devastatingly effective at close range, but Fearless has neither the armour nor the other weaponry needed to close with an enemy ship. In order to cover up the embarrassing failure of her experiment, Admiral Hemphill (a cousin of Sir Edward Janáček, First Lord of the Admiralty), has Fearless reassigned to picket duty on Basilisk Station, a remote outpost of Manticore. At Medusa, Harrington finds Basilisk's picket fleet commanded by Captain Lord Pavel Young, a spoiled noble whose lacklustre career is due in part to his attempt to rape Honor at the Academy several years earlier, and who has set up a ploy to ruin Honor's career. Taking his heavy cruiser Warlock off to Manticore for a "desperately needed" refit, Young leaves Honor and Fearless as the sole RMN unit responsible for the Basilisk system's security, a duty almost impossible to perform with a single ship. With hard work and clever use of resources, Honor soon has revitalised the RMN’s presence in Basilisk, capturing several prizes on charges of smuggling, and turning around the abysmal opinion of the fleet held by system personnel. During this, Honor learns of a long-standing drug ring catering to the Medusan aborigines, a three-legged sentient species at a Bronze Age technology level. The drug, mekoha, has a place in Medusan religion for its hallucinogenic properties, but can also be used to incite them to furious violence. Fearless's investigations reveal that humans have been synthesizing it on the planet for distribution to the nomadic members of the species. A raid on this drug lab also reveals the presence of further contamination: breech-loading flintlock rifles designed specifically for Medusan use, and crude enough for the Medusans to manufacture themselves. Whilst embroiled in this plot and trying to uncover who might be behind it, Honor Harrington becomes a figure of political note for the first time. In order to capitalize on Honor's accomplishments and discredit the conservatives in the government who are pushing for the Kingdom's withdrawal from Basilisk, a group of officers and politicians conspire to delay the completion of Warlocks refit and keep Young away from his post for as long as possible. Harrington and her crew get to the bottom of the sprawling plot: Haven, intent on conquering Medusa for their own, have arranged for a coup de main against Basilisk. By whipping some of the Medusan nomads into a killing frenzy that will sweep across