A colonel in the Terran Hegemony's X-Corps. He was promoted to wing marshal, but asked to be demoted so he could command a ship. He lost an eye and a leg freeing a Free Trader ship from slavers. For a while he taught in the Guard Academy, then transferred to the X-Corps and infiltrated the Nine Worlds to report on the slave trade there. He established himself in Jubbulpore as Baslim the Cripple, a beggar, and while in this role purchased Thorby Rudbek, eventually training the boy as a messenger and making arrangements for his return to the Hegemony in the event of Baslim's death. Baslim was killed by Imperial soldiers when Thorby was in his teens.