"That's awfully ruthless, no?" Lord Shaxx queried. "It's one thing to kill an enemy in combat. But executions… that's dirty business. I know from experience."

"Hmm," Saladin grumbled, turning the elaborate hand cannon over in his hands. "I felt the same way, at the time. I was content to let Calus rot away in deep space, drinking himself into oblivion."

Saladin furrowed his brow. "But after Neomuna; after going tusk-to-tusk with the Shadow Legion, I wonder if his exile was mercy… or weakness."

"Careful, Valus," Shaxx quipped, "your empress might not take kindly to that sort of talk."

Saladin passed the hand cannon back to Shaxx with an approving nod. "I doubt she feels differently. Seeing her father changed like that… had to be harder in the long run."

Shaxx holstered the cannon. "Maybe so, but that's what sets Caiatl apart. It's what set the Vanguard apart! Acting with honor, even at great cost to ourselves."

"Sometimes our honor IS the cost," Saladin rebutted. "And we'd better remember that on the other side of the portal."