ADVICE
"Captain Nevan DarLeras to see Ranger Medart."
"He's expecting you, sir." The Palace Guard opened the door toMedart's office and stood aside to let the Sandeman pass.
Medart rose to greet his visitor, then gestured him to a chair and satback down as Nevan took the seat. "Your note said you'd like to see meabout a personal matter, to be discussed under warrior privacy. What'sthe problem?"
"It's not exactly a problem, sir, and I'm not quite sure how toapproach it, even with a battle-companion. You're familiar with ourcustom of personal fealty."
That was a statement, not a question, but Medart nodded. "Veryfamiliar; I'm also battle-companion to Lord Klaes' 'na, Gaelan-FrederickDarShona. Who are you planning on offering fealty to?" As if hecouldn't guess, he thought.
Nevan was relieved at the Ranger's calm response. "I would like toserve Ranger Losinj, but she doesn't need an inexperienced youngofficer, even a warrior. Since I've been given my choice ofassignments, I was hoping you'd help me pick one that will give me thekind of experience she's likely to need. I'll just have to hope shedoesn't accept another 'na before I'm able to give her the kind ofservice she needs."
Medart studied the young Sandeman for several moments. "I can dothat," he said at last. "But it's a type of work I think you'd finddistasteful, given your honesty, and given some of your culturalconditioning, you could find the training for it intolerable. Yourpsych profile, though, says you're adaptable enough that you couldaccept both, given adequate motivation."
Nevan frowned. "I'm afraid I don't understand, sir. I don't know ofany Imperial job I would find distasteful, much less intolerable."
Medart chuckled. "Sure you do--it's covered at the Academy, though notin great depth; the fact that you don't even like to think about itproves my point. But if you can manage the training, I think you'dmake an outstanding field agent."
"Field agent!" Nevan couldn't help it; he grimaced in revulsion."Those are--" he hesitated, then decided even one of High War Speech'sworst insults wasn't too strong--"nekulturniy."
Medart grew serious. "Not at all, though I was sure you'd react thatway. Nevan, field agents have as much integrity as anyone else inImperial service, and they're necessary. Some investigations areimpossible to carry out openly--trying to find the Melgarie pirates'base is a case in point. The only way it'll be found and destroyed,other than by sheer accident, is by infiltration. If it could be doneopenly, it's big enough it'd be a Ranger's job; since it can't, fieldagents go in. To succeed, an agent will have to convince the pirates@'s a criminal--probably have to take part in some crimes for thatpurpose--to be allowed onto the base at all. Then @'ll have toconvince them @'s trustworthy enough to be allowed access to the base'sdefenses to determine their strength, and to communication facilitiesto call in a strong enough Navy force to take the base out . . .preferably coming out alive @self."
Medart paused. He wished he could read the Sandeman's mind, butNevan's shield was definitely up. Still, revulsion seemed to havesubsided to dislike, so he continued. "That's lying, probably theft,maybe murder. But it's the only way we know to eliminate what's becomea major threat to inter-sector commerce, and is rapidly becoming worse.Let me see if I can put it another way. Field agents are people we cantrust to act against the Empire's short-term interests when, and onlywhen, that's necessary to protect its long-term ones. It's always adangerous job, usually a nasty one, and the agents know very well thatmost people share your opinion of them. The only reason they put upwith all that is because they know how necessary it is."
"I . . . never thought of it that way," Nevan said slowly. Sandemancustom said that any sort of deliberate falsehood or deception waswrong, a grave dishonor, and he believed that implicitly--but itsounded like Ranger Medart was telling him that in some cases it wasnot only honorable, it was praiseworthy! That was a difficult conceptto absorb--yet a Ranger was as scrupulously honest as a warrior, unlessthe Empire's very existence depended on one being otherwise, and Nevancouldn't imagine a warrior's becoming a field agent was anywhere nearthat important.
Another strong consideration was just which Ranger was giving him thatinformation and advice. James Medart played a prominent role inSandeman history, one of the few standard humans they accepted as beingon a par with their warrior caste, and the one person they creditedwith making their entry into the Empire on an honorable basis possible;his words were to be given more than ordinary value.
After several moments' silence, Nevan nodded. "Since you name it bothhonorable and the best way to prepare for the service I hope to giveRanger Losinj, I will do my best to become such an agent." He paused,went on less formally. "If what you just told me--about field agentshaving a position of special trust--was known in Subsector Sandeman,any whose identity we knew would be honored, not scorned."
"And that's something I hadn't thought of," Medart said. "If you'rewilling to waive warrior privacy on that part of our discussion, I'llbe happy to pass it along to your clan-chief, the Vader, and theMiklos."
"It is waived, but only on that part."
"Understood, warrior." Medart strongly hoped Nevan would make itthrough agent's training; outside of the unfortunate but inevitablewarrior's tendency to consider combat a preferred option rather than alast resort, he had all the qualifications of a Ranger. Whether Rinaaccepted his offer of fealty or not, the Empire would have somethingit'd never managed before: a Ranger-class field agent. That wouldfrighten some people if they ever found out about it, Medart thought,but he found it reassuring--especially since the prospective agent wasa Sandeman warrior. "Would you like me to brief you on the training?"
Nevan thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I'd rather go inwithout preconceptions, since you say I'm likely to find parts . . .not intolerable, since I intend to tolerate them, but extremelydifficult. The fewer details I know, the fewer contingency plans I'llautomatically put together."
"That sounds reasonable," Medart agreed. Especially since a warrior'scontingency plans tended to be violent . . . "Do you have any ideawhen you plan to offer fealty?"
"I was thinking of about five years," Nevan said. "I do want as muchexperience as I can get, and that's not a lot--but her people areallergic to the anti-agathics, so I don't dare wait too long."
"True. I'd say that was a reasonable compromise." Rina was a yearyounger than Nevan, but he was on anti-agathics and she couldn'ttolerate them; if he didn't get himself killed on the way, he'dprobably outlive her by close to two centuries. "Is there anythingelse?"
"No, sir." Nevan stood, bowed. "I thank you for your counsel, RangerMedart. Gods permitting, I intend to follow it."
Medart rose and returned the bow. "May they grant you success in bothyour training and your offer."
Until next time . . .
[Preparer's note: This is the end of the main story. The materialfollowing this note is the supplementary material linked to fromelsewhere in this file.]