The Honor of the Qween

'Major!' Honor's voice cracked like a whip, and Ramirez diverted the blow in the nick of time. His gauntlet smashed into the stone wall beside Williams' head like a mace, so hard flying stone chips cut the Masadan's cheek, and the red-faced, strangling captain flinched aside with a gasp of terror.

'Sorry, Ma'am.' The major was white with fury as he muttered his apology—to Honor, not Williams—and dropped the Masadan. He rubbed his left hand on his equipment harness as if to scrub away contamination, and Sergeant Talon handed Honor a napkin from a dispenser on one of the mess tables. She wiped her numb face carefully, her eyes still on the major, and wondered if Williams truly understood how close to death he'd just come.

'I understand your feelings, Major,' she said quietly, 'but these people are our prisoners.'

'Yes, Ma'am. I understand.' Ramirez drew a deep breath and turned his back on Williams while the captain wheezed for breath. 'They're scum, and one of them killed a medic trying to patch him up, but they're our prisoners. I'll remember that, Ma'am.'

'See that you do,' Honor said, but she laid her hand on his armored shoulder as she spoke, and he managed a brief smile.

'Yes, Ma'am,' he replied more naturally, then gestured at a large chart spread out on one of the tables. 'Let me show you where we are, Ma'am.'

Honor followed him to the table, and he ran a finger across the captured ground plan.

'We now control the three upper levels,' he said, 'and I've got one of Captain Hibson's squads down onto Level Five to secure the power plant, but the Masadans still holding out on Four and parts of Five had too much time to get set before we penetrated that deep. It looks like the most fanatical members of the garrison headed that way when we took over the control room, and some of them knew how to override the blast doors locally, so we couldn't keep them from flowing together into some fairly tough knots.'

Honor studied the plan and nodded in understanding.

'The specialists Admiral Matthews loaned us are interrogating the computers,' Ramirez went on, 'and, in some respects, I'd as soon leave them down there while we got what we came for and pulled out. Unfortunately,' his voice turned harsh, 'we've begun picking up indications Madrigal's survivors are being held somewhere in this area—' his finger tapped '—on Level Four.'

'`Indications'?' Honor asked sharply. 'Not confirmation?'

'No, Ma'am. That's what worries me. None of these people—' he waved at the Masadans crowded against the mess hall walls '—will say a word about them, but they look awfully uneasy when we ask. We haven't really had time for systematic interrogation, and, as you say, they're our prisoners, so there are limits to the way we can ask, but after Commander Theisman's hints, I don't like it, Ma'am. I don't like it at all.'

'Neither do I,' Honor murmured, staring at the map with her good eye. 'Do we know—'

She broke off as a Marine lieutenant marched up with a fresh Masadan prisoner. He came to attention and saluted his superiors; the Masadan didn't, but he looked less sullen than many of his fellows.

'Captain, Major,' the lieutenant said, 'this is Colonel Harris, the commander of the ground defense force.'

'I see.' Ramirez examined the Masadan. 'Colonel, I'm Major Ramirez, Royal Manticoran Marines. This is Captain Harrington of Her Majesty's Navy.'

Harris' gaze snapped to Honor as she was named, and his eyes narrowed. She saw a flash of repugnance in them, yet she wasn't certain whether it was because of who and what she was—the woman whose forces had defeated the Faithful—or because of the ruined side of her face. He looked at her for a moment, then bobbed a stiff, wordless nod.

'Allow me to commend you for instructing your people to surrender,' Ramirez continued, and Honor was content to let his less threatening, male voice handle the conversation. 'It undoubtedly saved their lives.'

Harris gave another nod, still without speaking.

'However, Colonel,' Ramirez went on, 'we seem to have a problem here.' He tapped the plan of the base. 'Some of your men are still resisting in these sectors. They don't have the firepower to stop us, and an awful lot of them are going to get killed if we have to go in after them. I would appreciate it if you would instruct them to lay down their weapons while they still can.'

'I can't do that.' Harris spoke for the first time, his voice quiet but firm, despite an edge of bitterness. 'Anyone who was going to surrender already has, Major. My talking to them won't change their minds.'

'Then I'm afraid we're going to have to call out the really heavy weapons,' Ramirez said, watching the colonel's face closely. Harris' eyes seemed to go very still, and then he inhaled deeply.

'I wouldn't do that, Major.' He put his finger on the map, five centimeters from Ramirez's. 'There are Manticoran prisoners in this area.'

'Harris, you fucking traitor!'

Honor's head snapped around, and her single eye flashed with rage as Captain Williams writhed and twisted in the hands of a Manticoran Marine. He was actually frothing at the mouth, screaming imprecations at the colonel, and this time she chose not to intervene when he was slammed back against the wall. His torrent of abuse died in a hoarse, anguished cough as the impact knocked the breath from him, and she looked back at Harris.

'Please continue, Colonel,' she said quietly. He flinched at the sound of her voice, but he tapped the plan again.

'This is where they are, Major,' he said as if Honor hadn't spoken. 'And if I were you, I'd get in there quickly,' he added. 'Very quickly.'

* * *

'Captain, will you please get further back?!' Sergeant Talon grated. Smoke hazed the corridor, and grenade explosions and a savage crackle of small-arms fire thundered up ahead.

'No, I won't, Sergeant,' Honor didn't—quite—snap. She knew perfectly well she had no business in a ground battle. That wasn't her area of expertise. But her pulser was in her hand as Captain Hibson's leading elements smashed ahead down the passageway.

'If anything happens to you, the Major'll have my ass!' Talon growled, then added, as an afterthought, 'Begging the Captain's pardon.'

'Nothing's going to happen to me,' Honor said, and Scotty Tremaine rolled his eyes heavenward behind her.

'Ma'am, I—' The fire ahead rose to a crescendo, then died, and Talon listened to her command net. 'That's it. They're clear to Corridor Seven-Seventeen.' She gave Honor another glare. 'This time, stay behind me, Captain!'

'Yes, Sergeant,' Honor said meekly, and Talon snorted again.

They waded forward through the smoke and debris, past bodies and bits of bodies and blood-splashed corridor walls. A few Marines were down, for if none of the Masadan infantry weapons were remotely equal to theirs, these defenders had had a little more time to prepare, and the most fanatic among them had charged from concealment with suicide charges of blasting compound. Few had reached their targets, and most of those they'd hit were only lightly injured, thanks to their armor, but such rabid fanaticism was frightening.

Honor was just stepping over a tangled heap of dead Masadans when an armored Marine lieutenant swooped up the passage and slammed to a halt.

'Captain Harrington, Major Ramirez's respects, and could you please come straight ahead. We've ... found the prisoners, Ma'am.'

His voice was flat and harsh, and Honor's stomach clenched. She started to ask a question, then stopped herself at the look in his eyes. Instead, she simply nodded and started forward at a half-run.

This time Sergeant Talon raised no demur; she just sent her lead section leaping ahead to clear the way. When Honor stumbled over a corpse, the sergeant caught her without a word, then swung her up in armored arms and went bounding ahead at a pace she could never have matched on her own feet. Corporal Liggit did the same for Tremaine, and the corridor walls blurred with the speed of their passage.

They emerged into a wider area, clogged by Marines who seemed struck by a strange stillness, and Talon set her down. She squirmed forward between the bulky, towering suits of battle armor, hearing Scotty wiggling through them behind her, then came to an abrupt halt as Ramirez loomed suddenly before her.

The major's eyes were hard, his nostrils flared, and he radiated pure, murderous fury. A barred door stood open behind him, and a pair of medics knelt in a pool of blood as they worked frantically over a man in the filthy