In the absence of a bailiff, I shall run the whole shooting match myself. You three are charged with attempted murder of two police officers, boot leg...ing and illegal possession of alcoholic beverages. How do you plead?" Maybe the big bastard over there caught us red handed, but we was not guilty." The larger of the three who had hidden in the basement of the roadhouse blustered."Are you not guilty to attempting to kill two lawmen, not guilty of bootlegging or what? Speak up and keep a civil. " Swanson grinned wryly. "Maybe I'd better not state which service. Marines don't typically have much use for Fleet Auxiliary."Payne flashed an amused smile. "Might be wise. Also, we're showing on the preliminary scans a lot of water on the planet, but there are no oceans or rivers. Any explanation there?" No, we've never wondered that. We've just considered the planet to be a barren ball of dust, a desert planet. Any rainfall just gets soaked into the sand." Well, our aerologist and geologist. We rinsed and soaped and rinsed again, our hands straying, my heat building once more. I didn't feel frightened or even too surprised at seeing my parents, I guess in part because I knew they already knew how Emily and I felt about each other, and they knew we had moved well beyond holding hands.I didn't think they'd seen us having sex before, but I wasn't entirely sure about that. There were little hints, too, that there was more to their relationship with Emily's parents than Emily or I had. "For now I would be content with having these invading Britons out of my Dalriada!" exclaimed Eochaid.Merlin turned to face the hill-fort and raised his staff on high. A ball of flame burst from the tip of the staff and rocketed towards the fort. All around watched as it flew inside the hall and the Britons on the hilltop began to stream from the structure, rushing to get away. Within minutes the hill-fort was cleared and all of the invaders were in custody. Strangely, there was no smoke or.