Kidahin led a surface action assault team as they prowled the forward reconnaissance mission. Although their assault mistress, she was also the youngest team member. Ordering them about was fraught with hidden peril. Eyloni females held social and hierarchical rank standings. Social rank depended on society membership and adulthood age. Hierarchical rank depended on the hierarchy. Insulting the honor of high-ranking hierarchy females often led to honor debt crimes. Kidahin’s twenty Hunter female team included eleven ranking her socially and four ranking her in hierarchy standing.

Yet Kidahin ranked them in military rank, rank given by her warleader. Military rank, male recognition, mattered to females and made all the difference.

Stuck on an alien world, Kidahin thought about Delwyn. He was engaging the enemy fleet in orbit above. She had chosen him as warleader, had helped him during his adulthood survival ordeal. She worried for him. Males always needed females to keep them safe.