As the pirate captains started to troop out, the girl added to the old Martian, “Stilicho, find a cabin for the Planeteers."
Thorn was starting out with his two comrades after the old pirate, when Lana's voice halted him.
"Wait, John Thorn. There's something I want to ask you."
Thorn turned, surprised. The girl was looking at him with a queerly thoughtful expression in her blue eyes, her small hand idly patting the space dog that had risen beside her.
"You were in the Earth Navy before you became an outlaw, weren't you?” she asked him.
Thorn nodded. “Until I deserted,” he admitted curtly.
Lana pointed up to a picture on the wall, a portrait of a hard-faced, middle-aged man with piercing eyes.
"My father, Martin Cain, was officer in the Earth Navy, too, before he became an outlaw,” she said slowly. “Do they ever speak of my father on Earth? What do they say of him?"
Thorn told her the truth. “They speak of him only as notorious pirate. Few remember he was ever a naval man."
"But he was, and one of their best officers,” Lana said bitterly. “It was the jealousy of other officers over his promotions that formed a cabal which had him dishonorably discharge. That was the reward of Earth for all the service he'd given his native planet."