Coupe

The Prince pi

Hanse Davion looked at and invited the next recipient onto the altar. When Andrew Redburn, dressed in the black and gold dress uniform that the First Kathil Uhlans had adopted, reached him, the Prince smiled broadly. "All too rare in the services, but in excellent company here tonight, is a warrior who does not ask, 'Why?' when given an order. This man, Major Andrew Redburn, led his troops on a half-dozen of the most dangerous missions this conflict has yet offered us. He never begged off an assignment. He just went out and did what had to be done. In addition, he was able to set aside his own personal feelings and hatreds to accomplish the most dangerous mission of all: the recovery of two agents—one of whom was Mr. Mallory—from the capital of the Capellan Confederation."

The Prince opened another slim medal-case on the podium. The light glinted sharply from the gold sunburst disk, that formed the back of the medal. Superimposed over it was a platinum sword driven into an anvil. The Prince pi

"For your service to the Federated Suns, I am proud to award you our highest medal: the Medal Excalibur. From this time forward, you will be known as a Knight of the Realm, and you will be granted a parcel of land on your homeworld of Firgrove."

Andrew, beaming broadly, shook the Prince's hand, then retreated to stand beside Alex.

The Prince let a smile light his face. "The third individual I would honor here tonight has requested, repeatedly, that I should not reward him. Though I appreciate and respect his request, I ca

Hanse looked down into the front row. "Morgan Hasek-Davion, please come forward."

Tall and strong, Morgan unfolded himself from the front pew. His red hair rode down over the shoulders of his Uhlan dress jacket, almost totally obscuring the golden epaulets. He glanced back once at Kym Sorenson, then mounted the steps to the altar. He genuflected crisply, then joined his uncle beside the podium.

Hanse looked from his nephew to the audience. "When we learned of a pla

Hanse glanced over at Morgan, then shook his head slowly. "And then, so he could get to Sian quickly and rescue the agent who had communicated news of the assault to us, he put himself at great risk. Using captured Liao DropShips, he convinced a succession of JumpShip captains that his force was the remnant of the Kathil strike force, and that they were returning with Morgan Hasek-Davion as a captive! Unmindful of his personal jeopardy, he led his people into the capital of the Capellan Confederation and made sure that everyone, including our agents, were on board his DropShip and accounted for before he left the field of combat."

Hanse slipped an envelope from his dress jacket. "Moreover, Morgan endured untold frustration before he was given the assignment on Kathil. Because of his position as my heir, I refused his repeated requests for combat duty." The Prince smiled broadly. "And, in fact, had he let meknow about his plot for reaching Sian quickly, I probably would have denied him that as well."

Hanse handed Morgan the envelope, and with a nod of head, bade him open it. "As you would refuse any reward I would offer you—though you willbe inducted into the Order of Davion at the end of the year—I give you this."

Morgan tore open the envelope and unfolded the yellow half-sheet. His green eyes sca

The Prince nodded his head, then enfolded Morgan in a hug. They separated, and Morgan threw him a salute that the Prince answered sharply. A broad grin on his face, Hanse turned to the crowd while Morgan took his place with the other two award recipients. "That envelope contained a message communicated to me through the Lyran ambassador. It seems that during her covert visit here last June and July, my wife managed to conceive a child."

Thunderous applause erupted spontaneously from the crowd. Justin felt his heart leap. Hanse will have an heir!He glanced back over his shoulder at where his father sat and threw him a wink. Quintus Allard acknowledged it with a nod and a pleased smile.

'The Prince waited for the applause to begin to die, then raised his right hand to put it to rest. "As joyous news as that is, and as much as I dearly look forward to welcoming another Davion into the Successor States, I have one more person I wish to acknowledge here tonight. In a way, this is a birth of sorts, or a rebirth, and could only be described as the product of a fiercely difficult labor."

Hanse Davion swallowed hard. "Over four years ago, we began an effort to groom an agent we could use to leak information, believable information, to Liao forces. His work, which was slow and meticulous, had begun to pay off. He had established a series of contacts with Liao agents on Kittery and appeared to the enemy to be a potential defector. Unfortunately, three years ago, he suffered a maiming injury in a Liao ambush, and investigators looking into the incident unraveled the network of contacts he had created."

The Prince looked out at Quintus Allard. "At that time, only the agent, the Minister of Intelligence, Information, and Operations, and I knew of the preparations that had been made. Because information about our agent's treasonous activities had already begun to leak out, we were faced with a choice between abandoning the operation, or using this hostile information to make him even more attractive to the Capellan Confederation."

The Prince motioned to Justin. "Please, come up here."

Murmurs swept back through the crowd as Justin stood. He looked out at the people arrayed behind him and felt their confusion. The last they knew, I was someone to be reviled. I was the half-breed who reverted to his baser nature. I was safe to hate, yet now I am honored.He smiled weakly while making his way to the altar. I don't doubt it confuses them... It confuses me.He genuflected, then crossed to where the Prince waited.

"Justin Allard himself made the decision to continue with the operation. He knew, because of the evidence against him and how we would be forced to arrange things, that he would be degraded, ridiculed, and hated. He knew that, because only his father and I were privy to the truth, he could expect no help from anyone he had called friend in the past. He knew, because we had given him the identities of various agents in the places we expected him to end up, that he would have to destroy himself if captured. He knew, if he died at any point in the operation, his name would never be cleared and he would join the ranks of Judas and Stefan the Usurper in the a