Rules of Engagement

NATURAL ALLIES ...

Esmay Suiza and Brun Meager should be friends they're both bright, brave, likable and adventurous. But true friendship doesn't run any smoother than true love. Brun thinks Esmay's a stuck-up prig, and Esmay thinks Brun's a spoiled rich brat who's making a play for Barin Serrano, Esmay's first love. So when Brun falls into the hands of a repressive religious militia movement, Esmay finds herself in disgrace, suspected of conniving at the capture. Even Barin, now being pursued by the beautiful and ambitious Casea Ferradi, has turned against her, and Brun's powerful family doesn't want Esmay anywhere near the rescue attempt.

Meanwhile, Brim has to figure out how to survive as a pregnant, barefoot prisoner on a planet where female captives are surgically muted to keep them from contaminating others. Her luck may have run out, but her courage hasn't-she's determined to free not only herself, but also other, younger captives. This burst of initiative imperils her own rescue, and it will take double her own luck to save her.

lively characters, inspired details (including a bar comprised of salvaged parts from destroyed ships) and smart pacing . . . the novel will win readers' interest."
-Publishers Weekly

"Great female characters, vigorous plotting, [and] a solid military-family backdrop
-Kirkus Reviews

Cover Art by Gary Ruddell

Hardcover
Paperback

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

First printing, November 1999

Library of Congress Catalog Number: 98-39189

Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Typeset by Windhaven Press, Auburn, NH
Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-0-671-57841-1
ISBN-10: 0-671-57841-3

A Baen Books Original
Baen publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
https://www.baen.com

Electronic version by Baen Books
https://www.baen.com

Dedication

In memory of the victims of the
Jarrell, Texas, tornado, May 27, 1997,
and especially Brandi Nicole Smith and
Stacy Renee Smith, and their mother,
Cynthia L. Smith.

Acknowledgements

The usual suspects (you know who you are . . . ), with special thanks to Ellen McLean and Mary Morell for helping with the psychology behind the pathology. Mary managed to read the first draft and make intelligent comments even as the rain poured down, the roof leaked, and a dead mouse turned up in the guest room. This is heroic manuscript help. Diann Thornley let me pick her brain about what kinds of things are taught in junior officers' leadership courses. Ruta Duhon helped me think through one of the final bits of excitement over lunch one day, probably because she was tired of hearing me complain that I was stuck. Anna Larsen and Toni Weisskopf each contributed a specific nudge to the emotional side of the plot. Kathleen Jones and David Watson took on the task of "cold reading" the final draft aloud, and did it in just a few days. Their comments markedly improved the new final draft. Debbie Kirk, as always, found more typos than anyone else and gently nudged my erratic spelling back toward consistency. Certain anecdotes contributed by persons who asked not to be named added grit to the fictional reality.

Special mention must be made of the bits of Texana which decorate this story. Some are real (other Texans know which), some are fictional, some are Texas mythology of the future. The misappropriation and distortion of Texas history and traditions by characters in the book does not in any way represent my attitude towards that history or those traditions. Readers with a knowledge of history and a sense of irony may be amused by the juxtaposition of certain characters' surnames; the intended references all predate the 20th century. (It was tempting, but not that tempting, to play in contemporary Texas politics.) Any coincidence of name is purely accidental. The movements mentioned as ancient history in the text are, however unfortunately, alive and sick in the 20th century; it would be not only useless but dishonest to pretend that the New Texas Godfearing Militia did not derive its nature from elements all too close to home, in Waco, Fort Davis, and even Oklahoma City.

BAEN BOOKS by Elizabeth Moon