Warriors For The Working Day

Chapter Six
By
(UCSBdad)

Disclaimer: Stolen about equally from the Henson Co., David Drake and a bit from George MacDonald Fraser. Shakespeare is in the public domain, I hope. In any case, no money changes hands here. Rating: T due to language Time: Some twenty-five plus years after Peacekeeper Wars.

At last, we pulled up into the court yard of Goro's palace. The buildings were soaring towers in muted pastels, surrounding a main building that seemed to have been made from lace. In all, Goro's headquarters looked too fragile to stay standing. I assumed that human troops would soon change that. Still, something tickled my memory. Somewhere on Earth I had seen something like this. Had it been in a book?

"Good news, Aeryn." Kathleen said with a smile. "Goro has news about John."

I followed Kathleen to the broad steps leading to the main building. There, attached to the interrogation gear was a fat Sebacean who could only have been Vasa Corbellote. Kathleen waved me away from him.

"It's Goro that has the good news. Don't worry about his pal. He'll be gone before you know it."

We walked a few steps to the next person being interrogated, This must be Goro. He was a tall, spare Sebacean with carefully groomed white hair and an equally well tended beard. His pale skin was marked with a small tattoo on the back of his right hand. He was expensively, but conservatively dressed in a long panile fur robe over a Forosian silk shirt and pants. His jewelry was limited to a ring, bracelet and earring set that hardly looked impressive until you noticed they were set with real blood stones, and were worth enough to buy a medium sized planet. All in all, he would have looked quite dignified and imposing if he hadn't been giggling so hard that a trooper had to be assigned to keep him from falling over.

A sergeant stood as Kathleen approached. "This one really takes to the happy juice, ma'am. I gave him a minimum dose and had the doc monitor him, but he damned near made orbit on his own. Still, I don't think I've ever gotten a clearer response pattern from anyone I've snooped before."

Kathleen nodded. "Can you hook Mrs. Crichton into the interrogation and repeat the part about her husband?"

The sergeant smiled and nodded back. Before I quite knew it, I had an interrogator's rig against my forehead.

"Goro? Still with us?"

I realized with a shock that I hadn't heard the sergeant's voice, but that it had appeared in my mind.

"Yes."

"Tell us what Settiette told you when he landed here with Mrs. Crichton."

The bastard giggled again when he heard my name. "Aeryn."

"Yeah." The sergeant interrupted. "What did he say?"

"He needed my courier vessel to send a message to his people on Klaay-Mooth to redouble their efforts to capture or kill John Crichton. Crichton….dangerous."

"What do you know about Klaay-Mooth?" That was Kathleen.

I ran the name through my mind. "Not much. It's a good sized commerce planet some thirty light cycles from here. I could spend cycles trying to find out what part of their criminal underworld is looking for John."

Kathleen smiled. "It'll be easier if we just find him first. Although word should get out fairly quickly that these bastards are all dead and there's no one to pay for killing John Crichton."

"Ma'am?" That was the senior interrogator.

"Yes, sergeant?" Kathleen responded.

"Between the two of them, they have a finger in just about everything happening around here. Not just criminal activities, but legitimate businesses and they're friendly with a whole lot of local politicians. They're a fucking gold mine of useful information."

"So we should keep them alive?"

The sergeant nodded.

"How long?"

The sergeant glanced at his partner. "Use three interrogation teams apiece, and give them, say, four hours of chemically enhanced sleep out of every twenty four. We can have 'em wrung dry in two weeks."

Kathleen considered this, and then turned to me. "You have any objection to that, Aeryn?"

I thought for a microt. "Is this interrogation procedure at all painful, if you do it continuously?"

The sergeant shook his head. "The whole point of this interrogation technique is to make the subject so happy he can't help telling you what you want to know." The sergeant stopped and gave me a speculative look. "You're the lady who was kidnapped to be hunted on this planet?"

I nodded.

The sergeant shrugged. "We usually execute people quickly, but after what I've seen on this planet, I don't think anyone would mind if command left you alone with these two with, say, a skinning knife."

From the look the sergeant gave Kathleen, I suspected that suggesting that a prisoner be tortured to death was usually not at all done. Kathleen kept her expression neutral and said nothing.

I thought about for more microns than I liked before shaking my head. "I doubt they could be made to suffer enough for what they've done on this planet. As long as they're never a threat to anyone else again, I'll be satisfied."

