Haul

Last Wills

Adviser Rarrarar wasn't surprised to receive an encrypted transmission with the General's signature. He knew his friend attended the latest challenge with the Rabit Commonwealth to verify a nagging suspicion. What did surprise him was the source of the transmission: A ship of House Haul-Heror.

Then he found couldn't open the document.

The computer refused to decrypt it unless at least three senior members of the House were present. Rarrarar had a bad feeling about this. Unlike his friend, he hadn't noticed anything odd with the challenges. But apparently, the general had found something. After a quick check who was available at short notice, he called Horar, the General's son, and Warr, Chief of the Information Center. Finally, the computer allowed them to see inside.

They were shocked to learn it contained the last will.

«He is ... dead?» Horar was perplexed. «Why did we receive no message?»

Rarrarar tilted an ear and checked his messages. Just that instant, a message about the death of the general arrived. He was curious why the Empire message system had given the last will a priority over the death notice of a head of a house. 'The size. It is enormous!' he realized.

In front of them, the document unfolded. The text part was relatively short. The rest was a video stream. It showed a Rabit standing in the airlock of some Haul craft, screaming something. Rarrarar knew a little of the Rabit language but it was hard to make out words in the yelling of the agitated pilot.

«Have someone translate this,» he asked Warr. He turned to the text.

All of them read it.

They read it again.

It was evident why the general had went to such lengths to make sure more than one senior member of the house knew his last will. At this moment, even Rarrarar wasn't sure he could have obeyed. They stared at the image of the screaming Rabit.

Rarrarar was the first one to regain his composure. «I want legal to check this with the appropriate level of caution. Contact Raor to translate what the Rabit says.»

«He ... cannot do this!» Horar was obviously shocked.

Rarrarar didn't comment. For the first time in his long life, he was deeply worried.