All That Glitters Ch. 48

"Recriminations or hateful speeches against these individuals will not be tolerated during this hearing and will result in a further disciplinary action against you. Do you understand?" Mertanyea demanded.

"I do, sir."

"Very well, please tell this hearing. in your own words, what took place on or about 14:35 on the eighth of July 2487."

"As noted in my own hearing," William began in a subdued voice, "I was involved in a compulsion on three teen ladies of the Council of Empaths and an attempt at a compulsion on two other teen ladies. The attempt proved unsuccessful and resulted in my being discovered as the source of the compulsions.

"I was placed under arrest and empaths started arriving at my location. Then I saw Violletiya. Violletiya was one of my instructors during my time in the Crushes. She told me that I was not the powerhouse that I thought I was and gave me permission to use a summons to see who was at Denders. I did as she asked, pushing some serious power into it, only to find out that there were a number of strong GMEs and Councillors at Denders. Then, I felt the answering pulse from Junelliya. I could not believe the power that was behind that pulse. It was incredible.

"More empaths came to our location, intrigued by the summons. That is when I saw GME Clarrisiya and Councillor Petronellaya. Clarrisiya had been part of my early development as a strong empath. But she became upset at me when I started misusing my abilities.

"Petronellaya was the lead of my last disciplinary hearing on Hollander's World. I was not pleased to see her. Junelliya and her children came with Clarrisiya and Petronellaya. I recognized Junelliya as the strong empath. I could not believe how young she was. I mean, she couldn't be more than twenty-five and so powerful.

"Petronellaya gave me the speech about having to send me to the law courts because of my actions. I was starting to panic. I wanted to get away from there quickly, to run from all that I had done. To run from Clarrisiya and Petronellaya and the other Councillors. I was building my power to help me escape.

"Then Junelliya was in my face and in my mind. When she touched me, I couldn't move. I could feel her touching my mind in various ways. I suddenly lost access to my powers. They just disappeared. I know I panicked.

"Junelliya told Petronellaya that she had blocked my powers. I couldn't believe that someone could do that, but I knew it was true because I couldn't touch my abilities. The next thing I clearly remembered is the Toolend standing in front of me in the clinic, their tentacles touching me. They had been in my mind. That is all that I can recall," William finished.

"Are there any questions for the victim?" Mertanyea demanded. There were none.

Mertanyea dismissed William and called for Councillor Petronellaya to step into the witness box.

"Councillor, please state in your own words what occurred yesterday on the beach," Mertanyea requested.

"I was on the beach a little away from the event when I felt the pulse from William and recognized that it was William Chartrinyea and that it was a compulsion. That did not please me. Clarrisiya and Violletiya both felt it and recognized William's power signature. Violletiya volunteered to find out what was up.

"A few minutes later, I felt the summons from William. This time, I got up and moved toward the source, sending my own response to the summons. I was not the only one. There are more than 2,000 empaths at Denders, including fifty Councillors.

"Junelliya sent her answering pulse and I was floored by the strength. I knew, however, that Junelliya had not put all of her power behind her answer." That comment surprised the watchers as they were now very much aware of the power that Junelliya potentially possessed.

"I arrived at the event site and discovered that William had conducted a Mind Rape of three young empaths and attempted to do the same to two other young women, both of whom were known to me as I was monitoring the progress of Guinevere Soulange as a young telepath and I had met Grace Holloway on many occasions.

"I informed William that this time he would have to answer for his actions. I told him that Mind Rape came with serious jail time. I could see him beginning to panic and feel his power rising. Then, Junelliya said that she might be of assistance in this situation. She touched William's head and, a few moments later, he screamed out 'What have you done!'

"Junelliya then informed us that she had blocked his access to his powers and that the block would possibly last for a year. She told me that sending a young man William's age to jail for thirty to fifty years was not an ideal solution.

"I remember the silence on the beach as those around me understood the implications of what Junelliya had just said. She had blocked an empath's ability to touch his power. This option for punishment was previously unknown to the Council of Empaths.