And so Goro and Vasa did not join their friends at the end of a noose, something for which I would later be grateful.

Suddenly, the interrogators stood and stiffened.

"Good day, Sergeant Ippolito. Interrogations going well?" That was Aida with a group of armored troopers following in her wake.

"Yes, ma'am." The sergeant grinned, obviously pleased at being recognized. "We're hauling these two back for some more work. I think the other teams have a few more that we need to interrogate more thoroughly, but we were able to give Mrs. Crichton some good news."

Aida laughed. "I picked that news up off the command circuit. A good thing, too. We Sebacean ladies are very partial to our human husbands."

I released a shaky breath. I had been worried about John for a long time, now it was sinking in that at least one of my worries was over. John was not on this planet. He was free somewhere. Now all I had to do was find him.

I found that Aida was leading me away from everyone. Her arm was draped lightly over my shoulder.

"Don't worry, Aeryn. We'll find John. As it happens, the task force doesn't have much to do, so I can put a lot of resources into locating him and discouraging anyone else who might be looking for him for the wrong reasons."

I smiled at Aida. "How am I going to be able to thank you?"

Aida laughed. "Don't worry about that. We ex-Peacekeepers married to humans have to stick together."

"That's only the two of us, Aida."

Surprisingly she shook her head. "There are more than that. Nearly two hundred and fifty Peacekeepers survived the debacle on K'hiff. Most were techs, but even some warriors managed to overcome their prejudices. I know of one commando that ended up studying medicine and marrying a human he treated. There are a good dozen such couples in our command and more Sebacean couples. They felt safer following a human who has a Sebacean wife."

Safer. Sooner or later I was going to have to start asking questions.

"Ah! Aida. There you are!" That was Rudy, looking quite pleased with himself. He was shepherding a short, swarthy and very hairy anthropoid male in front of him.

"Hello, Rudy. Who's your new friend?" Aida asked pleasantly.

Rudy smiled hugely." This is Master Passalle." He put an arm protectively over the little alien's shoulder. "Master Passalle, this is Vice-Marshall O'Donnell, whom I've told you about."

The reason for the arm around the shoulder became clear as Passalle tried to prostate himself in front of Aida.

"No, Passalle. As I taught you." Rudy whispered in the little fellow's ear.

Passalle composed himself and bowed at the waist in the human manner. "Your servant, Vice-Marshall."

"Pleased to meet you, Master Passalle." Aida replied, bowing slightly. Then she grinned at Rudy. "A master at bowing. You should find him quite useful."

"Aida! This is serious. The man is an artist. Look at his work!" Rudy pointed to a vast mural covering one wall of the palace. It showed a very idealized Goro defeating a Luxan warrior in single combat as a bevy of beauties from various races looked on with expressions of suitable awe on their faces.

"So Rudy the Magnificent has found his court painter?" Aida asked with a slight smile.

Rudy shook his head with exaggerated sadness. "Of course not. The graphic arts are a wonderful form of propaganda. Master Passalle will be invaluable to us."

Aida turned and studied the mural. Then she shook her head sadly. "I refuse to be painted like some tri-dee bimbo, all huge heaving breasts and impossibly long legs with a blonde mane that never gets mussed by little things like nuclear explosions."

Master Passalle, who had probably seen slaves executed for not pleasing their masters, looked terrified.

"My lady, I can paint many things. The late Goro had me paint the valley in winter, just like you would see from the window. See?" He said, pointing to a large landscape painting hung by a window. Indeed, it showed the same view as could be seen from the window, but with snow.

Aida strode over and examined the painting. "Now this is more like it. I wouldn't mind seeing this in my quarters."

"Philistine." Rudy muttered. Then he turned back to Master Passalle. "Don't worry, Passalle. You'll get used to the oddities of humans in a couple of decades, or so. In the meantime I'll see that your talents are properly used. In your odd hours you can churn out as much bourgeois kitsch as we can fit in Aida's quarters."

Aida smiled at Passalle. "Welcome, Master Passalle. Since Rudy values you so highly, I suppose your salary should be about the equivalent of a major in administrative services? That would come out of your budget, of course, Rudy."

"Salary?" Asked Passalle, suddenly looking crafty.

Rudy put his arm around the little being's shoulder and began to lead him away. "A field grade officer's salary is not out of the question. It will be something you can aspire to."

