"Now listen, Jack-" Albright growls.
"No, you listen," I growl back, standing to full height. Both of them flinch. "They started the trouble. I finished it. I just took four killers off the streets-off your streets." I let out a disgusted breath. "And you wanna arrest me. Should be pinning a medal on me."
"So you confess to killing them?" Wilmer says.
"I was attacked without provocation, I responded out of fear for my own safety and the safety of civilians around me, and deadly force became necessary."
This one actually draws a smile from Jean-Luc. I've just recited-nearly verbatim-the Civilian's Right to Self Defense, as defined in the Democratic Trade Coalition's interplanetary code of law.
Behind us, the ambulance with its lone survivor lifts from the ground and flies away with lig
