," the Kimdori navigator answered, and the ship began to turn.

"Jyslin, Myri, follow us, the rest of the attack jumped in on the other side of the planet.

"Open the Faey parlay channel," he ordered his comm officer, and when the Kimdori male nodded to him, Jason began. "Attention Faey warships, you have entered sovereign Terran space, and you have no authorization to be here. Turn around and jump back into hyperspace or you will be considered hostile and will be met with force. Acknowledge."

_"Sovereign Terran space? This is _Trillane_ territory. The Trillanes do _not_ recognize any spurious claim made by a defunct house over this planet! You will stand down your vessels and be boarded!"_

"The _hell_ I will!" Jason snapped. "If you want a war, little missy, you're about to be obliged. Oh, and by the way, your Skaa ships didn't even get into firing range of the stargate," he added. "We picked them off before they knew what hit them. I hope they didn't cost Trillane too much, cause they were kinda pathetic. They didn't even shoot back."

The channel was killed immediately. Evidently, that hit a nerve.

The Imperial ships were in the best position to watch what could only be called a slugfest in space. The three Karinne ships came hurtling around the planet, towards a task force of 6 destroyers, 3 light cruisers, 3 heavy cruisers, 2 battleships, and a command battleship. The three Karinne ships kept a tight formation as they lanced right towards the center of the Trillane formation, aiming right at the command ship. When the two sides got in range, they opened fire on each other. A curtain of plasma torpedoes and plasma bolts rained in on the three ships, but the ships did not change course. There were spectacular explosions and flashes of light as the weapon fire impacted the ships, but zooming in showed that the weapons were hitting the _shields_ of the opposing ships. Those ships had shields that could stop metaphased plasma! But those shields didn't seem to be invincible. After just seconds, the visible flares as their energy matrices became unstable as the shields began to buckle against the attack, but then Karinne ships returned fire. Streaks of brilliant white light erupted from the wing edges and bows of the Karinne battle cruiser and the bows of the destroyers, sustained beams of energy that struck Trillane ships and ripped through them like an MPAC round through ice. In just that initial exchange, four Trillane ships were either sliced into pieces or had crippling gashes through them reaching halfway through the ship, fatal wounds that were venting atmosphere into space. The cruiser and two destroyers pushed right through the Trillane formation, their shields failing as they were hammered in a raking crossfire between the enemy ships, but their hulls withstood the pounding, refusing to be breached. Ghostly white balls of light peppered away from the Karinne ships, some kind of short-range weapon, which punched through the hulls of the Trillane ships and exploded violently, blowing huge gaping wounds into the hulls of the enemy ships.

It wasn't all Karinne, though. The left destroyer listed in its formation as it was pounded by plasma fire, and nearly rammed a Trillane cruiser as it seemed to lose helm control, falling out of formation. The hull of the destroyer had not been breached, but the sheer pounding it had taken must have dealt shock damage to its internal systems. It continued to fire, though, its bow-mounted cutting weapon blasting into the cruiser it nearly rammed as it passed under it, then the destroyer nosed almost vertically down and started a spinning dive as it seemed to lose all control. The remaining destroyer and cruiser maintained course, punching through the Trillane formation and getting into a position to open fire on the Trillane command ship.

That was when the Imperial captains and admiral understood the Karinne battle plan, and nodded in appreciation. If those ships could stand up to that kind of beating, then pushing through and taking out the enemy's command ship, breaking the chain of command, was a smart idea. Without the task admiral to direct the formation, the remaining ships would be in disarray.

And that's exactly what happened. The cruiser opened fire on the command ship with _three_ of those cutting beams, and the destroyer did so as well with its single beam, shearing massive gashes into the behemoth, a behemoth so large that the beams could not penetrate all the way through the ship. But they penetrated deep enough, and what made those beams so deadly was the fact that they were sustained. All four of them then raked through the enemy ship, tearing long, deadly lines of destruction across the hull, leaving ugly black surgical incisions in the hull that gouted flame and internal atmosphere into space. Those beams carved deeply into the huge battle cruiser, again and again, until all the command ship's lights went out, all its weapons stopped firing, and the vessel began to list. The attack had crippled it, and it was now out of the battle.

