March To The Stars

'Told you it was the sight,' Julian said with a slight snicker.

'Bet you a civan he makes the next one,' Despreaux countered.

'As long as you're referring to the coin and not the animal, you're on,' Julian replied. 'Crosswind, rolling ship, bobbing barrel, and an unzeroed rifle. Two hundred meters. No damned way.'

'You make a habit of underestimating the prince,' Cord observed. Roger's asi had been standing behind Roger, leaning on his huge, lethal spear while he silently watched the children play with their newfangled toys. 'You don't tend to underestimate enemies twice, I've noticed,' the shaman continued, 'which is good. But why is it that you persist in doing so where 'friendlies' are concerned?'

Julian glanced up at the towering native—the representative of what was little better than a hunter- gatherer society, who was undoubtedly the best-read and probably best educated Mardukan in the entire expedition. As always, his facial expression was almost nonexistent, but his amusement showed clearly in his body language, and Julian stuck out his tongue at him.

'That was my zero shot,' Roger announced, ignoring the exchange between the Marine armorer and his asi. Then he put the rifle back to shoulder and punched out another round.

This time, the barrel was smashed.

Julian gazed at the bobbing wreckage for a moment, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a thin sheet of brass, which he handed over to Despreaux.

'I give.'

Despreaux smiled and pocketed the brass, a K'Vaernian coin equal to a week's pay for a rifleman.

'It was a sucker bet, Adib. Have you ever won a shooting contest with Roger?'

'No,' Julian admitted as Roger hefted the rifle once again. There were four more barrels scattered across the surface of the ocean, each floating amid its own cluster of white splashes as the Marines lining the schooner's side potted at them.

Roger lined up a shot at the most distant barrel, then shook his head when the round plunked into the sea well short.

'I'll admit that the scope does help,' he confessed as he chambered another round. He brought the rifle back into firing position, but before he could squeeze the trigger, a shot rang out from the foredeck. Three more followed in rapid succession, and each bullet struck and shattered a barrel in turn.

Roger lowered Julian's rifle and looked forward as Captain Pahner lowered his own rifle and blew the gunsmoke out of the breech.

'I guess the captain wanted me to be sure who was king,' the prince said with a smile.

'Well, Your Highness,' Julian told him with a shrug, 'when you've been doing this for fifty more years, you might be at the captain's level.'

'Agreed, Julian,' Roger said, leaning on the bronze carronade beside him. 'I wonder if we'd have survived to this point with any old Bronze Battalion commander along. Captain Grades seemed—I don't know, 'okay.' But not at Pahner's level. Or am I wrong?'

'You're not,' Despreaux said. 'Pahner was a shoo-in for Gold Battalion. Hanging out at each level on the way there was just a formality.'

'I thought he was going back to Fleet.' Roger frowned.

'So did he,' the sergeant replied. 'I doubt it would've happened, though. Somebody was going to tell him to go on to Steel, and then to Silver. Most of the officers in those battalions didn't 'choose' to be there, you know.'

'This is weird.' Roger shook his head. 'I thought the Regiment was voluntary.'

'Oh, it is,' Despreaux told him with a wink. ' 'Captain Pahner, you just volunteered to take Alpha Steel. Congratulations on your new command.' '

'So does Pahner know this?'

'Probably not,' Julian said. 'Or, if he does, he's trying to ignore it. Even with rejuv, he's getting a bit long in the tooth to be a line commander. And he doesn't want to go higher. So he wants one last Fleet command before he retires. For him, Steel or even Gold would be a consolation prize.'

Roger nodded with an understanding he could never have attained before marching halfway around the circumference of Hell with Pahner at his side. Then he chuckled softly.

'You know, when we get back Mother is going to owe me one huge favor. I'd thought about asking for a planetary dukedom as an alternative to hanging out at Imperial City, but maybe there's something else I should throw into the pot with it. Seems to me that if the captain wants a Fleet command, a 'friend at court' couldn't hurt his chances!'

'I'd guess not,' Julian agreed with a grin, then cocked his head at the prince. 'I'm glad to hear you're thinking beyond the end of the journey, Your Highness. But why a dukedom?'

'Because I want to be something more than the black sheep,' Roger said with a much thinner smile. 'Of course, you haven't asked me which planet I want.'

'Oh, no!' Despreaux shook her head. 'You've got to be joking!'

'Marduk has all of the requirements for a successful and productive Imperial Membership planet,' Roger replied. 'The fact that it's held directly in the Family's name would make it a lot simpler for Mother to designate it as such, and the Mardukans are fine people. They deserve a better life than that of medieval peons. And if one Roger Ramius Sergei Alexander Chiang MacClintock shepherds them from barbarism to civilization over five or ten decades, then that prince is going to be remembered for something more than being an unfortunate by-blow of the Empress.'

'But ...' Despreaux stopped and looked around at the ocean. 'You want to raise kids on this planet? Our children?'

'Right, well, I'll just be going,' Julian said as he stepped back. 'Remember, no hitting, Nimashet. And no removing any limbs or vital organs.'

'Oh, shut up, Adib,' the sergeant said sharply. 'And you don't have to leave. It's not like Roger's plans are any huge secret.'

'Our plans,' the prince corrected mildly. 'And, yes, I think this would make a fine dukedom. Among other things, it would get you away from Imperial City's biddies—male and female, alike. I don't think they'll be able to handle having me marry one of my bodyguards as opposed to, say, one of their own well-trained, highly-qualified, and exquisitely-bred daughters. None of whom would have lasted ten minutes on Marduk. Princess of the Empire or not, some of those dragons will make your life Hell, given half a chance, and to be perfectly honest, neither you nor I really have the skills to respond in an appropriate—and nonlethal—fashion.' He flashed her a wicked smile.

'And if you think I'm going to set up shop at K'Vaern's Cove or Q'Nkok, you're crazy,' he went on. 'I was thinking of the Ran Tai valley, frankly.'

'Hmmm.' Despreaux's expression was suddenly much more thoughtful. The valley was four thousand meters above the steamy Mardukan lowlands, and actually got chilly at night. It wasn't subject to the continuous rain of the jungles, either. All in all, it was a rather idyllic spot for humans. Which meant it was hell for Mardukans, of course.

' 'Hmmm,' indeed,' Julian said. 'But you're assuming the Empress doesn't have some other task perfectly suited to you. She probably has a half dozen things she would've liked to throw your way if she'd trusted you before we left. Frankly, letting you 'languish in a backwater' is probably going to be at the bottom of her list.'

'I may not give Mother the choice,' Roger said darkly. 'Frankly, I don't give a damn about Mother's needs at this point. My days of caring what Mother thinks ended in Marshad.'

'She's your Empress, just as she is mine, Roger,' Despreaux said. 'And it's your Empire, just as it is mine. And our children's.'

'One of these days, I will stop having to say this ...' Cord began with a gesture that was the Mardukan equivalent of a resigned sigh.

'I know, I know,' Roger answered. ' 'I was born to duty.' I got it the first time.'

'And it's a big cruel universe out there, Your Highness,' Julian said with unwonted seriousness. 'If you think the Boman and Kranolta were bad, you need to pay a little more attention to the Saints. There's not much worse than a 'civilized' society that considers human beings expendable. 'One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic.' They live that philosophy. Also, 'The only problem with biospheres is that they