Dwayne walked the ten pip coin down his knuckles and back again. The small mouse of man who'd paid him for protection was hidden out of sight under the single bunk in the cell. How<i>small time </i>had managed to slip a coin past the Peacekeepers, he had no idea. The man had nice shoes. Possibly a hollow heel. Most of the men crammed in here were from X-Zoomers. Some were not. Adrenaline, liquor and testosterone still had a hold of the ones that were. Once the guards were out of sight, things came lose a bit. Dwayne wasted little time establishing the cell's pecking order, placing himself squarely at the top. The<i>politics</i>, such as they were, had been sorted before the guards had returned to see what the fuss was about. He was alone on the bunk.<i>Small time </i>cowered underneath. Everybody else lined the iron bars. Iron, Iron Ferrite and all of it's other forms was a cheap and plentiful. Raw materials hauled in from asteroid mining. It was a timeless metal and still proved an effective tool in keeping unarmed and rowdy gentlemen corralled in one spot.<br/><br/>"Hey. Captain."<br/><br/>The Peacekeepers had taken his emblem of status, but not before most of the boys in here had laid eyes on it. He was the only one here. Dwayne glanced up at the large rough neck who'd called his name. Drew Hodge was a spacer in name only. He was more of a hard line bounty taker and merc. He was also large mountain of a man, who stood even taller than Dwayne did. Dwayne had bloodied him first. Traces of their 'conversation' were still present about his mouth and nose. Something akin to respect had passed between them after that.<br/><br/>"Ya?" Dwayne asked.<br/><br/>"That tawny skinned girl. Boys say she's with you." Drew accused.<br/><br/>"She's part of my crew." Dwayne confessed, as he started walking the coin over his fingers again.<br/><br/>"How much to get her to suck my cock?" Drew inquired.<br/><br/>Dwayne boiled under the surface but focused on the Iridium disk. Lighthouse culture had been in the toilet for years. You could find some if you looked hard enough. Most things here revolved around commerce. Lighthouse politics walked right up to the edge of Confederate law but never crossed over it. Dwayne recalled his conversation with Gerald earlier. If a creditor could start slapping slave collars on people for bad debt, the only law that'd set on the Lighthouse would be martial law. His present situation ran along a very different but similar path. Anjali hadn't been brawling. Not that he could tell at any rate. Her arrest was just one more fine to collect it seemed. If this rock hadn't had everything a spacer needed, he'd have left it in his rear view port long ago.<br/><br/>"I don't run my crew's personal lives. She does as she pleases. And she's liable to bite that damn thing off for ya." Dwayne warned.<br/><br/>"Her jaw anit strong enough." Hodge shot back.<br/><br/>Dwayne looked up form his coin. Hodge flashed a mouth full of poorly maintained teeth proudly as he adjusted his belt line.<br/><br/>"You're an animal Hodge."<br/><br/>"I try."<br/><br/>"Seneschal!" a voice cried.<br/><br/>Dwayne dropped the coin to the floor and slid it back under the bunk to small time before he looked underneath, "If I were you I'd pay the big guy. Then take a hand to hand class. Pips are easy. Respect's not."<br/><br/>Dwayne was lead out of the cell and down the hall. He wasn't cuffed either. A man in a white uniform was waiting for him. He recognized Charlie Rollings as soon as he turned around. They knew one another, but they weren't friends. They often exchanged niceties and if they were both having a good day, their interests could occasionally align. Nothing ever more than that. More<i>trust</i>existed between Dwayne and Hodge than between Dwayne and Charlie. He was a Confederate Navy Commodore, not a full flag officer. He commanded multiple vessels but never a full fleet. Mostly just the picket line of the FTL landing zone in orbit around the Lighthosue. This was the first time Dwayne had ever seen Charlie in person.<br/><br/>"You come down from on high for 'lil 'ole me?" Dwayne asked.<br/><br/>Charlie said nothing and point in the direction opposite that Dwayne had come from and started to walk. Dwayne followed. The walls were white and smooth and the floor was stone gray with a light sheen that reflected the lights overhead. Most of the government building on the Lighthouse were just this side of boring. The hallway lead to another room, with a large iron cell, just like the one he'd been let out of. Only this one was populated with the fairer sex. Dwayne didn't know if the politics were just as rough in there, but Anjali didn't look any the worse for ware. Not from what he could see of her anyhow. Still wordless, Charlie only gestured toward the cell with straight fingers and thumb joined along them, as he handed Dwayne's emblem back to him. He fixed back onto his vest then stood with his hands clasped behind him.