“Old code of honor from a few centuries back on Earth,” Steph said. “Most of the actual code has been forgotten by the general public, and it’s been glorified a lot. In reality it wasn’t so . . . chivalrous as people believe, but some of the basics were there. In modern times, the code refers to treating others with respect and honoring your word, along with other similar noble qualities.”

She shrugged. “Perhaps. I do not know. The Oath, as I said, it has been long forgotten. The Oath Breakers, though, they are still the source of many scary stories.”

“Good monsters never die,” Steph said thoughtfully. “They just get scarier with every retelling.”

►►►

► Eric appeared to be studying the sky intently, but his mind was elsewhere.

“That is a hell of a story,” he said finally.

Tanner sighed. “And likely not remotely the truth.”

That was an understatement, to Eric’s mind. He knew that half the war stories told about his own campaign were false, yet they’d been repeated so often that sometimes he half remembered doing things that he knew hadn’t happened in the first place. This was a legend about a myth about a campfire tale that quite possibly went back to the beginning of human civilization on Earth, maybe further depending on what you considered civilization.

“It’s bloody King Arthur is what it is,” Eric growled.

“I am not familiar with that,” Tanner admitted.

“Terran legend,” Eric supplied. “Probably started as a fairy tale about the good old days during a really bad time, got told and retold so many times that before long it was about a savior prophesized to return from the dead in the hour of his nation’s greatest need.”

Tanner nodded slowly. “That tale would appear to be similar, after a fashion.”

“Here’s the problem,” Eric said, pursing his lips. “Arthur’s never coming back. That’s just not how the universe works. It doesn’t matter how crazy things are, or how weird the universe can be—we don’t get the fairy-tale ending fated to us. We have to earn it . . . But this Empire, they are already here . . . and they’re pissed. Which means they’ve kept up their side of the story probably better than you have, and I’m pretty sure they tell it differently.”

“And you believe their side may have merit?” Tanner asked cautiously.

Eric snorted, shaking his head. “Doesn’t matter if it does. The past doesn’t excuse the present. Even if your people were puppy-eating murderers who raped and slaughtered your way across the galaxy, that’s not who you are now . . . and even if they were righteous knights defending the just and the innocent back then, today they’re leading with the Drasin and firing on my ship without even responding to my hail.”

Eric took a deep breath, his fists clenching and unclenching.