The Spacers had odd conceptions of territory. What other people rented out rooms in their headquarters building? Still, if this was the embassy, this was technically Spacer territory, or more aptly said that legally this made it a Spacer vehicle governed under their…unusual code of conduct.

It meant the woman had a legal right to arrest him, and he lacked a legal right to resist.

If he could have placed his call, a Star Watch combat team would have been on its way already. That might have made even more legal complications, but it would have let headquarters know he was here. As it was, Maddox was still very much on his own and possibly in a sticky situation.

“You are not complying with my order,” she said. “Are you resisting arrest?”

Spacers were intensely literal and known for their lack of humor or ability to understand shades of meaning. Maddox decided to mollify her and dropped the laser.

“And the gun in your belt, please,” she said. “Put it on the floor.”

He stared at her, debating options.

“I will burn you down if I must,” she said. “A Spacer national is prone and you were molesting his person.”

“Taren Lucas the III is a Spacer?” Maddox asked.

The woman nodded curtly.

That didn’t seem right. Maddox said, “Earth records indicate otherwise.”

“I believe you are attempting to employ delaying tactics against me. Either you disarm immediately or I will fire. You have three seconds to comply.”

Maddox plucked the pistol from his belt, dropping it beside the laser. Spacers did not make idle threats.

“Stand up,” she said.

Maddox stood, assessing the situation as he did.

The woman must be a provost officer. By their circular pectoral patches, the two men were provost sentries, Marines in Star Watch terms.

Spacers were one of the major political entities in Human Space. Before the alien Destroyer, the key political forces had been the Commonwealth, the Windsor League, the Wahhabi Caliphate and the Spacers. A handful of other political conglomerates existed but none of any major significance.

As the name implied, the Spacers did not have a planetary abode, but lived in vast home ships. They did not claim any star systems as such, but traveled away from conflicts. The nature of their nomadic society had led to political conservatism rather than the radicalism practiced by the New Men. Spacers involved themselves in trade, exploration and mining, making their greatest technological strides in gas giant extraction. The most closely guarded secret among Spacers was the location of their giant industrial vessels.

The majority of Spacers were of Southeast Asian origin, particularly from Old Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The Wahhabi Caliphate had gone to war against the Spacers thirty years ago, inflicting the most devastating losses against the Ninth Thai Fleet.

“Your uniform suggests you belong to Star Watch Intelligence,” the woman declared.

Maddox nodded.

“This is an official spy mission then?” she asked.

“No. I was brought here under duress.”