The delegate wanted guards he could command.
He said it before Eli had finished asking what protection would make participation possible. The proposed anchor site lay within his government’s district. Its administrators would answer for an attack, its residents would suffer the damage, and its officers could not share responsibility with people who might withdraw at the next dispute. Outside guards could be useful, but they would have to accept government direction while operating there.
Bram stood beside the window, listening to traffic being cleared for a medical vehicle.
“Every guard?” he asked.
“Every armed person assigned to protect the site.”
“Who can a volunteer approach if the officer giving the order is the problem?”
The delegate said his government had procedures for complaints. Bram asked whether those procedures had a contact outside the local officer’s command. The answer became longer and less definite. Eli recognized the familiar movement from a practical question to a description of authority intended to make further questions seem discourteous.
Juno interrupted through the engineer’s receiver.