The cruiser and destroyer then broke off and dove, towards their wounded companion, as they continued to fire at the ships behind them. Six Trillane ships were either destroyed or fatally crippled, and the nine that were left continued to fire at the two ships, but did not move to pursue. Another Trillane ship was struck by one of those white beams dead in the stern, and before the beam even began to rake through the ship, the entire stern section of the destroyer exploded violently, sending the jagged remnant of the bow spinning off towards the planet. When the Karinne ships were clear of the Trillanes, zoomed camera angles showed that the ships had not come out of it unscathed. They were peppered with ugly burns, and though the hull had not been breached, it was clear that both ships had suffered damage from the head-on assault. The cruiser was no longer using weapons on its starboard side, probably knocked out, and the destroyer's movements were jerky, as it seemed to be trying to overcome damage to its engines.

The Trillane ships finally moved to pursue, sending fire raining down on their opponents, but they learned quickly that they were still in range of the enemy ship's primary weapon. The two battleships were now the primary targets, and the new angle of the Karinne ships gave them the ability to fire at any ship in the formation. Three angry white bars of energy erupted from the two Karinne ships and struck one of the remaining battleships, two striking near the bow and one in the port stern, and then they raked across, slicing deeply into the ships, shearing datalines and plasma conduits, cutting through bulkheads, slicing across compartments, destroying equipment. An explosion near the surface of the bow near the edge on the battleship ejected debris into space when the beam erupted from the top of the hull, as the beam hit a thin enough area of the battleship to cut all the way through. That battleship immediately went dead, and it began to list as it lost engines and its ability to retain its position. The other battleship turned, tried to present the smallest aspect to the Karinne ships, but it was too late for that. The beams fired again, slamming into it, all three beams hitting the ship sternward of amidships, and they cut deeply into the bowels of the ship. It lost all power forward of the impact area.

That was when the Karinne commander broadcast again. "Attention Trillane commanders! Surrender immediately or we will turn around and finish all of you off! And if you don't think we can do it, just take a look at your command ship and battleships! You have fifteen seconds to disengage your weapons! Any ship with live weapons after that will be destroyed, because _I will call in the Imperial fleet parked by the planet to engage you_!"

They didn't surrender, but they also didn't continue to fight. The remaining ships, seven of them, turned and started running, trying to get far enough away so they could jump out. The Karinne cruiser left the two destroyers behind, as the crippled destroyer was captured in tractor beams by the other destroyer to arrest its descent towards deep space, and moved to pursue. The Trillane ships continued to fire at the Karinne cruiser, but the cruiser fired back. And where the Trillane impacted that hull and exploded, doing little damage, the return fire from the cruiser was deadly, cutting deeply into the enemy ships if not completely through them. Every ship that beam struck either exploded or careened out of formation, its inertia carrying it forward as the cutting beam disabled the ship.

In the end, only two Trillane ships managed to escape, a medium cruiser and a destroyer. The other five ships that had fled had been crippled or destroyed. And behind them, they left thirteen ships either destroyed or in grave condition.

Those Imperial ships then received a communication. Jason Karinne's face appeared on their monitors. The bridge of his ship was filled with smoke, and there was a damage control team putting out a fire behind him. "Move in and assist the survivors," he ordered. "You will secure them and rescue the crews, and tow the crippled ships back to the planet. Park them in orbit near Orbital One. They're the property of House Karinne now, and the crews of those ships are now Karinne captives, by the forms of war of the _Siann_. We claim them as the spoils of war."

"Are you in need of assistance?" the admiral of the Imperial task force, a grizzled veteran named Aniya Shevenne, asked.

"We got pretty banged up, but we're alright. We're still under our own power, and nothing happened that a day or two in space dock can't fix. You can send a ship to help tow the _Resolute_ back to the planet, though. The _Sora's Pride's_ engines are damaged, and it's having problems towing."

"I must say, that was a daring strategy. Almost crazy."

"Sometimes crazy works," the human said, and then he cut communications.

Aniya laughed and looked at her first officer. "Sometimes it does indeed!" she said, then laughed again.

