On the tactical display the officers had set up in their command module, I could see the Nairb ship. It was the real deal. I knew those Imperial lines. The ship wasnt equipped for a pitched battle, but I knew they often carried h.e.l.l-burners-bombs that could extinguish all life on a planet. Id even seen them in action once, when theyd exterminated a squid colony world.

Feeling little tickles of sweat sprouting all over me, I turned toward Winslade. "Anything you want to brief me on before I talk to them?"

"I dont want you to talk to them at all," Winslade replied. "No sane man would. But Turov has already tried, and failed, to get them to tell us what this is about. They just keep talking about a 'clear violation and mentioning your name."

Every officers eye was on me now. I could feel it. The truth was, the Nairbs had a half-dozen good reasons to be p.i.s.sed off at me personally, and everyone here knew it. h.e.l.l, I couldnt even be sure which of my crimes theyd finally figured out and pinned to my name.

"Im sure its all a misunderstanding, sirs," I said. "Dont worry."

Winslade snorted and rolled his eyes. Graves sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "McGill, I want you to think before you speak. Whatever the Nairbs. .h.i.t you with, you cant give them an excuse to take drastic action."

"We should perm him," Winslade said suddenly. "Right now."

"Say, what?" I asked, startled.

Winslade didnt even look at me. It was like I wasnt even there.

"We cant take the chance of putting him on line with the Nairbs," he went on. "h.e.l.l blab something. We cant risk the erasure of all Earth over one specialist."

"Thats already occurred to me, sir," Graves said. "The idea was discussed and rejected before you even got here."

"Rejected? Why?"

By about this point, I had my breath back. Open talk of perming me by my own officers had taken the wind out of my lungs. I wanted to speak up, to object to this line of reasoning, but I managed to contain myself. Maybe Graves had a strong point in my favor. I judged it would be best not to mess that up by opening my big mouth.

"To do so would be a violation," Graves explained. "After reviewing Turovs initial conversation with the Nairbs, one critical element stood out: She admitted to them McGill was present and alive. They asked that question first, before revealing their intent. Its standard prosecutorial procedure designed to entrap the guilty. They know hes alive and with us. If we kill him now, its tantamount to an admission of guilt."

"We can still do it," Winslade said doggedly. "If hes dead, they cant talk to him. What can they do?"

Graves shook his head. "No offense, sir, but youre out of your league. To the Nairbs, it will smell like a cover-up. Theyll widen the investigation. Theyll draw up new charges. Frankly, its the worst thing we could do."

Winslade slid his eyes toward me at last. He looked at me the way Id looked at my plate of ham last night-only, he didnt seem to like ham.

"I dont know," he said. "He might widen this investigation all by himself."

"Our orders from Turov are to open the channel and present him to the Nairbs as theyve requested," Graves insisted.

"Im in command here, not the Imperator. I think we might have an accident first."

"Youre wrong, sir," Graves said firmly. "The Imperator is in-system, and she outranks you."

Winslades eyes returned to Graves. "So thats how it is? I see. I thought you were starting to care about your career again. Very well, open the channel. Lets hope this doesnt turn into fiasco that results our collective funerals."

Once the channel opened, I knew I was in the clear. Winslade couldnt very well off me while I was talking to the Nairbs live. But I was filled with tension anyway.

An ugly green sack of alien flesh known as a Nairb swam into view on the display. I immediately felt I knew how all fugitives felt when the authorities finally caught up to them and made that fateful arrest. There were too many crimes on my rap sheet for me to sit easily in their presence.

As the Nairb began squawking into his interpreting machine, I began to wonder if Winslade had been right. If hed gotten his way and permed me, things might have turned out better for everyone.

-36-.

The Nairb Prefect stared at me without pity or anger. He seemed mildly curious, that was about it. But that didnt mean I was in the clear. Humans were barely interesting to any representative of the Empire.

"This creature is the individual known at James McGill?" the Nairb asked.

I looked around for hints, but Graves, Winslade and the rest of them wore faces of stone. I was on my own.

"Yes sir," I said. "Thats me."

"You are an anomaly," the Nairb said. "Our records indicate you were permed more than six years ago. Yet your Galactic Citizenry Identification Number cross-references with several other criminal cases that are still pending. How is this possible?"

"I dont know," I said. "Sometimes on Earth, our computers confuse one person for another. Maybe its the same with databases in the Core Systems."

Around me, the officers tightened up their faces as if they were in pain. I didnt care. Theyd hung me out to dry, and if they didnt like how I answered questions, they shouldnt have put me on the spot with these officials and let me fly solo. They were all too worried about being implicated somehow to openly defend me. Since it was "screw McGill" time, I figured I could say whatever I d.a.m.n-well wanted.

