"Colonel Gerharht," Sayeeda began in a measured one, "Do you have a holo projector available?" The Colonel nodded and began to speak into her lapel communicator. The buzz of conversation in the room began to rise as the various members of the council took up various excited conversations of their own. The small knot about Cho-Lan seemed to be gaining in heat and venom as various lords exchanged quiet urgent words.

The Duke arched an eyebrow at the mercenary captain, a warning smoldered behind his eyes, warning her that she better not be wasting his time. After a moment two uniformed militia hurried across the floor, carrying a dated but functional holoprojector between them. They lay the unit on the ground and powered it on, a blank ambiance of light springing to light above it at the touch of a button. Junebug knelt beside the unit, unhooked her helmet and plugged the output cable into the unit. The projection shimmered into a series of alpha numeric characters.

"Booster, playback beginning at time-stamp Hotel One Seven Niner," she commanded. The projection shifted to the slightly shaky view from the camera in her helmet as she exited the airlock. The Magos Biologus moved closer, eyes bright with interest. The file had no sound associated with it and so a hush fell across the assembled crowd.

"Booster, triple speed, pause at weapon discharge for one second before continuing." The events on the asteroid base played out in shaky relief. There was no visual enhancement so the footage remained grainy but it was clear enough. Junebug felt her adrenaline glands tighten as she relieved the scenes the footage. There were several shots of the xenos and the horrible fate they had inflicted on their human victims.

When the footage reached the portion where the scientists were sequestered behind their shielded compartment she paused the recording. A shocked murmer ran through the crowd.

"Who are these men!" the Duke thundered, the Magos peered closer at the footage though it was difficult to make much out from the low quality recorder. Sophisticated computers could polish the image up somewhat, though it still might be hard to positively identify a face. The room grew quiet.

"Advance five seconds," Sayeeda commanded. The shot showed her pulling the grenade and rolling it across the floor before turning. THe blast wasn't in the shot but it was clearly evident when the view frame pitched forward violently.

"Is there any chance they survived?" the Duke asked in a cold deadly voice.

"Doubtful," Sayeeda said professionally, "It was a fuel air charge we use for busting bunkers, probably lucky it didn't depressurize the asteroid."

"Did we hire mercenaries to murder our citizens!" one of the Lords near Cho-Lan thundered. The Duke turned a baleful glance on the coterie of nobles. Then he turned to the Magos who was busy reviewing imagery on a smaller display.

"What is your assessment Rogefar?"

  [@POOHEAD189]