Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 07_ Conviction - Aaron Allston [14]
And all over the walls were framed holos, some still and some moving in perpetual loops, showing the prison’s warden in happy times. Accepting awards from prominent politicians. Shaking the hands of celebrities. Posing with his arm around the shoulders of prisoners who constituted particularly heartwarming success stories of rehabilitation. In the holos, the warden, a rotund pale-skinned human with wispy gray hair, seemed just the sort of grandfatherly man for whom rehabilitation was a paramount concern.
The man himself sat in the office chair. He was studying a datapad on the desk before him and he was not smiling. Without the smile, he seemed far less grandfatherly.
He did not glance up. “Sit.”
Tahiri took one of the visitors’ chairs. The droid remained back by the door.
One of the holos on the wall, a moving image, showed the warden shaking hands with Admiral Pellaeon. Its frame was prominent and central on the wall. Tahiri felt an electric thrill of anxiety. This was not going to be a fair hearing.
Finally the warden did look up at her. “Jedi Veila—”
“I’m not a Jedi anymore.”
“Don’t interrupt me again. Jedi Veila, obviously you are not at this time serving a sentence here. You have not yet been convicted or sentenced. You have been remanded to our custody because of the danger you pose due to your Jedi warrior training. And we’ve worked under the assumption that you are innocent until proven guilty … even though no evidence in your trial suggests that you did not kill a great and important man.
“But this morning …” He shook his head. “Very unfortunate that a clerical error placed you in the high-security exercise area at the same time as the male prisoners, but the situation did not call for you to attack and brutally injure them.”
“ ‘Clerical error.’ Do you really imagine that a clerical error put me there? It was a setup, someone hoping I’d be killed.”
“Nonsense. Though I will make a note here about your possible paranoid delusions, in case it’s of interest to the prosecution.” He paused to type a few words.
“And I was the one under attack.”
He glanced up at her again. “I’ve just reviewed the recordings. I saw the inmates speaking to you and gathering around. There was no attack until you assaulted Furan. Who has, I might add, sustained a serious concussion. I imagine he probably was taunting you … but in my prison you may not respond to taunts with lethal violence.”
Tahiri kept silent. Even if this man was as impartial as he pretended to be, the excuse that her opponents were merely repositioning themselves so that her murder would be quick and inevitable was not something she could prove.
“For the protection of my other inmates, you will remain in shock cuffs. They will be removed only when you are returned to your cell or surrendered to the marshals for transportation to your trial.”
“I assume I’ll be confined to my cell when not coming or going from the courts?”
He shook his head. “Solitary confinement is a punishment, Jedi Veila. Since you are not a convict, I’m in no position to punish you for infractions. No, you’ll eat at the common mess and have your daily exercise, education, work, and therapy privileges, of course.”
“Ah.” Now she understood. The situation that had been set up for her had more than one level. If she did not die at the hands of Gaharrag and his fellows, then she would be rendered almost helpless while being exposed to the ordinary dangers of a maximum-security prison stay. Whether it happened today or at some near-future date, she was marked for death.
“Any questions, Jedi Veila?”
“No, you’ve answered them all.”
The warden looked past her to the droid at the door. “Take her away.”
BORLEIAS, PYRIA SYSTEM
IT WAS A DULL LITTLE WORLD WITH AN INTERESTING PAST. THICKLY overgrown with tropical trees and underbrush, lightly settled, it was a convenient stepping-off point between the Core Worlds and more distant reaches.