Prisoner of Conscience Read Online Free PDF Page B

of the assignment, sir?”
    He accepted her retreat into formality without any visible sign of having noticed it. “The Langsarik pirates. Bench specialists Ivers and Vogel have been working the problem. There are prisoners in transit to Chilleau Judiciary with what may amount to very pertinent information.”
    Langsariks!
    The Langsarik pirates had been the mercenary fleet employed by the world-family of Palaam against its neighbors until those neighbors had cried to Jurisdiction for admittance and protection. Since then the Langsariks had persisted as pirates, never quite stamped out, and of late their depredations had become increasingly savage and frequent.
    The severity of the problem could be judged by the assignment of not one, but actually two, Bench intelligence specialists to find the Langsariks and their backers and put an end to them once and for all. Under most circumstances, one Bench intelligence specialist was considered more than adequate for any three given wars: one Judicial Irregularity, one Bench intelligence specialist.
    If she was to have Langsariks to question . . .
    “Are there any preliminaries?” Mergau asked eagerly, reaching for the dossier. She could use Langsariks. With careful handling, the interrogation of some Langsariks could easily overbalance the snub the First Secretary had handed her over the Domitt Prison. “And am I to work with the Bench specialists involved?”
    Verlaine held on to the dossier for just long enough to cause her to lift her eyes to his face, startled, to see what was the matter. “The usual statements.” His expression was unusually severe. “I want you to take every precaution with these people, Mergau. Full cooperation with Medical staff. I’ll have someone detailed to cull the Controlled List for you. We must have information, not just confessions. This could mean the end of the Langsariks, if Ivers and Vogel are right about what these people should know.”
    “Of course, First Secretary.” Only now did Verlaine release the dossier into Mergau’s anxious grasp. “I’ll get right on it. When do they arrive?”
    If she could get the confessions, that would enable Fleet to put paid to the Langsarik pirates at last: she would be the crucial element in the Second Judge’s triumph, a stunning achievement that would easily silence the critics who continued to question Chilleau Judiciary’s handling of the Nurail problem.
    “Twenty days out yet, Mergau. Plenty of time to start your preparations. And I want you to put everything else aside and concentrate on this. Information. Not just confessions. Information.”
    Twenty days.
    Twenty days, and then she’d get what she needed to more than make up for the fact that Andrej Koscuisko, and not she, was to vindicate the Second Judge at the Domitt Prison.

    ###

    Working their way through the displacement camp, row by dreary row . . . this was one of the most depressing places Joslire Curran had ever been in his life, the Curran Detention Center where he’d lost his name and taken his Bond not excepted. Most of the population of Port Eild was here. The city itself hadn’t been badly damaged, but the Bench had determined that the population would be easier to handle if they were removed from their homes.
    How many souls had there been in Port Eild?
    How many souls were here in these shacks, huddled together in misery and distress?
    Their Captain had seconded them on order to the Dramissoi Relocation Fleet, to serve with Bench Captain Sinjosi Vopalar’s other medical resources and travel with the relocation fleet from Eild to Port Rudistal in the Sardish system, weeks away from this world. Where the officer would place his Writ at the disposal of the Domitt Prison.
    The sky had been overcast since they’d got here, six Standard days of unrelieved mist and fog. Dirty yellow clouds, and the cloud cover no relief from the oppressive atmosphere, though it wasn’t as cold as it could have been — and a good thing,