Weirdly, Orion wasn't pushing many advantages that affected the legitimacy of the ceremony…
The attendance protocol was being respected.
Each family within its representation limits, each contingent placed in the sectors the rules established. From a purely formal perspective it was a ceremony conducted as it should be, the protocol intact, the forms observed, every visible requirement met.
But from any other perspective it was a balance of tensions wearing ceremony as decoration.
Orion occupied the west side of the hall with his elite. A small number compared to the army he'd left outside, but not negligible in individual terms, Julius had assessed them at the entrance with the same attention he'd gave to any data that needed verification before being used.
