Acroyear, feeling somewhat alone among his companions, daydreams about Cilicia, his betrothed. She condemns him for what he did to their home planet. He defends his actions and honor. Then he tells a tale of long ago when he learned something of honor.
As a prince of his race, he led a fleet against an invading group of aliens that was attacking a planet under his supervision. They defeated them, only to turn the sky into burning plasma (which did not hurt the planet).
Upon landing, he met with the planet's leader. However, Acroyear's assistant, Illyrie, was wounded when some rebels attacked. The leader, Laios, says the rebels are led by his evil son.
Illyrie later tells Acroyear she is attracted to him, but he is engaged to Cilicia, so they do nothing. Then the regent's son comes in--except it turns out he's really his grandfather in another body, and Laios is actually the bad guy. Acroyear and Illyrie set a trap. Illyrie gets Laios to admit who he is, but because she owes him a debt of honor for earlier, he tries to force her to sleep with him. She refuses, and he shoot her. Acroyear then jumps out and kills him. Illyrie asks for a kiss before she dies, and he grants it. He was thus able to successfully deal with the situation with honor intact, but at great loss.
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