"Will my family be notified of or compensated in any way for my disappearance?"

"You are permitted to write home. Is it conventional in Calado to compensate the families of persons arrested for crimes for the inconveniences associated with their disappearance?"

"If you arrest someone important."

The judge looks unimpressed. "You could request that a charitable organization compensate your family for the inconvenience associated with your arrest."

"How would I do that?"

"You have internet access in prison. I am sure the prison staff would be happy to assist you."

Sigh.

Her court-appointed attorney explains what attorneys do (they help you make your case to the court! their job is to make sure you do as well as you would do with perfect knowledge of the law and ability to advocate for yourself using it! what time would be convenient for her to set up a meeting?)

"I have no plans."

"I can accompany you back to prison now if convenient."

"Fine."

Her attorney accompanies her back to prison, explains attorney-client privilege, explains how she can file for new representation if she's dissatisfied with present representation. Presents her with all of the evidence in the case - testimony from the Elves under a truth effect, detailed and accurate to the word, with specific claims highlighted and noted as forensically verified.

"Does it in fact matter that I am empowered at home to issue warrants?"

"It would matter a lot if you had in this case issued a warrant. Or told them they were under arrest, or told their rescue when he showed up and asked if there was a misunderstanding that they had been arrested - or if the soldiers will be able to testify that you told them to arrest the occupants of the ship, specifically - or if you care to testify under a truth effect that you believed yourself to be issuing and executing a lawful arrest order and that they were going to get to see a judge soon."

"I don't have to fill out forms or whatever you expect warrants to look like. It wasn't a criminal arrest, is that the only kind of apprehension you allow?"

"Can you describe the other kinds of arrest and what the process for those looks like?"

"There are dispersal arrests, collecting people to get them quickly out of an area without the longer process of asking that would make them actually guilty of trespassing. There's security arrests, where someone is apprehended for their own safety or the security of others without a crime necessarily suspected."

"That sounds very broad."

"It's intended to be flexible."

"We can make a case, but ...well, firstly, you said in court today that it was a criminal arrest for possession of alien technology, though I can try to get that thrown out because you hadn't yet spoken with your counsel, and secondly the court is going to be asking itself 'if this case is straightforwardly treated as precedent, what implications does that have for any citizens or subjects of ours with the misfortune to find themselves in Calado' and they will consider 'there are lots of people in Calado empowered to deprive them of their liberties without due process or any process, indefinitely, without even communicating to them that they are under arrest' an undesirable outcome."

"I didn't say it was criminal."

"'What were they charged with?' 'Possession of alien technology.'"

"In context it seemed like the question was about why I arrested them at all."

"Are you going to be willing to testify under a truth effect?"

"To what?"