"All slave, of course, officers and all. What will we do about them, sir? I have about three thousand, either confined to their barracks or penned up in the Citadel. I requisitioned food for them, paid for it in chits. There were a few isolated companies and platoons that gave us something of a fight; most of them just threw away their weapons and bawled for quarter. I've segregated the former; with your approval, I'll put them under Imperial officers and noncoms for a quickie training in our tactics, and then use them to train the rest." "Do that, Pyairr. We only have two thousand men of our own, and that's not enough. Do you think you can make soldiers out of any of them?" "Yes, I believe so, sir. They are trained, organized and armed for civil-order work, which is what we'll need them for ourselves. In the entire history of this army, all they have done has been to overawe unarmed slaves; I am sure they have never been in combat with regular troops. They have an elaborate set of training and field regulations for the sort of work for which they were intended. What they encountered today was entirely outside those regulations, which is why they behaved as they did." "Did you have any trouble getting cooperation from the native officers?" Shatrak asked. "Not in the least. They cooperated quite willingly, if not always too intelligently. I simply told them that they were now the personal property of his Imperial Majesty, Rodrik III. They were quite flattered by the change of ownership. If ordered to, I believe that they would fire on their former Lords-Master without hesitation." "You told those slaves that they ... _belonged_ ... to the _Emperor_?" Count Erskyll was aghast. He stared at Ravney for an instant, then snatched up his brandy-glass--the meal had gotten to that point--and drained it at a gulp. The others watched solicitously while he coughed and spluttered over it. "Commodore Shatrak," he said sternly. "I hope that you will take severe disciplinary action; this is the most outrageous...." "I'll do nothing of the sort," Shatrak retorted. "The colonel is to be commended; did the best thing he could, under the circumstances. What are you going to do when slavery is abolished here, Colonel?" "Oh, tell them that they have been given their freedom as a special reward for meritorious service, and then sign them up for a five year enlistment." "That might work. Again, it might not." "I think, Colonel, that before you do that, you had better disarm them again. You might possibly have some trouble, otherwise." Ravney looked at him sharply. "They might not want to be free? I'd thought of that." "Nonsense!" Erskyll declared. "Who ever heard of slaves rebelling against freedom?" Freedom was a Good Thing. It was a Good Thing for everybody, everywhere and all the time. Count Erskyll knew it, because freedom was a Good Thing for him.