Rhade awoke somewhat disoriented. It had been a long time since he had slept in his quarters on Andromeda. No sooner had he oriented himself than Andromeda's image appeared in the room's viewscreen.

"She's doing as well as can be expected," said Andromeda, answering Rhade's question before he could ask it. "I brought Elaine and the baby aboard me last night while you were sleeping. They're in the operations officer's stateroom. You really should talk to her. I have clean clothes for you in your closet. I'll send a Maria with your breakfast while you clean up."

The clothes turned out to be one of his old High Guard uniforms. Rhade put it on almost reluctantly. It had been a long time since he had worn one, and a great number of his actions since he had last worn one were not in the best High Guard traditions. Clean and dressed, he left his stateroom to speak with Elaine.

Andromeda's holographic self was waiting for him at the entrance to Elaine's stateroom. "I let her know you're on your way," she said. "She's expecting you."

The door to the stateroom opened, and Andromeda winked out of sight.

Rhade stood mute and motionless in the doorway. What could he say?

It was Elaine who broke the silence. "Come in, Rhade, and sit down," she said, pointing to one of the chairs in the stateroom.

Rhade took the indicated seat but remained silent, completely at a loss for words. Jeri was his mate. It had been his duty to protect her, and he had failed in that duty. He tried and failed to meet Elaine's eyes.

Elaine rolled her wheelchair up to Rhade and took his hands in hers. "Look at me Rhade," she said. Her voice was commanding but not accusative. Rhade forced himself to meet her eyes. He expected to see anger, scorn maybe even hatred but none of those emotions were there . There was only sadness and perhaps sympathy. "It wasn't your fault," she said gently. "It wasn't your fault."

Rhade pulled his hands free from Elaine's grasp. "I should have seen trouble coming," he said. "I should have sent someone to the bar to walk her home."

"There was no way you could have known in advance about the demonstration. And what would you have done if you had known? Break it up? How would you have done that? You have, what, fifteen men and women working for you? What would you have done, open fire on the crowd yourself? Or would you have waded in and beaten the protesters into submission? If you had tried that, you and your men would be the ones in the surgery right now, not Jeri. It was the Black and Tans that started the panic. They're the ones you should be turning your anger at, not yourself."

"Still, I should have expected the Association would want to stir something up. I've been hearing rumors."

Elaine shook her head in disagreement. "Rumors, yes. Facts, no. We've all been hearing rumors. Rumors drift through Seefra City like the grit from the mines. The demonstration was going to happen; it was just a matter of when and where. It could have been two days or two weeks from now. The east plaza, west plaza, the tailing's area, the north gate… There have been demonstrations at all of those places. You and your men can't be everywhere all the time. You did the best you could. We can't ask for anything more than that."

"It wasn't good enough."

"Rhade, stop it," Elaine commanded almost shouting. This time there was some anger in her voice. " This is no time for you to be wallowing in self accusation. Stop berating yourself with could haves and should haves. The Black and Tans were the ones who opened fire on the crowd, not you and your men. There was nothing you could have done to protect Jeri once she decided to leave the Oasis without you or one of your deputies escorting her."

Rhade raised his hand and mimicked firing a pistol. "Maybe so, but I can do something to make sure they never hurt her again."

Elaine nodded in understanding. "Of course you want to hurt them. It's only natural."

"Because I'm a Nietzschean?"

"No, because you're a man. Your mate and unborn child were injured by the Black and Tans. You want to hurt them in return."

"My what?!" Rhade nearly fell out of his chair "What did you say? My child?"

"Your unborn child," repeated Elaine. "Jeri was planning to tell you on your next night off. You want to hurt the company police in return for hurting Jeri. But the police are like tokigets," she said, referring to the Seefran analog of a Gila monster. She made a chopping motion with her hand. "Killing the company police, even if you killed all of them, would be like cutting off the tail of a tokiget."

"I don't understand," said Rhade, still a bit dazed by the announcement that Jeri was carrying his child.

"What happens when a tokiget loses its tail?" prodded Elaine.

"It grows another one," answered Rhade. Comprehension dawned. "I understand. No matter how many I killed, the company would simply hire more. I need to cut off the head."

And where is the head, Rhade? Not north-side. They're all hirelings, as well. The board of directors? Even if you could get to them, the stockholders would elect new ones." She gave Rhade a brief but sad smile. "I suspect your people have a saying about situations such as this. Something like 'don't waste your ammunition on the wrong target.'"

"It's 'pick your targets wisely.' But, if you don't think I should go after the Black and Tans, then what would you have me do, matri—?" He stopped himself from saying 'matriarch.' "Elaine."

Elaine caught what he almost said. "I'm not your matriarch, Rhade. I'm just a foolish schoolteacher who thought she could make a difference in the lives of the children living in south-side. As for what you should do, go back to Seefra. There's nothing you can do here to help Jeri. She, the baby, and I will be safe here aboard the Andromeda. Go back to Seefra and try to keep things from getting totally out of control. You know there will be hotheads howling for blood. That's probably what the Association is hoping for. And, try to find out why the company police opened fire on the crowd. They're thugs, but they've never used lethal ammunition so indiscriminately before. Maybe finding out why they did will give you some insight as to who you should be hunting."

"You're asking me to solve a crime?"

"You're the sheriff, aren't you? Who else do we have to do it?"

.