seem more than pleased with the opportunity to indulge their curiosity.
A most economical solution, though I regret he did not see fit to
release the details of his negotiations."

Kainor rose and went to the service panel, returning with more koril
for each of them. He handed out the glasses, sat back down, and took a
deep swallow before continuing. "It is possible someone else could
have accomplished the same thing, as it is possible someone else could
have accomplished most things Rangers have. They are mortals, after
all. With one of them, however, if a problem is soluble, it will be
solved."

"And solved, as you say, to the Empire's benefit," Thark said. "But
you give Medart credit for ending the Sandeman Incursion; I understood
it took five Rangers."

Kainor's ears twitched in amusement. "Five were there, yes--but the
other four were part of Medart's solution, to give the Sandemans an
honorable reason to stop fighting rather than be annihilated. Much of
this episode is either public record or not difficult to discover,
though parts are still obscure.

"Medart was not sent in until the Duke of Sector Five admitted her
inability to stop the Sandemans and requested Imperial assistance.
Medart took a fleet to the one world the Sandemans had made a
protectorate rather than conquering, stopping long enough en route to
capture several for study." Kainor paused briefly. "You do know about
the genetic engineering that was done to create the Sandemans,
particularly their warriors?"

Both his listeners nodded.

"Good--but at the time, no one except the Sandemans themselves knew,
and they had no intention of divulging that information, especially the
weakness the engineers had intended as a control mechanism. They
refused to cooperate, preferring to die of that weakness rather than
reveal to the enemy the ways they needed to use to live with it.

"One did in fact die, and others were succumbing when Medart was able
to deduce--a point I cannot make too strongly--that they were
engineered to fight, both physically and psychologically, and that less
than a week without some form of combat or lovemaking was enough to
make them ill, then kill them. He took steps to prevent further
deterioration in those who could still be helped, then granted a swift
death to two who could not be.

"When he arrived at the protectorate--an obscure world called Mjolnir--
he mindprobed a warrior who had sworn fealty to the Baron