Bonita was a planet that lived up to its name, a lovely place with abundant wildlife with just the right genetic components for human consumption. Bonita had been settled fifteen years earlier; still a young colony, but established enough to have its own personality. Bonita was attacked by the Dtrutz, a species of more ambition than brains. This is one encounter that went decisively for the Colonial Union; the trio of CDF cruisers over Bonita made short work of the Dtrutz invading force, picking off their poorly designed ships first during the initial attack and then in a more leisurely fashion as the Dtrutz ships attempted to reach skip distance before the CDF rail gun projectiles reached the Dtrutz ships. The Dtrutz were not at all successful in this endeavor.

What made the Dtrutz attack notable was not its complete incompetence but the fact that the Dtrutz were not a Conclave species; like the Colonial Union, they were unaffiliated. The Dtrutz were under the same ban on colonization as the Colonial Union. They attacked anyway. They knew—as did an increasing number of races—that the Colonial Union was locked in a wide struggle with elements of the Conclave, and that meant the possibility of peeling away some of the lesser human colonies while the CDF was otherwise occupied. The Colonial Union was wounded and shedding blood in the water, and the lesser fish were coming up from the depths to get a taste.

"We've come for your daughter," Hickory said to me.

"I beg your pardon," I said. Despite everything, I couldn't resist the urge to crack a grin.

"Our government has determined that it is inevitable that Roanoke will be attacked and destroyed," Hickory said.

"Swell," I said.

"Dickory and I both regret this eventuality," Hickory said, leaning forward slightly for emphasis. "And our inability to assist you in preventing this."

"Well, thanks," I said, hoping it didn't sound too insincere.

Apparently, it did not. "We are not allowed to interfere or offer aid, but we have decided that it is acceptable to remove Zoe from danger," Hickory continued. "We've requested a transport ship for her and for us; it is on its way. We wanted to let you know of these plans because she is your daughter, and because we have also secured permission to transport you and Jane if you wish."

"So the three of us can escape from this mess," I said. Hickory nodded. "What about everyone else?"

"We have no permission to accommodate others," Hickory said.

"But does no permission mean you can't accommodate oth7 ers?" I asked. "If Zoe wants to take her best friend Gretchen, afe you going to tell her no? And do you think Zoe is going to leave if Jane and I stay?"

"Do you plan to stay?" Hickory asked. "Of course we do," I said. "You will die," Hickory said.

"We might," I said, "although I'm working to avoid that right now. But regardless, Roanoke is where we belong. We're not leaving, and I suspect you'll have a difficult time convincing Zoe to leave without us, or without her friends."

"She would leave if you told her to," Hickory said.

I smiled, reached on my desk to key my PDA, and sent a message to Zoe to meet me immediately in my office. She arrived a few minutes later.

"Hickory and Dickory want you to leave Roanoke," I said.

"Are you and Mom coming?" Zoe asked.

"No," I said.

"Then the hell with that," Zoe said, looking directly at Hickory as she said so.

I held my hands open in supplication to Hickory. "Told you," I said.

"You didn't tell her to come away," Hickory said.

"Go away, Zoe," I said.

"Screw you, ninety-year-old dad," Zoe' said, smiling and yet deadly serious at the same time. Then she turned back to the Obin. "And screw the both of you, too. And while we're at it, screw being whatever it is that I am to the Obin. If you want to protect me, protect the people I care about. Protect this colony."

"We cannot," Hickory said. "We've been forbidden to do so."

"Then you have a problem," Zoe said. Her smile was gone, and her eyes were glistening. "Because I'm not going anywhere. And there's nothing either you or anyone can do to change that." Zoe stormed out.

"That went pretty much exactly as I expected," I said.

"You didn't do all you could do to convince her," Hickory said.

I squinted at Hickory. "You're suggesting I was insincere."

"Yes," Hickory said. Its expression was even more unreadable than usual, but I can't imagine that saying something like that was easy for it; the emotional response would probably cause it to shut down its interface soon.

"You're right," I said. "I was insincere."

"But why?" Hickory asked, and I was surprised by the plain-tiveness in its voice. It was shaking now. "You have killed your own child, and the child of Charles Boutin."

"She's not dead yet," I said. "And neither are we. Neither is this colony."

"You know we cannot allow Zoe to come to harm," Dickory said, breaking his silent act. I was reminded that he was in actuality the superior of the two Obin.

"Are you going to go back to the plan of killing me and Jane to protect Zoe?" I asked.

"It is to be hoped not," Dickory said.

"What a delightfully ambiguous answer," I said.

"It's not ambiguous," Hickory said. "You know what our position is. What it must be."

"And I'd ask you to remember what my position is," I said. "I've told you that in every circumstance you should protect Zoe. That position has not changed."

"But you have made it substantially more difficult," Hickory said. "You may have made it impossible."

"I don't think so," I said. "Let me make a proposal to the two of you. You have a ship arriving soon. I'm going to promise you thai Zoe will leave with you on that ship. But you have to promise me' that you take her where I am going to ask her to go."

"Where is that?" Hickory said.

"I'm not going to tell you yet," I said.

"That will make it difficult fDr us to agree," Hickory said.

"That's the breaks," I said. 'But I guarantee you where you're taking her will be more safe than here. Now. Agree, and I'll make sure she goes with you. Don't, you'll have to find a way to protect her here, or kill me and Jane trying to drag her away. These are your choices."

Hickory and Dickory leaned in and conversed for several minutes, longer than I had ever seen them converse before.

"We accept your condition," Hickory said.

"Good," I said. "Now all I have to do is get Zoe to agree. Not to mention Jane."

"Will you tell us now where we will be taking Zoe?" Hickory asked.

"To deliver a message," I said.

The Kristina Marie had just docked at Khartoum Station when its engine compartment shattered, vaporizing the back quarter of the trading ship and driving the front three-quarters of the ship directly into Khartoum Station. The station's hull buckled and snapped; air and personnel burst from the fracture lines. Across the impact zone airtight bulkheads sprang into place, only to be torn from their moorings and sockets by the encroaching inertial mass of the Kristina Marie, itself bleeding atmosphere and crew from the collision. When the ship came to rest, the explosion and collision had crippled Khartoum Station, and killed 566 people on the station and all but six members of the Kristina Marie's crew, two of whom died shortly thereafter of their injuries.

The explosion of the Kristina Marie did more than destroy the ship and much of Khartoum Station; it coincided with the harvest of Khartoum's hogfruit, a native delicacy that was one of Khartoum's major exports. Hogfruit spoiled quickly after ripening (it got its name from the fact Khartoum's settlers fed the overripe fruit to their pigs, who were the only ones who would eat them at that point), so Khartoum had invested heavily to be able to harvest and ship for export its hogfruit crop within days of ripening, via Khartoum Station. The Kristina Marie was only one of a hundred Colonial Union trade ships above Khartoum, awaiting its share of the fruit.