The first mistake Mikel Schoon made was to think he could make his fortune in deep space salvaging. His second mistake was lacking the ability to doctor the books and get away with it. His third mistake was sending Ludmilla to me to plead for help on his behalf. On a distant mining colony run by seven corporations, a civil advocate is roped into defending the man who caused his dismissal from command of his deep space salvage operation. Unable to throw the case due to Guild bylaws, and unwilling to cause harm to his ex-lover who is now the man's crewmember, he must pursue the case to the end. During the course of his investigation he discovers that his client has been less than forthcoming and the charges grow from simple negligence to treason and weapon smuggling. Now that he has taken the man's money he can be considered part of the conspiracy and in order to save his client he must save himself first. A science fiction novella of 27000 words set in a work-a-day world of the future.