Excerpt: The Bitch's Lament

They were a bakers dozen in all, a cell of discontent and disenfranchise on a hard scrabble world meeting in a basement to plot revolution. Brother Long knife stood at the front of the room under a painting of Ylva the Great, The Iron Bitch looking bold and victorious and defiant against a background of Terran ships sent packing.
It was a great picture and had absolutely nothing to do with reality. Brother Falx liked to count the inaccuracies as he helped out and listened to speeches. For one thing, Queen Ylva wouldn't have been that voluptuous, especially not after five years of war and deprivation. Second the ships in the painting didn't come on line until a good century later....