Chapter 5: Beast Presiding
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     Two guards followed Malia durant out of her cell on the
grounded Chimaera. With a hiss of depressurization, the entry ramp
swung down, and the prisoner, unbound but covered by bolt cannons
and firethrowers, walked across the field, a guard on each side.
The large landing site was a fair distance from the citadel-city,
but the guards were disappointed if they were looking for an
oppertunity to prod their charge onward. If anything, Malia's
military posture and bearing were superior to their own. But for
the gun trained on her, she could've been their commanding
officer.
     At the castle, Malia was handed over to four other guards,
and a bigwig named Mason. This commander, Malia decided, was the
most arrogant little worm with a lot of medals she had ever met.
He strutted around with complete confidence in himself, and after
sparing her a dirty turned-up-nose look, never acknowledged her
existence.
     *Oh, that's right, I'm a thief*, Malia thought, grinning in
a feral way that made the marching guards inch away from her a
little.
     To the equal surprise of Mason and Malia, her trial took
place at a juncture of hallway. As they were marching down the
corridor, a woman and a man bustled through, coming the other way.
     The man, taller than the woman, was sort of trailing behind
her, with the air of one in a daze. She was fierce-looking, and
probably quite dangerous, Malia decided. Her suspicion was
confirmed when Mason halted the little troupe and called politely
after them:
     "Lady DelAubre?" he said officiously. The woman stopped, and
turned around on her heel, in an oh-boy-what-now-I-feel-another-
migraine-coming-on fashion.
     "Yes, what is it, Mason?" Sascha DelAubre, The Beast,
co-commander of the Imperial fleet, said quickly.
     "Urm, um, that is, this is Malia Durant, former first
lieutenant, Imperial Frontline Magitek Engineers -"
     "The point, Commander," said Sascha, in a tone which
suggested Mason was teetering on the line which separated
Commander from dinner.
     "- accused of theft of an Imperial aircraft, and of desertion
from the Old Imperial Air Force. Um, as Commander-in-chief,"
     Sascha exploded: "What? *That's* the big problem? Kill her
already, I have more important things to do!" The tall man
blinked. Mason nodded.
     "No, you idiots!" said Sascha, seeing the soldiers raise
their guns, "You'll make a mess. Do it in the catacombs. Oy, must
I tell you _everything_?" She and the man bustled off.
     Mason, having been humiliated, immediatly took it out on the
guards: "The Empire deserves better than you morons, people!"
     "Yessir!" the guards replied in unison.
     "Now, carry out Commander DeLaubres orders. I have more
important things to do!" He stomped off.
     "Hmm," said the condemned Malia lightly, "Busy people, these
commanders." The soldiers didn't bother to shut her up, leading
her down another side corridor, towards the labyrinth.
     Stepping quietly in behind them in the dark hallway was
another soldier, carrying an old, South-Figaran autocrossbow...