back. But he was the one who issued the worst of the occupational decrees, sir."
Up until this moment, I'd been having an all too rare pleasant evening despite the importance of the matters under discussion. But now… "All the hostages that were executed, all the pillaging, all the Rabbits shipped away as slaves…" Freida , I didn't add aloud.
"All under his orders, sir," Nestor agreed. "He'd have been declared a war criminal, but we last made peace on negotiated terms as you may recall. Terms that included both sides renouncing all claims of criminality against each other."
I nodded. Because the Empire had protested the legality of some of my own actions at Zombie Station I was more than passingly familiar with this provision of the treaty. Supposedly His Majesty had only agreed for pragmatic reasons—he was well aware that it was unlikely he'd ever be able to get his hands on Kiril and his ilk regardless. "But he's still a beast."
"Absolutely, sir." Nestor licked his nose. "Personally, I suspect that his record as a governor is yet another implied threat to the Wilkes people. Sort of a good cop-bad cop thing."
I nodded. It made sense enough. "So, the Imperials may actually be scarier than I am."
Nestor shrugged. "You have a squadron right here, right now. But that's today, sir. What about tomorrow? Can we hold Wilkes space, in the long run?"
"In the long run, absolutely," I replied. "Once our new offensive-style war-plan kicks in, that is. When we begin deep-raiding Imperial space on a massive scale and set the times and places for the battles by attacking them , for a change, we won't even be worried about 'holding' anymore. We'll be actively expanding. In the short run, however… It depends on how badly the Empire wants the systems, I suppose."
"Yes, sir," Nestor agreed. "Though I don't pretend to be an expert I believe you—an offensive plan makes such perfect sense that I'm shocked no one's ever implemented one before. But…" He shook his head. "For many decades now, we've been slowly losing. You can't blame a front-line House like that of Wilkes for noticing that sort of little detail, sir. Not at all!"
10
From the very beginning our little dinner date with the Imperials was planned as an all-military affair; not only was this traditional in such matters but it freed up Sir Nicholas, our Royal Governor-without-portfolio, to go dirtside and begin undertaking our business with the House of Wilkes. We'd decided to keep his Governor's appointment up our sleeve for the moment; it'd only just been publicly revealed for the first time at Hashimoto Prime, and since my task force was almost certainly the fastest thing moving between here and there, well… It could remain our little secret for several weeks to come. Nicholas had been issued duplicate credentials as a special envoy with just this situation in mind, so it was "Ambassador" Vorsage who dined that night with Lord Randolph, the sitting Lord of the House of Wilkes.
I must say that it felt distinctly strange to find myself serenely floating across space towards an unresisting Imperial cruiser in Javelin 's largest and best-appointed boat. Apparently, so did Heinrich. "I've never been so close to an Imperial ship, sir."
"Me either," I agreed. "Or at least not without them shooting at me."
"We ought to ignore the white flag and blow them out of the sky," Captain Harlowe muttered. "Not break bread with them." I scowled and met Jean's eye; he merely shrugged slightly. I didn't like bringing my entire upper command echelon into enemy territory with me, but circumstances had rendered it unavoidable. Heinrich had to come because he too was a past acquaintance of Sir Jason, and Jean's social rank dictated that he be included as well. Captain Harlowe could—and ordinarily should—have been left behind as my second-in-command, ready to carry on the mission in the event of treachery. But the fact was that I had so little trust in the man that I'd sooner
Up until this moment, I'd been having an all too rare pleasant evening despite the importance of the matters under discussion. But now… "All the hostages that were executed, all the pillaging, all the Rabbits shipped away as slaves…" Freida , I didn't add aloud.
"All under his orders, sir," Nestor agreed. "He'd have been declared a war criminal, but we last made peace on negotiated terms as you may recall. Terms that included both sides renouncing all claims of criminality against each other."
I nodded. Because the Empire had protested the legality of some of my own actions at Zombie Station I was more than passingly familiar with this provision of the treaty. Supposedly His Majesty had only agreed for pragmatic reasons—he was well aware that it was unlikely he'd ever be able to get his hands on Kiril and his ilk regardless. "But he's still a beast."
"Absolutely, sir." Nestor licked his nose. "Personally, I suspect that his record as a governor is yet another implied threat to the Wilkes people. Sort of a good cop-bad cop thing."
I nodded. It made sense enough. "So, the Imperials may actually be scarier than I am."
Nestor shrugged. "You have a squadron right here, right now. But that's today, sir. What about tomorrow? Can we hold Wilkes space, in the long run?"
"In the long run, absolutely," I replied. "Once our new offensive-style war-plan kicks in, that is. When we begin deep-raiding Imperial space on a massive scale and set the times and places for the battles by attacking them , for a change, we won't even be worried about 'holding' anymore. We'll be actively expanding. In the short run, however… It depends on how badly the Empire wants the systems, I suppose."
"Yes, sir," Nestor agreed. "Though I don't pretend to be an expert I believe you—an offensive plan makes such perfect sense that I'm shocked no one's ever implemented one before. But…" He shook his head. "For many decades now, we've been slowly losing. You can't blame a front-line House like that of Wilkes for noticing that sort of little detail, sir. Not at all!"
10
From the very beginning our little dinner date with the Imperials was planned as an all-military affair; not only was this traditional in such matters but it freed up Sir Nicholas, our Royal Governor-without-portfolio, to go dirtside and begin undertaking our business with the House of Wilkes. We'd decided to keep his Governor's appointment up our sleeve for the moment; it'd only just been publicly revealed for the first time at Hashimoto Prime, and since my task force was almost certainly the fastest thing moving between here and there, well… It could remain our little secret for several weeks to come. Nicholas had been issued duplicate credentials as a special envoy with just this situation in mind, so it was "Ambassador" Vorsage who dined that night with Lord Randolph, the sitting Lord of the House of Wilkes.
I must say that it felt distinctly strange to find myself serenely floating across space towards an unresisting Imperial cruiser in Javelin 's largest and best-appointed boat. Apparently, so did Heinrich. "I've never been so close to an Imperial ship, sir."
"Me either," I agreed. "Or at least not without them shooting at me."
"We ought to ignore the white flag and blow them out of the sky," Captain Harlowe muttered. "Not break bread with them." I scowled and met Jean's eye; he merely shrugged slightly. I didn't like bringing my entire upper command echelon into enemy territory with me, but circumstances had rendered it unavoidable. Heinrich had to come because he too was a past acquaintance of Sir Jason, and Jean's social rank dictated that he be included as well. Captain Harlowe could—and ordinarily should—have been left behind as my second-in-command, ready to carry on the mission in the event of treachery. But the fact was that I had so little trust in the man that I'd sooner
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