"Besides, the King is Prince Trask's friend, too," the boy insisted.
"Father and Mummy heard him say so, right on the Throne. Kings don't
lie when they're on the Throne, do they?"

"Good Kings don't," Trask told him.

"Ours is a good King," the young Count of Ravary declared proudly.
"I would do anything my King commanded. Except fight Prince Trask.
My house owes Prince Trask a debt."

Trask nodded approvingly. "That's the way a Sword-World noble would
talk, Count Steven," he said.

* * * * *

The Board of Inquiry, that afternoon, was more like a small and very
sedate cocktail party. An Admiral Shefter, who seemed to be very
high high-brass, presided while carefully avoiding the appearance
of doing so. Alvyn Karffard and Vann Larch and Paytrik Morland were
there from the _Nemesis_, and Bentrik and several of the officers
from the _Victrix_, and there were a couple of Naval Intelligence
officers, and somebody from Operational Planning, and from Ship
Construction and Research & Development. They chatted pleasantly
and in a deceptively random manner for a while. Then Shefter said:

"Well, there's no blame or censure of any sort for the way Commodore
Prince Bentrik was surprised. That couldn't have been avoided, at
the time." He looked at the Research & Development officer. "It
shouldn't be allowed to happen many more times, though."

"Not many more, sir. I'd say it'll take my people a month, and then
the time it'll take to get all the ships equipped as they come in."

Ship Construction didn't think that would take too long.

"We'll see to it that you get full information on the new submarine
detection system, Prince Trask," the admiral said.

"You gentlemen understand you'll have to keep it under your helmets,
though," one of the Intelligence men added. "If it got out that we
were informing Space Vikings about our technical secrets...." He
felt the back of his neck in a way that made Trask suspect that
beheadment was the customary form of execution on Marduk.

"We'll have to find out where the fellow has his base," Operational
Planning said. "I take it, Prince Trask, that you're not going to
assume that he was on his flagship when you blew it, and just put
paid to him and forget him?"

"Oh, no. I'm assuming that he wasn't. I don't believe he and Ormm
went anywhere on the same ship, after he came out here and
established a base. I think one of them would stay home all the
ti