de-planets.

He found his cousin, Nikkolay Trask, at Rivington; when he inquired
about Traskon, Nikkolay cursed.

"I don't know anything about Traskon; I haven't anything to do with
Traskon, any more. Traskon is now the personal property of our well
loved--very well loved--Queen Evita. The Trasks don't own enough
land on Gram now for a family cemetery. You see what you did?" he
added bitterly.

"You needn't rub it in, Nikkolay. If I'd stayed on Gram, I'd have
helped put Angus on the throne, and it would have been about the
same in the end."

"It could be a lot different," Nikkolay said. "You could bring
your ships and men back to Gram and put yourself on the throne."

"No; I'll never go back to Gram. Tanith's my planet, now. But I will
renounce my allegiance to Angus. I can trade on Morglay or Joyeuse
or Flamberge just as easily."

"You won't have to; you can trade with Newhaven and Bigglersport.
Count Lionel and Duke Joris are both defying Angus; they've refused
to furnish him men, they've driven out his tax collectors, those
they haven't hanged, and they're building ships of their own. Angus
is building ships, too. I don't know whether he's going to use them
to fight Bigglersport and Newhaven, or attack you, but there's going
to be a war before another year's out."

The _Goodhope_ and the _Speedwell_, he found, had gone back to Gram.
They were commanded by men who had come into favor at the court of
King Angus recently. The _Black Star_ and the _Queen Flavia_--whose
captain had contemptuously ignored an order from Gram to re-christen
her _Queen Evita_--had remained. They were his ships, not King
Angus'. The captain of the merchantman from Wardshaven now on orbit
refused to take a cargo to Newhaven; he had been chartered by King
Angus, and would take orders from no one else.

"All right," Trask told him. "This is your last voyage here. You
bring that ship back under Angus of Wardshaven's charter and we'll
fire on her."

Then he had the regalia he had worn in his last audiovisual to
Angus dusted off. At first, he had decided to proclaim himself
King of Tanith. Lord Valpry, Baron Rathmore and his cousin all
advised against it.

"Just call yourself Prince of Tanith," Valpry said. "The title won't
make any difference in your authority here, and if you do lay claim
to the throne of Gram, nobody can say you're a foreign king trying
to annex the planet."

He had no intention of doing anything of the kind, but