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behind her back in the crèches. Given her parents' heritages, she'd been expected to test into the Teyma caste; Tercio was a long shot. Like so many others in the Republic, she'd been dropped into the crèche and then forgotten, ignored even on those few occasions during holidays when a parent might have the desire and time to visit their child. She'd been alone in the crèche system for almost fourteen years when she'd tested into the Tercio caste.
    Then they'd paid attention. Two years later, when she'd tested into the Maharatha, they'd been ecstatic. But they'd never wanted her as a person, only her genes and her dreng and what those things did for Family Lieng.
    "I," Phae's voice cracked, and she cleared her throat. "I'm bored of this place. When you're finished, we should move on to another bar." She looked around. "Maybe one more deserving of our caste. I — I forgot how slummy this place is."
    Chahal and Kai quaffed their beers with a few quick swallows. Phae finished hers as well, but it was a mechanical action more than anything else — her eyes and mind were somewhere else. They left the bar without another word and walked in silence back to the tram station.
    "Where are we going now?" Kai asked as they stepped into the tram car. Chahal shrugged. Phae stared at the floor. "Corwin?"
    "I'm going it alone from here," he said.
    "What? But the Oniban said —" Chahal said.
    "I remember. We fulfilled her suggestion." Corwin glanced at Phae. "Really helped us bond."
    "Well, what should we do then?" Chahal called through the doors as Corwin stepped out.
    "I command you on the battlefield, but what you do with your personal time is your own affair." The doors slid closed and cut off Chahal's reply. Corwin turned, adjusted his uniform, and walked off into the perpetual twilight.

CHAPTER FIVE

    Corwin arrived at the briefing room a few minutes early. His Voidmates were present, sitting in the plasteel chairs facing the holoprojector that whirred at the front of the room. Corwin sat on the end next to Phae. It didn't look like what happened the night before had stuck with her; the sneer was back, along with the anger that simmered behind her eyes.
    "Where do you think they'll put us?" Kai asked, leaning forward to look down the row.
    "Does it matter?" Phae asked. "We're the sword arm of the Oniban herself. Whatever she needs, we'll do it."
    Chahal crossed her arms and looked down at the floor. She nodded once, white ribbon bouncing along with her hair. She glanced at Corwin. "I know where they'll put us." Beyond that, she wouldn't say more.
    "Thank you for coming, sirs and ma'ams," the moderator said, entering the room with a datapad tucked under one arm. He was old, an elder, yet had the brisk walk and straight back of a military man, his Wei physique not yet deteriorated.
    The Oniwabanshu was the highest-tier managerial caste, and they presided over the other three major castes: Warrior, Scientist, and Support. They issued the passcodes and collated passcode information; they ran the factories and the mines and the logistics of the Republic's war machine. They told the Scientist subcaste what to research and the Media subcaste what news to make and movies to film.
    The caste was staffed by the most Drengin of the lower castes, and seeing as they took their orders from the Oniban herself, their word was law. The lowest ranked member of the Oniwabanshu outranked the other three major castes, even this man who had been Wei, three subcastes below the Maharatha. They controlled everything, and one was wise to show them their due respect.
    The four Maharatha returned the greeting with seated bows.
    He tapped at his datapad. "Orders from the Oniban herself." The Maharathas' coms chimed as they updated. "Basic search and destroy." He flicked his datapad at the holoprojector, and it sprang to life, casting a map of Nor and Soumerica onto the wall, the Republic-controlled lands in green, the enemy's in red.
    Almost all of Mezico was