She wondered, sometimes, if perhaps she was wronging him a little. It was possible he’d become unhinged during his long stay on Hell, after all. But she didn’t think so. His personality was too narrow, his belief in his own rectitude too unhesitating and unquestioning, for something as minor as eight years as a POW to chip away at.

“Now, then,” she went on more calmly. “Whether you care to believe it or not, Admiral, I have given careful thought to your objections. Some of them are well reasoned, even though I may not agree with you, and you are certainly entitled to record them formally and in writing for review by higher authority. For now, however, I am the senior officer present, and it becomes my duty under the Articles of War—Manticoran as well as Grayson—to punish those guilty of criminal conduct in my command area. I do not accept that responsibility lightly, and I do not intend to exercise my authority capriciously. I do, however, intend to empanel courts-martial to consider the charges of criminal conduct leveled against the State Security personnel on this planet.”

“With all due respect, Admiral,” Styles broke in, “but that’s a dangerous and extremely ill-advised decision.” His tone didn’t sound at all respectful, but she decided to let that pass as long as he watched his word choices. “I have no love for State Security—God knows I was their prisoner longer and suffered more from them than y—”

He chopped himself off again, flushing in embarrassment as she cocked an eyebrow coolly at him. His eyes slipped away from her half-dead face, then bounced off the empty left sleeve of her tunic, and he cleared his throat noisily.

“Well, that’s beside the point,” he said brusquely. “And the point is, Admiral Harrington, that if you go around convening kangaroo courts in the name of the Manticoran Alliance for the sole purpose of shooting Peep personnel as some sort of vengeance play, it won’t matter whether you call it a ’court-martial’ or simple murder. The propaganda consequences of such an action alone scarcely bear thinking about, and that leaves aside the whole question of its legality! I believe you’re exceeding your authority, regardless of your rank, and I seriously question whether or not you can legally apply our Articles of War to the conduct, however reprehensible, of foreign nationals!”

“I don’t doubt that you do,” Honor said. Nor, though she forbore mentioning it, did she doubt that the true reason he’d objected in the first place was because he saw the supposed illegality of her intentions as a way to undercut the legitimacy of her authority in her subordinates’ eyes. Just as he had now convinced himself that the only reason she had promised the courts-martial to the Infernoites and Styx’s slaves was as a way to buy their support for her continued usurpation of his authority.

“If, however,” she continued, “you had bothered to read my memo, or to listen to what I’ve already said, or, for that matter, even to ask, you would know that I have no intention of applying the Articles of War to them.” His face flushed with fresh, wine-dark rage as her cold words bit home, and the living side of her mouth smiled frostily.