A noble’s education was very extensive. Rene could speak intelligently on history, philosophy and the sciences. He could run an estate, recruit retainers and adjudicate disputes between vassals. He knew the byzantine minutia required to operate at court, he could fence, he could dance and he could discuss poetry and although he had no aptitude for creating it, could discuss and appreciate music.  He had hunted game on Capella and knew how to track, fish and live outdoors. The brutal regime of training and exercises since his enlistment in the Marines had taught him to fight, to shoot, to clear a building and to plant a demolition charge. It appeared though, that this wealth of experience did not include any particular flair for the culinary arts. The  stew was thin and bland, requiring the addition of considerable salt to give it any character at all beyond vaguely meat flavored. The two Syshin didn’t seem to mind, enthusiastically spooning the stuff into their mouths. Rosaria and Solae were a little more reserved, though they were both hungry and polite and made no complaint. Rene wished that it had come out better, not so much because he personally cared, the stew was as good or better than most military rations he had eaten, but because he wished that everything he did that touched on Solae was perfect. This was both a personal desire to make the woman he loved happy and a professional concern to execute his duty to the Duchess he served as well as he possibly could.

“Well,” Rene said judiciously, “I suppose we still have an opening for a chef.” The comment bought a snicker from Rosaria and a smile from Solae though the two Syshin did not react appreciably. Perhaps their alien olfactory senses rendered the stew into something less objectionable, or perhaps whatever Thorne’s overseers had fed them simply compared disfavorably.

“Speaking of openings,” Rosaria said brandishing her spoon.

“What are our jobs going to be, when are you going to start training us?”

Rene glanced at Solae who nodded her approval to proceed. Having spent the last weeks laser focused on reaching the PEA it felt surprisingly good to be laying out plans for future action. Neither he nor Solae had expected the Empress to be at the Winter House when they called Rene’s father to raise the alarm. Alric Du Quentain had spoken to his son at some length before he sent him to court in the Crystal City. The elder Quentain had considerable respect for the relatively young Mercedez whom he viewed as an intelligent, decisive and possibly brilliant leader. That assessment had been part of the calculus that had sent Renard to court rather than to the Fleet Academy or some other more traditional form of preparation for service. It was one thing to hear his father talk about it and another to actually see it. With a scant few minutes to consider the unexpected situation the Empress had, at a word, upended the political situation in the Eastern Cross in a manner that would be felt for years. Even if Solae were killed now the Falia family would replace the Tan’s as the governors of the sector. Systems of patronage would tumble like a series of dominos, shredding the existing hierarchies of Eastern Cross. Before Mercedez made her proclamation the only choice the Noble families had was to fall in line behind the Duke and hope that he emerged victorious. Now, families who had traditionally been  vassals or clients had the option of breaking with their historical alliances and joining Solae, justifying the decision as both being in their own interests and demonstrating loyalty to the Empire. At a stroke Mercedez had destabilized Tan’s support and created a powerful class of loyalists in the event that Tan’s rebellion fell apart. Mercedez couldn’t simply snap her fingers and provide Solae with troops and fleets, especially if there was trouble on Capella, but with a word she had created exactly the kind of weapon that a diplomat like Solae was trained to use. 

“Well,” Rene temporized, taking a moment to organize his thoughts.

“We have a couple of days to reach Kaloderi space, I’ll set up a range in the hold and give everyone some basic weapons training,” Rene said, making a vague gesture with his spoon. 

“Yasure and Dasin will need to look like armsmen so its important that they look like they know how to handle weapons,” Rene explained. Ten had included uniforms for the purpose in his gift, though how he had managed to get the garments tailored for Syshin frames he had no idea. That was somewhat less surprising than the Marine dress uniform he had found in a travel case, complete with full and correct Imperial insignia down to the sword-through-planet service tabs.   A few hours of weapons training wouldn’t turn the Syshin into soldiers, or even into marksmen, but it would give Rene some confidence that the two Syshin wouldn’t accidentally shoot themselves.

“Just them?” Rosaria asked somewhat poutily. Rene shook his head.

“Everyone. There are only five of us, it’s important that…” he trailed off uncertain of how to proceed. He was Solae’s military attache and it was important that he present the situation in particular terms. Solae was unusually truthful when it came to dealing with her retainers but maintaining morale was also important.

“We are going to need every advantage we can get,” Rene finished. He didn’t imagine that Rosaria knowing which end of a gun was which would make much of a difference, but it wasn’t as though they had a lot of margin.    

“Maybe we can pass Rosaria off as a Handmaiden,” Rene mused with a questioning glance at Solae.

“A maid?!” the girl asked somewhat indignantly. Rene shook his head.

“A Handmaiden works as an agent of her principal. Usually they are members of noble families. They gain experience and favor in exchange for their services, ” Rene explained. Sometimes a Handmaiden was just an ornament, but more frequently they handled social intelligence, served as confidential couriers and acted as the eyes and ears of their Mistresses. Working as the Handmaiden of a Duchess would be a  highly sought after position, a fact that Rosaria with her limited knowledge of the higher echelons of the Stellar Empire, didn’t yet appreciate.