"Which is more than you have been with us," the elder Sammon said.

Jin's stomach began to tighten into a knot. "What do you mean?"

"I mean your true name," he said evenly. "And the connection of that name to

Mangus."

Jin's eyes flicked to Daulo, feeling a sudden chill in the room. The younger man looked back at her steadily, his face as masked as Kruin's. "I never lied to you," she said, eyes still on Daulo. "To either of you."

"Is the withholding of truth not a lie?" Daulo asked quietly. "You understood the significance of the name mongoose, yet didn't share that knowledge."

"If I'd wanted to keep it to myself, why did I tell you at all that we were called Cobras?" she countered. "The fact is that I didn't think it was all that important."

"Not important?" Kruin spat. "Mongoose is hardly a name of a place seeking only to dominate Qasaman villages. And if Mangus is truly an attempt to fight back at our common enemies, how can the Sammon family help you destroy it?"

"I don't seek to destroy it-"

"More half-truths," Kruin shot back. "Perhaps you don't but others will surely follow you."

Jin took a deep breath. Steady, girl, she warned herself. Concentrate, and be rational. "I've already told you I don't know what my people will do with my report-and pointed out that a non-threatening Qasama is perfectly welcome to advance back into space. But if the Shahni are truly bent on attacking us, do you really think they'll do so without the full weight of Qasama behind them? Or to put it another way, won't they demand that both cities and villages supply their full shares of the resources and manpower-" her eyes flicked to Daulo

"-that a full-scale war requires? Whether you want to or not?"

For a moment Kruin sat in silence, gazing at Jin. She forced herself to return the gaze; and after a moment he shifted on his cushions. "You again try to prove that Mangus threatens us directly. Yet without any proof."

"Whatever proof exists will only be found inside Mangus itself," Jin pointed out, feeling the knots in her stomach starting to unravel again. Whatever his apprehensions, it was clear that Kruin was smart enough to see that the scenario

Jin painted made too much sense to ignore. "The only way to find out for sure will be to get inside and take a look for ourselves."

"Ourselves?" A faint and slightly bitter smile touched Kruin's lips. "How quickly you change between offworlder and Qasaman, Jasmine Moreau. Or don't you think we know that once inside Mangus it will be your priorities, not ours, that you will address?"

Jin's hands curled into fists. "You insult me, Kruin Sammon," she bit out. "I don't play games with people's lives-not those of my own people, not those of yours. If Mangus threatens anyone-Aventinian or Qasaman-I want to know about it.

That's my priority."

For a moment Kruin didn't answer. Then, to her astonishment, he inclined his head toward her. "I had assumed you were a warrior, Jasmine Moreau," he said. "I see I was mistaken."

She blinked. "I don't understand."

"Warriors," he said softly, "don't care about the people they are told to kill."

Jin licked her lips, a cold shiver replacing the fading indignation in her muscles. She hadn't meant to blast Kruin that strongly-certainly hadn't meant to imply that Milika's welfare was truly any of her concern. She was here for only one purpose, she reminded herself firmly: to find out if the Cobra Worlds were being threatened. If it was merely one group of Qasamans preparing to slaughter another, that was none of her business.

Except that it was.

And for the first time her conscious mind was forced to acknowledge that fact.

She'd lived with these people; lived with them, eaten their food, accepted their help and hospitality... and there was no way she could simply turn her back on them and walk away. Kruin was right; she was no warrior.

Which was to say, no Cobra.

A sudden moisture obscured her vision; furiously, she blinked it away. It didn't really matter-she'd already fouled things up so badly that one more failure wouldn't make much of a difference. "Never mind what I am or am not," she growled. "The only issue here is whether you're still going to help me get into

Mangus, or whether I'm going to have to do it all myself."

"I've given you my pledge once," Kruin said coldly. "You insult me to ask again."

"Yes, well, it seems to be a day for insults," Jin said tiredly. All the fight was draining away, leaving nothing but emotional fatigue behind. "Daulo spoke of work parties hired from Azras. Can you ask your friend the mayor to get me into one of them?"

Kruin glanced at his son. "It may be possible," he said. "It could take a week to make the arrangements, though."

"We can't afford that much time," Jin sighed. "I've got to be in and out of

Mangus within the next six days."

"Why?" Kruin frowned.

Jin nodded toward Koja's letter on the low desk. "Because that note changes everything. There won't be any six-month debate now as to whether or not another mission should be sent here. Koja will have burned space getting back, and there'll be a rescue team on its way just as soon as it can be scrambled together."

Kruin's lips compressed slightly. "Arriving when?"

"I don't know exactly. I'd guess no more than a week."

Daulo hissed between his teeth. "A week?"

"Bad," Kruin agreed calmly. "But not as bad as it might be. With a new supply of metals on its way to Mangus, they should be needing to call in extra workers soon."

"How soon?" Jin asked.

"Within your six-day limit, I'd guess," Kruin said. "I'll send a message to

Mayor Capparis this afternoon and ask if a member of my household can be worked into one of the parties."

"Please ask if he can make it two members," Daulo said quietly.

Kruin cocked an eyebrow at his son. "A noble offer, my son, but not well thought out. For what reason-besides curiosity-should I allow you to accompany Jasmine

Moreau on this trip?"

"For the reason that she still knows so very little about Qasama," Daulo said.

"She could betray herself as an offworlder in a thousand different ways. Or worse, she could fail to understand or even to notice something of vital importance once inside."

Kruin cocked an eye at Jin. "Have you a response?"

"I'll be fine," Jin said stiffly. "I thank you for your offer, Daulo, but I don't need an escort."

"Are his arguments invalid?" Kruin persisted.

"Not necessarily," she admitted. "But the risks outbalance the benefits. Your family is well known here, and probably at least slightly known in Azras. Even with the disguise kit I've got in my pack, there's a good chance he'll be recognized by someone in the work party, or even by Radig Nardin or someone in

Mangus itself. At least as much chance, I'd guess, as that I'll be caught in an error." She hesitated; no, better not say it.

But Kruin saw through the hesitation. "And...?" he prompted.

Jin clenched her teeth. "And if there is trouble... I stand a much better chance of getting out alone than if Daulo is with me."

An instant later she wished she'd kept her mouth shut. Daulo sat up stiffly on his cushion, face darkening. "I don't need the protection of a woman," he bit out. "And I will go with you into Mangus."

And there was no longer any room for argument, Jin realized with a sinking heart. Logic was fine in its place; but when set against the emotions of threatened manhood, there was only one possible outcome. "In that case," she sighed, "I would be honored to have your company and protection."

It was only much later that it occurred to her that perhaps she'd been guilty of the same kind of nonrational thinking... that perhaps the very fact she'd forgotten something as basic to Qasama as the expanded male ego meant that she really did know too little about Qasama to tackle Mangus alone.