-"

But his father was chuckling. "You have spirit, captain. I need spirit
now. You are quite correct. My son, though a capable officer, I assure
you, has probably not participated in a fraction of the fracases you
have to your credit. However, there is something to be said for the
training available to we Uppers in the academies. For instance, captain,
have you ever commanded a body of lads larger than, well, a _company_?"

Joe said flatly, "In the Douglas-Boeing versus Lockheed-Cessna fracas we
took a high loss of officers when the Douglas-Boeing outfit rang in some
fast-firing French _mitrailleuse_ we didn't know they had. As my
superiors took casualties I was field promoted to acting battalion
commander, to acting regimental commander, to acting brigadier. For
three days I held the rank of acting commander of brigade. We won."

Balt Haer snapped his fingers. "I remember that. Read quite a paper on
it." He eyed Joe Mauser, almost respectfully. "Stonewall Cogswell got
the credit for the victory and received his marshal's baton as a
result."

"He was one of the few other officers that survived," Joe said dryly.

"But, Zen! You mean you got no promotion at all?"

Joe said, "I was upped to Low-Middle from High-Lower, sir. At my age, at
the time, quite a promotion."

* * * * *

Baron Haer was remembering, too. "That was the fracas that brought on
the howl from the Sovs. They claimed those _mitrailleuse_ were post-1900
and violated the Universal Disarmament Pact. Yes, I recall that.
Douglas-Boeing was able to prove that the weapon was used by the French
as far back as the Franco-Prussian War." He eyed Joe with new interest
now. "Sit down, captain. You too, Balt. Do you realize that Captain
Mauser is the only recruit of officer rank we've had today?"

"Yes," the younger Haer said dryly. "However, it's too late to call the
fracas off now. Hovercraft wouldn't stand for it, and the Category
Military Department would back them. Our only alternative is
unconditional surrender, and you know what that means."

"It means our family would probably be forced from control of the firm,"
the older man growled. "But nobody has suggested surrender on any terms.
Nobody, thus far." He glared at his officer son who took it with an easy
shrug and swung a leg over the edge of his father's desk in the way of a
seat.

Joe Mauser found a chair and lowered himself into it. Evidently, the
foppish Balt Hae