The grav-sensor feed from the recon drone showed the local defenders turning their ships about and slinking off as Sherman led the first fleet through the transit station. Once through, he immediately accelerated into an outwardly spiraling orbit of the far side of the transit station. It was a defensive maneuver that not only ensured no one was lurking in the blind spots to each side of the station, but it also all him to build enough velocity to deal with any surprise attacks that might come from out of the nearby nebula. I shivered as the Torchbearer took its turn through the station.

The transit stations were never armed. The Cacks would rather be forced to retake a transit gate than see one even accidentally destroyed, but the most important ones were surrounded by a constellation of static defenses. Each one looked like a tangled web of scaffolding, or a space dock, except that instead of manipulator arms and assemblers, the framework mounted missile racks, particle emission weapons, and massive tracking sensors.

Watching the—hopefully—deactivated stationary defenses slide past, I realized Sherman's move also ensured that if these defenses activated, at least part of the fleet would survive long enough to retaliate. Once through the gate, the fleets reformed, coordinated their flight plan and went super-luminal.

After several days of transiting through strangely abandoned systems, we came to Byway, the region's governing world. The moment we passed through the gate, we were hit with a wave of distress calls. Sherman's fleet went to tactical alert and boosted for the planet. The other fleets followed his example and I sat in my pod in C&C, staring into the monitor, stunned by the number of wrecked ships and the expanding debris field around Byway.

I called up a map of the system. "The orbitals are gone! Everything but their primary spaceport and that has taken heavy damage."

"Looks like Moony's fleet is here," Chris said.

"But he's missing ten percent of his force," Cathrine added.

I called up the optical sensors and zoomed in on some of his ships. Moony's bright, shiny new fleet definitely showed signs of wear and tear.

Sherman's ship signaled the space station using their EPR transceivers to hook into the Cack network, and I played the message. "Byway Station, this is the Battle of Kuzikos, flagship of the combined Solarian fleet. Do you need assistance?"

A nearby explosion had scored and darkened a section of the station's hull. Other sections appeared freshly patched. One docking port was wrecked and the others were filled with shuttles from Moony's fleet. I could find no intact native ships in orbit around Byway at all.

"Byway Station, this is the Battle of Kuzikos...." the message repeated as the fleet formed up and went super-luminal, severing their EPR connections. Arriving at Byway, the fleet switched to reaction drives and assumed a high orbit around the planet. The fleet switched to com lasers and soon Sherman's face scowled on the com display. "Byway station, this is Fleet Commander Sherman of the combined Solarian forces, respond!"

Moony's smug face appeared in reply. "Greetings, Sherman. Welcome to planet Moony."

"Moony! What have you done?"

"Done? Nothing. The locals weren't feeling too hospitable, so I just made myself at home."

"Moony, if you've fouled things up for us with the natives, I'll—"

"You'll do what?" Moony sneered. "You don't pay me and you don't command me."

"Perhaps I should come over there and settle this personally? You know I know how to get in through locked doors."

Something in the way he said it made me wonder if the spontaneous mutiny on Sherman's flagship wasn't entirely spontaneous. I hadn't heard even a rumor that anyone outside his fleet might have been involved, but what I had heard of Moony implied he was capable of orchestrating such a thing. Looking at Sherman's icy glare, I wondered what he had learned from his questioning of the captured spacers.

Blinking rapidly, Moony made a side-ways glance off-camera, uttered a nervous laugh. "Hey, I was only joking."

"And I think you know I'm not."

"Look, everything's OK. Doggedly's wife is back home unpacking and she let us have the use of the station for re-supply."

Shines Like the Sun's ideogram suddenly broke in on the command channel, then his face appeared on the display. "I am requiring to be speaking to Doggedly."

Beads of sweat broke out on Moony's brow. "The Regional Manager appears to have fled the system when he'd heard my fleet was approaching."

"Moony, unveil to me his currently occupied location."

"N-No one will tell me his hideout, but I believe he may have left some way for his wife to communicate with him."

"Have her offer to him to come to me. I am desiring to be speaking to him."

A drop of sweat rolled down the side of Moony's face. "Yes, sir."

It took days of negotiation with Doggedly's wife running messages between him and Shines Like the Son before Doggedly, reassured of his safety, came out of hiding. He arrived with money and supplies for Sunshine's fleet. In exchange, Sunshine promised no more harm would come to Doggedly's systems. Before long they were treating each other like long lost brothers.

