Chapter 5: Banishment

Dane was beyond trying to explain anything to anybody. As far as he was concerned, what the duke and his sire just did to him, in light of the fact that he knew he was innocent of all charges, was worse than the treason he supposedly committed. He would not stay, even if the duke offered him a public apology, which had no chance of happening since everything happened in private.

Dane only had the clothes he was wearing as he entered the duke’s office when he was nudged into a hovercraft and taken to the spaceport, the planetary launch facility some hundred and fifty kilometers away along the coast. He already knew that the launch location was the only one on the planet and that the space station orbiting the planet was in a geosynchronous orbit at the optimum location to receive all shuttles launched from that location.

At the spaceport, Dane was locked in a small secure room. With nothing to do, and nothing on him, he tried to relax and was surprised when he managed to doze off while sitting up with his head leaning back against the wall. Every few hours, the door was opened by two security people from the launch facility, at which time Dane was allowed to use the bathroom. They didn’t try to talk with him and seemed wary of him. Dane used those opportunities to drink some water before getting locked up again.

It took till the next afternoon just before sundown, when Dane was fetched and handed over to two marines. Other than water, he had not been offered any food during that time. He didn’t recognize the marines, and they also didn’t talk to him as he was escorted onboard a marine shuttle. There were a dozen other marines in the shuttle who were all discussing the fun they had at the festival.

It was the first time Dane ever left the planet. The shuttle lifted off in the same manner as the previous shuttle Dane was on, but then the nose lifted to a forty-five-degree angle and stayed there much longer. Dane noticed when a navy petty officer suddenly told everyone to brace. Seconds later a roaring sound entered the cabin and Dane was harshly pushed sideways against the side braces of the seat he was strapped into.

Dane’s first experience of being weightless was just as new and surprising. He had a mild twinge of feeling nauseous, but that didn’t progress to anything awkward. He noticed that the other marines were watching him and then relaxed when he didn’t puke.

Dane kept expecting to run into some of the marines he went on the hike with. His greatest concern was facing that captain and having to try to explain to him what he was doing in space. By the time Dane found himself onboard a navy frigate and headed towards the Sagan jump gate, he was half disappointed that he never encountered any of the marines he knew.

Dane only answered questions directed at him, so he never said a word until he was onboard the frigate, nearly thirty hours after being formally banished. That was when a navy rating asked him if he wanted coffee or tea with his breakfast. It was also the first meal he had since the brunch he had up in the marine base before being returned to the ducal palace. To say that Dane was in a foul mood was an understatement. At least none of the marines or navy personnel he interacted with tried to antagonize him any further.

Since Dane was the only non-military person on the frigate, nobody talked to him. He thus also had no idea where he was headed. For long periods of time nothing happened. Dane was not kept in the brig; he overheard a marine being threatened with brig time if he didn’t behave. Dane was sharing a pod with ten other marines, all of them PFCs and all of them older than he was. There was space in the pod for double that number, so Dane stuck to the far end of the pod and kept to himself. His only source of information was listening to the marines talking among themselves.

One conversation Dane overheard was when it was mentioned that the crew was expecting a break in the boredom of guarding a jump gate with the imminent arrival of an Imperial Cruiser with the Fourth Imperial Marine Battalion on board. Suddenly Dane realized he has been kept isolated and ignorant for over a month.

Dane had a difficult time keeping from being even more depressed. One option which he instantly discarded was to rebel and to end his existence. He knew he only had to assault and try to kill a marine to be found guilty and being spaced. He doubted if he would ever find justice, but being dead would never solve his issues. His best alternative would be to be the best exiled marine he could be, and hope for a solution over time to the injustice done to him.

“Are you Dane Galan?” A marine sergeant asked. Dane was busy doing push-ups next to his bunk. He had no idea if there was any other location for the marines to exercise so he started doing static exercises in the pod. With nothing to read, his days consisted of six hours sleep and up to eighteen hours of exercise. He kept pushing himself to get tired enough, so his active mind would beg to go to sleep.

“Yes, Sergeant,” Dane said as he stood and came to attention.

“Bored by any chance?” the sergeant asked with a smirk. “Get your stuff and follow me.” Dane slept in his regular boxer underwear and since there were no females onboard, and since he never left the pod except for mealtimes, he only got dressed during mealtimes. He hand-washed his underpants on a daily basis.

The sergeant stood watching Dane as he got into his clothes and put his shoes on. He gave Dane a lifted eyebrow look when Dane stepped forward after getting dressed. Dane had nothing else to take with him. He stopped wondering what happened to his saber and spike; he assumed that Lance or William grabbed those.

The cruiser was much bigger than the frigate, with hordes of marines all over the place. Dane just looked without saying anything as he got escorted off the frigate and onto the cruiser. He followed the sergeant down a hub and along a wide circular passageway to a pod which was to become his next home. He was mildly excited when he saw a group of marines in exercise shorts and T-shirts coming from the front. They were jogging and all of them were sweaty. Dane assumed they were in a circular tube which meant he might be allowed to run as well.

“Here, grab an empty bunk,” the sergeant said as he pointed down an open hatch into a pod. “Once we are on our way, I will get you kitted out. Go make some friends.”

Down the short ladder Dane found himself in an identical pod as before except he was now sharing the pod with a bit more than a dozen other recruits. All of them were wearing the regular marine battle fatigues and boots similar to the set he was wearing in the forest before he got exiled, but none of them looked or acted like marines. Their hair was long, and they were slouching and just looked lazy and untidy. The most telling sign that they were recruits, were their fatigues, which looked as if they slept in them.