But it wasn't as crazy as it looked, Aniya understood. That human knew that his ship's armor was enough to stand up to the Trillane weapons. He used those amazing shields to take the bite off of the initial salvo, the most concentrated of the fire, and then relied on the tough armor of his ships to let them ram right through the enemy formation and take out their command ship, breaking the chain of command. He then went after the next two logical ships that would assume command. Once those were disabled, the remaining ships had no real idea who was in charge, and their nerve broke and they ran. It was a classic military strategy, and the human had used it well.

And Aniya had gotten some great footage of it all, for the Imperial Command to study, so they could better analyze the tactical capabilities of those mysterious Karinne ships, who seemed to have armor and weapons superior to current Imperial technology, but didn't make those ships invincible, as that battle had proved. They'd lost one of their destroyers on the initial assault, the second had been knocked out soon after, and the main cruiser itself had suffered much more damage than it looked to have taken, judging from the condition of the bridge she'd seen.

But still, it would make for some great study.

                                        * * *

Myleena was _pissed_ at him. She was still getting an idea of the damage, and though it was bad, it could have been worse.

The _Resolute's_ main power was knocked out in the initial attack, and it was going to take at least a week to get it back online. The _Sora's Pride_ had suffered engine damage, and the ship's engines had to be stripped down and rebuilt. The _Defiant_ had taken the most damage, with power failures, blown systems, and vibration and shock damage all over the ship, where the ship's structure was exposed to the damaging jarring and vibration of the impacts on the hull. The entire starboard section had lost power, and the main sensors had been blown out during the attack. It wasn't crippling damage, but all three ships had to be put in space dock to effect repairs. And since only the _Defiant_ was capable of jumping back to Karis, that meant that they had to do the repairs there, at Earth, using substandard equipment and basically having to jerry-rig everything to get it working enough to get it back to Kosigi, where it could be repaired properly.

Myleena had a lot of work ahead of her, but she was also the kind that considered the upcoming tasks heavenly. She could really get into the guts of the ships now and satisfy her need to take things apart.

The fire on the bridge had been the scariest part of the whole thing, really. It had erupted from Yana's console, and sent her down to the infirmary with some nasty burns on her face and left hand. But there were no fatalities on any of the Karinne ships, and that was a blessing. The Kimdori were too tough to injure in this kind of a situation, since they could simply shapeshift away any superficial wounds to their bodies.

Jason had the ships dock at Orbital One as the Imperial Navy towed the Trillane ships into orbit near the space station and after he checked up on both Jyslin and Myri to make sure they were alright, and started ferrying over the survivors of those ships, bringing them to Orbital One as well. They were now the property of Karinne, by the forms of _Siann_. That was the commoner's fate in a war. They were not prisoners of war, they were _property_. Commoners served the house, and commoners captured in war were like other forms of spoils, assets to be used, abused, or discarded by the victor house. All of these sailors were now the property of House Karinne. Usually, they were sold back to the house that lost them, since they had all been raised to be loyal to their original house and might be a security risk, but Jason wasn't so quick to jump on that idea. He had _planned _for this. Like any Faey, odds are these sailors were jaded in their outlook, and had no real loyalties. Sure, some of them would be loyal to Trillane, but not all of them. They would serve whoever gave them a paycheck, and here was a ready pool of trained talent that could be put to good use.

They had _no faith_.

If Jason could convince just a fraction of them to join his house, serve him, then he'd have access to technically skilled Faey that would significantly bolster his position.

All he had to do was give them something to believe in, and he would have at his fingertips a pool of _trained_ Faey to work for him. And that was an asset far beyond the ships he'd captured.

He left his skimmer and saw them sitting on the landing bay deck, being watched by two squads of Imperial Marines, the first wave of survivors plucked off their wounded ships. There were about a hundred of them, Faey women wearing the jumpsuit uniform of ship's crew, and a few in the Class A of command staff, who were mostly all nobles in the house. Odds were, all the officers were Trillanes, and all the enlisted were commoners.

Now the Trillane nobles were to be treated a bit differently, he recalled. They _were_ prisoners of war, and he had to put them in a prison somewhere and hold them until Trillane ransomed their release, Trillane conquered Earth and freed them, or Jason simply let them go. He also had the option of handing them over to the Empress, but if he did that, he wouldn't see a credit of any monetary settlement the Trillanes offered to get their nobles back.

