Read A Matter of Honor: A Terran Empire novel Page 11

  Although the White Order rebellion was the shortest in Imperialhistory, its active phase lasting only slightly over an hour, it wasthe most disruptive. Its purpose was to replace the nobility and keymilitary/administrative personnel; the Order members who were to bethose replacements, after killing their predecessors, were in place andready to strike days or weeks before Thark set the time. In spite ofRanger Losinj's warning, many succeeded, either because their targetsdid not believe the seriousness of the threat, or because Talent wasable to overcome the precautions that were taken.

  When all the reports were in, Imperial losses were staggering. ThreeRangers were dead, one seriously injured, and over a third of theruling nobles, some with their heirs, had been killed--along withapproximately a quarter of the top-ranking planet-based military andAdmin Service officers.

  Once the full extent of the disaster was assessed, Rangers Medart andLosinj were reassigned, to separate missions. Because of Losinj'sfamiliarity, however brief, with Chang's crew, Medart decided to changeships rather than having her do so; he chose the Empress Lindner,formerly Ranger Tarlac's ship. Rangers Fenn and Scolacz were recalledfrom Sector Traiti, which was unaffected by the rebellion because theWhite Order had not had time since the War to infiltrate. RangersKennard and Forrest were also sent out on missions to help therecovery; only Ranger Wang was kept on her original mission, but withanother sector added to her responsibilities.

  In a brief meeting before Medart and Losinj left for Irschcha, Nevanasked Medart's advice on how best to prepare himself should RangerLosinj accept his personal fealty once he felt he had enough experienceto be a suitable thakur-na. He acted on that advice, though it provedextremely difficult at times, and succeeded in a number of dangerousmissions; one of those earned him a second Sovereign's Medal, and wasfollowed within months by his second mission with Medart.

  For the meeting between Medart and Nevan, see ADVICE