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“My wits have been rattled, Lieutenant, I don’t know your name.”

“Borander.” He smiled. “Commander Sassinak is waiting for you.” Borander now exuded an air of urgency. “You look a lot better now, you know. I was a bit worried about you for a while. You didn’t seem yourself.”

“You could say I wasn’t.”

Borander escorted her from the pinnace, which had landed near the cruiser by one of the open air locks. From her vantage point in the pinnace’s lock, Varian had a good view of the heavy gunsleds in position around the massive hulk of the heavyworld transport. Cruisers were scarcely small, but the ZD-43 looked almost puny as it faced the colony ship. Only one of the transport’s locks was open, but none of the heavyworld contingent was visible. Varian hoped that the cruiser’s weaponry was trained on the transport. It looked so menacing, just sitting there, as if it meant to stay. She was only slightly reassured by the fact that most colonists were shipped in cold sleep to their new destinations.

“These guys built a proper strip, I’ll give ’em that much,” Borander said, gesturing to their right.

Aygar and his friend were squatting on their haunches beside the pinnace, and the friend scowled at her. Aygar was staring into the distance, indifferent to his surroundings and the marines’ weapons.

“Borander, why are these men being guarded?”

“Why, because they’re mutineers,” Borander replied.

“These two men are not mutineers, Lieutenant Borander. They were born here on Ireta and they had nothing to do with the mutiny. There is no need to keep them under restraint.”

“Now, look, your people registered a mutiny charge first with Captain Godheir and then with Commander Sassinak—”

“Which still has nothing to do with Aygar and anyone in his generation or even his parents’.”

“And I suppose they didn’t help build that grid to assist an illegal landing . . .” Borander switched from surprise to open scorn.

“I think the judicial will find that Aygar was acting on misinformation and could be excused from a conscious violation of EEC regulations.”

Borander held himself stiffly. “That is not for me to decide. Now, Commander Sassinak is waiting for you.”

“Then Aygar can accompany us, and I’ll sort the matter out right now.”

Aygar maintained his air of indifference, but his companion was staring at Varian, his jaw had dropped open and his face bore a surprised expression that put Varian in mind of Tardma.

“Why, I can’t just walk into the commander’s office with these two—”

“I can.” Varian put the steel of Discipline into her voice. “I’ll remind you, Lieutenant, that as coleader of an authorized expedition to Ireta, I have the rank of planetary governor pro-tem. Who outranks whom, Lieutenant?”

Borander swallowed, arching his back to attention. “You do . . . ma’am. But that doesn’t mean the commander’s going to like it.”

Varian ignored that remark and turned to the Iretans. “Aygar, if you and your friend would be good enough to accompany us?” She stared pointedly from the marines to Borander who signaled them to sheathe their stunners. Aygar rose from his haunches with graceful ease.

“You’d be one of Tardma’s grandchildren?” she asked the unknown Iretan.

“I’m Winral,” the man replied in a surly voice, eyeing her with growing anxiety.

Borander stepped out quickly toward the cruiser’s gangplank. Aygar fell in beside her while Winral tagged behind. Varian noticed but did not comment on the fact that Borander signaled the marines to bring up the rear.

“Lieutenant, would you know how much damage my sled sustained? I’ll need transport to return to my base camp as soon as I’ve seen the commander.”

“Apart from the crumpled nose, I’d say the bolt just drained your power pack,” Borander replied in a formal tone. “I’ll order it retrieved and repowered.”

Varian received the distinct impression that Borander did not think she’d survive her interview with his commander. They were halfway to their destination when one of Ireta’s sudden downpours caught them. It afforded Varian some amusement that she, Aygar, and Winral