Her troops call Zelira Marel "The Kitten", although, admittedly, not to her face. She's a StarLeader in the aftermath of the Sex War, charged with eradicating nests of male "hold-outs", who refuse to accept the peace treaty. Technologically outclassed, the resistants have no chance against female StarCommandos. The Kitten's tactic is to demonstrate her unit's invincible firepower and then accept the inevitable surrender. No-one gets hurt. Marel's handling of a raypistol is legendary; as one of her girls puts it, "The Kitten could put a ray on a barn-door ten light years away!" In these situations, though, she misses, every time. The Kitten. It always works.