?


    Two days passed, and captain Zorl passed on whatever information he got from Ed Mara to the headquarters in the capital. Today, the arsonist Ed Mara himself would be sent to the capital where he would be tried before a tribunal and then sentenced. The only criminals allowed to serve sentences on their homes where those whomitted minor offenses. Anything that resulted in deliberate death, near death, permanent body damage and property loss valued at over one hundred million star coins had to be handled by the capital. In other words, all major crimes had to be handed over to the capital.


    As per the instructions of the governor, after concluding the investigation captain Zorl had to address the citizens of the blue star in a press conference which was being shown live on BSTV. Other live streamers too attended with permission given by the RGB of course.


    Reporter Jelly as usual was very focused and asking all the right questions, some even tricky that they managed to anger captain Zorl.


    "After a two day investigation we have concluded sessfully that Ed Mara is the man responsible for burning down the corn field. His crime which has been named arson has been deemed to be deliberate. He will be sent to the capital where he is to be charged for arson and sent before a tribunal.The details of the investigation will be released on the official star page of the Blue star RGB. I would like tomend all the officers that were involved in the operation, a case like this one is the first in our empire but as usual the RGB has proven it''s capabilities by solving it.I would like to assure the citizens that this is the kind of dedication you can expect from us, we will spare nothing in our goal to protect you.I can take your questions now."


    "Is it true or not that Ed Mara received payment through a rtive from the capital tomit this arson? ording to our research his sister in the capital recently purchased one new model Varakas flying car that costs ten million star coins just as Ed Mara was nning to buy a three bedroom apartment at seven million." Reporter Jelly asked.


    "The investigation here on the Blue star has been concluded but the case is still ongoing in the capital. I am not not under liberty to discuss an on going investigation."Captain Zorl replied.


    "There is a rumor that Ed Mara was a nt sent here by a collusion of nutrient solutionpanies to destroy all the food and seeds. Could this be what inspired the arson?" Certified gold raised a question that was sent by one of his viewers.


    "Like I said, the case is still ongoing in the capital, next question." Captain Zorl ignored Jelly''s eager hand and chose someone else.


    "If the crime is arson then is the criminal an arsonist because a murderermits murder."


    This question was asked by another live streamer and Jelly pouted, that was thest question on the bottom of her list.She scratched it off with a frown ona face.


    "Captain Zorl went on to ignore her hand four more times, letting the live streamers ask all herquestions which irritated her. She was the official reporter for BSTV, what exactly was this hateful captain up to.


    Ignoring the procedure of choosing hands, Jelly raised her voice and asked, "If the crime wasmitted here on the Blue star, do you think it''s right for the criminal to be tried elsewhere?Logically speaking, shouldn''t every star have a tribunal branch just as it''spulsory to have branches of the RGB, mecha warrior offices and royal residences?"


    "I am an officer of thew, not a politician perhaps your question will be better addressed by the governor." Captain Zorl gave Jelly a very intense angry look. If he could


    Scarlet was watching the press conference with Esong on an open training field where the newly recruited fire fighters were training.When she the look captain Zorl gave Jellyshe giggled.


    "Hey Tion," she called and showed him her terminal, "This is what I call a smoldering gaze, I can''t tell if he dislikes her intensely or likes her with a burning passion."


    "I will go with dislike." Esong suggested. "He gave me that lookst time on the first day of harvesting. If it''s burning passion then I am very frightened. I might have to run in the opposite direction every time I see him."


    Scarletughed, a loud bigugh, "Oh, I would pay money to see that."She pictured captain Zorl chasing after Esong with a bouquet of flowers in his hands.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After exhausting all of herughter, she knelt down and tightened the knots of her sneakers. "Let''s run." she told Esong.


    "I can''t believe this," he shook his head, "Their training is as intense as ours and they have to study for two hours about fires. On top of that they have to attend one hour of ss at the medical school to learn about this first aid. Don''t you worry that they will burn out?"


    "I never promised them that this would be easy but they are handling it well.I am even more impressed that the two women have been able to keep up."


    "You intend to put them to work during the winter, right?"


    She nodded, extremely determined. "That''s when the emergencies will double or quadruple. It''s a good thing that they already had training, it would be much harder if I had to start from scratch. "Come on," she took off running and the dogs Hachiko and Severus''s underlings went after her.


    At the RGB offices, the live press conference was being wrapped up and Jelly wasining to her colleague about captain Zorl.


    "He did it deliberately, undercutting me like that as if I am just a silly reporter. I can''t stand that man. And why is he ring all the time? Would it kill him to smile?"


    "Jelly." Her colleague called her nervously.


    "I should have taken my tablet and hit him over the head. BSTV is the official television of our star, we were supposed to be given priority in the Q and A."


    "Jelly." Her colleague called her again in a high pitched voice.


    "That stinky smelly captain, I know for a fact that Mr. Rodney is going to chew me out because of him when I get back to the station."


    "There is nothing about me that is stinky or smelly." Captain Zorl''s voice came from behind her.


    Jelly squealed and turned around, looking very guilty despite the small smile on her face.


    "Captain." She said. "Eavesdropping on other people''s conversations should be a crime."


    "No it isn''t, especially if I am not using any kind of listening device to stealthily ess your private conversation. You are standing in a public ce which makes your conversation public. And for your information, hitting me with your tablet is what would have been the crime. I agreed to the live press conference at the governor''s request but I did not sign any kind of contract that specifically assigned you priority on the Q and A session. Good day miss Jelly."


    Captain Zorl walked away with determined steps and his hands behind his back. In his official RGB uniform, the man looked dashing but at the moment, Jelly was too focused on the tiny spark of anger within her to care about that.