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 I don t know what I am anymore. Miles, you must believe me I love you as I love breath 
His heart rocketed.
 But I can t be your annex.
And crashed.  I don t understand.
 I don t know how to put it plainer. You d swallow me up the way an ocean swallows a bucket of
water. I d disappear in you. I love you, but I m terrified of you, and of your future.
His bafflement sought simplicity.  Baz. It s Baz, isn t it?
 If Baz had never existed, my answer would be the same. But as it happens I have given him my
word.
 You  the breath went out of him in a  ha,   Break it, he ordered.
She merely looked at him, silently. In a moment he reddened, and dropped his eyes in shame.
 You own honor by the ocean, she whispered.  I have only a little bucketful. Unfair to jostle it my
lord.
He fell back across his bed, defeated.
She rose.  Are you coming to the staff meeting?
 Why bother? It s hopeless.
She stared down at him, lips thinned, and glanced across to the box in the corner.  Isn t it time you
learned to walk on your own feet cripple?
She ducked out the door just in time to avoid the pillow he threw at her, her lips curving just slightly at
this spasmodic display of energy.
 You know me too bloody well, he whispered.  Ought to keep you just for security reasons.
He staggered to his feet and went to shave.
He made it to the staff conference, barely, and sagged into his usual seat at the head of the table. It was
a full meeting, held therefore in the roomy refinery conference chamber. General Halify and an aide sat in.
Tung and Thorne and Auson, Arde and Baz, and the five men and women picked to officer the new
recruits ringed the table. The Cetagandan ghem-captain sat opposite the
Kshatryan lieutenant, their growing animosity threatening to equal the three-way rivalry among Tung,
Auson, and Thorne. The two united only long enough to snarl at the Felicians, the professional assassin
from Jackson s Whole, or the retired Tau Cetan major of commandos, who in turn sniped at the
ex-Oserans, making the circle complete.
The alleged agenda for this circus was the preparation of the final Dendarii battle-plan for breaking the
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Oseran blockade, hence General Halify s keen interest. His keenness had been rather blunted this last
week by a growing dismay. The doubt in Halify s eyes was an itch to Miles spirit; he tried to avoid
meeting them. Bargain rates, General, Miles thought sulkily to him. You get what you pay for.
The first half hour was spent knocking down, again, three unworkable pet plans that had been advanced
by their owners at previous meetings. Bad odds, requirements of personnel and material beyond their
resources, impossibilities of timing, were pointed out with relish by one half of Miles s group to the other,
with opinions of the advancers mentalities thrown in gratis. This rapidly degenerated into a classic
slanging match. Tung, who normally suppressed such, was one of the principals this time, so it threatened
to escalate indefinitely.
 Look, damn it, shouted the Kshatryan lieutenant, banging his fist on the table for emphasis,  we can t
take the wormhole direct and we all know it. Let s concentrate on something we can do. Merchant
shipping we could attack that, a counter-blockade 
 Attack neutral galactic shipping? yelped Auson.  Do you want to get us all hung?
 Hanged, corrected Thorne, earning an ungrateful glare.
 No, see, Auson bulled on,  the Pelians have little bases all over this system we could have a go at.
Like guerilla warfare, attacking and fading into the sands 
 What sands? snapped Tung.  There s nothing to hide your ass behind out there the Pelians have our
home address. It s a miracle they haven t given up all
hope of capturing this refinery and flung a half-c meteor shower through here already. Any plan that
doesn t work quickly won t work at all 
 What about a lightning raid on the Pelian capital? suggested the Cetagandan captain.  A suicide
squadron to drop a nuclear in there 
 You volunteering? sneered the Kshatryan.  That might almost be worthwhile.
 The Pelians have a trans-shipping station in orbit around the sixth planet, said the Tau Cetan.  A raid
on that would 
  take that electron orbital randomizer and 
  you re an idiot 
  ambush stray ships 
Miles s intestines writhed like mating snakes. He rubbed his hands wearily over his face, and spoke for
the first time; the unexpectedness of it caught their attention momentarily.
 I ve known people who play chess like this. They can t think their way to a checkmate, so they spend
their time trying to clear the board of the little pieces. This eventually reduces the game to a simplicity they
can grasp, and they re happy. The perfect war is a fool s mate.
He subsided, elbows on the table, face in his hands. After a short silence, expectation falling into
disappointment, the Kshatryan renewed the attack on the Cetagandan, and they were off again. Their
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voices blurred over Miles. General Halify began to push back from the table.
No one noticed Miles s jaw drop, behind his hands, or his eyes widen, then narrow to glints.
 Son-of-a-bitch, he whispered.  It s not hopeless.
He sat up.  Has it occurred to anyone yet that we re tackling this problem from the wrong end?
His words were lost in the din. Only Elena, sitting in a corner across the chamber, saw his face. Her own
face turned like a sunflower toward him. Her lips moved silently: Miles?
Not a shameful escape in the dark, but a monument. That s what he would make of this war. Yes...
He pulled his grandfather s dagger from its sheath and spun it in the air. It came down and stuck
pointfirst in the center of the table with a ringing vibration. He climbed up on the table and marched to
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