s. "Medic-Lieutenant
Eleanor Chang, otherwise known as Piety or Sis, the Family's senior
wife; Elizabeth Bain, our only non-military adult;
Communications-Lieutenant Joseph Pritchett, generally called Tiny;
Armorer-Lieutenant Anthony Degas; Demolitions-Lieutenant David Bain,
who's also a priest like Mike and myself, and my backup Inquisitor;
Lieutenant Charles Powell, who doesn't have a rated specialty but acts
as my secretary; and our children--legally my grandchildren, though I
can't have children of my own--Luke, Kateri, and George."

The two Imperials bowed slightly, and Medart did the honors on that
side. "I appreciate your hospitality," he said then. "Before Colonel
Cortin and I can do any productive negotiating, we have to get to know
each other and each other's cultures. You got a bit of a head start
with Columbus' crew, but I'm deliberately starting from scratch, except
for the little Captain Odeon gave Captain DeLayne."

"With first names," Cortin said, "since you're guests in our home;
formality's for the ground floor and below. Unless that's considered
rude in the Empire, which I doubt from the time Gwen spent with us."

"In the Empire it'd be undue familiarity from anyone except my parents,
other Rangers and the Sovereign, or the captain of my ship. But this
isn't the Empire, so we go by your customs, not ours; I'm Jim."

Cortin smiled. "Joan--maybe Joanie, if you feel like joining our
Family pleasures some evening." She sobered. "Now--I agreed to let
you observe me, and I won't go back on that. But I do have to warn you
that, based on people's reactions here, you'll probably find my work
extremely unpleasant. I know Mike didn't go into detail about it with
Captain DeLayne, because I told him not to." She paused, using the
brief silence for emphasis. "I'm an Inquisitor, Jim. Normally, that
would mean I question prisoners, and turn them over to a judge for
sentencing if the evidence warrants it. But I'm the High King's
Inquisitor, which means I deal only with capital crimes of the worst
type; by the time a criminal gets to me, he's either proven too
stubborn for other Inquisitors, or he's under sentence of prolonged
death. So far, only one of the prisoners remanded to me has left
Harmony Lodge alive, though with your help there may be a second."

"That," Medart said with considerable aversion, "sounds like you
torture people to death."

Cortin nodded. "If you restrict 'people' to 'hein