When Grayson joined the Manticorans, they couldn't of known how much they would progress, how much they would grow, expand and thrive.

But when two very different cultures clash and mix, people are bound to start questioning what is right and wrong. Women on Grayson have, for many years, been nothing more than mothers and caretakers of their husbands. As their rights slowly but surely start to come into existence, the planet began to change, the population looking up to their God, and their savior, Honor Harrington for guidance.

But the women are not the only one who have question their beliefs or their rights. There were others, unseen, whose lives were affected by that alliance.

And this is his story.

My name is Maximilian (Max for short) Austen Carson.

I am a Grayson citizen, faithful follower of The Church of Humanity Unchained, and currently in the Gayson Navy as an officer, a Lieutenant.

I am the second son of Harold Carson, third child to his second wife, Bella Carson.

I have 6 sisters. Rachael, Joy, and Mary, the daughters of Tabitha Carson(my fathers first wife). And my two younger sisters, Sophia and Isabelle.

I have one older brother who, while I love him, can feel a certain irritation towards.

Being the second son on Grayson is like being the spare tire on a car that regularly gets serviced. You're just a spare in case one before you fails. I live the shadow of Andrew Michael Carson, the first son and first child of Harold Carson.

Let me give you some perspective. My worlds women have this odd thing going on where every 2 out 3 births will be female. you can imagine that doesn't work very well in a society where females are not allow to voty, own property, or do many things a modern society takes for granted.

So imagine the surprise when Harold was told that the first child, of his first wife was a boy.

If he hadn't been a boy I could swear my father would name him 'miracle'.

So not only that he turned out to be smart. He studied science and history while in college, he's worked on stuff I can only begin to understand and when he graduated, three weeks later he married his first wife and had a twin daughters 9 months later.

That is the shadow I live in. My father loves me, so do my mothers, but he's always been the pride of the family. 'Andrew did this' 'Andrew is doing that' made me near sick at times.

I joined the navy, so at the least I could protect Grayson from those lunatics on Masada, and say I was protecting my family and (maybe) my soon-to-be wives and future children.

But I never planned on be deployed in the Manticoran Navy. I was still in training when that whole business with the Havenites helping Masada fell out, but after graduation, working in the Office of Supply for a bit, someone picked me to be a sort of 'reach across the stars' gesture to the RMN. I was going to go serve on one of their ships, learns their ways and traditions up close and personal... me! The second, spare-tire son of the Carson family!

I was thrilled to be doing something so interesting, but how would I handle this?

Women practically didn't exist in the Grayson Navy, there were a few serving the offices now, but aboard ship? Don't they share bathrooms in the RMN? Will I have to walk around women I don't know naked? Well, I had steeled my nerve and said I would do it. The person who told me said they'd brief me on all that was done in the RMN that was different, or at least warn me. Honestly I know it was going to shock me, but the eagerness was too strong.

I was going to serve in the RMN.

And I honestly couldn't wait for the day when my father would say 'Look at what my son, Maximilian, did.'