"However, in this situation, it was the ideal solution to dealing with William. Without his power, he was no longer a threat to the Council. The Council had few options in dealing with William.

"William had finally moved outside of the ranks of the Council with his indiscriminate use of his powers. The Council would have had to stop him from using his power by suppressing his abilities with drugs or having him executed to protect us all.

"Junelliya provided us with an option that temporarily solved the issue. I told Junelliya that we would speak of this later. I was not pleased that she had overstepped her authority. She was not a Councillor and, even if she was, her actions were beyond what was expected.

"I went to the Denders Clinic and found William and his parents with Dr. Maya, who told us that she had contacted the Toolend. They arrived not long after.

"They requested permission to enter William's mind and saw immediately that he was preparing for flight and revenge. He did not want to be in front of another disciplinary hearing. They told us of what they thought Junelliya had done and that they could duplicate this block. They also explained that they could remove the block or even make it permanent.

"The Toolend refused to remove the block as they said it had been imposed as a punishment and that William was seeking a means of escape. They thought the block was a rather fitting punishment for William.

"Fayad Piscium, Junelliya's husband, was with us at the clinic. I told him that Junelliya would be subject to a disciplinary hearing today and to inform her of this fact.

"Junelliya came this morning as a witness to the events of yesterday and to accept responsibility for her actions in the event. Unlike young William, she did not attempt to run nor to hide her responsibility in this incident. That concludes my witness," Petronellaya finished.

Having heard the story in the previous hearing, there were no questions for Petronellaya. Mertanyea called the two Toolend forward.

"We had been requested to assist by Dr. Maya. We have collaborated with her on humans in the past, most notably with those who had suffered from severe mental trauma during their time as slaves of the Alliance.

"She asked us to look into William's mind and see what we could do for the young man. His parents wanted to know if the block could be removed.

"We requested permission to look deeply into the mind of William. His parents gave their consent as William was in a panicked state and not responsible enough to give his own consent. Malnad and I entered William's mind with Dr. Maya as an observer.

"We found the block and its mechanism and determined that we could remove it, duplicate it, and even make it permanent.

"We informed those present of these facts and that we would not remove the block as William posed a threat of flight. He wanted out of there badly."

A Toolend Elder rose. "Yes, Elder Tulac?" Elder Fordrat asked.

"While it was not appropriate to view what had been done to William during the last hearing, I would ask that we be allowed to see for ourselves the consequences of Junelliya's actions. This will weigh heavily on our response during this hearing."

"Agreed," Fordrat replied. "Tougrate and Malnad, if you can show us what you saw..."

The two Toolend opened their minds to the Elders and passed on what they had seen.

"That is quite extraordinary!" Tulac stated. "And Junelliya has had no training in this?"

Tougrate sent a message to Augraf, who confirmed that erht had not given instruction in this technique to Junelliya. Tougrate and Malnad confirmed that they too, had not given her instruction.

"She has, however, been an observer on many occasions when we collaborated with Dr. Maya," Malnad advised.

"This is a new technique," another Elder stated. "We have not used this nor even thought of using something like this. I can, however, see the benefit from its use, especially as it appears it can be reversed to allow for greater connectivity."

"That is our suspicion. We will need to test this soon. There is only one candidate for this test here at Denders, Dr. Maya," Tougrate informed the Elders.

"Actually, that is not correct, Elders," Guinevere interrupted standing up beside her mother. "There is another, even better candidate. My mother, Elizabeth Soulange. It is known that she has the spark. It is also known that she will not progress much beyond where she currently is. IF this technique can be used to help her progress, that would confirm the technique's usefulness."

"Guinevere is correct," Malnad stated. "Elizabeth Soulange is at a bare minimum for a telepath. If this technique can help her achieve parity, its usefulness would be confirmed."

"Very well. If she agrees, we shall conduct an experiment within the next couple of days with Elizabeth Soulange as the subject," Elder Fordrat instructed. "For now, let us continue with this hearing."