Some people were being unloaded on stretchers, and those were being taken to the station's hospital. A quick word with one of the Marines guarding these healthy prisoners told him that the Imperial Navy had already dispatched doctors to the hospital to care for the wounded.

"Lieutenant," Jason called audibly. "Separate the officers and confine them to the brig."

"Aye, your Grace," one of the helmeted Marines called. _All officers, stand up!_ she sent in command. _Fall in to be taken to the brig!_

The officers, most of them in Class A's but a few in jumpsuits, stood up, gathered by a squad of six Marines, and then were marched off, leaving a bunch of frightened-looking Faey women. Most of them were young, almost all of them in conscription, serving their mandatory military service in their house Navy. He looked over about seventy scared faces, and had to sigh. He hated that they had been the ones who had had to pay for the anger of the nobles who commanded them. They probably had wanted nothing to do with this fight, but they were stuck. And some of them had died because of it. Jason felt a small measure of responsibility for those deaths, but he also understood that had he not fought, had he not killed some on the ships, then a great many more would have died. It was raw that some of them had to pay that price... but sometimes life just was not fair. Shevak, in the guise of a Faey male, handed him a moist towel to scrub the smoke and soot from his face, and he did so. "Don't any of you worry now," he told the crew members, using a calm, reassuring voice, smiling at them. He saw more than a few eyelashes flutter. Jason was _very _handsome to Faey women, and he was using that now as a weapon, to put them at ease, to listen to the handsome man as he talked to them. "We're not like other noble houses. As soon as we can find rooms, you'll be billeted here on the station while we figure out what to do with you. But, since I have you here and there's no officers around," he said, squatting down to be more on a level with them, who were all seated on the floor, "I guess I'll tell you now.

"Your officers, well, they're going back to Trillane because I can't trust them, but _you_, the diligent backbone of a ship's crew, you're just serving out you conscriptions, aren't you?" A few of them nodded. "You know, all of you are _older_ than me," he mused with a chuckle. "You certainly don't look it. Anyway, are any of you familiar with the rules of _Siann_ about things like this?"

One young girl with pink hair raised her hand, and after he nodded at her in recognition, she stood and bowed to him. "We're your property now, your Grace," she told him, blushing. "Chattel of your house. We have to serve you, if you make us."

"Well, I'd rather not _make_ you," he said with a snort. "But I _am _offering to take all of you into my house. I'd love to have you come work for me. You can come serve your conscription with _me_, where your time counts towards your conscription as far as the Imperium is concerned. I'd rather you come work for me because that's what you want, not because I have an MPAC pointed at you. Work for me, and I'll give you a good paycheck, job security, and as you saw from the fight, you'll be learning about things you've never even _seen_ on a Trillane battle cruiser. At first you'll be manning your old ships, at least once they're fixed. You'll be doing that, but at the same time, you'll start learning about _our _ships. And once you're trained, you'll be taking positions on _Karinne_ ships, ships like the badasses you saw out there today, and you'll be a part of the meanest, toughest, most kick-ass house Navy in the Imperium. But just because I'll be keeping you where you've been trained, please don't believe that it's because I want you to fight. That's the _last_ thing I want. Fighting is pointless and a waste of time and energy. The main hope I have from bringing you to my house, is that it scares the other houses to where they _don't_ want to fight with us. My people, the Terrans, we had a saying for it; 'peace through superior firepower.' I'm not sure if there's a similar saying among the Faey, but that's basically how the Empress keeps the peace. It's certainly not because the houses under her accept her rules, it's because she'll blow them halfway across the universe if they go against her. That's my objective for _our_ house," he told them. "To be strong enough that the other houses won't bother trying to fight us. The one thing I can promise all of you ladies, though, is that I will _never_ send you into battle without a _damn_ good reason. I'm not like the other Grand Duchesses, ladies. I _was_ a commoner, I know how it felt to be in that yoke, and that's not something I'm going to forget now that I'm in this seat. With me, you'll always know that your Grand Duke _cares_ about the common woman, because he was a commoner himself.

