The masses of Plebs were gathered the farthest back, screaming as loudly and with as much fervor as their betters in the forward positions, though Katrine suspected there was more fear than sincerity in their cheers. The Plebs were the workers, the men and women who toiled in the mines and factories and shipyards. For the most part, they were not native Palatians, but rather populations drawn from the conquered worlds, relocated—often forcibly—to do the work that freed the Probs for service in the army and navy.

The Plebs weren’t slaves, not quite, but they weren’t free either, and most of them were barred from military service and assigned on the basis of aptitude tests to lives working in one industry or another. An intelligent and capable Pleb might be educated and rise to become an engineer or a computer programmer, positions that would allow a moderately comfortable standard of living…and some hope of moving into the Prob class. Those with less aptitude were relegated to the fields, the mines, and the massive factories that produced an unending flow of munitions. Plebs whose ability or effort were below par tended to find themselves treated as expendable resources, with accordingly short life expectancies.

A few Plebs had burst out of their lesser stature, gained access to the military and worked their way to positions of power and influence—and even full Citizenship—but not many. Those who achieved success often did so at the sides of notable Patricians and Citizens, enjoying the benefits bestowed by their powerful masters after long periods of faithful service. Most others worked twelve hours a day, and except for those at the very top, lived joyless lives devoted to maintaining the vaunted Alliance military machine and enjoying few of the spoils of victory.

The system had not always been that way. Building ships and arms had been regarded as a sacred duty in the earliest days of the Alliance, as important even as the service of the soldiers and spacers on the front lines. There were images in the Archives of cheering groups of Prob workers standing outside arms factories or inside the orbital shipyards, watching as the warships they’d built fired up their engines and moved off on maiden voyages. But conquests and access to subject populations had gradually changed that perception, and military service had become virtually the only path to full citizenship for a Prob. A taint of cowardice now clung to any who chose a different route.

“Long live the Alliance!”

The shout rose from across the way, no doubt the over-enthusiastic efforts of a particularly ambitious Prob. But it was a challenge to the others standing nearby, and they joined in, repeating the cry, shouting it again and again until thousands were chanting.