"Our witness is complete, Councillors, Elders," Tougrate informed them. There were no other questions for the pair.

"Thank-you, you may step down," Shylmiya told them.

"Is there anyone else that would like to submit a witness statement?" Mertanyea inquired. No one answered. "Very well. The accused, Dame Junelliya Atohan Herlan, take your place in the witness box."

"In your own words, please tell us what happened." Mertanyea ordered.

"As I stated during the previous hearing, I felt the pulse from William, learning later that it was a compulsion. Violletiya, Clarrisiya, and Petronellaya all recognized the person's power signature. Violletiya offered to find out what was happening. She moved down the beach toward the source of the pulse.

"A few minutes later, we felt William's summons and the many people who answered it. I answered the summons after Petronellaya. Petronellaya, Elliya, Clarrisiya, Hanalei, myself, and the children all went down toward the source of the summons.

"We found William, tentatively under arrest. When Guinevere informed us of what had happened, I sensed that Petronellaya was quite angry. She informed William that he had committed Mind Rape and that actions against him were no longer in the hands of the Council of Empaths. He would go to a court of law and be charged, where he would probably receive some serious jail time.

"As an empath, I could feel William beginning to panic, feel him pulling his power together. As a telepath, I could sense that he wanted to run. He wanted away from Denders, hopefully into the Terran population where he could hide.

"There was no way that I could let him escape. I needed to do something to stop him. I gave Zarrenia to Clarrisiya and stepped up to William. I reasoned that William had committed a crime and that I would be allowed to enter his mind to confirm this. It did not occur to me that William was underage and that I needed his guardian's permission or the authority of the Council to do this. For this, I apologize.

"His focus was not on me, which allowed me to touch his mind and enter it as a telepath. I could see the power that he was building. It was quite strong, strong enough to possibly block me, at least initially. I was looking for some way to force William to act responsibly. I saw how he was calling his power and interrupted that flow. It occurred to me that if I could do that a little more permanently, I could give Petronellaya and the Council another option with William.

"I touched the place where his power became subjected to his conscious thoughts and set a block there. I knew that he would eventually get around the block, perhaps in about a year. But, for now, he was no longer able to escape nor to cause the Council further problems with the use of his abilities.

"When I withdrew from his mind, William discovered what I had done and collapsed. I told Petronellaya that I had blocked his ability to touch his power for perhaps as much as a year. The people around us suddenly went silent.

"Petronellaya told me that I had gone too far. She then left to follow William and the medical staff.

"Fayad, my husband, went after them. When he returned, I was informed that I would be subject to a disciplinary hearing today.

"I did what I did to help the Council. I thought that I would have permission to do so because of the criminal activity involved. I needed to stop William from escaping, possibly into the Terran population. He would have caused havoc if he had.

"I also wanted to help my friend, Petronellaya, with a serious problem that she was facing. It was not my intention to cause her further problems. However, I accept my responsibility for overstepping my place and doing what I did without the authority of the Council or the Order. This concludes my witness," Junelliya finished.

Councillor Geturyea rose. "Are you saying that you decided all of this within moments after Petronellaya informed William that he was to be sent to a court of law, and that you entered his mind, found the source of the conscious use of his power, and blocked it, within a few moments of entering his mind?"

"Yes," Junelliya confirmed.

Councillor Deriya rose. "Do you expect us to believe that you made these decisions and did this so quickly?"

"Are you not able to make decisions quickly in an emergency, Councillor?" Junelliya asked, getting laughter from the watchers.

Councillor Shylmiya rose. "That will be enough of those kinds of questions, Councillors. Junelliya is a truly unique individual, power-wise, intelligence-wise, and simply as a person. Please keep your questions to the facts of this case, the use of her abilities without proper authority."

The Councillors and Elders asked a few more questions pertaining to the event but soon were satisfied that they had all the information they needed.

Councillor Shylmiya rose. "We will now withdraw to determine the results of this hearing." She signalled Petronellaya to join them.

