House of Reeds

'Something is going on,' Hadeishi said, relieved to voice the fear plain in her face. 'Fleet has to have arranged this. For a purpose.'

'Kyo…we're not making the jump to Keshewan with them, are we?' Susan's lips were turning white. 'I'll tell Isoroku to disable to main drive – some kind of flux bottle failure – that should gain us a week at least. I can send a t-relay message…'

Hadeishi raised a hand. He did not want to know who she planned to contact. Some radiant faces should remain hidden in the clouds.

'No need.' The Chu-sa squared his shoulders, hands on his knees. 'We have new orders – to maintain station here at Jagan, in support of the 416th Arrow Knight motorized infantry regiment, which is being deployed groundside to 'protect Imperial interests.' I'm not sure Captain Plamondon realized he was doing us a favor. I gained the distinct impression he was pleased to get rid of us.'

Ha! He was horrified to be associated with me, even in such a distant capacity.

Kosho started to breathe again. 'Can he be so blind?'

'Perhaps.' Hadeishi shrugged. 'The gaijin are happiest surrounded by their own people. Indeed…well, who am I to say what the Grand Duke Villeneuve thinks of all this? I am simply relieved our faithful old ship will not have to make another hyperspace transit before Isoroku can effect repairs.'

Kosho regained her usual imperturbable calm. She stiffened as if on report. 'The engineering staff will review the repair schedules, Chu-sa. We have already found some sources of spare parts and repair materials. At least – at least – we will be able to replenish stores and non- recyclable goods.'

'Good.' Hadeishi's eyes crinkled up in a tired smile. 'And I can get some rest.'

'Hai, Chu-sa. We can all rest a little.' Kosho stood, guessing her captain was near the end of his tether.

Hadeishi felt as if the last microliter of strength had drained from him, but there was a little taste of relief to come. Perhaps, he thought, I will get a chance to walk under the open sky, see a place I have not seen before. His eyes strayed to the door of his study. Perhaps they have music here I have never heard…

'Oh, one matter has come up, Sho-sa.' Hadeishi unfolded himself from the cushion and stepped to a working desk folded down from the wall. He picked up a cream-colored envelope and passed it to the Sho-sa, who took the letter, a little taken aback. 'The ship has been tendered an invitation. To a party.'

Kosho opened the envelope, rubbing slick parchment between her fingertips. 'This is real paper…' She turned opened the sheet inside, eyebrows rising to see a flowing hand in vibrant green ink. 'My dear captain Hadeishi,' she read. 'I am entertaining the Imperial Prince Tezozуmoc, son of the Light of Heaven, long may he reign, at my estate in the suburbs of Parus on Thursday night. I would be delighted if you and some of your officers could attend. Grace of God, Mrs. Greta Hauksbee Petrel.'

Susan looked up, faintly alarmed. 'There is an Imperial Prince here?!'

Hadeishi put on a very strict face. 'You are best suited for this task, Sho-sa Kosho. Take those junior officers who would benefit from rubbing elbows with the mighty and a security detachment of your choosing.'

'I am best suited?' Kosho's dark eyes flashed dangerously. 'How so? Am I expected to make appropriate smalltalk with the Light of Heaven?'

'You've training I lack, Susan.' Hadeishi wondered if he'd pushed her a little too far. 'And display a full dress uniform far better. Go on, Sho-sa. We've a great deal of work to do.'

Giving him another sharp look – not a glare, to be sure, but something close – Kosho bowed and left. Hadeishi sighed, rubbing his eyes again, and stumbled through the hatchway into his sleeping cabin. Yejin had turned down the coverlet on his tatami and set the lights on a steadily darkening sleep cycle. Faintly, a recording of waves breaking on the shore at Sasurigama played. A discerning ear could pick out the sound of branches creaking in the night wind.

The Chu-sa stared at the door to the bathroom for a long moment, then gave up on the thought. Too tired. I'll take a long shower in the morning. We can afford the water entropy – we'll have our supplies replenished within the week… Shedding the rest of his uniform, he crawled into bed. Hadeishi was asleep within moments of his head touching the rice-husk pillow.

A little later, the steward stepped quietly into the bedroom, folded up the crumpled uniform to be cleaned and pressed, and shifted the sheets to cover Mitsuharu's chest. Yejin scowled, face nearly invisible in the fading light, thick fingers brushing across a fresh hole in the cotton sheet. There were others, carefully mended, but the fabric was nearly translucent with wear.

The Imperial Development Board Warehouse Sobipur й Spaceport

Chief Machinist's Mate Helsdon thumbed the ident panel of a crate marked with Fleet colors and raised an eyebrow in interest as the contents listed themselves. 'Microcell power units, six dozen? These will fit in our field equipment and shuttles. You don't need them?'

'Already replaced.' The shop foreman shrugged, waving his hand at the wall of shipping containers the Fleet engineer was examining. 'They sent us sixteen satellites for a first-tier global information grid, along with replacement parts to cover five years of attrition and the shuttles to place them in orbit. Ten of the satellites failed within a week of going operational, so then they sent us another sixteen – but of a different model!'

Helsdon nodded, bending down to examine the bottommost crate of a dangerously tall stack. Despite the efforts of his shipsuit to adapt to the climate, he had to wipe sweat out of his eyes before he could read the manifest. 'Sensor relays, type nineteen. Are these in good shape? We could use hundreds of them…they run our automatic compartment doors.'

'Like I said,' the foreman chuckled, lank dark hair tied back behind his head in a ponytail. Watery blue eyes glinted with amusement. 'This whole wall is redundant material. Small equipment power cells, replacement comm panels and nodes, synchro-tracking lasers, the works! The development board director wants me to surplus the whole lot to the slicks as an economic stimulus project. But between you and me, Helsdon-tzin, I'd really rather trade for something I can use.'

'Trade?' Helsdon frowned, fiddling with the environmental controls on his shipsuit. Normally, the temperature regulators built into the millimeter-thick fabric under his uniform shirt and pants kept him nice and cool. The shop foreman didn't seem to mind the heat – he wasn't even sweating. 'What kind of equipment do you need?'

'Well,' the foreman frowned, 'what I really need is a whole 'nother cargo shuttle – the humidity here breeds a bacterium capable of metabolizing hexacarbon – and if I had five or six hundred Macana auto-rifles and ten thousand rounds of 8mm caseless, I could raise the cash to buy one…' He raised a placating hand at Helsdon's grimace. 'But! But…I've no d esire to hand the slicks something that will wind up aimed at me, so the real thing I could use is whatever scrap metal you might have on hand.'

'Scrap?' Helsdon gave up on not sweating and feeling miserably hot. 'We've suffered some battle damage. We planned to dump the wreckage…'

'That,' said the foreman with a broad grin, 'is exactly the kind of trade goods I can use.'

'So,' Helsdon said, scratching his jaw and turning on an earbug channel to the ship. Thai- i Isoroku would be interested in this bit of bartering. 'How many square meters of hexacarbon steel are you looking for?'

The Petrel Estate

District of the Claw-Polishers, Parus

Despite Chu-sa Hadeishi's suggestion that she attend the Legation party in a traditional furisode-style kimono, Kosho stepped out of her groundcar in a straight, knee- length black silk dress. Conceding a non-Fleet, civilian occasion, she did not pin up her hair. She also dispensed with