n of special trust--was known in Subsector Sandeman,
any whose identity we knew would be honored, not scorned."

"And that's something I hadn't thought of," Medart said. "If you're
willing to waive warrior privacy on that part of our discussion, I'll
be happy to pass it along to your clan-chief, the Vader, and the
Miklos."

"It is waived, but only on that part."

"Understood, warrior." Medart strongly hoped Nevan would make it
through agent's training; outside of the unfortunate but inevitable
warrior's tendency to consider combat a preferred option rather than a
last resort, he had all the qualifications of a Ranger. Whether Rina
accepted his offer of fealty or not, the Empire would have something
it'd never managed before: a Ranger-class field agent. That would
frighten some people if they ever found out about it, Medart thought,
but he found it reassuring--especially since the prospective agent was
a Sandeman warrior. "Would you like me to brief you on the training?"

Nevan thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I'd rather go in
without preconceptions, since you say I'm likely to find parts . . .
not intolerable, since I intend to tolerate them, but extremely
difficult. The fewer details I know, the fewer contingency plans I'll
automatically put together."

"That sounds reasonable," Medart agreed. Especially since a warrior's
contingency plans tended to be violent . . . "Do you have any idea
when you plan to offer fealty?"

"I was thinking of about five years," Nevan said. "I do want as much
experience as I can get, and that's not a lot--but her people are
allergic to the anti-agathics, so I don't dare wait too long."

"True. I'd say that was a reasonable compromise." Rina was a year
younger than Nevan, but he was on anti-agathics and she couldn't
tolerate them; if he didn't get himself killed on the way, he'd
probably outlive her by close to two centuries. "Is there anything
else?"

"No, sir." Nevan stood, bowed. "I thank you for your counsel, Ranger
Medart. Gods permitting, I intend to follow it."

Medart rose and returned the bow. "May they grant you success in both
your training and your offer."

Until next time . . .

[Preparer's note: This is the end of the main story. The material
following this note is the supplementary material linked to from
elsewhere in this file.]

SELECT

It was the end of Test Week at the Academy, almost time for