The Nairb chattered something with another, off-screen compatriot. The second creature answered, and the Nairb then turned his ugly mug back toward me.

"Your suggestion is highly irregular and offensive. Comparing frontier technology to that of the Core Systems is unthinkable. Your comments will be stricken from the official record of this investigation."

I wasnt sure if that was good or bad, so I didnt say anything.

"Let us proceed," the alien continued. "It has come to our attention that this expeditionary force, launched by the level-two civilization known as 'Humanity, has performed a number of violations in this star system. Your mere presence in this system is unauthorized, and-"

"Hold on a minute," Winslade interrupted in alarm. "I thought you were only interested in this individual, McGill. What are you really investigating?"

The Nairbs green, bulbous face turned to gaze at him. The Nairbs had always looked like seals to me, and I couldnt tell one from the other, so I wasnt sure if Id dealt with this individual Prefect before or not.

"You will contain further outbursts. They may be construed as attempted interference with an official Imperial inquiry."

Winslade fell silent again. He didnt look happy. People rarely did when they dealt with the Nairbs, and as far as I knew, this was Winslades first go-around with them.

The Nairb turned back to me. "As I was saying...it has been reported that this expeditionary force fired upon an Imperial trade ship. You were named as a witness to this occurrence. You will render your testimony immediately."

Blinking in confusion, I thought about it for a second. They had to be talking about Clavers freighter.

"We didnt fire on any Imperial trade ships," I said. "We fired on ships from the Cephalopod Kingdom. Ships that arent supposed to be in this star system, which has been claimed by the Empire."

The Nairb ruffled himself. That indicated he was getting a little bit excited. It was like watching a dog perk up his ears. He thought he was getting somewhere-not a good sign.

"You witnessed this attack?"

"Yes, from the command deck of Cyclops, one of our warships."

The Nairb checked with his off-screen sidekick again. "We have verification from two sources, then."

My tapper began to buzz on my arm. I glanced over, and saw Graves was tapping away on his tapper, no doubt texting me to shut the h.e.l.l up. I ignored my tapper and Graves, and I kept on talking.

"No, no you dont have confirmation from me on anything," I said. "Listen, we fired on enemy warships, not the trade ship. The trade ship was undamaged, it retreated intact. Surely you can verify that."

"Immaterial. The neutral warships in question were escorting the trade ship. They had an official charter to do so. By firing on the escorts, you legally attacked an Imperial freighter."

"But the squids are at war with us! We represent the Empire in Frontier 921. If they are fighting us, and were fighting them, we have to be expected to defend ourselves."

"Your facts are so disorganized they are nearly incoherent. There is no officially recognized state of war between the Cephalopod Kingdom and the Galactic Empire. The jurisdiction of Humans as Enforcers ends at the border of Frontier 921, which you left behind to invade this system. It is your task force that is the aggressor, attacking a neutral ent.i.ty without authorization to do so."

In extreme cases, even I know when Im out of my depth. This was clearly one of those occasions. I took a quick look around at the officers who stood in a mute circle. Their faces registered shock and sick fear. None of them looked to me like they knew what the h.e.l.l to say any more than I did, so I kept on going.

"Claver," I said. "Hes behind all this, isnt he? Doesnt the accused have the right to know who his accuser is?"

"Yes. The initial complaint was filed by an individual self-identified as Claver."

"And when was the complaint filed?"

"Fourteen months and six days ago by your accounting of time."

That one stumped me. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Claver had ratted on us to the Empire more than a year back? That meant hed done it after Tech World, where Id killed him twice.

"Fourteen months ago?" I asked. "How could he complain about an alleged crime that hadnt even happened yet?"

"He did not. He filed an initial charge of misconduct concerning Human interaction with neutral ent.i.ties on Tau Ceti. Initially, the charge was dismissed, but an investigation was launched as further complaints came in of misused technology, overreaching of local authority and several other lesser violations. We havent yet gotten to that part of this investigation. You will be formally charged in due time-the case is quite complex. Be a.s.sured, justice will be served and punishment promptly meted out."

I was finally beginning to catch on. Claver had been working with the Nairbs all along since hed escaped us back on Tech World. Hed been out to screw everyone whod thwarted his plans then through the byzantine Galactic legal process.

As a general rule, humans avoided Galactic Law. It was just too dangerous. You might want to accuse your nephew of embezzling a few credits from your family-owned company but end up perming most of your relations as a side effect. Normally, no one would want to take that kind of chance.