The watchers rose as the Councillors and Elders left the stage. It was some forty minutes later before they returned.

"Dame Junelliya Atohan Herlan, rise before this disciplinary hearing." Mertanyea ordered. Junelliya stood and stepped into the witness box.

Councillor Shylmiya stood and moved over slightly at her desk as the Senior Elder Fordrat stepped in beside her.

"This is the first ever combined disciplinary hearing for the Council of Empaths and the Order of Telepaths as Dame Junelliya Atohan Herlan is a member of both organizations," Shylmiya stated.

"Junelliya, you have accepted responsibility for your actions on the eighth of July and plead guilty. This hearing confirms your guilt.

"Normally, an ordinary empath or a student telepath such as yourself, would not be allowed to conduct the activities that you have without the authority of the Council or the Order. However, there are mitigating circumstances.

"First, Councillor Petronellaya has informed us that this is not the first time that you have overstepped your authority. In those instances you were on your own and attempting to stop a war between the Pod-Drran and the Union. While Petronellaya acknowledged the unique situation, she did inform you that you would be subject to a disciplinary hearing in any future such event. You were aware of this edict and yet, yesterday, you acted beyond your authority.

"It is noted that in all of your incidents, you acted for specific reasons to support and protect others and not to fulfill your own desires or needs.

"Second, you acted in this regard to prevent the escape of William Chartrinyea. Such a powerful empath, with no regard for Council norms, escaping into the population of Terra is the worst case scenario of the Council. The actions he would have used to prevent his capture by Union authorities would have brought the ire of the Union down on the Council and sparked a return of the fear by ordinary citizens that empaths have been subject to in the past.

"Third, you have provided a viable third alternative to severe punishments that did not exist before, namely, the temporary blocking of access to one's powers. Prior to this, the Council had only two options in severe cases: suppression of abilities with the use of drugs, or execution. It should be noted that in the last century, the Council has had to resort nine times to the use of execution.

"The Toolend have a strict policy of not allowing any telepath who does not conform to the tenants of the Order from leaving Toolend space. William Chartrinyea should not have been allowed to leave Hollander's World where he could have been controlled by other empaths. In this, the Council of Empaths admits its responsibility, which created the situation you found yourself in.

"Because of this event, the Council of Empaths will adopt the Order of Telepaths tenant of not allowing Empaths, originating on Hollander's World who do not conform to the Tenants of the Council, from leaving Hollander's World.

"You, Junelliya, an Ordinary Member of the Council of Empaths, should not have been required to act on behalf of the Council to protect us. We commend your actions in preventing William Chartrinyea from escaping, blocking his ability to use that power, and providing the Council with a new and viable punishment for unruly members of the Council.

"However, we are still left with the fact that you have overstepped your authority."

Here, Senior Elder Fordrat took over.

"As a member of the Order of Telepaths, you have been instructed in only the most simple levels of telepathy. You have not been instructed on the actions that you have employed against William Chartrinyea. It has been noted that you and Dr. Maya, have been observers on several occasions for the telepathic medical actions of Tougrate and Malnad, but you do not have the training necessary to conduct such actions. The results of your meddling could have been far different and far more severe for William. In this situation, you were quite fortunate on the outcome.

"As for the tenants of the Order of Telepaths, the first tenant is always to act with the appropriate authority. You need the permission of the person, their guardian(s), a medical officer in the event that the person is not conscious, a legal writ allowing you to act, or the authority of an Elder of the Order. You had none of these.

"This tenant is taken directly from the Council of Empaths, on whom we base a lot of our own tenants, modified in respect of our telepathic needs. Thus you are aware of this tenant, as it exists in both camps.

"You are currently in a place in your training where you could be given instructions in new techniques to further your progress as a telepath. In respect of this, we declare that, for the next ninety Terran days, you will not receive instruction in any new telepathic techniques. You will also be subject to a fine of C5,000," Fordrat finished.