<br/><br/>"Crewman Alvarez, step to." Dwayne said.<br/><br/>"One of you crew incited a bar room brawl and I need satisfaction Captain."<br/><br/>Dwayne turned his head ever so slowly to regard Charlie with a disgusted look, "<i>You </i>need?"<br/><br/>Charlie folded his arms and stood silent. Dwayne refocused, staring at the wall behind Anjali. His expression softened as he regarded her directly.<br/><br/>"Crewman Alvarez. For seventy-two hours, after you reboard the Rag Tag, you will be confined to quarters while not on duty." Dwayne said.<br/><br/>"Seventy-two?" Charlie asked with surprise.<br/><br/>Dwayne's eyes never left Anjali's, "Belay that Crewman. Twenty-four hours. We'll include the few you've already served here as well."<br/><br/>"Thirty days." Charlie insisted.<br/><br/>Dwayne turned his head to Charlie, "How about, you take thirty days leave. And...Go...Fuck...Your...Self."<br/><br/>That struck a nerve. Dwayne had intended for it to. He wasn't a man of or an expert on the law, but he knew enough about<i>this </i>to realize it was on his side. There were no Peacekeepers or Magistrate present. Just some civilian security and one naval officer. It all smelled like politics.<br/><br/>Charlie pointed at Anjali, "Get her out of that cell. Not a single word from you Crewman. Both of you on me."<br/><br/>The guards complied and opened the cell to let Anjali out.<i>Interesting. </i>Charlie lead them down another hallway. Dwayne motioned for Anjali to walk closer to him. They were lead to an interview room.<br/><br/>"I don't think you quite understand how this works Captain!" Charlie yelled.<br/><br/>"Mother Fucker! Step to and I'll sho-" Dwayne stopped.<br/><br/>It was just a touch, and it was only for a moment, but it was enough. Dwayne looked down. Anjali's hand was on his forearm. She didn't say word. She didn't need to. He could read it clear enough.<i>Stop. </i>He could take Charlie. Dwayne didn't lose many fights. It'd be easy, but it wouldn't get him anywhere.<br/><br/>"Well, we can clearly see who the brains of this outfit are. Maybe she should-" Charlie began.<br/><br/>"Possie Comitatus." Dwayne blurted out.<br/><br/>Charlie just stared at him blankly for a moment. It was an old Earth law, but it was practiced in every form of government in the Verge that Dwayne knew of; Coalition and Confederate included. When some muckety muck didn't get re-elected, it prevented them from deploying military assets to re-seize power. It kept hover tanks off the streets and battle cruisers in the upper atmosphere. It kept military commanders from making summary judgments against civilians. And just now, the Lighthouse wasn't under martial law. It had never stopped the Free Worlds Coalition from deploying him domestically. It just guaranteed him a summary execution had his unit ever got caught. Charlie could bark, but that's about all he could do.<br/><br/>"I'm under educated Charlie, but I'm not stupid. Big mining companies have military contracts and they don't like bad press. The sort of bad press that comes with pushing their employees to the absolute breaking point. Then what little time off they have gets spent self medicating in some dive bar, because the company's too cheap to keep a physician on the payroll. Only nobody cares until one them can't hold his liquor and sexually assaults a young woman in public. Then everybody shits themselves. Feel free to stop me at any point where I don't have this cluster fuck nailed down exactly." Dwayne said.<br/><br/>Charlie said nothing. Dwayne continued.<br/><br/>"So blame gets reassigned to the<i>new arrival, </i>and everything else just sort of, goes away. Fines get paid. Alvarez gets punished by her Captain. Data bits revolving around the incident evaporate like water. I'll tell you what really irritates me. Charlie rarely does anything that doesn't benefit Charlie. What's your play...Commodore?" Dwayne asked.<br/><br/>"I get to be the one to have the charges and the fines dropped. And I get to collect on the favor." Charlie admitted.<br/><br/>Dwayne clapped his hands together and spread them wide, "OK. Let's do that, but with a few additions. We'll walk out of here, records unblemished and no fines owed. We'll do your little task too. But we anit doing it for free. And when we get back, Alvarez is gonna have nice shiny residency application stamped 'approved'. And if she doesn't, we head straight to the magistrate's office and sing like little birds."<br/><br/>"Done. I'll send you the details." Charlie was walking and talking at the same time to leave the interview room.<br/><br/>Dwayne watched the door close then turned to Anjali and nodded.<br/><br/>"That actually went better than I thought it would."