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Leto isn’t satisfied "My liege, our iuide s Our cause is order We provide stability The Sons are anarchists Their cause is chaos We should use that as our weapon Not Grays in the night Boher purpose?" Pliny asks

"Yes! Perhaps fashion a ree?"

Again, I do not answer Not until the ArchGovernor acknowledges my presence He does not value impudence or ihs "Ad down toface for the absent Peerless scar

"Your plan should be less brutal, ArchGovernor That isin the air "It is neither evil nor good It is si, an action in this case What you ood to stop terrorists who bomb innocents?"

"Good I suppose"

"Then what do ouras we harm fewer innocents than they would harustus folds his long-fingered hands "But at the core, this is no philosophical issue It is a political one The Sons of Ares are not the threat Not at all All they are is a weapon for our political enemies, namely the Bellona, to use as an excuse to claim I cannot control Mars

"The curlyhairs already seek to strip n has sole power to remove me from the position, even without a vote froive Mars to another house--Bellona, our allies the Julii, even a non-Martian house None of these entities would run Mars as effectively as I And when Mars is run effectively, all benefit--low and high I am not a despot But a father must cuff the ears of his children if they make attempt to set fire to his house; if I ood, for helium-3 to flow, and for the citizens of this planet to continue to live in a world untorn by war, then I will

"Which brings us to Darrow au Andro the deaths of a thousand innocents, and I cannot help but flinch as a dark hate rises inside e You summoned me?"

"I did And your purpose here shall be brief You were a gambit when I took you from the Institute and put you in ht your merit to be sufficient, and I found your rivalry with Cassius au Bellona a in a schoolyard way But the bloodfeud declared between you has becolance at Pliny, "burdensome to my interests, both economically and politically Substantial revenues have been lost due to tariff increases to the Core, where Bellona supporters lie Houses waver in their coo at the trade table So, as an act of reconciliation to these aggrieved parties, I have decided to sell your contract to another house"

I shudder inside

"My liege …," I try to interject This cannot happen If he strips me of my place, nearly three years of ill have been for nothing "If I may--"

"You may not" He opens a drawer and idly tosses a slab of ers before eating "The decision waswords withthe price of lithium futures Pliny …"

"The particulars are rather sirasp" Pliny hasn’t taken his eyes fro you the fair warning in case of termination, as stipulated in your contract"

"My contract says I’"

"If you’ll recall section eight, subsection C, clause four, you’re to be given sixunless you fail to act in a ustus"

"Is this a joke?" I look to Leto and Augustus