Dragoika

Dragoika is:

an inhabitant of the planet Starkad of the star, Saxo;

a member of the land-dwelling intelligent species, the Toborko or Tigeries;

captain of the Archer, a merchant ship belonging to the Sisterhood of Kursoviki;

share-holder and captain-director in a fleet-owning kin-corporation, the Janjevar va-Radovik;

speaker for the corporation among the Sisterhood.

She insists on accompanying her friend, Dominic Flandry, on the Terran expedition to confirm whether a rogue planet is on collision course with Saxo. Captain Einarson of the Sabik appoints Flandry as "liaison officer" and tells him to keep his xeno VIP/pet savage out of the way. However, Flandry pretends that the VIP needs to be informed of developments, thus gaining communication from the bridge. Thus also, the reader sees the space battle from Flandry's pov. Otherwise, it would have had to have been from some other character's pov with Flandry kept in the dark until later.

Lieutenant (j.g.) Sergei Karamzin appreciates Dragoika's female build and movements and asks Flandry how she is. Flandry has not had intimate relations with Dragoika but could have had and the next novel, A Circus Of Hells, informs us that, on Irumclaw, it is possible to buy sex with individuals from seventeen intelligent species.

Rank, Class And Species

Rank becomes complicated in an aristocratic society. In the Terran mission on Starkad, Admiral Enriques commands five thousand men, including Commander Max Abrams of Intelligence and Ensign Dominic Flandry. Then Lord Hauksberg arrives on a fact-finding mission from which he will report back to the Emperor. However, Hauksberg first proceeds to Merseia with plenipotentiary authority to negotiate the protocol of an agreement. Abrams accompanies Hauksberg as an expert on Starkad. Flandry accompanies Abrams as his aide. As a nobleman, Hauksberg holds a reserve commission equivalent to captain which was automatically activated when Abrams was posted to him. Thus, Hauksberg is Flandry's senior commanding officer as long as the latter is Abrams' aide.

Flandry flees back to Starkad accused by Hauksberg of capital charges:

high treason;
mutiny;
desertion;
kidnapping;
threat and menace;
assault and battery;
theft;
insubordination;
etc.

On his return to Starkad, Flandry adds:

not surrendering himself;
creating dissension between the Empire and an associated country;
imperiling his Majesty's forces;
resisting arrest.

Enriques ranks Hauksberg formally and in certain procedural matters. However, the latter holds a direct Imperial mandate which empowers him to negotiate temporary agreements with Merseia that become policy determinants. Thus, Enriques is ordered to allow the Merseians to search Imperial ships for Flandry.

The issue is complicated by inter-species interactions. The Terran mission to Starkad is to help the land-dwellers. However, the Tigeries recognize personal, not collective, loyalties. Loyal to Flandry because he had defended them from attack, they protect him from his fellow vaz-Terran. Enriques must come to Flandry in a house surrounded by armed Tigeries. Flandry introduces Vice-Admiral Juan Enriques of the Imperial Terrestrial Navy to Dragoika, captain-director of the Janjevar va-Radovik. Enriques bows as if to the Empress.

When Enriques sends a squadron to check Flandry's allegation against the Merseians, Flandry in good faith travels on the squadron, temporarily re-attached to Enrique's command, the charges against him held in abeyance. Dragoika, not sharing Flandry's good faith, insists on accompanying him on behalf of the Sisterhood. Flandry is appointed liaison officer and told to keep his pet savage out of the way. He pretends that she has astronautical knowledge and should be kept informed, thus gaining for both himself and her communication with the bridge.

Finally, when the Merseian plot has been exposed, everything must be covered up. Therefore, all the charges against Flandry must be dropped.

Honor And The Wind

Ensign Flandry, CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

Ensign Dominic Flandry introduces Vice Admiral Juan Enriques of the Imperial Terrestrial Navy to Dragoika, captain-director of the Janjevar va-Radovik. (Scroll down.) When Enrique bows as if to the Empress:

"Dragoika studied him a moment, then touched brow and breasts, the salute of honor." (p. 163)

The Toborko, like the Merseians, have a salute of honor and this one, when described, recalls a Terrestrial gesture:

"She touched brow, lips, bosom, the sign of obedience."
-copied from here.

When Flandry expects that his friend, Jan van Zuyl, will serve the Empire for another four or five decades:

"Enriques spoke so softly that one heard the wind whittering off the sea, through the ancient streets outside. 'Ensign van Zuyl was killed in action four days ago.'
"'Oh, no.' Flandry closed his eyes." (p. 166)

The wind seems to comment yet again. Because the Vice Admiral is subdued, the hostile elements become audible. The ancient streets also contrast with the young life cut short.

Once, I would have said unsympathetically that people are prepared to kill and to die if they join the armed forces. Now, I say essentially the same although with some sympathy. This reminds me of Hauksberg's reflections back in the opening chapter to which I will shortly turn.

In fact, see The Marines and Ensign Flandry.