A Matter of Honor

ship's annunciator. "General Quarters- All hands to battle stations. General Quarters-man you

of bed and into her k

ce was unchanged. "

ning?" The announcement left no

Spaceport, but is on course for the Palace Complex instead. D

's "I beg your pardon, Ranger?",

d them. Another hour to orbit, then fifteen minutes to t

e not disas

you can do from

however, I will attempt to read Thark; his shield will have to be down for h

ith darlas? You don't need to be i

k, it may have some effect, or it may simply alert him to our approach. I think it would be wiser to do no more than observe, if that is pos

less in Talent. We go with your judge

n a minute later the two were in a shuttle goi

. "But you are not wearing it either, and

Talent-and it has a lot of places where a touch of TK would be fatal. If anyone wants to wear it

e lander talking in low tones, about half in armor, but Nevan was off to one side, kneeling with upraised arms, chanting softly in a language she didn't recognize. Her Gaelan-memories l

st go aboard; it is almost time for him to land. It should be safe for y

t be a bad ide

on about Nevan's battleprepped piloting-then she made herself relax, closing her eyes, and reached t

Prowler. Yes, there it was: the circle of greenery and buildings surro

e for such doubts, though. They were through the weather screen, past the main Palace spaceport, and there was no barrier to a closer approach; there was no need to disable the Pala

e ship, drawing and firing their sidearms. They were no real threat; handguns couldn't penetrate even a courier's shielding. The heavy disruptor cannon swinging to take aim at the little ship'

f darlas, and the cannon was no longer a threat, its operator dead. It was the first death at Thark's own hands... but it was not the only one for long. The defending Pala

niors and Sanctioners toward the pad's entrance to the Palace. They were almost there when more o

fur was splattered with blood by the time he reached the Ranger. Menshikov's gun was coming to bear on hi

ugh, however good, was no match for Thark's lifetime of training and experienc

imself. It should not have existed! Still, he thought, perhaps in the final extremity, a rare human could show a trace of Ta

ult team's intense interest. *What do you expect?* Medart sent grimly. *That's the second Ranger murdered

e strike, and Rangers are essential targets for anyone who seeks to greatly alter or destr

ntinued aloud. "

as I am using. Is there no way we can get there faster? If he continues at

ve is three lights per hour, period,

"If Chang can make a sub-orbital pass

gleam, and his smile was nothing like the happy one she'd seen when she offered him this duty; instead it was one of deadly anticipation, and he was seeth

ossible. For a battleprepped warrior, it's not too bad; they did i

the necessary orders? And ask whoever is in temporary command to notify

left, going to the

human mannerism, but one that seemed appropriat

, though, I think you ought to check out Nevan's shield. It

him." When she touched the Sandeman's mind, her ears went forward in amazement. His shie

r chance against Thark than Colonel Greggson does; he will accomp

tion, though Greggson's expression was not pleas

r was continuing. He, Valla, Kainor, and four Sanctioners were looking for the Em

was a simple matter to extract whatever directions he wanted from the unshielded minds of staff and Guards before killing them. His first goal

ce than he had expected, even for a building so huge; it took a good five minutes simply to get from the bottom to the top floor or b

thing that delayed Thark worked in their favo

. Then about t

his staff. Others of the Crusade had been along parts of their route; they passed bodies, all marked by blaster fire, and added others, unmarked or knife-killed, of those who tried to block th

pty except for a handful of Guards. Thark grabbed

r everything the man knew instead of only for directions. The results were bad, very bad. Thark let the Guard's body fall and broadcast

t Terra, an option we did not consider, and this one," he indicated the body, "did not know why or for what destination. All he knew was that

objected, "how can we destroy them? You know

d they destroyed several such cruisers without the advantage of Talent to

cost us m

ow. Yet we cannot stop now. W

a bound and bleeding prisoner toward him. Thark purred briefly, pleased. The prisoner was better than he had expected, a Ranger who would surely know the

am sent them out the airlock and through the cruiser's wake, the lander's engines screaming as its pilot

