“Well?” Katarina asked, a playful smile on her face. They were in Allen’s office as he tabulated the pay from their latest mission, Katarina leaning against the desk.

“9,310,000 C-bills. I asked you to earn more than double the repair cost, you more than tripled it. Yes: you can take the Wraith on any missions where it might fit.”

She leaned over and hugged him. “I will make it well worth your while, my love. You can count on me.”

“I know I can,” he replied, returning the hug: “in all things, not just combat.”

“This is true.” She grinned, and planted a deep kiss on his lips. “In all things…”

A knock at the door interrupted them, and Katarina straightened up before Allen answered.

“Come in?”

Justin opened the door and entered. “Morning! How are you two doing?”

Allen nodded. “Pretty good so far. Just calculating the profit from that battle with Comstar. We still have to issue repairs on the Treb and on Kenny’s Spider, but that’s nominal.

“Good job with crushing that building. I figure that was a big help in persuading the Precentor to give up.”

Justin blushed. “I just saw Katarina and figured if it worked for her, it would work for me.”

Katarina nodded, pleased. Allen grinned. “Learn from the best, and you can’t go wrong. Just remember your Mech is not capable of doing everything she can, and you’ll be fine.”

Justin nodded. “Yeah: that’s quite a Mech. I hadn’t heard of a Wraith before: are they fairly new?”

Allen shrugged. “Fairly. Introduced in 3055, I believe. Long enough ago to be sure they don’t have any serious glitches, and for you to have received data on them in your weekly updates.”

Justin flushed at that. “Yeah, well, so many updates come through, you lose track of them all, you know? Not like I face all those new Mechs in combat each week, you know?”

Allen’s face was quiet. “Nevertheless, it’s still important to keep track of whatever the enemy might throw at you. I notice from your reports that you were confident your jump jets would get you away from the Guillotine. That’s not a new mech: didn’t you realize the Guillotine has jump jets, too?”

Justin blushed furiously red. “Yeah, well, I was right, wasn’t I, that he didn’t come after me? No harm, no foul, right?”

“Not really,” replied Allen: “He only neglected to follow you because of Katarina’s spectacular distraction. Had he chosen to, he could have landed right behind you and chewed you up but good.”

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Justin fumed. “Yeah, well, that didn’t happen, did it? Thanks, Katarina, for the assist, and all’s well that ends well, right? I mean, Katarina got into a tight spot with her mech, and I don’t see you berating her, right?”

It was Katarina’s turn to answer. “And why did I get ‘into a tight spot,’ Justin? Was that Guillotine not your responsibility?”

“It’s not like we hang tags on each Mech, ‘this is yours, this is mine!’” Justin shot back: “You say yourself that the battlefield is fluid, and no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy: why do you get a pass and I don’t?”

Allen replied. “It’s not a measure of what results we got on each individual mission, Justin. The real problem here is attitude: the kind you’re showing in this room right now.”

“Well what kind of attitude do you expect from me when you’re on the attack all the time?” Justin protested. “Either you or Katarina are always on my ass, even when we had a great win! What’s up with that?”

Allen glowered. “When Katarina and I have issues with each other’s performances, we discuss it in private. That happens very rarely. Katarina is a Trueborn warrior of the Jade Falcon Clan: do you really think she requires correction as often as you do?

“Nobody is blaming you for not being perfect. Nobody is blaming you for an occasional blunder. But we are concerned that when these are brought to your attention, you don’t recognize it as constructive criticism. You get defensive and try to justify your actions or deflect blame instead of just saying: ‘You’re right. I’ll remember that for next time.’ That’s the attitude problem that I am most concerned about.”

Justin opened his mouth to reply, but realized whatever he had in mind to say would only prove Allen right. Yes, he tried to justify his actions. Yes, he tried to deflect blame. For a minute or so he paused, seriously thinking about what Allen was saying. It shook him to have his own reactions described so accurately in advance; he felt paralyzed as only one conclusion came to him.

“I do do that, don’t I?” he mumbled. “Justify and deflect? I – “ he paused. “You’re right. That is what I do.”

He sighed, feeling a whole paradigm shift in his opinions of himself and his actions. “You’re right,” he sighed. “I– apologize? Let me try to do better.” He swallowed hard. “I’ve got a lot to think about. May I be excused?”

Allen smiled, partly in relief. “Certainly, Justin. We can talk again some other time.”

Justin walked out, barely seeing the room around him as he exited. Out in the hall he leaned against the wall, trying to absorb all the new perspectives that seemed to be flooding in on him. Had he really been so defensive every time someone was just offering advice? Yes, he had.

He could feel the resentment that had boiled up in him each time someone had corrected him, and the verbiage that had spewed from his mouth. And as he reflected, he realized what the source was of that resentment: an intense jealousy of the relationship that had come up between his older brother and Katarina.

Justin had always followed around in Alllen’s shadow, figuratively when not literally. Allen had always been a patient teacher, even when Justin had not always been the model student. But since the battle in which Katarina had surrendered to Allen, declaring herself Abtakha, that relationship had changed. It seemed that Allen no longer had time for his little brother: that he was constantly with Katarina, whether trying to coach her in the ways of “us freebirths,” honing their mutual skills in simulations, or more intimate pursuits.

Justin had felt abandoned like a lost pup. As an adult, he certainly understood the depth of attraction a man might have for a woman like Katarina, but the child within him was having a very hard time coping with the loss.

Jason sighed one last time and pulled himself together. It was a long walk down the hall to his quarters.