"But that's just part of it. If you come work for me, I'll allow you to attend the new Academy we're going to build here on Terra, free. Any of you who want to think about leadership training can apply to become an officer. If you prove you have the skill and ability, you'll be promoted to a _warrant officer_, a middle rank between enlisted and officer, and you'll be trained to be a leader. And no, you don't have to be a noble in my house to be an officer," he smiled. "I reward ability and loyalty, not who your parents were. But, if you _do_ want to join the ranks of the nobility, to become a Karinne, that option is there too. Anyone who reaches the rank of Commander as an officer or Deck Petty Officer as an enlisted can petition to join the house as a noble. So, in _this_ house, if you work hard and show you want it, you can be more than a subject of House Karinne, you can _be_ a Karinne.

"That's the offer, girls. Come work for me, not because I'm _making_ you, but because you _want_ to. You'll be well cared for with me, believe me. I'm not like your Grand Duchess. I know you exist, I care about you and your well being, and your welfare means much to me. If you serve me well, I'll be good to you in return. And if you don't want to serve me, then I'll send you back to Draconis under care of the Empress, which means you'll be serving the remainder of your conscription wherever the Imperium decides to send you. I _will not _send you back to serve your conscription with Trillane. Even if you don't want to be part of Karinne, I still care about you, and I want you to be okay. I'm sure you've watched _Court Exposed_ on the viddy and know all about my little, relationship, with Empress Dahnai," he said with a chuckle, which caused several of them to giggle. "So if I ask her to treat you well, she'll honor my request." He stood up and looked at the Marine. "Billet these ladies down in the guest section," he told her. "Get them some dinner, and see if you can dig up some clothes for them, will you?"

"At once, your Grace," the Marine said with a bow. "Stand up please, ladies, and follow me. We'll get you settled in."

That was the routine. Jason went through it again and again, each time they had enough crew gathered to make the speech worth giving. The Marines kept count for him, and by the time that the last of the survivors were brought in, they had 4,107 women, 611 of them brought in wounded, and 387 officers of various ranks, from ensign all the way to Vice Admiral Countess Sheva Trillane. He blinked when he realized he'd tried to woo over 3,000 women over the hours, in groups from 50 to over 400.

_Jason love, are you done in the landing bay?_ Jyslin sent to him. Judging from the distance and sense of her thought, she had to be on one of the ships near the station.

_I think so. I've gone over this so many times, it's all blurring together. How is the ship?_

_We've just about got the engines to where they'll hold together. These Kimdori are amazing technicians. But they still say we need to put into the dock at Kosigi for _real_ repairs. What they've done is a patch job, nothing more. They just want the engines to hold together long enough to get back to the base._

_That's good. Sec hon, gonna get Myleena._ Jason altered his sending to find her. _Myleena, how is the _Defiant_?_

_Two more hours and we'll have auxiliary power to the starboard wing, and then we can get the ship to Kosigi. From what I've been told, the _Resolute_ needs six more hours before they get power stable enough for a jump, but the _Sora's Pride's_ engines are patched enough to make one jump. We've decided to jump the ships together, so if one fails somehow, the other two can latch onto it and carry it the rest of the way._

_Jason love, I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to go with the ship back to the base,_ Jyslin sent. _You put me in command here, and I feel like I need to get him home. It's only right._

_I don't mind at all love. I'm happy you found something that interests you. How did you find command?_

_Challenging. Scary! But it was exciting! Can I _have_ this ship, Jayce?_

_Love, it's all yours._

_I _love_ you baby!_ she sent girlishly, then broke the connection.

                                        * * *

Jason's idea was simple, and it was _damned_ effective.

The conscript crews, all of them young females, found the offer almost as attractive as the handsome man who delivered it. Of the 3,111 enlisted who had been rescued, 2,037 had decided to take Jason's offer and work for House Karinne. It really was a win-win situation for everyone. Jason recruited naval personnel who had practical experience, were Faey telepaths, and who would both help train new naval personnel and fill the ranks of the house with new officers and nobles.

