can kill the mercenary sergeant trying to romance her and reveal the presence of the mercenaries in the village to the Slammers, who wipe them out. Rejected by her fellow villagers because in their culture women are supposed to nurture life, not kill, Margritte climbs aboard a Slammers combat car, telling the sergeant commanding it, "You need killers like me, soldier," and rides in with the patrol to join the Regiment. Interlude: The Bonding Authority The financial and contractual aspect of mercenary warfare. The Bonding Authority arranges for payment of contracts, purchases of equipment, insurance, guarantees of performance, and acts as a guarantor of payment. The influence of the Bonding Authority over the world of mercenary military units is such that without a guarantee from them, mercenary units won't take a contract unless they are awfully desperate. Hangman Captain Danny Pritchard has a crisis of conscience after two Slammers officers go behind the Colonel's back to interfere with a civil revolt that may result in a massacre, either of the civilians or the Slammers unless Pritchard can devise a plan to stop it. The story shows how ruthless Major Steuben and Colonel Hammer can be, and how ruthless Captain Pritchard must be when circumstances demand it. Interlude: Table of Organisation and Equipment, Hammer's Regiment List of units in the Slammers. These include the Regimental headquarters with the command staff and the Regiment's Fire Central fire control computer, which can take control of any vehicle-mounted powergun that bears on a target, usually airborne, and eliminate it; the training battalion that turns recruits into soldiers of the Regiment; the supply and support battalion; the Regiment's artillery batteries; the infantry, mounted on battery-powered single person hovercraft called skimmers; the combat car companies; and of course the regimental fist, the Slammers' tank companies. It also includes the Regiment's field police company, the "White Mice," mounted on combat cars and commanded by the dedicated and deadly Major Joachim Steuben, thought of by some in the know as Hammer's personal hatchetman. Standing Down The Slammers seize power in Friesland. It is suggested Colonel Hammer is able to do this because Major Joachim Steuben assassinated the politician who had hired the Regiment with a head shot from a pistol at a range of more than two kilometers. A Bonding Authority official investigating what had happened in this case accepts the Slammers' explanation that their patron had unfortunately