Distant Warning by Terry Maggert & J.N. Chaney

Author:Terry Maggert & J.N. Chaney [Maggert, Terry]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2023-12-29T00:00:00+00:00

With the charges properly assigned to Kroegkamp—the equivalent back home of an arraignment, but with a few twists—we could hold him in custody while wrangling regarding jurisdiction got underway. Perry had scoped out the positions of the Masters from Max and a few other sources on Anvil Dark and gave me the lowdown. We were back aboard the Fafnir , with Rab and Icky in the process of stowing the Frankie in her bay.

“Volffin is firmly in favor. He apparently buys the argument you’re making, that Kroegkamp became subject to our jurisdiction the moment he laid his hands on one of those laser weapons. Alic is pretty much on board too but has gotten some questions about the precedent this may set.”

“Such as?”

“Such as, if we were to deliver life-saving medical tech to Earth, would someone who benefits from it also be subject to Guild jurisdiction?”

I sat back. Well, that was an interesting question, wasn’t it? I finally nodded. “Okay, yeah, that’s definitely worth considering. What about the others?”

“Well, Giller is about to retire, so he’s in the wind—he’ll probably just go with the majority, assuming there is one. Marlow is probably a no. She’s laser-focused on policy and procedure and seems to be hung up on the fact that the current ones say that Guild jurisdiction only extends to citizens of Charter members, like the Eridani Federation or the League, or others who commit crimes in Guild territory. And Earth does not currently constitute Guild territory.”

“Okay, so two in favor, one maybe, and one no. What about the other two?”

“Kitslin and Glax’til seem to be on the fence. To be fair, they want to hear the arguments on both sides before rendering judgment. Max thinks that Glax’til might be the problem here, though. He’s got his fingers in the criminal underworld, which is really useful, but it means they might also get pinched by anyone who doesn’t like this sort of precedent being set.”

“Hmm. So if we make him a no, then we have two for, two against, and two on the fence.”

“And assuming you’re going to support your own measure, that’s three for. You’d only have to turn one of the maybe’s,” Perry said.

I frowned. “Ideally, they’d base their position on the merits of the arguments.”

Perry put a wing on my arm. “Oh, Van. Sweet, innocent Van. The merits of the arguments are just the starting line for the politics.”

I heaved a sigh. “Yeah, I know.”

“Welcome to the big chair, Master Tudor!”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.