The Prince looked out over the crowd. "Through his efforts, we were able to locate and plug a serious breach in our security. Through his efforts, House Liao wasted valuable time and resources on a research and development project that caused serious harm to their war effort. Because of him, we learned of the planned raid on Kathil. Because of him and his influence, the St. Ives Commonality has seceded from the Capellan Confederation and entered into an alliance with the Federated Suns.

"The last time most of you remember seeing the two of us in the same place, I stripped him of his rank, his honor, and his name. For all of the services he has rendered the Federated Suns, I would gladly return those three things, but it is for yet another action that I chose to do so. When he sent us the message warning us about the Kathil raid, he asked to be withdrawn from Sian. When Morgan arrived with his DropShip, all Justin had to do was identify himself and he would have been taken away to safety. Instead of doing that, he entered the dungeons beneath the Liao Palace and rescued Alex Mallory. For this act of selfless bravery, I welcome you, Major Justin Xiang Allard, back home to the Federated Suns."

Justin met Hanse's strong grip with one of his own and shook the Prince's hand heartily. "You don't know how good those words sound coming from your throat."

Hanse smiled warmly. "You don't know how many times I feared I would never get a chance to say them." The Prince broke their grip and drew a medal identical to the one awarded Andrew Redburn from the small box. "Though wholly insufficient, I award you the Medal Excalibur as a token of this nation's gratitude for you, and at the ceremonies at the end of this year, you will be inducted into the Order of Davion along with Morgan."

Justin waited for the Prince to pin the medal on the breast of his jacket, then shook his hand again. Retreating to join the others, he congratulated them on their awards, then turned back to listen to the Prince complete his speech.

"Our war with the Capellan Confederation is all but complete. Our conquest has not been total, but then that was never our intention. Our goal all along has had two parts. The first was to eliminate the Capellan Confederation's ability to create the materials they need to wage war against us. Aside from a few minor facilities in the Sian Commonality, this has been successful.

"The second half of our objective was to free a people that has been oppressed for far too long. This is not a task that can be accomplished in months or even years. Our success in this area will be measured in generations, but I am confident it will be success we can measure."

Hanse looked back at the four men standing behind him, then turned to the crowd with a pleased expression. "The war, for these four individuals, is over now, but our enemies should mark well what they have accomplished. Not for the sheer audacity of planning, or the brilliance of tactics—though each has exhibited those traits. They should study these men to understand that a people nurtured in freedom and given the ability to do what they choose, are a people that will do anything—no matter how humiliating or personally painful—to ensure that their way of life will endure for eternity!"

54

ComStar First Circuit Compound

Hilton Head Island, North America, Terra

1 December 3029

Primus Myndo Waterly looked down from her exalted position to where her former peers stood at their crystalline podia. Her golden silk robe flashed with highlights slightly darker than her hair and felt very good against her skin. Almost as good as having won election to the Primary.

She smiled benignly. "I wish to thank all of you for your support. These will be trying times for ComStar, but we shall see to it that the Word of Blake will be fulfilled. Our unanimity in this cause is vital."

Her dark-eyed glance recognized Villius Tejh, granting him permission to speak only moments before he would have usurped that right. You still smart at losing, don't you, Precentor Sian? You would have won had I not reminded everyone that you failed to discover or inform us that Justin Xiang was really a Davion agent. You laid the blame for that on poor Julian Tiepolo as he lay dying. You avoided the repercussions, but it still hurts you. I'll have to put you out of your misery, like some wounded animal.

Precentor Sian met her stare evenly. "Primus, I would like to know what you are planning to do with the Federated Suns? Justin Allard, during his debriefing, will have undoubtedly informed the Prince that the Death Commandos who hit the NAIS were not from Liao. The attack you urged upon us could cause serious problems."

Myndo raised one eyebrow. "Could it? I was unaware that we had informed Prince Davion that we attacked the NAIS. Indeed, as the attack failed in its objective and, in fact, gave the Prince a political boost because of his personal involvement in dealing with it, I should think he would thank us for having staged it. Though we might have used a different organization to mask the assault had we been awareof Xiang's true nature, we did not leave ourselves open to discovery."

Myndo preempted his desire to follow up with a defense against her attack. "I have, in fact, begun a dialog with the Prince of the Federated Suns. We have reached an agreement, in principle, to lift the Interdiction."

Ulthan Everson, the golden-haired Precentor from Tharkad, leaned forward. "How now? You were the one who pressed so fervently forthe Interdiction. The Federated Suns has all but snapped up the Capellan Confederation, but the Interdiction has slowed the pace of war considerably. Why are you going to lift the Interdiction now?"

Myndo folded her hands into the sleeves of her robe. "It's rather plain, isn't it? The Prince, after perhaps one more wave of attacks, will no longer pursue the war. The Free Worlds League is moving to snap up worlds if Liao shifts its forces to fight Davion's invaders, but the Prince would never dream of letting Janos Marik steal worlds away from him for so little cost. Further, if he leaves part of the Confederation alive, it will force Marik to maintain troops on that border to face any Liao threat. These are fewer troops for Davion to worry about on his border with the Free Worlds League.

"Lastly, Princess Melissa is pregnant. Hanse Davion will move to solidify his holdings so that his child will have a stable realm to govern. The Capellan Confederation, when the time is right, will be an excellent straw man against which to direct his people if divisions develop within the Federated Suns."

She surprised herself when she saw Precentor Tharkad nodding agreement with her arguments. Huthrin Vandel smiled and asked with his eyes to be recognized. "Precentor New Avalon?"

The black-haired man nodded. "Thank you. Perhaps, Primus, you might mention what concessions you have exacted from Hanse Davion in return for lifting the Interdiction."

Myndo kept herself from smiling. "Because the Interdiction was initiated in response to an attack by House Davion troops on one of our stations, I have demanded and won an agreement to rebuild that station and to upgrade a number of stations, all at the expense of the Federated Suns."

She allowed the assembly a second or two of murmured comments before she dropped the larger bombshell. "I also have won from the Prince the right for ComStar to station armed forces, 'Mechforces, within the precincts of our stations!"

The other Precentors looked stunned, and Villius Tejh rubbed at his chest as if this time he were succumbing to a heart attack. Myndor raised her chin high. "Yes. We will station troops on every world where we have a station. At first, we will make do with mercenaries, but slowly, over the next ten or twenty years, we will bring our own, 'newly trained' troops into place at the stations. They will be there for self-protection, of course, but they will be there nonetheless. We will expand this policy from the Federated Suns into the other Successor States on a gradual basis. An attack on us in the future—real or created—will mean that an Interdiction by ComStar is far more dangerous than it has ever been in the past."