"In orbit above the planet," Beasley's voice continued, "hangs a powerful Alliance squadron manned by picked crews, the finest spacers to be found among those willing to serve the megalomaniac tyrant Porra!"

Images of warships cascaded across the display: a cruiser/minelayer and another light cruiser, two heavy cruisers, and a modern battleship. The mix was seasoned with at least a dozen destroyers. Adele couldn't identify the vessels because she didn't have the background to sort one ship from another by the length of the antennas or the shape of the outrigger pontoons.

Daniel would've recognized them, however, and Adele remembered the names which her data unit supplied: theBremse, theCaio Duilio, theBluecher, theScheer, and the battleshipDer Grosser Karl. Oh, yes, she remembered them.

"And the only hope for the cowering residents of Dunbar's World…," continued the voice, this time rolling with oily smoothness over an image of Beasley himself. "Is the corvettePrincess Cecile and her captain, Daniel Leary-as bold a spacer as ever wore the uniform of the Cinnabar Navy!"

The image of Beasley was wearing a heavily embellished version of an RCN 1^st Class uniform. As factual errors went in this presentation, that was a fairly mild one. In any case, it was what the producers had gotten right that concerned Adele, not their mistakes.

"Is that really Commander Leary, mistress?" Cazelet asked quietly.

"Good heavens, no!" Adele blurted. "Daniel, the commander, that is, is six inches shorter than that player and younger by fifteen years. Why, he's-"

She turned to Cazelet, shocked to realize what she was about to say. "Commander Leary is your age, sir. I tend to forget that sometimes. He has a youthful enthusiasm for all manner of things-"

Certainly including young, pretty, bubble-heads. He'd been seeing the sister of the late Midshipman Dorst on this return to Xenos, however, andthat young lady appeared to have not only her own share of intelligence but also the share which her brother Timothy, brave and steadfast though he was, had undoubtedly lacked.