"Salary?" Passalle repeated

Aida shook her head as Rudy and Passalle left. "I shouldn't have frightened Passalle like that, but Rudy can go overboard. If you're not careful he'll flood the known Universe with pictures of a naked Aeryn Sun Crichton slaying half of this planet with her bare hands."

I smiled. "At least John would know where I was."

"Don't worry. He'll know soon enough."

The raid on this nameless planet was in its final phase. All of the compounds had been overrun by human troops. Slaves had been liberated and the slavers punished. I walked out of Goro's palace. All around the horizon were columns of smoke, each representing a palatial complex being reduced to rubble by the humans. All that remained was to withdraw the troops and ex-slaves, leaving the planet to heal itself.

"Ready Mrs. Crichton?"

That was Corporal Gupta.

"Is Gunner Ismaili still locating consumables, Corporal?" I asked.

Gupta's face turned perfectly blank. "I'm not aware of what Gunner Ismaili is doing right now, ma'am. He sent me to find you since we'll be leaving in a while. It'll take a while to get the ex-slaves off planet. Now they know we won't shoot 'em just for the hell of it, they're starting to loot. Moving 'em around is like herding cats."

I had a sudden thought. "Where are we going to put all of the ex-slaves. There's a limit on how much life support a ship has and military vessels are usually pretty close to that limit."

"The task force has a support group that hides out in interstellar space so no one can find it. One of them is a former freighter, the Tsushima Maru. Now she's a supply ship for us, but she is rigged to carry a lot of passengers. They'll go there."

In a few more microns Gunner Ismaili arrived and chivvied both of us to a lander. In slightly less than a solar day the raid was all over and I found myself back aboard Agincourt.

Dr. M'Boya fussed over me when I got back, but finally had to confess that I was far healthier than he had expected.

When he was done, I received a message inviting me to dinner with Aida. I accepted, of course and spent an hour trying and failing to make small talk with Aida, Kathleen and Rudy.

When dinner was over, Rudy announced he had a treat for us.

"Goro may have been nothing but a jumped-up thug, but he was a wealthy thug and had someone in his entourage with taste." With that, Rudy gave a nod to the silently efficient Chief Mario. Mario wheeled a small trolley with a pair of bottles on it up to the small table we sat at. Mario set a small glass in front of each of us as Rudy smiled at us all.

When Chief Mario was done, Rudy picked up a bottle.

"This is a species of local brandy that I had removed from Goro's wine cellar." He said as he started pouring.

Aida broke in. "I'm amazed that you didn't just remove the entire wine cellar, Rudy. You're slipping."

Rudy sniffed. "I did remove his entire wine cellar and all of the food in his kitchen. I did the same with several other complexes as a matter of fact." Rudy stopped and smiled indulgently at Aida. "Really, Aida. You have no idea how important entertaining is for aiding diplomacy. I was only able to salvage a few small treasures from that planet."

Rudy stopped for a microt and stared into the distance. "We do need to emphasize diplomacy more, you know. I had in mind using one of the large merchant ships as a mobile embassy. Something with lots of open space. We can build something that will make the local's eyes pop. Everything from costly carpets on the floor to Harmonium crystal chandeliers above. Priceless works of art at every turn. The very best food and drink for every alien palate. Soft sounds of classical music wafting through the air. I've always been partial to Grieg, Sainte-Saens, Sibelius, Khachaturian, all of those old twentieth century composers."

Kathleen gave Rudy a look of mock horror. "You didn't find a symphony orchestra down there that we'll have to feed, did you?"

Rudy looked quite pleased with himself. "A symphony orchestra? Of course not, Kathleen. I did find a wonderful composer, by the way. I played Finlandia for him. You know, the Soumi Orchestra's rendition. He loved it. I set him to work on an opera…"

"Oh, God." Aida swore softly. "I can see it now, Emperor Rudy Conquers the Universe, with sets and costuming by Master Passalle."

Rudy smiled slyly. "I have in mind something featuring someone better known locally. Everyone knows the story of Aeryn Sun Crichton. Now, there'll be a new chapter in the tale." Rudy suddenly turned to me, his eyes lighting up. "You wouldn't happen to have studied voice by any chance, Aeryn."

Before I could answer, Aida spoke. "Rudy, we're not here to turn Aeryn into some sort of propaganda tool."

I suppose that was my cue. I cleared my throat. "Excuse me, but why exactly are you here?"

