The dinner progressed from salad and an excellent potato soup through glazed chicken with sliced almonds, fluffy rice, stir-fried vegetables and sauteed mushrooms, fresh green peas, and crusty, butter-drenched rolls to a choice of three different desserts. Every time Honor glanced up, the steward seemed to be at her elbow, offering another helping, and she accepted with gusto. Captain Bachfisch might not match her mental image of a dashing and distinguished starship commander, but he set an excellent table. She hadn’t tasted food this good since her last visit home.

The apple pie a la mode was even better than the glazed chicken, and Honor needed no prompting when the steward offered her a second helping. The man gave her a small, conspiratorial wink as he slid the second dessert plate in front of her, and she heard something which sounded suspiciously like a chuckle from Lieutenant Saunders’ direction. She glanced at the assistant astrogator from the corner of her eye, but his expression was laudably composed. There might have been a hint of a twinkle in his own eyes, but Honor scarcely minded that. She was a direct descendant of the Meyerdahl First Wave, and she was well accustomed to the reactions her genetically modified metabolism’s appetite—especially for sweets—drew from unprepared table mates.

But in the end, she was reduced to chasing the last of the melted ice cream around the plate with her spoon, and she sat back with an unobtrusive sigh of repletion as the silent, efficient steward reappeared to collect the empty dishes and make them magically vanish into some private black hole. Wineglasses replaced them, and the steward presented an old-fashioned wax-sealed glass bottle for Captain Bachfisch’s inspection. Honor watched the Captain more attentively at that, for her own father was a notable wine snob in his own modest way, and she recognized another as the steward cracked the wax, drew the cork, and handed it to the Captain. Bachfisch sniffed it delicately while the steward poured a small quantity of ruby liquid into his glass, then set the cork aside and sipped the wine itself. He considered for just a moment, then nodded approval, and the steward filled his glass and then circled the table to pour for each of the guests in turn.

A fresh butterfly fluttered its wings ever so gently in Honor’s middle as the steward filled her own glass. She was the junior officer present, and she knew what that required of her. She waited until the steward had finished pouring and stepped back, then reached for her glass and stood.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the King!” She was pleased her voice came out sounding so close to normal. It certainly didn’t feel as if it ought to have, but she appeared to be the only one aware of how nervous she felt.

“The King!” The response sounded almost too loud in the cramped dining cabin, and Honor sank back into her chair quickly, vastly relieved to have gotten through without mischance.

There was a sudden shift of atmosphere around the table, almost as if the loyalty toast were a signal the diners had awaited. It was more of a shift in attitude than anything else, Honor thought, trying to put a mental finger on what had changed. The Captain’s guests sat back in their chairs, wineglasses in hand, and Lieutenant Commander Hirake actually crossed her legs.

“May I assume you got those charts properly straightened out, Joseph?” Captain Bachfisch said.

“Yes, Sir,” Lieutenant Saunders replied. “You were right, Captain. They were just mislabeled, although Commander Dobrescu and I are still a little puzzled over why someone thought we needed updated charts on the People’s Republic when we’re headed in exactly the opposite direction.”

“Oh, that’s an easy one, Joseph,” Lieutenant Commander Hirake told him. “I imagine War Maiden’s original astrogator probably requested them for her maiden voyage. I mean, it’s only been thirty-six standard years. That’s about average for turnaround on LogCom requests.”

Several people around the table chuckled, and Honor managed not to let her surprise show as Captain Bachfisch’s lined, disapproving face creased in a smile of its own. The Captain waved a finger at the tac officer and shook his head.

“We can’t have you talking that way about LogCom, Janice,” he told her severely. “If nothing else, you’ll raise future expectations which are doomed to be disappointed.”

“I don’t know about that, Sir,” Commander Layson said. “Seems to me it took about that long to get the emitter head on Graser Four replaced, didn’t it?”

“Yes, but that wasn’t LogCom alone,” Lieutenant Commander LaVacher put in. “The yard dogs on Hephaestus actually found it for us in the end, remember? I almost had to demand it at pulser point, but they did find it. Of course, they’d probably had it in stores for five or six years while some other poor cruiser waited for it, and we just shortstopped it.”

That drew fresh chuckles, and Honor’s amazement grew. The men and women in the compartment with her were suddenly very different from those who had shared the almost silent, formal dinner, and Captain Bachfisch was the most different of all. As she watched, he cocked his head at Commander Layson, and his expression was almost playful.

“And I trust that while Joseph was straightening out his charts you and Janice managed to come up with an exercise schedule which is going to make everyone onboard hate us, Abner?”

“Well, we tried, Sir.” Layson sighed and shook his head. “We did our best, but I think there are probably three or four ratings in Engineering who are only going to take us in intense dislike instead.”

“Hmm.” Captain Bachfisch frowned. “I’m a bit disappointed to hear that. When a ship’s company has as many grass-green hands as this one, a good exec shouldn’t have any trouble at all coming up with a training program guaranteed to get on their bad side.”

“Oh, we’ve managed that, Sir. It’s just that Irma managed to hang on to most of her original watch crews, and they already know all our tricks.”

“Ah? Well, I suppose that is a circumstance beyond your control,” Captain Bachfisch allowed, and looked at Lieutenant Commander LaVacher. “I see it’s your fault, Irma,” he said.

“Guilty as charged, Sir,” LaVacher admitted. “Wasn’t easy, either, with BuPers hanging over my shoulder and trying to poach my most experienced people the whole time.”

“I know it wasn’t,” the Captain said, and this time there was no teasing note in his approving voice. “I reviewed some of your correspondence with Captain Allerton. I thought right up to the last minute that we were going to lose Chief Heisman, but you finessed Allerton beautifully. I hope this isn’t going to cost the Chief that extra rocker, though. We need him, but I don’t want him shortchanged out of the deal.”

“He won’t be, Sir,” Layson replied for LaVacher. “Irma and I discussed it before she ever resorted to the ‘essential to efficient functioning’ argument to hang onto him. We’re two senior chiefs light in Engineering alone… and we’re also going to be in Silesia more than long enough for you to exercise your own discretion in promoting Heisman to fill one of those slots.”

“Good,” Bachfisch said. “That’s what I like to see! Intelligent ship’s officers effortlessly outsmarting their natural enemies at BuPers.”

It was all Honor could do not to gawk at the changeling who had replaced the dour and unsmiling man in the chair at the head of the table. Then he turned from Layson and LaVacher and looked directly down the table at her, and this time there was a definite twinkle in his deep set eyes.

“I notice your companion has spent the entire meal on the back of your chair, Ms. Harrington,” he observed. “I was under the impression that ’cats usually ate at the same time their people did.”

“Uh, yes, Sir,” Honor said. She felt a warmth along her cheekbones and drew a deep breath. At least his bantering with the more senior officers present had given her some opportunity to adjust before he turned his guns on her, and she took herself firmly in hand. “Yes, Sir,” she said much more composedly. “Nimitz normally eats at the same time I do, but he doesn’t do very well with vegetables, and we weren’t sure what arrangements your steward might have made, so he ate in the berthing compartment before we came to dinner.”