reading out the ‘crimes’ that Carta was judged to be guilty of, which was a nice way of saying that she was framed for the sake of their political games.

“Carta Issue, you have been accused of misusing your authority and attacking a merchant fleet for the sake of your own and your family’s political goals. This violates the Vingolf proclamation, which required Gjallarhorn and its forces to be a neutral force that keeps peace in the system and mediates between factions.”

“For these actions, you will be given maximum security prison time for sixty years as per the law.”

“Your attack on FICSIT Inc.’s ships also violated the Interplanetary Merchant Law. Which adds an additional twenty years to your sentence.”

“You have also misused the power invested in you by Gjallarhorn. Granted, the ships that were fielded under your command came from the Issue family’s personal assets, but they still bear the Gjallarhorn and Seven Stars coat of arms. Thus, these actions also violate the anti-corruption initiatives of Gjallarhorn, which also add twenty years to your sentence.”

Gaelio did not believe for a single second that his friend would ever do anything that she was accused of, and yet, he could do nothing but grit his teeth as tears slowly formed in his eyes.

A hundred years! A hundred years of imprisonment!

While the lifespan enjoyed by the members of Gjallarhorn is nothing to scoff at, with the Seven Stars families easily reaching 150 years in age thanks to the valuable medical technology that the rest of the star system can never dream of possessing, it was still the majority of her life gone with just a few sentences.

And given the smirk he could see on that bastard Iznario Fareed’s face, Rustal Elion, that monster, was not done yet.

So it was with pure horror that he beheld the next sentence that came out of the older man’s mouth.

“And finally, during our investigation, we have found that not only were your accusations on FICSIT for possessing forbidden weapons wrong, but it was in fact you who were smuggling Dáinsleif and Beam weapons on your ships.”

“WHAT!? IMPOSSIBLE-“

Gaelio felt a colossal force grab his arm and pull him down to his seat while another hand forcefully closed his mouth.

The young man could not help but give a betrayed look to his father, whose powerful arms held him in place.

Gallus Bauduin gave a pleasant smile while closing his eyes to the rest of the representatives.

“I apologize for the interruption. The recent events have been quite taxing on my son’s mental health, what with the Issue girl being his friend and all.”

Rustal Elion simply gave a nod before turning back to the girl, who was not giving the representatives a hollow smile.

“…..I see. In that case, what punishment are you going to give me? Lord Elion?”

Rustal Elion did feel something in his heart as the girl who always looked up to him gave him such a broken look, showing the extent of his ruthlessness for the sake of his ideals.

“For such a crime that violates every founding law of Gjallarhorn, you will serve an additional century in prison along with the rest of your sentences. All together, you are hereby sentenced to two centuries of maximum security imprisonment where you will only be given your basic rights and nothing more. You will not even be allowed visitors as the potential for you formulating an escape with the help of your family is too high.”

The girl did not say much and just slumped in defeat, an image that drove Gaelio over the edge.

However, before he could do anything more, his father once again restrained him while whispering harshly.

“Stay down, boy! Do you want us all to die?”

“But-“

“Shush! I know what you feel, but we cannot take any chances right now.”

Making sure that Rustal Elion was not looking at them, Gallus gave a glare to the older man before turning to his son with a concerned look.

“Rustal Elion is on a warpath right now and will not miss any chance to get rid of anyone who gets in his way. Especially his political rivals. With the death of the Falk head and his heir, I no longer have any political allies left in the Seven Stars that I can rely on to push off that bastard. So hold your tongue, lest we follow the Issue family into oblivion.”

At those words, Gaelio Bauduin could not help but give a look of despair as he watched his broken friend be dragged off by the soldiers.

And yet, when he turned to look at his other friend, he could not help but fury rise within his heart.

For McGillis Fareed held a calm look on his face which betrayed nothing, no emotions whatsoever.

‘Does our friendship mean nothing to him? How can he be so calm when Carta was treated in such a way? Does he not care about the woman who loved him so much!?’

With such thoughts roaming his rage-filled mind, Gaelio Bauduin was quickly dragged away from the sham of a trial by his father while Iznario led his ‘son’ out as well under the watchful gaze of Rustal Elion.