The room was suddenly very quiet. The other three were looking at me in a very speculative manner.

Finally Rudy spoke. 'I was wondering when you'd ask that question. I had thought that it would be the first thing that you'd ask."

Aida shook her head. "Someone trained as a Peacekeeper Commando would want to gather evidence on her own so she could check what she was told against what she'd learned elsewhere. Although I'd think you'd have learned enough before this."

I shrugged. "When I first saw you again, Aida, I was afraid that the answer might be that you were the advance force of a huge human army bent on conquering this part of the galaxy. If that had been the case, I'd have had no choice but to agree to help you in return for your help in locating my family. I've seen enough to believe that you don't intend to conquer us, but I have no real idea what your intentions are. And another army is not what we need now." I stopped and looked at the three, and then went on. "That said, there's still nothing more important to me than John and our children. If you can help me get them to safety…" I stopped for a microt, but went on "..I will serve you faithfully. "

Aida smiled. "I think that all you'll need to do is be our friend, as you have been, Aeryn. As for why we're here, I'd better start with who I am, and who Eddie has become."

Aida stopped for a few microns and stared at a point in space, gathering her thoughts. "When you and John and your friends left K'hiff all those years ago, you left behind a very confused ex-Peacekeeper. The destruction of the command carrier I had been born on and the defeat of Peacekeeper troops by the supposedly inferior humans had changed life as perhaps only you can understand. But, I had decided that if Aeryn Sun could make a new life for herself, so could I. "

"I had met a human soldier that I could relate to, at least on some levels, and I knew I could function as a soldier in the strange human dominated Universe I was in."

"Eddie was ambitious and wanted his own mercenary unit. On K'hiff he had recruited some soldiers, as well as me, and had found a financial backer who would finance a mercenary company. So, Eddie promoted himself to Captain Edmund Burke O'Donnell and off we went. Our first stop was a planet called Shou Lin Kuo. Not much of a planet, but it had a long history of equipping mercenaries. They had everything from tanks fresh off the transports from Earth, to junkyards filled with bits and pieces of every weapon ever built. We spent our time in the latter, more often than not. Our financial backer was hardly rich enough to pay for a first class armored unit. If he had been rich enough, he wouldn't have been out on the Frontier."

"Eventually, we found four combat cars that we managed to put into pretty good order. We added two platoons of infantry on skimmers, some jeeps and a couple of mortar carriers."

Aida smiled softly. I wondered what it would have been like getting to know humans, frell, getting to know one human, whose interests and training was more like my own.

She shook her head. "Sorry. Lost my train of thought. A bad sign, that."

"Our first assignment was to protect a small mining operation on a desert planet. Eddie always called that a learning experience. Frell! All I learned was how totally frelled up things could get. The mine's management were all busy stabbing each other in the back and plotting to steal the company blind. The miner's union was divided into factions that hated each other and the locals wanted to kill all of us, preferably as slowly and painfully as possible. But we survived and actually got a bonus from the mining corporation."

Aida's smile faded and her eyes became hard. "Our next assignment was as the third company in a short-handed battalion. That's usually a bad deal. The battalion commander has no long term interest in your company, so he'll keep you as short of maintenance, spare parts and any other consumeables as he can and hog everything for his own units. Our battalion commander did all of that and more. Then he sent us into an ambush he'd set up with the opposition so he wouldn't have to pay us at the end of our mission."

"About half of our company survived to retreat into the forest that covered most of the planet. There we found a transport that had landed several years previously after a life support breakdown. The crew was dead or dying when they landed, missed the starport by a thousand kilometers, and any survivors died when they left the ship and tried to march a thousand kilometers to civilization. Oh, their cargo was a complete company of brand new main battle tanks fresh from the factories of Earth."

Aida grinned wolfishly. "Now that was a pleasant surprise. And an unpleasant surprise for our former commander. One he didn't live long enough to truly appreciate."

Aida stopped and looked at me for a micron. "Aeryn, inhabited planets on the Frontier tend to be sparsely populated and poor. There are exceptions, of course, but we weren't on one of them. Mercenaries with powerful, modern weapons stay out of the Frontier and head for the Core where there's money to be made. So there we were with twenty of the best tanks in the Universe on this two-bit planet. After we shot up the other side's mercenaries, we made the two sides a deal. They'd pay us, add a hefty bonus and help us get the crashed transport ready to go back into space. In return for which we'd refrain from blowing them into little bits and pieces."

