However, Fitzpatrick played political games better than Tasia; plus, his grandmother, Maureen Fitzpatrick, had been Hansa Chairman during the reign of King Bartholomew, so he felt privileged. Tasia kept stepping up in the ranks, too, but she achieved it through superior performance. Now Fitzpatrick sat in the captain's chair on a Manta cruiser, while Tasia commanded a large Thunderhead platform. And both of them were only in their early twenties.

Admiral Willis's holographic image turned as if she were looking at all the commanders projected around her. "Nevertheless, this is an act of benevolent discipline, not aggression."

"Yeah," said Fitzpatrick. "Let's get allpaternal on their asses."

As far as Tasia was concerned, he could stick his head out into hard vacuum.

She admired what the Yreka colonists had accomplished since the founding of the settlement forty years ago. Not as hardy or ingenious as Roamers, perhaps, but they had shown true backbone. Yreka should have been a strong and independent outpost, and the charismatic Grand Governor Sarhi had made hard decisions for the survival of her people. What was wrong with that?

But unnamed and unrecognized Hansa "watchers"-a fancy word for "spy," Tasia thought-had infiltrated the various colonies just to keep an eye out from the inside. One of these spies had sent a report to the EDF about the Yrekan indiscretion.

General Lanyan had taken Yreka's defiance as a personal affront. When dispatching the battlegroup, he had grumbled, "Only a few years ago, the Yrekans begged for our assistance against a gang of Roamer pirates. Unfortunately, their memories seem to be faulty."

Though she had maintained her professional demeanor, Tasia was stung by the remark. The pirate Rand Sorengaard was an anomaly, and most Roamers disliked what he had done, yet the Hansa still used the incident to drum up prejudice. Tasia had been fighting that stigma throughout her military career.

A navigation officer spoke across theJupiter 's intercom system, which broke into the holoconference. "Entering the Yreka system, Admiral. All warships taking up positions according to the game plan."

"Very well, folks," Admiral Willis said. "We'll reconvene after we hear the Grand Governor's response. This exercise could be over within the hour... or we might be stuck here awhile."

Tasia left the platcom's lounge and hurried back to the command bridge. She hoped she could quietly keep the EDF from going overboard with the poor settlers. Sadly, despite her numerous crack skills, subtlety and diplomacy weren't among Tasia's strong points.

Yreka was an unremarkable colony, located on the fringe of Hansa territory near the Ildiran Empire. The planetary system, home to a mere handful of hardy settlers, had no obvious strategic importance. The Yrekans depended on outside help for many necessities.

Tasia took her seat on the bridge and asked her command crew to sound off and double-check their systems. She transmitted back to theJupiter, "Thunderhead 7-5 ready to engage, Admiral."

Willis was calling the shots... and Tasia hoped "shots" was just a figurative term for this operation. The Yrekan colonists wouldn't stand up for an hour against the Eddies' firepower.