The Service of the Sword

dirt. Muddy water from a recent rain covered parts of it in a thin sheet that exploded upwards as the pinnace's vectored thrust hit it, and she shook her head.

Her aerial view had already made it painfully clear that the 'city' of Zion wasn't much more than a not-so- large town of single and double-story wooden and stone buildings. From the air, it had appeared that the very oldest portions of the settlement had ceramacrete streets, but the rest of the streets were either paved in cobblestones or simple dirt, like the 'landing pad.' She'd seen cobblestones enough in the Old Town sections of Owens, but not dirt, and the sight—like that of the landing pad—emphasized just how primitive and poverty stricken Refuge really was.

She drew a deep breath, unbuckled, and climbed out of her seat while Sergeant Gutierrez got his Marines organized. One six-man fire team headed down the ramp and took up positions around the pinnace at Gutierrez's quiet command, and Abigail frowned slightly. They weren't exactly being unobtrusive about their watchfulness. She started to say something about it to Gutierrez, then changed her mind. Commander Watson wouldn't have sent the Marines along if she hadn't wanted them to be visible.

A trio of men stepped out of the neatly painted, thatched-roofed stone cottage which, judging from the aerials and satellite communication array sitting in front of it, was probably the settlement's com center as well as the 'control room' for what there was of the landing field. She studied them carefully, if as unobtrusively as she could, as she followed Gutierrez himself down the landing ramp.

The greeting party had timed things pretty well, she thought, because they reached the foot of the ramp almost simultaneously with her.

'I am called Tobias,' the oldest-looking of the bearded, brown and gray-robed threesome said. There was a certain watchful wariness in the set of his shoulders and the stiffness of his spine, but he smiled and inclined his head in greeting. 'I greet you in all the names of God, and in accordance with His Word, I welcome you to Refuge and offer you His Peace in the spirit of godly Love.'

'Thank you,' Abigail replied gravely, even as somewhere inside she winced at how someone like Arpad Grigovakis would have responded to that greeting. 'I am Midshipwoman Hearns, of Her Manticoran Majesty's Ship Gauntlet.'

'Indeed?' Tobias cocked his head, then glanced at Sergeant Gutierrez and back at Abigail. 'We are not precisely familiar with the Manticoran military here on Refuge, Mistress Hearns. But as a single small, lightly populated planet, we are—understandably, I think—cautious about unexpected contacts with outsiders. Particularly with unexpected warships. As such, I took the precaution of consulting our library about the Star Kingdom of Manticore when your ship first contacted us. Our records are somewhat out of date, but I notice that your uniform doesn't match the imagery in the file.'

He gazed at her expectantly, and she smiled back at him. Sharp as a tack, this one. And it looks like the Captain was right about how wary these people might feel, she admitted, and nodded in acknowledgment of Tobias' point.

'You're correct, Sir,' she said, and waved one hand in a small gesture at her sky-blue tunic and dark-blue trousers. 'I'm currently serving aboard Gauntlet while completing my midshipwoman's cruise, but I'm not Manticoran, myself. I'm from Grayson, in the Yeltsin's Star System. We're allied with the Star Kingdom, and I've been attending the Royal Navy's academy at Saganami Island.'

'Ah, I see,' Tobias murmured, and nodded in apparent satisfaction. 'I've heard of Grayson,' he continued, 'although I can scarcely claim that I'm at all familiar with your home world, Mistress Hearns.'

He gazed at her speculatively, and she wondered what, precisely, he'd heard about Grayson. Whatever it was, it seemed to reassure him, at least to some extent, and his shoulders relaxed ever so slightly.

'Your captain's message said that you're visiting us as part of an investigation into possible acts of piracy,' he said, after moment. 'I'm afraid I'm not quite clear on exactly how he believes we can help you. We are a peaceful people, and as I'm sure is apparent to you, we keep much to ourselves.'

'We understand that, Sir,' Abigail assured him. 'We—'

'Please,' Tobias interrupted gently. 'Call me Brother Tobias. I am no man's master or superior.'

'Of course . . . Brother Tobias,' Abigail said. 'But, as I was saying, my Captain is simply following up the known movements of ships which we know were operating in this area and which subsequently disappeared. One of them was the Erewhonese destroyer Star Warrior, which called here some months ago. Another was the transport Windhover.'

'Oh, yes, Windhover,' Tobias murmured sadly, and he and his two companions signed themselves with a complicated gesture. Then he shook himself.

'I don't know that we have any information that can help you, Mistress Hearns. What we do know, however, we will willingly share with you and with your captain. As I said, we of the Fellowship of the Elect are a peaceful people who have renounced the ways of violence in all of its forms in accordance with His Word. Yet the blood of our murdered brothers and sisters cries out to us, as must the blood of any of God's children. Anything we can tell you which may aid in preventing additional, equally terrible crimes, we certainly will.'

'I appreciate that deeply, Brother Tobias,' Abigail told him sincerely.

'Then if you would accompany me, I will guide you to the Meeting House, where Brother Heinrich and some of our other Elders are waiting to speak with you.'

'Thank you,' Abigail said, then paused as Sergeant Gutierrez started to key his communicator.

'I think you can remain here, Sergeant,' she said quietly, and it was Gutierrez's turn to pause, his hand on the com.

'With all due respect, Ma'am,' he began in his deep, rumbling voice, and she shook her head.

'I don't believe I have anything to fear from Brother Tobias and his people, Sergeant,' she said more crisply.

'Ma'am, that's not really the point,' he replied. 'Major Hill's orders were pretty specific.'

'And so are mine, Sergeant,' Abigail told him. 'I can look after myself,' she let her right hand make a small, unobtrusive gesture in the direction of the pulser holstered at her right hip, 'and I don't think I'm in any danger. But these people are probably uncomfortable around armed personnel, and we're guests here. I see no reason to offend them unnecessarily.'

'Ma'am,' he began again in a dangerously patient voice, 'I don't think you quite underst—'

'We're going to do this my way, Sergeant.' Abigail's own voice was calm but firm. He glowered at her, but she held his eyes steadily with her own and refused to back down. 'Keep an eye on the pinnace,' she told him, 'and I'll keep my com open so you can monitor.'

He hesitated, clearly hovering on the brink of further objections, then inhaled deeply. It was obvious he didn't think much of her order, and she suspected he didn't think a great deal more of the judgment of the person who'd given it. For that matter, she was far from certain Commander Watson would approve of her decision when they got back to the ship and Gutierrez reported. But the captain had emphasized that they were not to step upon these people's sensibilities or beliefs.

'Aye, aye, Ma'am,' he said finally.

'Thank you, Sergeant,' she said, and turned back to Brother Tobias. 'Whenever you're ready, Brother,' she told him.

HMS Gauntlet moved steadily outward from the planet of Refuge. She wasn't in any particular hurry, but Captain Oversteegen had decided he might as well actually go ahead and update his charts on the Tiberian System. As Commander Watson had suggested, it provided a perfectly acceptable reason to move Gauntlet away from the planet. And if he was going to use it as a pretext, he might as well get some genuine use out of it. Besides, it would be a worthwhile exercise for Lieutenant Commander Atkins' department.

'How's it going, Valeria?' Commander Watson asked, and the astrogator looked up from a conversation with her senior yeoman.

'Pretty well, actually,' she replied. 'We're not turning up any serious discrepancies, but it's pretty obvious that whoever ran the original survey on the system wasn't exactly interested in dotting all the 'i's and crossing all the 't's.'

'How so?' Watson asked.

'Like I said, it's nothing major. But there are some minor system bodies that never got cataloged at all. For