Erony was waiting for them. She had changed her hunt clothes for something less masculine, although the tunic and skirt still had the look of a soldier about them. "Lieutenant Colonel, everyone, welcome. Please, come with me."
The gallery was an inverted fishbowl that looked down on the battlefield, the shadow of the airship casting a dark ellipse upon the earth. Gunfire and war cries reached them through the windows. It was clear straight away that the assembled observers were clumped into three distinct cliques. On a raised platform in the middle of the room were Daus and his group, Vekken at his shoulder watching Sheppard's team with an unveiled stare. The Magnate, Kelfer and Muruw were engaged in an animated conversation, and now and then Daus would pause to look at a sheaf of paper offered up from a brown-hooded servant. The servant shuttled back and forth between large teletype machines that clattered and hummed, spitting out more paper at regular intervals. The other two groups were as far from each other as they could get, each against the opposite side of the gallery, crowding the windows. The closest was composed largely of men in tan uniforms the same shade as the soldiers Sheppard had seen on the ground. Among them he saw one of the noblemen whose disagreement he'd curtailed in the Chamber of Audiences. There was a crash of explosive noise from outside and the baron and his party clapped and gave harsh laughter. Over their heads, a board with glowing valve-digits hissed and changed, although Sheppard couldn't read the meaning in them.
"Oh, hard luck for Palfrun!" said one of the tan officers to his commander. "I do feel so sorry for him!" The tone of the man's voice made it quite clear that the reverse was true.
An angry snarl drew John's attention to the other group, who were a similar mix of nobles, except there the predominant uniform color was light blue. Another familiar face pushed his way to the front of the group; it was the hot-headed swordsman that Vekken had faced down in the palace. "Baron Palfrun, lackey!" spat the man. "You will show me the respect of my rank! Or are your men short of even the most common decency, my esteemed Baron Noryn?"
Noryn-the tan nobleman-inclined his head. "High spirits, comrade. Nothing more. Do not let it distract you from the fighting at hand."
Palfrun saw Sheppard and shot him an acidic glare, then turned to one of his own men and spoke urgently into his ear. The blue-clothed officer moved to one of the teletypes and began to work it.
"What is all this?" said Teyla. "I do not understand."
But Sheppard was already putting it together, and he didn't like where it was taking him. Erony led them up to Daus's podium and the Lord Magnate gave them a jaunty salute. "Ah, our guests! Welcome, welcome! You missed the opening salvoes and a few most entertaining sorties by Palfrun's hussars, but there's still plenty of cut in the blade yet!"
Another explosion sounded and McKay gaped as the illuminated boards above their heads changed. "These are casualty tallies. You're keeping score."
Kelfer looked up from a scrap of paper. "Yes, although I must say I've not seen so poor an opening gambit since the days of old Lord Loegis. Noryn should learn to be should be more dynamic and less reactive."
"Slow and steady has its advantages," noted Muruw. "The Great Trahvis once made an engagement last for six days. He starved his competitor into surrender."
Sheppard shook his head in disbelief. "You're talking about this like it's a football game."
"Foot-ball?" asked Vekken. "That sounds like it might be painful."
Kelfer gestured with the paper. "Noryn has left his base thinly defended. A risky gambit, if Palfrun's sappers take the baron's standard."
"But then Palfrun's men must take it clear across the field to their base," the minister replied, "and there is much to challenge them on the return journey."
The scientist sniffed. "I predict the tan banner will fall first."
Hill's lip curled. "They're playing `capture the flag' out there."
Daus waved a hand, securing a flute of wine from a passing servant. "This is an honor engagement, Lieutenant Colonel. I wanted you to witness it first-hand, considering that you had some degree of involvement in the events that led up to it. And you may also learn something of our culture along the way."
Erony explained. "The Barons Palfrun and Noryn have had a disagreement that cannot be resolved by any civil means, as we saw in the palace. Despite Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard's attempt to forestall any bloodletting, Palfrun made petition for a duel between their Dynasts."
"Where I come from, duels were usually fought by the men with the dispute," said the colonel. "You know the kind of thing, back to back, pistols at dawn? Two men enter, one man leaves?"
Muruw laughed. "You're not suggesting…? Great blades, you are! You actually suggest that the nobles should fight each other?" He chuckled.
"I'm not encouraging anyone to go killing anyone else. I just think that staging a mock war for the purpose of settling an argument is a little over the top."
Muruw's incredulity turned to confusion. "This is not a `mock' engagement, Lieutenant Colonel. Where would the honor be in that?"
Another rattling fusillade of rifle-fire sounded below them and Sheppard and the others turned toward the sound. They saw a unit of bluecoats gun down a handful of tans and charge on, to the hoots and cheers of Palfrun and his group.
"Those men are dead," said Ronon, in an icy voice.
"With honor," noted the Magnate. "When the battle is at an end, they will be interred as heroes deserve."
Sheppard's blood ran cold as Teyla spoke in a brittle tone, voicing the disbelief that all the Atlantis team felt. "The soldiers below us are using live weapons."
"You are shocked?" said the Magnate, smiling outwardly but with a hard glint in his eye, daring them to react. "Halcyon is not a world for the squeamish, my friends. We embrace might and fortitude, we reject cowardice and frailty. Only through strength can we remain dominant in a galaxy that would take us as prey if we showed an instant of weakness." He sipped his wine. "We hunt the Wraith to make us strong and to keep us sharp. No other world can say that. Strength, Lieutenant Colonel, force of arms. That is the marrow in Halcyon's bones, it is the law by which we live." Daus gave a fatherly nod to Erony. "My Dynast is the strongest, our army is undefeated, and that is why my kindred have ruled as Magnates over this world for centuries."
"Might makes right, huh?" said Sheppard, matching gazes with the nobleman.
Daus clapped his hands together, as if the colonel was a student who had just solved a difficult problem. "Exactly! You understand perfectly!"
"And what if the people wish otherwise, if they do not want your rule?" asked Teyla. "What then?"
"Any Dynast can challenge another, in matters of honor or dominion," he said nonchalantly, "as we see here today. Some have dared to challenge me. As to their success…" He spread his hands and smiled again.
Ronon took a step closer to the Magnate and Sheppard saw the tension in him, the anger in the corded muscles of his neck. Vekken saw it too, and moved casually to a position where he could intercept the Satedan, if he needed to. "This is how you fight your battles?" he said in a low snarl. "This is what you call honorable? You fence in your soldiers and count them like points in a card game? You make them die for a piece of cloth?"
Muruw raised an eyebrow. "You would do well not be so high-handed, Ronon Dex. We keep our warfare well mannered and equitable. It does not spill out into the streets and fields, it does not consume our society and claim the lives of the innocent. Our codes of conduct keep these engagements regimented. See, here. In this battle today, the use of aerial warfare is prohibited, as is that of gaseous or disease weapons, and explosives beyond an agreed yield. Our referees ensure these rules are adhered to. To be a victor today, a faction need only hold the banners of both sides. No cities will be bombed, no villages or farmland razed to ashes. There are no wars on Halcyon as you would know them, that is true, because we control them. We ensure no heedless massacres or wholesale destruction." He nodded in agreement to his own argument. "Surely you would agree that ours is the more civilized form of warfare?"