thatCorona’s football team had just won in a short season truncated by the death of the last Shaa.
One other Home Fleet Trophy stood on a special shelf in the corner, locked into place and braced against high accelerations. A second-place trophy sat on a somewhat less special shelf. Other, lesser trophies, all topped by gleaming crystal footballers, crowded Lieutenant Captain Tarafah’s desk on all sides.
“At ease, Lieutenant Martinez,” Lord Fahd Tarafah said, which allowed Martinez to drop his chin and contemplate his new commander. Tarafah was a compact, well-formed man with a shaven head and neatly trimmed goatee, still under thirty. On his left sleeve, just above the cuff, was the stylized football insignia that all the Coronas were entitled to wear for the next year.
“You’ve reported to Garcia?” Tarafah asked, referring to the officer on watch.
“Yes, my lord. She’s shown me my quarters and given me the code to my safe. She was going to give me a more thorough orientation after her watch.”
“It’ll be useful to have another watch-keeping officer aboard. Your orders and records have been logged on the computer?”
“Yes, my lord.”
Tarafah opened his collar, took his captain’s key from around his neck, and called Martinez’s records onto his displays. His eyes scanned back and forth, then halted, no doubt focused on the candid evaluations of Martinez’s abilities and character provided by his former commanders, evaluations that Martinez carried around with him as part of his permanent record but did not possess the codes to read.
“What sports did you do at the academy?” Tarafah asked. Which, Martinez knew, was the question that might well doom him.
“An absolute fanatic about football,” Ari Abacha had said approvingly, when Martinez had asked him about Tarafah at the junior officers’ club. “Pulls every string he can to get the top players on his ship, and when strings won’t work, he lays out the cash. Rumor has it that he bought Captain Lord Winfield a new yacht in order to guarantee the transfer of a new outside forward.”
Abacha approved of the Fleet’s fanatic football officers, and if his devotion to languor hadn’t been so all-encompassing, he would probably have been one himself, either a player, coach, or manager. As it was, Abacha contented himself with absorbing everything known about the subject—the players, the statistics, the tactics, the managers and coaches—and had a profitable sideline running a sports book for other officers.
Corona’sappearance only confirmed Abacha’s assessment. Tarafah had painted his ship green—not the viridian green of Zanshaa’s sky, but the bright lawn green of a football pitch, with the white midfield stripe bisecting the frigate lengthwise and a motif of white soccer balls bouncing down the ship’s sides.
Coronawas a small ship to field such an important team. With a crew of only sixty-one, to get a first-rate team of eleven players, plus alternates and coaches and support—enough to make a serious bid for the Home Fleet Trophy, against ships with ten times the crew strength—required single-minded dedication and deep pockets.
“I did fencing and swimming, my lord,” Martinez said. Sports where his long arms and comparatively short legs worked to his advantage.
He suspected it wouldn’t help to mention that he was school champion at hypertourney, an abstract positional game with a computer-generated playing field. Hypertourney was probably a little too intellectual for Tarafah and theCorona.
“We do football on theCorona,” Tarafah said. Which Martinez couldn’t help but think was like saying,In the Legion of Diligence, we do fanaticism.
“Yes, my lord,” Martinez said. “Everyone in the Fleet knows the quality ofCorona’s team.”
The compliment indirect, Martinez thought. One should start small, then work slowly up toward finding the level of flattery appropriate for one’s commander.
The praise at least persuaded Tarafah to ask Martinez to sit. Martinez drew up a chair and watched the lieutenant captain with all due attention.
Tarafah folded his hands atop his desk and leaned forward. “I don’t believe that any officer can succeed on his own, Lieutenant,” he said. “I believe that a ship’s company is a team, each dependent on the others for success.”
“Very true, my lord.” Martinez tried to imply that this was an idea he had never heard before.
“That’s why I expect the entire ship’s company to pull together for the common good, in makingCorona look its absolute best—during fleet maneuvers, during inspections, and on the football field. Each must do his part.”
“Very good, my lord,” Martinez repeated.
“That’s why I expect everyone to support the team. The team makes usall look good, just as polished paneling and spotless floors give us the look of a ship where everything is completely up to the mark. Do you understand?”
“Yes, my lord. In fact,” Martinez added, “that’s why I hope to contribute directly to the success of the team. I know that I’m probably unsuitable as a player, but I thought I might serve as a coach, or some kind of manager—”
Martinez fell silent as he saw the thin, disapproving look on Tarafah’s face. “I coach the team myself, as well as manage,” he said. “And Weaponer Mancini assists.”
“Yes, my lord,” Martinez said, his hopes for the tour sinking fast. He played his last card. “By the way,” he added, “I’m bringing only one servant on board.”
Tarafah was taken aback. “Yes? Do you want the first officer to appoint another?”
“No. I merely thought that, if for any reason you needed another reserve player aboard, you could make the player my second servant.”
“Oh.” Calculation flickered across Tarafah’s face. “That might be useful,” he judged. “I intend to win the Second Fleet Championship next year, at Magaria.”
Surprise filled Martinez. “Magaria?” he said. “We’re shipping out?”