dart assured her. *That part I'm not worried abou

nard. Medium height and build, he was a fair-skinned redhead who might have been handsome but for his injuries. He had clearly resisted till he could fight no more, yet despite his injuries and his ob

o capture him?" Thark

ssage, Master. We attacked before he could get his weapon out. He fought well

Thark u

hielded! I could not

nd the Sanctioner was right. This man was shielded, at least as well as Menshik

hought firmly aside,

ant. "I am, huh? Then Rina was right-Jim

made a fast landing. She was out of her seat almost as quickly as Nevan, though he beat

m do it, she found it hard to believe the one who had taught her so much could be responsible f

to the Palace entrance. He stopped, knelt to turn it over and close sta

upted. "There is a living

steel eyes. "Right. Let's g

up inside; Corina heard the Security Chief curse, then comment,

and Eustazio secure Communications; the rest of us will search-a

other two through the Palace's private section. Nevan would have b

ow

t go by overhead, and saw a gray-kilted Irschc

e warning; now both Rangers stood. She tur

Or saw a flash of kilt, I can't be sure. Sinc

nces. "They call it combat instinct, Rina-but I

a said. "That will have to be explored later-f

turn that took them into a corridor with several widely-spaced doors. "Our offices-thi

er. "The security cameras are getting the whole thin

d through those, Corina found they were on the Throne's marble dais, two meters behind the plain, high-b

iless beating of the helpless Kennard, while Valla and Kainor looked on in apparent approval. These couldn't be the

epped forward to the edge of

ced the drab green kilt, totally uncharacteristic of her. Now what? he wondered. He str

ion to the bit of metal at her belt. A human would have paled in deep s

accept. First humans with shields-blades,

acing you under arrest for

blaster; Nevan dropped him, Valla, and three others while Medart shot Kainor and the remaining Sanctioner. His demorali

ied. "He's hers-give m

s blaster, and the two men wen

en and felt the truth, Thark. Will you continue to deny it

nage around them. "All th

raining- Ranger Medart's Talent." She gestured to where Nevan was now standing guard while Medart still knelt, his hands on Kennard

ficult to accept an idea that seemed impossible even an hour ago

Corina called to her

anger plain in his

s proof of y

as directed at Thark, but Medart's lack of control let her feel the fringes. The power of that blast was immense, a

y you?" Meda

come to nothing. All those lives wasted, all that blood on his hands-all for his mistakes. "I have committed grave dis

lieved honor demanded; despite her fears to the contrary, it was clear he would not-he could not-refuse honor's dema

nowledging her authority-but there was one thing he still had to find out. "You have taught the use of Talent, Ranger

aster-but my new position demands I t

s,

may need your support. Your shield is powerful enough that you should

dly,

enant-only if I cannot protect myself. I believe I know what Master Thark has in

, and touched the strongest shield he had ever felt. "You

wed him a degree of respect, a junior officer could do

's attention went back to Corina, and he

back. To her astonishment, her blast penetrated Thark's sh

ault. And it seems only fitting, now, that a Ranger of the Empire be head of the White Order." He broadcast a thought, seeming relieved at his capitulation. *Cease all resistance and surrender to the n

, especially the ones not on Terra, but Thark overrode

to our assault team, then the appropriate parts to Imperial installations elsewhere-and make sure Defsat Five is included. Cease fire, th

of relief. It had been a noble dream, but it was now at an end

Lieutenant DarLe

ned her.

hark yo

handed the weapon over-with a warning. "Try to harm

und it by harming her. I wish only to destroy this blade, and so regain what I may of the honor I h

no disrespect, only

ed the blaster to maximum power, placed

terrifying loss that subsided to broken whimpers as he

exclaimed in

is given, but he will never be whole again. He has destroyed an essential part of himself. Take him to the medic

