Chapter 24
DHOMHES
He woke with a cramp in his shoulder and Sereya's hand tucked beneath his chin.
For several seconds he couldn't remember the last time he'd slept long enough to acquire a cramp.
Then his comm pulsed against the mattress.
He eased himself out from under her hand. She frowned in her sleep, found the pillow he'd been using, and pulled it closer. He watched until her face relaxed before going to the door.
His lead waited outside.
“The two from the holding block were caught at the vehicle gate. The cart had a second set of uniforms inside. They were going out as transport crew.”
“Roemary's observer?”
“Hit at the junction outside the guest wing. He got a warning out before they cut the circuit.”
“The injured guards?”
“All alive. One fracture. Two still being monitored after the stun charges.”
“Their families informed?”
“Yes.”
“And the guest corridor?”
“Backup lighting and communications are restored.
They cut a local junction. The entry record puts the cart inside before our transport landed, under a forged maintenance order from a freight contract office.
They hid in a covered vehicle-repair pit beneath it.
The current deck plan doesn't show the pit. The search team cleared the bay and signed it off without lifting those covers.”
Dhomhes leaned against the doorframe. His suspension had closed the entrance behind them. The search he had ordered had passed above their heads. He could picture those flush floor plates beneath the cart, easy to mistake for the rest of the deck if no one knew to look below them.
“Get the old workshop plans out. Match them to what's actually there. No covered pits or closed compartments signed off from a drawing.”
“Every pending order from that office stays suspended. Have the actual supervisors sign their own crews back in. In person.”
“Under way.”
“The communicator?”
The lead held out a pad.
The message with Sereya's identity was still in the outgoing drafts.
The examiner had matched the device record against the refinery relay: no dispatch of that page, no acknowledgment.
The traffic block had held. A separate exchange arranging the extraction had gone through earlier, before Roemary visited Burk's cell and before Dhomhes cut off her calls.
Collection could proceed with one passenger. Sereya, if Adryel could not be brought. Alive, for an exchange. The pickup time was the evening meal.
Dhomhes read it twice. They meant to make him reach the person holding the chip. Sereya would be the price.
“Preserve the original. The identity page stays restricted. She decides who sees her name.”
“And Roemary?”
“Has counsel been arranged?”
“She's asked for it. Loudly.”
“Then give it to her.”
His lead hesitated.
“What?”
“Burk is asking what cooperation might buy him.”
“A chance to tell the truth to someone who can put it before the tribunal. Nothing else has been promised.”
“Understood.”
He took the pad back and left. Dhomhes stood in the doorway a moment longer, listening to Sereya breathe.
She woke while he was putting breakfast on the table.
“You're making a habit of this.”
“Eating? I'm assured it's beneficial.”
“Appearing with tea before I can ask for it.”
“Would you prefer to ask?”
She considered that with an expression he suspected would become troublesome.
“No. But I reserve the right to complain about the tea.”
“Generous.”
She sat up slowly. He waited while she tested her shoulder, then brought her the cup.
“The message wasn't sent,” he said.
She stopped moving.
He told her what the examiner had found.
“The relay check came back just before the alarm. I sent word, but it didn't reach you.”
“No. I thought she could send it.”
“I should have made sure you knew.” He kept his hand still beside her cup. “We still needed the device to establish what she'd tried to send, and when.”
She looked at the record for a while, then asked the question he had expected.
“Could she have told someone before that?”
“She could have. We haven't found another transmission that showed that, but that isn't proof she never spoke about you. We can contact the office that protected you through a restricted channel, if you want their help.”
“I want to see what goes to them.”
“You will.”
He brought the limited notice up on his pad first, as he had promised, and set it between them. She read to the bottom, went back to the access record, and asked him to explain the restriction he had placed on it.
He answered each question. When he opened a blank request to the protection office, she put her hand on his wrist.
“I want a copy of that notice before we send anything.”
“Of course.”
He made the copy and closed the request. She could tell him when she wanted to finish it.
She set the cup down and pressed both hands over her face. When she lowered them, she looked tired rather than emptied out.
“I hit her.”
“I know.”
“Twice.”
“Her wrist confirms it.”
“That shouldn't make me feel better.”