* * *

Kouvaras' stony face glared down at me from the ceiling while I gripped the sweaty handhold between my feet. By some unspoken signal, we both launched at the same time. I leaped high, hoping to attack him from behind as I passed over, but he anticipated my move and leaped over me. Kouvaras must have seen the surprise on my face.

"Your eyes gave you away," he said as he flew at me in the microgravity. "I knew where you were going to jump."

I raised my arms and arched my back, trying to lower my center of mass relative to where we were about to impact. I blocked his punch with a hand to the inside of his right elbow and braced my right hand on his shoulder, relying on his greater speed and mass to rotate my lower torso upwards as he knocked me backward. Using that momentum, I snapped a kick to his midsection, but he brought his knees up to block. I felt a shove and cursed my fingers as he slipped from my grasp. I slammed against the combat ring's padded frame. Seeing nothing but stars, I twisted around and blindly grabbed a handful of netting. The ring consisted of a series of padded, crescent-shaped barriers standing in a circle. Wrapped in plastic webbing, it formed a rough sphere with openings at two poles.

Kouvaras paused and looked down—or up—at me, I could no longer tell. "You improvised that last attack, didn't you?"

I nodded. "I had to do something. You blocked my planned attack."

"That was good. It would have been effective against any spacer and quite a few troopers. If you had held your grip, you might have been able to counter-attack."

I rubbed my shoulder. I was going to be sore tomorrow. "I knew it was a mistake about half a second before I slammed into the ring."

Kouvaras gave me the kind of smirk an instructor gives a student when he sees any progress, no matter how minor, as an excuse to visit new torments on him. "Next time I'll bring some tethers and teach you to think in arcs."

A buzzing noise interrupted. Kouvaras dug his net piece from his training suit pocket and slipped it over an ear. "Looks like duty calls. I'm going to have to leave you. I've reserved the ring for the rest of the hour. You might want to get in some more practice on those attacks we discussed earlier."

Kouvaras left and I practiced leaping across the ring punching and kicking the padding. It was, frankly, boring.

"Need a partner?"

I poked my head outside of the ring and saw Cathrine strapping a gym bag down on a tool rack. I had occasionally seen her working out on the resistance equipment which, along with the combat ring, filled half of the spare cargo hold set aside as a gym. "I didn't know you knew zero-G combat."

Cathrine kicked off and drifted over to the ring. "I don't, at least not the stuff they teach the boots. But when I got too old to compete in the world zero-G acrobatics competition, I studied a little mutan-idou."

"You competed at the global level?"

Cathrine looked away with an embarrassed smile and shrugged. "I didn't actually compete. I was stuck as an alternate."

"Still, that's amazing. I assume you're a blackbelt in mutan-idou as well."

"Only third degree. I could never find a partner to help me develop my kata at the academy. Too many men see mutan-idou as a women's style and there weren't any women at my rank who could help me, so I never tested for the next."

I remembered seeing a video once of a mutan-idou competition. It was like watching two ping-pong balls rattling together in a clear plastic ball. I'm pretty sure both combatants were female. I moved aside and invited her within the ring with a gesture. She seemed so young and so small; I couldn't imagine her strikes even comparing to Kouvaras' crushing blows. "Show me what you've got."

I should have taken her slight knowing smile as a warning.

Cathrine slipped on a padded headpiece and the thin sparing gloves we use. She floated casually to the far wall and hooked one foot under a handhold to keep from drifting off. "Say the word when you're ready."

I crouched, both hands on my handgrip, legs tensed and ready to spring. I couldn't help but smile back grimly. I fully intended to dish out some of what Kouvaras had been giving me.

"Go!" I leaped.

She jumped to the side.

I landed on a padded section, planting one foot on the side and turned to leap after her, but she was already racing away, building up speed. I jumped back across to where I had started, hoping to cut her off as she circled around, but she zipped past above me. I landed on my hands and knees, having failed to rotate enough to land on my feet, but I quickly got up and pursued her.

At this point Cathrine moved so quickly she could actually run in a loop within the sphere, using her own momentum as a type of artificial gravity. I heard the pad of her feet as I leaped back and forth in a fruitless attempt to catch up. The sound of her footsteps ceased and I looked over my shoulder just as her feet crashed into the small of my back. She kicked off, smashing my face into the netting and sending me spinning off into space.

Cathrine didn't miss a step. Using me as a launching pad, she circled around and flung a strike at my head just as I stopped my movement and got my feet under me. I flung up an arm to block and got knocked spinning away. As soon as I touched something solid, I kicked off, landed, and jumped again. I tried to move at an angle to the circle in which she ran, though I wasn't entirely clear where that was. More by luck than planning, I got in front of her. Determined to end this embarrassing fight, I launched a straight-on attack that she couldn't dodge.