's hand and holstered it, then picked the Ir

for the passengers in Emperor Davis' working office, as he had asked; they had given him a complete report during his trip back, and had in turn been given reports of

obison was there, in critical condition, along with three less seriously wounded from the assault group. Greggson and one of the other Marines had been killed; the rest o

nce Forrest and a massive, gray-skinned Traiti in Marine service black. "As you w

a good job, Ranger. I didn't

onorable than he was,

enced to exile rather than death-though in his

He can go through the motions of life, that is all-and he has effectively wiped himself from Irschchan memory. His

when he found he was wrong justifies my giving him what will be seen as clemency by most people. And it'll have at least one side benefit." Davis indicated the Traiti. "Lieutenant Hovan spoke to his Clan Mother a

polite seated bow. "I saw the tapes of your rulers' Audience, Lieute

oo much honor, ka'naya Ranger. When that man shot Ranger Tarlac, I reac

n to Davis. "I assume my next task, then, will be bringing Irs

firmation of Suzerainty for whoever you pick as Baron; from now on that's going to be a hereditary position the way it is

d be best, sir, a

. Do you have a

ble-in other words, who did not participate in the Crusade. Then I will have to

idea how much of the Order will

rder schools are almost certain to share Thark's convictions, and therefore to have taken part. I simply hope there are en

'll be satisfied. You'll have Jim along, of course; it'll be a year or so befor

r that, Your Majesty.

ve you been able to find out more about hu

Kennard while he was being treated, since his shield was weakened by his injuries. He does have good potential, though somewhat less powerful

ut Rick a

the Emperor or Crown Prince; now she

ork with Jim, and I'll send the others to you for training as I can spare the

Medar

s,

anned for the rest o

m. Since they're military and risking their lives for the Empire is technically part of their jobs, I can't quite justif

rt said. "He's already refused promotion hal

ity I can justify," Davis said. "And I think he will

it-that'll make him the only ship captain who

I'll see you all at the Tribunal, gentles-in t

' apartment floor, then she said, "It is strange, Jim. I was afraid to take this job, and I am still not po

job. It's one challenge after another, and you'll eventually run into one you wo

ERW

to the main characters between this story and the next one [

ey military/administrative personnel; the Order members who were to be those replacements, after killing their predecessors, were in place and ready to strike days or weeks before Thark set the time.

usly injured, and over a third of the ruling nobles, some with their heirs, had been killed-along

r than having her do so; he chose the Empress Lindner, formerly Ranger Tarlac's ship. Rangers Fenn and Scolacz were recalled from Sector Traiti, which was unaffected by the rebellion because the White Order had not had

onal fealty once he felt he had enough experience to be a suitable thakur-na. He acted on that advice, though it proved extremely difficult at times, and succ

VI

DarLeras to see

ard opened the door to Medart's office a

down as Nevan took the seat. "Your note said you'd like to see me about a

ure how to approach it, even with a battle-companion.

m also battle-companion to Lord Klaes' 'na, Gaelan-Frederick DarShona. Who

, even a warrior. Since I've been given my choice of assignments, I was hoping you'd help me pick one that will give me the kind of experie

u'd find distasteful, given your honesty, and given some of your cultural conditioning, you could find the training for it i

d, sir. I don't know of any Imperial job I w

depth; the fact that you don't even like to think about it proves my point. But

ion. "Those are-" he hesitated, then decided even one of Hig

y it'll be found and destroyed, other than by sheer accident, is by infiltration. If it could be done openly, it's big enough it'd be a Ranger's job; since it can't, field agents go in. To succeed, an agent will have to convince the pirates @'s a criminal-probably have to take part in some crimes for th

iminate what's become a major threat to inter-sector commerce, and is rapidly becoming worse. Let me see if I can put it another way. Field agents are people we can trust to act against the Empire's short-term interests when, and only when, that's

y-but it sounded like Ranger Medart was telling him that in some cases it was not only honorable, it was praiseworthy! That was a difficult concept to absorb-yet a Ranger was as scrupulou

n Sandeman history, one of the few standard humans they accepted as being on a par with their warrior caste, and the one person they

give Ranger Losinj, I will do my best to become such an agent." He paused, went on less formally. "If what you just told me-about fiel

lling to waive warrior privacy on that part of our discussion, I'll be

d, but only

ast resort, he had all the qualifications of a Ranger. Whether Rina accepted his offer of fealty or not, the Empire would have something it'd never managed before: a Ranger-class field agent. That would fr

ou say I'm likely to find parts... not intolerable, since I intend to tolerate them, but extremely

ce a warrior's contingency plans tended to be violent..