At least after they were screened. He wasn't nave enough to just welcome them aboard without some assurances they were coming to him honestly. The ex-Marines from Jyslin's squad were taking care of that, weeding out the sincere from the fakers, who would take a position only to sabotage Karinne. Jason didn't see too much of an issue with that, though. The terms Jason was offering the conscripted women were _much_ more attractive than what they'd get anywhere else. Nowhere else would a commoner get a chance to be an officer, or join a house as a _noble_, unless they were in the Marines... and the Marines didn't let just anyone into their ranks.

Some of it was the offer, but some of it had been the salesman. Jason _knew_ Faey. He knew them well, he understood them, and he knew how to appeal to both sides of their brain, occasionally at the same time. Had Myleena got up and made that offer, not even half as many would have signed up. But Jason, a young, handsome, charming man who smiled at them and made them feel _important _got up there and made them an offer that seemed entirely fair, even generous. There was a little hesitation on behalf of some, but Jason was told by some of the Marines guarding the station that every time someone said "I don't know," someone else would look at her and say "are you nuts, he was _gorgeous_!" Sure, it was a little manipulative to be using himself as bait of sorts to lure them into the idea of it, but he was still solidly convinced that he'd be a much better Grand Duke to them than Maeri ever was a Grand Duchess. To Maeri, those girls were numbers in a column... they were _statistics_. To Jason, they were _people_. And he would never forget that; never forget the responsibility he had to them, both as their Grand Duke and as the one who employed them. They were his employees, his subjects, and he would do his best to make sure they were treated well and had a chance to be happy.

To him, that was what being a Grand Duke was all about. It wasn't about his personal glory; it was about helping those who served him by serving them.

As he waited for his Karinne dropship to arrive in the landing bay, which would take him to the _Scimitar _and get him to Draconis to tell Dahnai what had happened, the commoners who had passed the screening had been put to work helping the Faey who were returning from the evacuation get the station back into operation. They all pointed at Jason and sent excitedly among themselves, and they didn't fail to stop what they were doing and bow to him when he walked by, giving him broad, open smiles. Two of them, looking as young as Kumi, ran up to him, bowed, then kissed him boldly, catching him off guard, then they ran back to their duties, sending excitedly with their companions, who all looked at him adoringly.

Oh yeah, this was going to be interesting.

When he got to the palace, he was taken straight to Dahnai's private gym, where she was doing her daily workout. She didn't stop, even for him, and he told her about the fight, and about his dispensation of the remains of Trillane's attack fleet, including the crew.

She laughed when she heard that. "What kind of terms did you offer them?" she asked. When he told her, she whistled, then laughed again as she mounted an exercise bike and began peddling. Jason noticed that the bike was _Terran_. She had had it shipped in from Earth so she could use it. Very _clever, Jason! You probably bagged them all with terms like that!_

_Pretty much well near all of them,_ he answered. _You told me that my lack of forces was an issue, so I started addressing it._

_That was great thinking!_ she praised. _This way you're getting pre-trained troops! If you can be sure they'll be loyal, that is._

_I have some of the strongest telepaths in the Imperium in my house, Dahnai. They're checking the girls out. If someone's lying, they'll know._

_Well done!_ she complemented again. _How many ships did you destroy?_

_Seven, and two escaped,_ he answered. _But we captured the Trillane command ship and two of their battleships. And, uh, one medium cruiser and one destroyer,_ he said, digging the figures out of his pocket and reading them. _Those we can salvage and put back into service. All of them have some extensive damage, though. But they can be repaired. Once they are, I'll use them for my house._

_And you did that with just _three_ ships?_

He nodded. _Two destroyers and a cruiser. But my ships got pretty banged up in the fight, and all three are down right now for repairs. But nobody else knows that,_ he sent dryly. _Then again, they have no idea how many ships I have. Myleena is pissed at me that I got her babies beat up. Does Trillane know what happened?_

_They know something bad happened. They don't know what yet. When you sealed off the system and evacuated all foreign houses, they knew they were made, but what could they do? Their ships were in hyperspace. All they could do was hope you couldn't repel their task force, since you banned travel into the system which would have allowed them to leave a beacon buoy to warn off the task force when they jumped in. But now they know somet