Kouvaras' attacks had mostly been straight on attacks. We flew at each other like knights jousting, trying to get in a solid blow. This was usually followed by grappling and punching. Cathrine's style had completely disoriented me and I was glad Kouvaras wasn't there to see this travesty.

With a slight sideways step, Cathrine slipped past me, hooked my arm and flung me into a tight spin. The ring whirled around me in a nauseating blur, then one of the padded crescents slammed up against me. Cathrine landed on one foot, fell into a rolling dive and got back up. She had lost much of her momentum but seemed otherwise unfazed by my attempt at an attack as she bounded away.

My ears rang with a high-pitched sound and my arms and legs seemed to move too slowly. I jumped and jumped again, just trying to keep moving, knowing that if I stayed in any one spot, she would quickly find me. My foot skidded across one padded section on an awkward landing and the toe of my shoe caught in the netting, jerking me to a stop. I had just yanked my foot free and drifted into the open space without a good kick of momentum when I looked up in time to see Cathrine flying toward me feet first. 

I reacted instinctively, swinging at her ankles and sending her into a spin. We collided hip to hip and chest to chest and I locked my arms around her. In the only effective move I had made during the entire fight, I twisted around and got her between me and the wall. She gave a surprised grunt as we smashed into the ring and I fell on top of her.

We drifted a moment, stunned, her nose an inch from mine, her rapid breath brushing my face. Her raven black hair swirled weightlessly like a sea anemone and her irises dilated in wonder as I gazed deeply into her pale blue eyes for the first time. Complex shades of expression, from surprise to longing, flitted across her pale face until, having caught her breath, she settled on a gentle teasing smile. "Are you going to let me go?"

I still held her tightly in my arms. They fit her body perfectly as if they had been made to hold her. I took a deep breath, my mind still spinning at hundreds of rotations a minute. "I think that would be a very unwise thing to do."

"Oh?"

"I'd be too afraid to let you go."

She chuckled, just a few low notes tinged, I thought, with the throaty undertones of desire. She started to say something, stopped, then shrugged. "I've been in worse places."

I smiled, feeling a little light headed and out of breath as we slowly drifted head over heels in the middle of the ring. I wanted to say something, to uncover what might really be going on between us but was afraid of saying something stupid that might push her away. I should have just pulled her close and kissed her. I realized that too late.

Our netpieces buzzed and we each drew back to dig in our pockets. I kept one arm around her waist and she one arm across my shoulders as we each dug out our net pieces and slipped them over an ear.

From: FC Porter

To: Fleet Command Staff

Subject: All Fleet Command Meeting on Flower of Dirt

Message: Report to transport bay 4 @ 16:45. Come in formal dress uniform.

I sighed. "I guess we better go." I looked over my shoulder. The sides of the ring were well out of reach.

With an apologetic smile, she put a hand to my chest, gave me a push and we drifted apart.

* * *

I had just enough time to shower, jump in my dress grays and make it to the command shuttle before it left for the Flower of Dirt. Harlow was already in the shuttle talking to the pilot as I claimed an acceleration couch. Phil, Cathrine, and Chris joined us soon afterward.

This was a general officer's shuttle. Chris signaled for the attendant to bring him a drink before the shuttle launched. "So, what is this about?"

"Presentation of honors." Phil strapped himself onto a chair to keep from drifting off in the microgravity. "Shines Like the Sun is giving Doggedly gifts and wants us as witnesses."

"Has he finally sided with Shines Like the Sun?" Cathrine asked.

"Not exactly," Phil said. "His eldest son left for the Cack homeworld. He's probably reporting our presence and activities to Righteous Ruler."

"So Doggedly is still trying to play both sides," Chris said.

"Something like that."

The shuttle eased from its berth, turned, and gently accelerating toward Flower of Dirt while Chris sipped from his drink pouch. I had heard some pilots were skilled enough that one could drink from an open container without spilling a drop in the microgravity. I thought this pilot might be able to do that.

"So, why is Sunshine doing this?" Chris asked.

"By showing Doggedly honor, he hopes to cement their agreement," Phil said.

"And he thinks he can win Doggedly over by having us stand around and watch him give Doggedly gifts?"

"That's just how Cack leadership operates," I said, flashing back to my xenology classes at New Athen's Academy. "Leaders are expected to give gifts to their followers; this creates a debt of honor that binds them together."