“Does it?”
A tiny smile. “A little.”
He sat beside her on the bed.
“You put the proof in his hands.”
“The guard stopped her.”
“You got the device into his hands. You told him what was happening.”
She looked at him. “I remembered what you said. That she didn't get to decide whether people believed me.”
He could have told her how close he'd come to losing the ability to speak when he heard her voice on that recording. Instead he took her hand.
“I'm very glad you remembered.”
The diplomatic protest arrived before Dhomhes finished breakfast.
Senator Loric Vandrel described his daughter's detention as an outrage against a traumatized guest. He demanded her immediate release into Galactic Alliance custody. By the time Dhomhes boarded the courier for the light side, two other governments had endorsed the demand.
Sereya read the public statement beside him before he left.
“He makes her sound so helpless.”
“That is the intention.”
She handed the pad back. “What do you need from me?”
“Eventually, an account of what happened. Your words. Recorded properly, with an advocate who represents you.”
“I can give it today.”
“The medic said rest.”
“She said to call if my head got worse. It hasn't. I want to say it while I can remember which hand she held the communicator in.”
He almost argued. Then he remembered the promise he'd made on the couch.
“I'll arrange it here. You can stop whenever you need.”
She squeezed his fingers.
“Go. I'll still be here when you get back.”
Fowles made him begin with the damaged guest-corridor junction.
It was an unpleasant choice, and the right one.
Dhomhes put the two entry records beside the time of Roemary's extraction message.
Burk had come with the Alliance staff under a stolen identity; the armed crew had entered separately under a forged maintenance order, before the landing.
By the time he blocked her traffic, the crew and the pickup instructions were already inside.
The next images showed what those instructions had cost: the holding-block door cut open, guards down, the visitor-room service exit forced.
Then he showed them the repair pit.
His search teams had cleared the floor above it using a plan that omitted the space beneath.
He named the injured guards and the checks now covering those bays. None of that failure belonged to Sereya.
Havent listened without interruption. Ruthak sat very still.
He played the visitor-room recording, with Sereya's protected identity page removed from the public display and retained in the examiner's sealed copy.
The order to bring Adryel, her refusal, and her shouted destination carried through the chamber.
Havent questioned whether Sereya had participated. Dhomhes pointed to her refusal, then presented the evidence against Roemary: the extraction message, the cell visit, and the apron recording. Her counsel would have access to all three.
Roemary's father had sent a beautifully written protest. His daughter had left a less accommodating record.
The Coalition authorized continued detention and formal charges. Alliance representatives would receive the evidence relevant to their citizens.
Roemary would have counsel and access to the proceedings; she would not be put aboard a ship because her father demanded it.
It was enough for that day.
Afterward, Havent stopped Dhomhes near the doors.
“Off-world criminals buying the services of Kantenan workers. Using our institutions against our guests.”
“Some of the buyers were helped by people in this room.”
Havent's mouth tightened.
Dhomhes waited.
“You will have my office's assistance with the contract records.”
“Then we'll begin with the requests you have the authority to withdraw.”
He sent over Tivek's attestation.
Havent looked at it, then up at him.
“That is a separate matter.”
“Yes. My father is pursuing it separately. I thought you should have your copy before he arrived.”
Ruthak was already crossing the chamber.
Dhomhes left them to it.
Vessik came in voluntarily that afternoon with the cream packet's correspondence.
His cousin had forwarded the inquiry; the request address had told him to expect a delivery before Sereya ever agreed to carry anything.
Neither proved the males knew why Roemary wanted movement details.
The cousin's part would receive the same examination.
The investigators retained the records and sent Vessik home with instructions to remain available. There would be enough guilty people to pursue without making more for a tidy report.
The protected copy of Adryel's chip was waiting when he returned to the operations room. She had authorized the examination through her advocate. Her account identified the club's office terminal and the files she had copied; the examiner kept her statement beside the untouched copy.
Dhomhes opened the first matched payment.
A freight invoice called the cargo agricultural pumps. Its consignment number belonged to a shipment in the Barnak investigation.
The inspection record had listed stabilizers. Same departure date. Same weight. The club's accounts showed who had paid the invoice.
Gilorn Rhysgarrd.