But Claver-I knew this rodent pretty well. He didnt care who got hurt, as long he reached his goals and got even with anyone who stood in his way. Accordingly, hed been filing criminal charges with the Nairbs for years. The Nairb ship couldnt have gotten here so quickly if they hadnt been lurking around this region of s.p.a.ce. They must have been watching us. Theyd waited until they had a serious charge they could nail us with. Theyd finally jumped in and slapped us with crimes they already knew wed committed. It was a setup, a fait accompli.

What galled me the most was that theyd used me to confirm the crime and admit our guilt. I felt like the dummy Claver was always claiming I was.

"Let me ask one more question," I said.

"Highly irregular. The accused is wasting the courts time, and the situation is bordering on contempt."

The accused. Thats what I was. I was standing trial right here, right now. Thats how the Nairbs liked to do things; they knew what was going on, while you were hit with something from out of the blue.

"Nevertheless, I believe Im within my rights to ask questions that help me understand what Im accused of."

"Proceed," the Nairb said grudgingly.

"Why isnt there a state of war between the Empire and the Kingdom?"

"Such a state has not been officially declared."

"But this species blew up a ship at Dust World-Zeta Herculis. Check your records on that."

"Immaterial," said the Nairb. "The perpetrators of that crime were annihilated on a neighboring world."

"But the squids have a kingdom," I insisted. "A multi-star civilization. Destroying one of their worlds isnt enough to eliminate the threat."

"The perpetrators are all listed as deceased. The matter is officially closed."

"Then you Nairbs made a mistake."

"Insults will not improve your odds of survival, McGill-creature."

I heaved a sigh. This Nairb was a poster-child for his species. They were unbending, p.r.i.c.kly and arrogant.

"All right then, answer me this: How can Claver, a known criminal, just waltz in here and fly a freighter around, negotiating as if he represents the Empire. We represent the Empire officially, not him."

"There are no outstanding warrants nor open investigations against Claver. If you wish to file a complaint, the nearest office for doing so is located in Frontier 921-where your jurisdiction ends, I might point out."

Nodding, I thought it over. No one had charged Claver with a galactic-level crime because wed figured he was dead. Hed as much as told me he had another body going somewhere when he died in our custody back on Tech World, but apparently, no one had been concerned enough to go through all the work it took to involve the Nairbs.

"Ive got one more request-" I began, but the Nairb didnt let me finish.

"Request denied. The court has been more than patient with your insolent questions, McGill-creature. Summary judgment has been reached. You will report within an hour to our ship for processing. If you do not, the Human task force will be held in contempt and charged with aiding and abetting a fugitive. Court adjourned."

The channel closed. I was stunned. I stared at the display, which now depicted only Machine World and the ships in orbit above it.

Looking around the group of officers, I was surprised at their expressions. They looked relieved. A few, such as Winslade, even looked happy.

"Well," he said, giving me an appraising up-down glance. "An inexpensive solution has been reached. Well deliver the guilty party to the Nairbs, and the case will be closed. It could have gone much worse."

"I dont see how," I said, "from my point of view."

Winslade clapped a collection of skinny fingers on my shoulder. "I want to thank you for this sacrifice, McGill," he said. "As your commander, Ill log a note to your parents explaining that although you died as a criminal convicted of Imperial High Crimes, you took your punishment honorably and thereby saved two legions."

Turning slightly, I glared down at him. His fingers retreated hastily, and his smile faded.

"So thats it, huh?" I demanded. "Youre just going to let Claver get away with perming me? Hes not done with you yet. h.e.l.l keep at it. Hes the real enemy here-surely you people can see that."

Scanning the faces of the officers, they looked troubled. They studied the displays. Only Graves looked me in the eye-but that man could put a gun in his mothers mouth without showing any emotion if he thought it was the right thing to do.

"McGill," Graves said. "Youve got an hour. No one here can do anything to help you. I suggest you spend your final minutes wisely, and then youll be transported to the Nairb ship for processing."

That was it then. My heart sank. If Graves wasnt going to stand up for me, I was lost. I nodded grimly to Graves.

"All right. I can see I dont have any friends here. Remember me in your dreams, comrades."

I walked out on them but quickly noticed I wasnt alone. A trio of MPs trailed me. They werent going to let me hide or escape. Theyd grab me and drag me to the Nairb ship when the time came.

It was comforting to know that someone finally gave a d.a.m.n about what happened to me.

-37-.

Before I could get to the Nairb ship, I needed to be in s.p.a.ce. Accordingly, I took a lifter they had waiting for me up to Cyclops. The pilot suggested I just fly directly to the Nairb ship to save time.

"Ive got an hour," I said, glowering at him. "And I intend to use it."