uch experience as I can get, and that's not a lot-but her people

he was on anti-agathics and she couldn't tolerate them; if he didn't get himself killed

you for your counsel, Ranger Medart. G

"May they grant you success in b

next t

. The material following this note is the supplemen

LE

-candidates' dining hall, and all of them were there waiting. The results determined the incoming cade

int, about a quarter didn't-and he was hoping for a good ranking. In the planet-wide testing, he'd rated #1. That was good enough to get him to the main Academy

no longer Cadet-Candidate, #1 of the Class of 2516! At least, he cautioned himself, until regular academic rankings started coming out. Then he'd be working h

ead, then the group broke up to pack. This afternoon was theoretically free time, but the new cadets were anxious to move to

ying for what felt like the millionth time to decide on his third major when there was a knock on the door. He called, "Co

the Palace Complex no ordinary Imperial citizen, and very few nobles or officers, could reasonably expect to see one of th

shock, Cadet. I'm Ranger Arlene Perry

ht numbly, an Imperial Ranger. There were only ten in the entire Terran Empire, and one had come looking for him. Th

ajesty's personal representatives-it was too ordinary. So was her grin when she said, "I gathe

ssion, she was trying to give him time to

ly true," Perry said.

't feel qualified, and the idea of taking on a Ranger's tremendous responsibilities terrified him. The authority and prerogatives were tempting-dear gods, who wouldn't want to be Imperial royalty, with unlimited money and power?-but it was the responsibilities that were his primary concern. A military office

lattering, sir, but you have the wrong person. I don't t

you had the kind of profile we're interested in, so the Net kicked your records up to the closest Ranger, who happened

oice, since I can't agree. I think I know myself pretty well; I'd make a g

uld handle it, you'd be an arrogant fool-and you'd have disqualified yourself, even this late. I know it's hard to understand that feeling unqualified is part of what makes you qualif

erested in power for the sake of power itself. It's a delicate balance, and we may miss some who qualify becaus

were more than the average of ten. It was also common knowledge that however few there were, the selection criteria- whatever those were-were never lowered. T

ntil Perry had entered his life, he'd thought that meant the military, like the rest of his family. Now he was told there was a far more essential serv

and His Majesty want me for the job, I have to try." He hesitated, t

were good-but we didn't know. Good as the indicators are, we do

he had to admit he did like the way it sound

inned. "I think civvies would be more appropriate than probationary-cadet clothing, and I have a sid

Isn't there some sort

r your initial leave, emergencies permitting-but the fealty

to give him enough private time to notify his family of his selection personally before His Majesty made the official announcement. "Take advantage of privacy whenever you get the chance," she advised. "

rt admitted. "In fact, there's probabl

u a couple of days to get back to normal. So the routine is to meet the Sovereign, then go home until you're satisfied your family is taken care of and you're

got involved in, but Medart nodded. "I understand. And I'll have to do things like ge

est to go public right away, those could be handled later. If you want a co

t one, but I thought

rgo is what's medically necessary. I think an implant is a good idea, and I'd strongly rec

"Though it may not be too much use outside the System,

within radio range of, and if necessary you can link to the Empire Net through one of those- though it's usually

eas

o Emperor Yasunon's working office, down a wide corridor to a door that was decorated with the Imperial Seal and flanked by tw

ior opened the door, and Perry, gri

lding man was no surprise-but His Majesty's obvious enthusiasm was. The Emperor came around his desk and grasped b

jesty." Almost as flattered as he wa

Ranger's uniform, with the Imperial Seal-and pinned the star-in-circle badge to Medar

n his power to justify their faith in him. He still had doubts of his ability to do that, but the badge's weight on his chest left hi

should start preparations for your confirmation, since there don't seem

ment's thought. "I'll need a ride to the airport near my hom

ngements have already been made; a lander's waiting to take you to

ond, then he chuckled. "I like

set it up this way?" Yasunon was smiling

o main

LE

d the merits of various young males as mate potential. She wasn't really interested in being tied down that way, and ho

in the Order was desirable. Still, though he was nice enough, he simply wasn't very bright

