w myself pretty well;
I'd make a good Navy officer, maybe even captain of a battle cruiser--
but not a Ranger."

Perry sat down on Medart's bed, next to the carryall. "Good. Believe
it or not, Jim, that's exactly the response we were hoping for. If you
did want the job, thought right away you could handle it, you'd be an
arrogant fool--and you'd have disqualified yourself, even this late. I
know it's hard to understand that feeling unqualified is part of what
makes you qualified, but history proves that in most cases, people who
want power are the last ones who should have it. There are a few
exceptions, of course, but we're talking about the vast majority.

"What we want are people who have the necessary ability and a
reasonable amount of ambition, but who aren't interested in power for
the sake of power itself. It's a delicate balance, and we may miss
some who qualify because we prefer to take no chances on power-hunger--
but you can be positive that if you are tapped, you do qualify."

Medart hesitated, then nodded reluctantly. He knew as well as anyone
that the Empire was chronically short of Rangers. There were never
enough, even when there were more than the average of ten. It was also
common knowledge that however few there were, the selection criteria--
whatever those were--were never lowered. They might be, and had been,
raised; the opposite, never. So however unqualified he felt, he could
be positive, as she said, that he was in fact fully qualified.

And he'd applied for the Academy because, as far back as he could
remember, his goal in life had been to serve the Empire to the best of
his ability. Until Perry had entered his life, he'd thought that meant
the military, like the rest of his family. Now he was told there was a
far more essential service the Empire wanted of him. That, he thought,
had to take precedence over his fear of the responsibility--and they
must have known he'd feel that way.

"In that case, sir--it scares me more than I want to admit, but if you
and His Majesty want me for the job, I have to try." He hesitated,
then said, "Which you probably knew, from my psych tests, before I
did."

Perry's smile was relieved. "We hoped, and we thought the odds were
good--but we didn't know. Good as the indicators are, we do have some
refusals. Welcome to Imperial service, Ranger Medart."

Ranger Medart. The idea still scared him, but he had to admit he did
like the way it sou