Milija shot him an amused glance. ’The young men of the Guard-in-training?’ she said, flirtatiously. ‘The nice young men with the uniforms and the commission papers? He’ll go after them, Naxi, if you give him names. He’ll hunt them down.’

‘I will,’ said Zidarov, taking the glass. ‘I’ll find them and kill them.’

And then they were talking, and laughing, and the food emerged, and more rezi flowed. They sat around the cramped plastek table, their elbows almost touching, arguing about the state of the ruling praesidium, the economic outlook, the prospects for the city, whether it was true that xenos had been sighted at the polar stations nine years ago, whether it was true that xenos even existed.

‘But you’re well, girl?’ Milija asked.

‘Better than well,’ Alessinaxa said, speaking while chewing. ‘I feel good. Throne, it hurts, the first few weeks. I thought I’d probably die when we started basic conditioning. They say ten per cent drop out. We did lose a few. I almost joined them. But then it gets better. And then, strangest thing, you start to enjoy it. The runs, the gymnasia sessions. I like the weapons training. We’re training on Militarum-grade now – I have a lasgun, an M-Galaxy. It’s lighter than I thought it’d be. No recoil, so you have to get used to that, and it punches harder than I thought it would. We still don’t get to use them unsupervised, but when we graduate to full training that’ll change.’

Milija looked at Zidarov. Zidarov looked at Milija.

‘Yes, well, we still need to talk about that,’ she said.

Alessinaxa frowned. ‘I thought–’

‘We left it open,’ Zidarov said. ‘We said we’d think about it, your mother and I.’

‘There are options, Naxi,’ Milija said. ‘Planetary defence corps. The enforcers. That’s what you’re being trained for – to choose.’

‘But, I’ve seen–’

‘You’ve seen the propaganda reels, Naxi,’ said Zidarov. ‘You’ve been told that you’ll get a good regiment, one of the Alecto-majoris. You’ve been told you’ll get home-leave every five years. It’s what they tell all of them. I checked it out. It’s never true.’

Alessinaxa’s cheeks flushed. They’d all had a fair bit to drink. ‘I thought we’d agreed this,’ she said.

‘No, we agreed nothing.’

‘It’s what I want.’

‘I know you do,’ said Milija. ‘But you’re young. It feels like it’s the only choice, now, but you’ve got–‘

‘They want me there,’ said Alessinaxa, defiantly. ‘I’m good at it.’

‘You’re damned good,’ Zidarov said.

‘I can’t believe you’re trying to pull back on it now,’ she said.

‘We’re pulling back on nothing,’ Milija said. ‘We just want you to think.’

‘You want me to stay here.’