Cortin looked from Medart to Odeon, then back. "If Mike thinks anything about the Empire is important enough that he'll give up Family Cortin for it, I'll trust his judgement; as sole negotiator for the Kingdom Systems, I am empowered to say the Systems will join the Empire. I ask that you give us all the help possible to reach the level of the rest of the Empire, and show us how to take our proper place in it." "Gladly, Excellency, and welcome. We'll be happy to help our newest citizens. Do you need military support as well?" "Familiarization and upgrading only," Keith said. "They have the basic tech level, with minor exceptions. Medical training and learning about the Empire are their primary needs, though other things will be needed as they gain the population base to support them." "Right. Admin Service teachers and a couple of heavy destroyers ought to take care of those; anything else you'd recommend?" "Not at this time, Ranger, though it might help if you could leave a detachment from the Lindner. I'm sure Colonel Cortin would provide them lodging, and Lucius and I will protect them from the Brotherhood." "I'll see to it." "We'll leave you to brief Mike, then." "Thank you, Protector." * * * * * Once they were alone, Medart spent a few moments studying Odeon. "You do look the same, except for your hands." he said at last. Odeon looked at his hands, which no longer had the blue circled triangles. That was a relief, now, not the terrible loss it would have been before his talk with Medart last night. "You heard him confirm that I'm still a Catholic priest, Jim. I would've thought that would violate the separation doctrine." Medart shook his head. "Not necessarily. Most of us are Omnist or agnostic, that's true. Once in a while, though, there's a deeply religious one, and there's nothing prohibiting a priest." He grinned. "If you want to get technical, I'm a priest myself, and so are a couple of the others--but since that's true of all adult Omnists, nobody pays much attention to it. They'll pay attention to you, since you're the first non-Omnist priest, but that attention in itself doesn't violate the doctrine. As long as you don't try to impose your beliefs on others, or imply that the Empire in any way favors one religion over another, your beliefs and devotions are between you and your God or gods." "I can handle that, I think, if it won't prohibit me from exercising my priestly functions for Catholics who need them." "It won't, though it'd be best if you do any of that in private. It may never happen, either; I'll warn you right now that Catholics are a tiny minority, the Traditional branch only one of half a decade or so." "That's the impression I got from the studying I did on Columbus. I'm not thrilled about it, but it isn't unexpected." He paused. "Mind if I change the subject?" "Go ahead."