n Sword-World weapons and tactical training; use
them to train others; they'd need a sepoy army of some sort. Even
the best of good will is no substitute for armed force,
conspicuously displayed and unhesitatingly used when necessary.

"And there'll be no more of this raiding villages for food or
anything else. We will pay for anything we get from any of the
locals."

"We'll have trouble about that," Valkanhayn predicted. "Our men
think anything a local has belongs to anybody who can take it."

"So do I," Harkaman said. "On a planet I'm raiding. This is our
planet, and our locals. We don't raid our own planet or our own
people. You'll just have to teach them that."

X

It took Valkanhayn and Spasso more time and argument to convince
their crews than Trask thought necessary. Harkaman seemed satisfied,
and so was Baron Rathmore, the Wardshaven politician.

"It's like talking a lot of uncommitted small landholders into
taking somebody's livery-and-maintenance," the latter said. "You
can't use too much pressure; make them think it's their own idea."

There were meetings of both crews, with heated arguments; Baron
Rathmore made frequent speeches, while Lord Trask of Tanith and
Admiral Harkaman--the titles were Rathmore's suggestion--remained
loftily aloof. On both ships, everybody owned everything in common,
which meant that nobody owned anything. They had taken over Tanith
on the same basis of diffused ownership, and nobody in either crew
was quite stupid enough to think that they could do anything with
the planet by themselves. By joining the _Nemesis_, it appeared that
they were getting something for nothing. In the end, they voted to
place themselves under the authority of Lord Trask and Admiral
Harkaman. After all, Tanith would be a feudal lordship, and the
three ships together a fleet.

Admiral Harkaman's first act of authority was to order a general
inspection of fleet units. He wasn't shocked by the condition of the
two ships, but that was only because he had expected much worse. They
were spaceworthy; after all, they had gotten here from Hoth under
their own power. They were only combat-worthy if the combat weren't
too severe. His original estimate that the _Nemesis_ could have
knocked both of them to pieces was, if anything, over-conservative.
The engines were only in fair shape, and the armament was bad.

"We aren't going to spend our time sitting here on Tanith," he told
the two captains. "Thi