I stared at Aida levelly. "It doesn't sound like you treated them much better than the Peacekeepers or Scarrens would have."

To my surprise, Aida colored slightly and lowered her eyes. "We didn't. Heat of the moment, I suppose. But, to be truthful, they didn't treat each other any better than Peacekeepers or Scarrens, either. They'd been killing each other with crude homemade weapons before any mercs came along, and happily went back to doing so when we left."

Aida raised her eyes and grinned at me. "But that made Captain O'Donnell's Mercenary Company. We stayed on the Frontier for a while. Since we were so frelling powerful, no one wanted to fight us. Frontier mercs tend to be light infantry with little or no armor and only a bit more in the way of anti-armor assets. Word would get out that we'd been hired and suddenly our employer's enemies couldn't recruit anyone. Anyone at all. We'd collect our pay and look for more work. "

"Sounds like a good deal. What happened, Aida?"

She laughed. "It worked too well. After a while the locals got smart. They decided it was easier to negotiate with each other than to go deeply into debt to pay our price. We were good, but we were the most expensive frelling merc unit on the Frontier. Well, we had to be, right? Modern tanks are expensive to operate, especially if you have to go all the way back to Earth to get spare parts."

Aida got that faraway look in her eyes again. "I always wanted to see Earth. Eddie said he'd take me if things ever settled down, but they never did."

I said nothing. I had seen Earth and hadn't been the least bit impressed.

Aida went on. "We started moving closer to the Core. We'd made enough money on the Frontier to recruit what passed for a battalion. We had a mixed company of combat cars and infantry to go with our tanks and two of the worst pieces of artillery I've ever seen. No matter what we did to them, they'd break down halfway through the battle. Guaranteed!"

"Eddie was good. He is a damned brilliant armored unit commander. I'm immodest enough to say I'm pretty good myself. So, by the end of the Fezzan Civil War, we had a heavily reinforced battalion, nearly eighteen hundred soldiers. We didn't know it at the time, but things were changing."

Aida stopped talking and just stared ahead of her. Kathleen was just staring off into space as well. I decided that things must have well and truly changed.

Finally Rudy spoke up. "Perhaps, Aeryn, an explanation of humanity's recent history from a non-human would be of assistance."

Aida broke her stare long enough to nod vaguely at Rudy.

Rudy poured himself another drink and continued. "Earth developed faster than light drive many centuries ago. When they did, they found that there were Earth-like planets that they could colonize. The wealthy nations that had FTL ships had little incentive to colonize anything. If you have technology that's advanced enough to go to the stars, your society was rich enough and inclusive enough to usually lack people unhappy enough with the status quo to head for some untamed planet and fight like hell to create a viable society."

Rudy shrugged. "There were exceptions of course. There were valuable commodities out among the stars, and rich nations, and even corporations, wanted their share. And more than their share."

"There were others." Aida said quietly.

"True." Rudy said, nodding. "There are always some dissatisfied people in any society, no matter how attractive that society may be. Marshall O'Donnell's ancestors were from a place called Ireland, on Earth. They were worried that their culture was being submerged by Earth culture as a whole. They settled a planet they called Donegal. The people of this Ireland felt strongly enough about saving their culture to provide enough money to set up a first class colony for a few hundred thousand people. Of course, most didn't feel strongly enough about it to go themselves." Rudy said with a laugh.

"Others did." Kathleen did.

"Yes." Rudy replied, nodding. "Even in the wealthiest and best run nations there were chronic malcontents. People who had a vision of establishing a perfect society somewhere among the stars. Their colonies seldom attracted more than a few tens of thousands of followers, although they were usually quite fanatical about their beliefs. Since they were usually marginal members of their societies on Earth, their colonies were usually scandalously under-funded as well."

"That wasn't their only problem." Kathleen added. "Corporations would locate a suitable colony world and provide transportation for few thousand people. Having found such a planet, they'd keep sending colonists to that world. At first, a few thousand people spread over a whole planet wouldn't even be aware of each other's existence. But eventually, a colony of militant atheists would rub up against a colony that wanted to run their affairs according to the word of god."

"However he, she, it or they had said society should be run." Rudy added.

Aida shot Rudy a look, but she said nothing to him. "But, over the centuries, colonists with diametrically opposed views found themselves competing for scarce resources on the planet."

"Wars." I said quietly.