The pilot turned the shuttle and slowly decelerated, easing us into the Flower of Dirt's shuttle bay. Once we docked and floated through docking tube to the ship, I hung back a little and managed to catch Cathrine away from the others while we waited to transition to the spinning habitat module.

"I hear there's a nice little restaurant on the Blaylock called the Commander's Mess. Would you be interested in going with me to check it out?"

Cathrine cast a bemused smile at me over her shoulder. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"If you'll say yes."

"Very well, yes. But you might want to check the revised boost schedule before you pick a date."

"I take it we're shipping out soon?"

"About three hours after this little reception is over. The SCs have already begun issuing crew recall orders."

"What's the last destination listed on the schedule?" I asked, anxiety suddenly gnawing on me. Was this it? The attack on the Moiarchy everyone feared?

"It's a world called Good Passage. It's the last system before one reaches the gate to the Middle Sphere."

"Do you think Faded Glory will try to stop us?"

Cathrine gave me a sly look. "I see you're already assuming Faded Glory himself isn't the objective."

I shrugged and said nothing. She was obviously too sharp to try to fool.

"Well, it is his job to defend the region, but none of the regional managers have had to deal with a force this size. Because of the reputation we gained in our war with the Cacks, many have hired Solarian mercenaries. Against a superior force with a fleet of uncertain loyalties, he would have to be very loyal to the Moiarchy or very stupid to stay and fight."

We rode down to the habitat module and joined the others in the reception hall, the same room in which Sunshine had first received his fleet commanders. It was large enough that the hull's curve formed a noticeable dip in the middle of the room like the cross-section of an amphitheater. Some Cack functionary arranged us in a circle about the room, our feet slightly apart, elbows bent, palms up and open. It was an awkward position that grew slowly painful as the proceeding dragged on. The career military types seemed to take it all in stride as if they had been doing this ever since putting on a uniform, so I attempted to emulate them without quivering in place from muscle fatigue.

"Friends of Shines Like the Sun," the interpreter began after the spokesperson paused in his chittering. "Gather and attend in witness to Shines Like the Sun's great pleasure."

Sunshine stood apart in the center of the great room in his bright plastic strips, surrounded by other important Cacks who wore long strips of cloth bearing glowing ideograms around their necks like vestments.

"It is his highest ambition to be able to give gifts to his friends and see that they are elevated to the high positions they deserve."

A plain—or at least unadorned—Cack stepped up next to sunshine. His head swiveled almost mechanically from side to side as if taking in the whole room. I had no idea if this might be an expression of fear or pride or embarrassment or disdain. "Witness, this day our brother Doggedly—."

I cast a quick glance at Harlow who frowned as he listened to the translation. I was pretty sure Doggedly and Sunshine were not related and that the title "brother" was being used as an honorific.

"—who having given us a small token of his esteem, stands before you all in the place of honor."

There followed a presentation of endless grants of titles, honors, rights and privileges in the form of what looked like bamboo scrolls but which I suspected were the chitinous strips of Cack exoskeletons. I could only hope they were strips shed in molting by honored Cacks and not the flayed exoskeletons of murdered slaves.

As I stood, arms burning from holding the awkward position, I ignored the words flowing over me and tried not to shake or collapse from fatigue. A new group of Cacks came in bearing long plastic strips in their hands and a chittering murmur swept through the observers. The commotion grew as the newcomers began applying the strips to Doggedly. Some Cack observers even fell prostrate on the floor. This caught my attention, though I still grit my teeth in pain while waiting for Sunshine to lead Doggedly from the room and for his functionaries to release us. When the time came, I dropped my arms and collapsed to the floor and sat leaning back against a wall.

"What was that about?" Phil asked as he dropped to the floor next to me with a relieved sigh.

"I have no idea." I nodded toward Harlow who walked over to our Cack liaison and spoke with him. "You should talk to Harlow." We watched him and Circling Winds struggle with communicating through the automatic translation device he carried. When he'd finished, he walked away frowning thoughtfully.

"Brian," Phil called out. "What was that commotion about?"

Harlow cast a puzzled glance back at our retreating liaison. "That last gift of honor Shines Like the Sun gave Doggedly has upset some people. It's called something like The Mantle of Glory and indicates a special favored status with the ruler. It's very rare and significant in their culture."

"So, is he unworthy of it, or something?" Phil asked.

"It's not Doggedly's worthiness to receive the mantle that's the problem, It's Shines Like the Sun's worthiness to give it. Only the ruler himself is allowed to award The Mantle of Glory to someone. By daring to do this, Shines Like the Sun might as well have just crowned himself ruler of the Moiarchy.