Rene felt his pulse elevate as Solae came down the stairs. The ensemble hugged her every curve, the slight tightness across the chest emphasising her bust, the form fit trousers emphasising her waist and hips. Even the way her mane of golden hair was lifted made her face seem all the more elegantly proportioned. He tried to remind himself that she was in a vulnerable position and that he needed to focus on her protection but the argument rang a little hollow in his mind in light of what she had said back at the manor.

Despite Oanh’s gesture Rene instinctively went for his gun when she darted towards Solae. Fingers as strong as iron caught his wrist under the table. The impassive Min Ho showed no sign of strain as he pinned the younger mans hand long enough for the initial reaction to pass. The pressure slackened slight, and then, when the former assassin as sure the marine was at ease, vanished completely.

His face darkened slightly as Oanh made her suggestions. They did make some sense from a purely tactical point of view but he didn’t see that it would be much help. The monetary reward alone was sufficient to tempt all but the nobility and no few of them had less money than status. Her genetic access codes would make her invaluable even if she was as ugly as sin and with a body like that men would find a use for Solae even if she were a penniless beggar.

“You disapprove?” Oanh asked and Rene realised he had been scowling. A flush of embarrassment colored his skin for a moment. To cover his discomfort, and to give himself a moment to think,  he dipped the bread into his soup and chewed. It was a long way from the elaborate food of his childhood, but to a man who had spent the past five years on Imperial rations it was ambrosia. He swallowed and met Solae’s eyes before giving his attention to their hostess.

“It isn’t really my place to approve or disapprove Ma.. Oanh,” he amended at the look of disapproval at the attempted honorific. 

“Solae is her own woman and dosen’t need my approval or disapproval or anything. It is her path to walk, I’m just trying help her however I can.” He felt a mild irritation that Oanh had bought it up and by the look in her eye didn’t intend to drop it.

“Right, but you DO disapprove,” she challenged. Rene set his spoon down and shrugged his shoulders, though the gesture didn’t so much convey indifference as a surrender to the line of questioning.

“The marquessa shouldn’t have to renounce her titles to appease a bunch of spinward rebels who think they are somebody,” he declared, his tone conveying the contempt he felt for the Gids and their murderous master.

“Even if this thing is sector wide, once we get word out the Empire is going to come back in here and set things right,” he expanded. Set things right in a pretty permanent fashion if the pacification operations he had read about in the past were any guide at all.

“When that happens Solae will be the representative of her family and a representative of the Empire. People will need to look to her as an example of what we stand for, not see someone who she her burdens when they became inconvenient,” Rene concluded a trifle more forcefully than he had intended. The silence lingered a beat and he bought a spoonful of soup to his mouth.

“Listen I’m just a soldier…” Rene began only to be cut off by a hearty laugh from Min Ho.

“For ‘just a soldier’ you have an awfully long ranged view of the situation. Your manners are too good, you accent and your diction is off. You are from Cappela I take it?” Min Ho pressed, emphasising his point by waving his spoon in Rene’s general direction. The marine nodded, drawing a steadying breath, he was a guest and had no cause to be irritated if his hosts were curious about him, or if they wanted to make dinner conversation that was intentionally or accidentally awkward for him.

“Not the normal gutter sweepings that go for the Marines I’d judge. What is they say, too vicious to live, too stupid to die?” Min Ho suggested.

“Too crazy to live,” Rene corrected, the unofficial motto was too familiar to be particularly insulting, plus there was some truth to it. Most men who went into the marines were guilty of crimes ranging from grand theft to murder. Bowie had enlisted after knifing a man in a drunken brawl. By Imperial fiat once a someone ‘took the star’, so called for the star inlay on the recruitment screen, he or she was immune from prosecution. At the completion of ten years service they would be discharged with a new identity and no questions asked.

“It dosen’t really matter, I want Solae to be safe, that is what is important,” Rene went on, moving the conversation back to the original point. His lips twitched into the ghost of a smile.

“As she told me earlier today, she is more than capable of making her own decisions.”