Aida and Kathleen nodded.

"Oh," Rudy said brightly, "let's not forget the largest source of colonists from Earth." He smiled benignly and poured himself another drink. "Earth has always had a wonderful assortment of dictators. They call themselves President-for-Life, or the Dear Leader, or the Maximum Leader, or some other absurd title."

"Unlike the modest K'hiff?" Kathleen said lightly.

"Now, now, Kathleen. We're trying to educate Aeryn on the last millennium or so of human history."

"Quite." Kathleen replied.

"As I was saying, Earth has had no shortage of leaders who'd tax their peasants into penury to buy weapons their troops couldn't operate or maintain. They built huge steel mills, neglecting to note that their countries lacked iron or coal deposits. Huge sports stadiums were built so that giant rallies could be held glorifying their leaders. And what could be better than your very own colony shouting the glory of your Leader to the Universe?"

"I went to one such colony, once, many years ago. Their leader was centuries dead, but his megalomania lived on. He had built a space port that could easily handle a hundred ships. There was a twenty kilometer long expressway, eight lanes wide in each direction, leading to the capitol city. Every twenty-five yards was a statue of the long dead leader, three times life size, in various impressive poses."

"The joke was that ours was the only ship that had called in years. The expressway was so run down, we had to drive alongside of it to get anywhere. We were lucky we were in a military vehicle designed for rough country. We night not have made it, otherwise."

"The city was just a huge ruin, of course. A few thousand people lived there, scavenging bits of metal or whatever to survive."

"But the statues! The statues had been built for the ages. Aside from the occasional arm or head shot off, they were like new."

Rudy chuckled. "No one on the planet remembered the name of the tyrant who had sent their ancestors there. Not even the name of their home planet, or country. I did a cursory check, but couldn't find out who the bastard had been. I decided he deserved to be forgotten more than most of his kind."

"There was one other source of colonists, Rudy." Kathleen reminded the K'hiff.

"Ah, yes!" Rudy said brightly. "I almost forget. The "social un-desireables" as they were called."

Kathleen nodded. "Prisoners."

Rudy nodded. "Humans decided there was no point in taking up scarce resources on your home world taking care of thieves, gamblers, substance abusers and such. Just ship them off to some far off planet and let them take care of themselves."

"Surprisingly, "Kathleen said, "this was often viewed as a step forward. People who would otherwise sit in jail and be exposed to nothing but hardened criminals could be sent off to found new homes among the stars."

"Often, the people who were sent out as colonists were decent enough people who had made a mistake, often a bad mistake, to be sure. Others lacked the intelligence or education to function in a highly technical society. Some couldn't pass up the temptations that an advanced society could provide to someone seeking a better high."

Rudy sniffed dismissively. "Ninety-nine percent of those who thought up these pitiful schemes had little notion of what back breaking labor subsistence farming is. How nearly impossible subsistence farming was on worlds other than Earth. Worlds that had their full quota of things to kill unwary humans. Everything from tiny viruses to indigenous civilizations overlooked by incompetent survey parties."

"And so little groups of a thousand or so petty criminals, addicts, social deviants, and assorted riff-raff were handed an assortment of hand tools, some seed, domestic animals and a few weapons and dumped on some alien world. Somehow it was always a great surprise when the next shiploads of innocents to the slaughter arrived and found nothing but rusted equipment and rotting corpses instead of a happy home across the galaxy."

Aida laughed softly. "I'm beginning to think you're a humanitarian, Rudy."

Rudy shot her a glance. "It's worse. I used to be a humanitarian. Now I'm a cynic."

Rudy stopped for a microt, then smiled and went on. "So that gives you an idea of what human space is like, after many centuries of colonization, Aeryn. There were thousands and thousands of inhabited worlds. On a small number, humans had either died out entirely or had been reduced to the level of animals. An only slightly larger number of worlds boasted human colonies as wealthy and technologically advanced as Earth itself. "

"The vast majority or colonies were poorer, to one degree or another, although the ruling elites often lived as well as anyone on the more advanced worlds."

Rudy gave me a smile. "There are non-human worlds, of course. There are even a few that were advanced enough to build faster than light ships once humans showed them it was possible. But, in the grand scheme of things, non-human civilizations count for little."

"Is that the fate of the Sebaceans, Luxans, Delvians and all the rest? To count for little in a new human dominated galaxy?" I asked stiffly.