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NORTHWORLD

and straightened her cuffs, brown eyes glinting as she savored the four gold rings of
a captain of the List. They'd jumped her two full grades, clear past captain (junior
grade), and Admiral Cortez kid been almost apologetic about the fact that she
hadn't been knighted. He'd talked his way around the point for several minutes,
concentrating rater unconvincingly on the diplomatic repercussions and the
effect on "neutral opinion" should the crown knight someone Haven's courts had
sentenced to death as a mass wiredrew, but the way he'd said it had carried quite
another message. It wasn't Haven or the Solarian League which concerned the
Government; it was the Liberals and conservative Association. They'd taken a
beating over Basilisk, but their power hadn't been broken, and in typical politico
fashion, they blamed all their trials on Captain Harrington and not their own
stupidity and short-sightedness. Honor didn't mind. she looked down at the ribbon
of the Manticore cross, the Kingdom's second highest award for valor, gleaming
blood-red against her space-black tunic. She had that to signify the Navy's and her
Queen's opinion of her, just as she had her new ship, and she'd made list at last.
Her feet were firmly on the ladder to flag rank, and no one—not Pavel Young, not
the Republic of Haven, and not Countess New Kiev or Sir Edward Janice—could
ever knock her off it again. She sighed and raised a hand, pressing it to tkeplastic
as if to bid Fearless farewell, then turned to leave, only to pause as someone called
her name. "Captain Harrington?" she turned back to see a portly commodore
puffing kiss way along the gallery towards her. She'd never seen him before, but he
came to a halt before her and beamed, almost as if he intended to throw his arms
about her. "Yes, sir?" she replied in a puzzled voice. "Oh, excuse me. You wouldn't
know: I'm Andrew Yerensky." He held out his hand, and Honor took it.
"Commodore Yerensky," she said, still wondering way he'd obviously sought her out.
"I wanted to talk to you about your action in Basilisk, Captain," Yerensky
explained. "You see, I'm on the Weapons Development Board down at Buships."

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