"Yes, Ranger," came the answer only he could hear. "He is preparing for launch now." "Ask him to delay for two hours, please," Medart said aloud. "And make sure he's bringing a shelter for the team; they'd be pretty cramped in the facilities available here." He paused. "Oh, and program my chrono to display local time as the primary." "Yes, sir. Is there anything else?" "That's it; Medart out." Turning his attention back to the Inquisitor, Medart settled back in his chair. "All right, Colonel. I'm ready." * * * * * Bradford's questioning, Medart thought when it was over, was the most thorough and probing debrief he'd ever been through. It hadn't been pleasant reliving those memories of murder, family loss, torture and maiming--his, even though he hadn't been the one the originals happened to--and he was relieved when Bradford called a halt, saying he'd gotten all the useful information Medart had. His smile this time was more genuine. "You're a good subject, Ranger. You've given me all I need to have that judge arrested, as well as identify and arrest the rogue Inquisitor and the rest of those Brothers." "If they haven't gone into hiding." Medart checked his chrono and rose. "My bodyguard team should be down in ten minutes or so, if you'd care to meet some non-humans." Bradford hesitated, then nodded. "I don't really care to, but if Colonel Cortin's right, I'd better start getting used to them." Medart smiled. "If you join the Empire, yes. I'd planned on giving you a bit more preparation, but Colonel Cortin suggested my bodyguard be the biggest people we have, and those are Traiti. The Empire includes standard humans, human variants like the Sandemans and the Narvonese Dragon-Kindred, and non-humans, like the Traiti and Irschchans. One of my fellow Rangers is Irschchan, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if she became Empress some day. Plus there are occasional genetically-engineered variants who're so far from the human norm they'd be classified non-human if that weren't their root stock." "I understand." Medart was thinking hard as they went outside to wait. He would have liked to get a reaction uninfluenced by prior information to his bodyguards' appearance, but from Bradford's response to the mere mention of non-humans, that didn't seem like such a good idea. He'd warn the spectators, then, and see about having pictures circulated before he went out in public with them. Bradford was right: if there was a chance these people would join the Empire, they'd have to start getting used to their fellow citizens.