“Yes. We’re replacingStaunch, which is going into refit. You’ve got six days to wind up your personal affairs and get your division up to the mark.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Tarafah fingered the touch pads on his desk. “I’ve configured your third lieutenant’s key. Here you are.”
Martinez accepted the key on its elastic strap and thought,This is going to be a long, long tour.
“Brilliant. Quite brilliant. I’m sure your parents would be proud.”
“I’m glad you think so,” Sula said.
“May I get you another drink?”
“I’m having water, thanks.”
Lord Durward Li decanted some water into Sula’s glass and refreshed his own mig brandy. “It’s a pity we’re in a period of mourning,” he said. “Usually we haveswarms of guests at these affairs, but now it’s only twenty-two, alas.”
“Twenty-two,” Sula mused. “I wonder why. The Shaa usually preferred to play with primes.”
“Oh—you don’t know the story behind that? You see, ages ago, just after the Torminel conquest…”
Sula sipped her water and listened to Lord Durward rattle on.
After the debacle with Martinez, she’d fled the capital to a resort town in the highlands. While other visitors hiked trails or lounged in the communal bath or enjoyed the mountain scenery, Sula rarely left her room and spent her days studying for her lieutenant exams.
When she’d grown so weary of cramming that she couldn’t make her eyes focus on the screen, she closed her eyes and lay on the bed and tried to rest. On the backs of her closed lids she saw Martinez standing in the boat, his hands thrown out in exasperation.
Stupid, stupid.She had to learn how to behave around people.
She remembered the invitations she’d received and thought that perhaps Martinez had been right about them. Her parents’ friends might help, and in any case it was probably a good idea to meet people other than those the service threw in her way. The alternative, after all, was the cadet lounge, with Foote and his clique.
She’d sent her regrets to all invitations to take place before the Great Master’s funeral, which disposed of all the people who only wanted her as an ornament because she’d become a celebrity. Then she’d done a modest amount of research through public databases concerning the remainder, and discovered that the Li clan had been clients of the Sulas, and after the fall of Clan Sula, were assured of the patronage of the Chen clan instead. Lord Durward’s was the first invitation she had accepted.
Apparently the Lis had done well for themselves in the years since the death of Lord Sula. The new Li Palace, built on the site of an older place that had been torn down, occupied a large frontage on the Boulevard of the Praxis. The facade was of some pale, semitranslucent stone veined with pink, and which, when lights were turned on at night, seemed to glow as if the building itself were a living thing.
Inside, the reception hall was draped in what Sula at first assumed were tapestries and lace, but which on closer inspection turned out to be marble, cream and green and pale red, carved into the shape of draped fabric, all the little lace-points and filigree cunningly shaped into the stone. She was stunned by the tens of thousands of man-hours that must have gone into the work.
The parlor was less intimidating, with plush furniture and portraits of horses and country scenes on the walls. Fortunately, the furniture was set with wide lanes between the pieces, so that the three Naxid guests—Lady Kushdai, a convocate come into the city for the Great Master’s funeral, and her kin—could maneuver without knocking things over. Sula admired greatly the crackled surface on the porcelain jars, each taller than a man, that stood in the room’s corners.
“So you see,” Lord Durward finished, “it all has to do with the Twenty-Two Martyrs for the Perfection of the Praxis. One wants to invite them to one’s mourning feasts, to show them that they didn’t die in vain.”
“Fascinating,” Sula said.
“Ah.” Lord Durward’s ginger brows rose as he turned to the parlor door, where a Fleet captain had just entered with an elegant young woman on his arm. “Have you met my son Richard?” And then he smiled. “Well, of course you have. I forgot.”
Sula’s mind whirled as she tried to remember where she might have met Captain Lord Richard Li. He didn’t seem the sort of man one would forget: he was taller than his father, dark-haired, with a smooth, handsome face of the sort that would look youthful well into middle age.
“Caro,” Lord Richard said, taking Sula’s hand. “It’s good to see you after all this time.”
Sula felt herself bristling, and told herself to behave. “Caroline,” she corrected. “I’m not Caro anymore.”
Amusement crinkled the corners of Lord Richard’s eyes. “You don’t remember me at all, do you?”
“I’m afraid not.”Behave, she told herself again.These people are trying to be your friends.
Lord Richard’s smile was very white, his eyes very blue. “I put you on your first pony, in our garden at Meeria.”
“Oh,” Sula said. Her eyes widened. “That wasyou? ”
“I haven’t changedthat much, have I?” he said. “Do you still ride at all?”
“Not in ages.”
Lord Richard looked at his father, then back at Sula. “We still keep stables at Meeria. If you’d like to go down and spend some time riding, I’m sure we’d love having you. We also have excellent fishing.”
Lord Durward nodded agreement.
“Thank you,” Sula said. “I’ll think about it. But it’s been so long…”
Lord Richard turned toward the young woman by his side. She was tall and willowy, with dark almond eyes and a beautiful, shining fall of black hair.
“This is my fiancee, Lady Terza Chen. Terza, this is Caroline, Lady Sula.”
“A pleasure. I saw you on video.” Lady Terza’s voice was low and soothing, and the graceful hand she extended was unhurried but warm and welcoming in its gentle clasp.
