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the grubbing hell had he made it here already?
    Ryck didn’t know what one Confederation major, albeit one whose abilities and pull undoubtedly surpassed that of most majors, could help.  Still, it was a hope, and at this point, Ryck would grasp and claw at any life ring thrown his way.
    “Gentlemen, the meister will see you now,” their guide said after sticking his head in the door.
    “I’ve got to go,” Ryck said over the phone.  “I’ll call you if I can when I find out what’s going on,” he said hurriedly.
    He cut off the responding “Go with—” and slid the PA back into his pocket.  With the other two in tow, he followed their guide (and four guards) to discover their fate.

Chapter 5
     
    “Shit does really follow you, General,” Meister Glenda Henricks-Pata said as Ryck and the two sailors were escorted into the room.
    Ryck held his face steady, fighting to keep from rolling his eyes.  In The Warrior , the flick about his fight with the Klethos d’relle , or “queen” as the populace had started to refer to the Klethos champions, that accusation had been repeated several times to the point that it had almost become his motto, and then time and time after that, usually by people trying to be clever.  Meister Henricks-Pata didn’t seem to be trying for clever at the moment, though.
    The meister waved a hand, more of a flick in the air, and the two muscles and their guide quickly left, closing the door behind them.
    “The problem is that you brought your shit along with you to my station, something I don’t appreciate.”
    The meister was a large woman, easily 120 kgs, and somewhere in her upper middle ages—exactly where, Ryck couldn’t tell as her turquoise-spiked hair, currently a fad among young teens, threw him off somewhat.  She was seated in a large hoverchair, her sturdy legs spread, feet planted firmly on the deck.  For a moment, Ryck imagined her springing forward to take down the little gnats who had dared to interfere with her small kingdom.  She stared at Ryck, ignoring Plummer and Kaawa, her light blues eyes piercingly intense.  Ryck stared back while trying to maintain a neutral expression.  In the grand scheme of things, a major general in the Federation Marine Corps had more power than a station meister, but this wasn’t the grand scheme of things.  Ryck didn’t have the backing of the Federation behind him, and on her station, Meister Henricks-Pata had full control over him.
    She finally wrinkled her upper lip in an expression Ryck couldn’t interpret and leaned back. The hoverchair gave a little mechanical squeal as it valiantly tried to compensate for her shifting weight.
    “So what do I do with you and your merry band of men?” she asked rhetorically, pausing for dramatic effect.  “The Federation has offered a nice—well, no use playing coy—a substantial reward for your arrest and return to their tender embrace.  They are sending a fleet here to facilitate your transfer.”
    “Seems to me that they’re already here,” Ryck said calmly.
    His voice might have remained calm, but his thoughts were bouncing around his head like a songbird in a cage. 
    “Ah, yes, them.  I should have realized that you probably had ways to pierce your cage.”
    “Not really,” Ryck said nonchalantly.  “I saw them as we passed your observation window.”
    He neglected to mention Major Pohlmeyer, although he was sure she’d be told that he’d been in contact with someone.
    She leaned back forward and stared hard at him before bursting out in a peal of laughter.
    “I guess we forgot about that.  Good on you,” she said as she fought to get out the words through her laughter.
    “You know, General?  In another day and age, I could like you.  And I don’t mean the you portrayed in the flicks.  For all I’ve heard, you can be somewhat pompous, and you act like you have a stick up your ass, but you are also an honorable man.  And that is rare in this day and