"You could say I did once," his father answered. "We went through Guard
training together. Served on the same base a few times. Some years ago,
I retired. I'm pretty sure he didn't."
Don pushed himself out of the chair and stood in front of his father.
"You mean Mr. Masterson is----"
Kent Michaels nodded slowly. "Stellar Guard Investigations? Yes, and I
suspect he could wear quite a bit of silver lace, too, if he wanted to
get dressed up." He clasped his hands behind his head.
"Let's see, Don, you're almost twenty now. Right?"
"That's right, Dad."
"Uh huh. And you were born here on Khloris. Means I've been out of
active duty for quite a while, at that." He smiled.
"Got papers upstairs. They say I retired a little more than twenty-one
years ago. Got official permission to live on an outworld and joined
the first group of colonists here. Of course, they don't say anything
about the people that told me to do all that."