"Lovad?" she called, sitting up and looking around. As soon as she did that, the voice disappeared.

ying. She got up, deciding to see if she could turn it against him. None of the trees near the fountain had trunks large enough to hide behind, so she wande

tain and stretched out again, relaxing to the sound of the falling water. She thought idly of her mother, who owned a mo

This couldn't be one of Lovad's jokes, not with her mother involved. It ha

o main

E

e had trained for since his fifth birthday, and she thought he might refuse? He'd missed the war by less than two week

omething he'd thought of before only as a remote theoretical chance. It wasn't because of the demonstration, though the way she had defeated them had a bearing, and it wasn't because she'd become

one who should do it. He was young and inexperienced, barely seven months out of the Academy; her thakur-na should be a veteran, with at leas

o main

placed here because it does not seem to

ND

en hours after leaving Irschcha. He was well rested and in a cheerful mood

ought. That meant the meeting-more accurately, war c

the head of the low conference table, talking about nothing in particular

nge-kilted messenger appeared at the door and tried to attract Thark's attention. He waved he

of convening the Prime Chapter, then said, "It is my unpleasant duty to report to you that this Cr

s. Most of what Thark could pick out were expressions of disb

rbance, silencing the Seniors. "So Losin

ssible, it has happened, and worse. She made it past both, and into the Planetary Palace. Ranger Medart, who was unfortunately on Irschcha at t

ll you this, but Medart also sentenced Entos to death for attempte

prised him but did. "Entos was my best operative, and a

n probable, that she will be helping him. Even if such is not the case, we must assume it is, and that means

team will be faced by a fairly strong Talent. She may be able to incapacitate one or more, and we ne

" Thark's ears went back briefly. He had seriously misjudged her; he could not honorably ask anyone else to co

hat about your status

o Order members there. Ellman and Steinhauer are still in hospital, and my agents are in position to kill them as soon as the strike time is set. Wang has just been sent to Sector Twelve to take over its administration, since its Duke died with no heir; being aboard a battle cruiser,

ng, in fact. She was far too upset by her simple discove

a powerful Imperial officer has become aware of the Crusade means their forces will be mobilizing. We must act before they can

s operational group leaders to meet separately and determine exactly how soon you can be ready to m

e said. "They have pledged loyalty to

e Empire's, and their military has barely begun the changeover to Imperial service; f

ll be operating on Palace Standard Time from this point on, so adjust your

ors had received reports from all the operational groups and

the course of civilization for centuries to come. We dare not fail, for if we do, the galaxy will continue under human rule, their lack of Talent causing them to stumble from crisis to crisis, a whisk

ial nobility. All other nobles outside the Traiti Sector are human. There has never be

e White Order has brought Irschcha since its triumph. The humans may find it difficult to accept at first-they seem to actually enjoy disorder-but they will soon come to real

ike for 0245. It is vitally important that no warnings be given. Since Losinj got no details of the Crusade from me, any alert that Medart puts out will have to be a general one. Losinj may be able to make some guesses, sinc

t of you, at 0245. I wish the assault force could be larger, but anything more would certainly be stopped by the primary defense satellites. Therefore, we m

aid kilt rose. "Will that be sufficien

mittedly she is strong, but she is only one

on hand to screen any humans in positions to cause trouble, and any of those who plan to do so we will kill. Afterward, we can replace the nobility with

ay, Master?" That came fro

hark said. "W

that some humans ha

ries from long ago, before the Empire, do hint at some, but the strongest of those legendary humans

he Narvonese Dragon-Kindred and

edged, "but hardly either Talent or us

if there

said in mild reproof. He didn't blame the youngster for as

nsidered dismissing them with the final lines of an old battle chant, but decided against it. It translated po