wealthy planet Friesland, and a Friesland Guards armored regiment officer, in Tromp's office at the spaceport hotel on the Friesland colony world of Melpomene. The officer has just returned from traveling with Hammer and Steuben in a convoy of armored vehicles from one of Hammer's firebases to the spaceport. Hammer had used the convoy as bait to trick the remaining Melpomene rebels into attempting an ambush on the convoy, by leaking false information that Secretary Tromp was traveling in it. In the meantime, Hammer is in the hotel lounge, where he confronts a former fellow officer, the commander of the Guards, who is incensed that Hammer had left the elite unit to command "foreign scum." He is then summoned to Tromp's office, but he orders Steuben and another of his men to wait in their hotel suite. During a heated discussion between Hammer and Tromp, it is revealed to the reader that Hammer's Regiment (the "Slammers") was originally Tromp's idea. After several Friesland units were unable to suppress Melpomene resistance to Friesland's attempt to control the production and export of "bluebright" (a valuable pharmaceutical plant and the main product of the planet), Hammer was directed to raise a mercenary regiment and recruit non-Friesland individuals with military experience. This unit was then funded and equipped by Friesland to crush the Melpomene rebels, which they have done successfully by various means, including chemical warfare and forcing Melpomene hostages to ride on vehicles in Slammers' convoys to prevent ambushes. It is also revealed that as one of the conditions for recruiting the regiment, the government promised that all Slammers personnel would be granted full Friesland citizenship after completing their service on Melpomene and the regiment was demobilized. However, Tromp reneges on the deal. He orders Hammer to bring the entire mercenary regiment to the spaceport where it will be disbanded under the supervision of the Guards, who have been brought to Melpomene by Tromp for that purpose. Hammer, unwilling to have his men disarmed (and most likely executed afterwards), attempts to change Tromp's mind by suggesting that Friesland hire out the Slammers to other planets. Tromp is unmoved by this argument, stating that this would destabilize the current interstellar political system; and that Hammer should remember his loyalty to Friesland, which is more important that any promises he made to his men. Angered, Hammer leaves Tromp's office for his hotel suite. Having anticipated