Unless, of course, whoever was behind it (she very conscientiously avoided assuming it was the Republic of Haven) might be hoping for another response entirely. It was always possible that a bloodbath on Medusa would be grist for the Liberal/Progressive mill and wake such revulsion in Parliament as to enable the anti-annexationists to finally get Manticore entirely off the planet. It struck Honor as unlikely in the extreme, but it was possible. Yet even if that worked, it would never get the Kingdom to renounce its claim on the Basilisk terminus of the Junction, and what good would it do anyone—even Haven—to simply get the NPA off Medusa?

No, there was something else going on here. Something she and Dame Estelle were both missing, but something definitely linked to off-world interests other than a purely domestic Manticoran criminal operation. Honor was certain of that, even if she couldn’t quite make the next connection in the chain, and that meant—

“Captain?”

Honor twitched up out of her reverie at the sound of Captain Papadapolous’s voice. Her surprise roused Nimitz, and he sat up to yawn at the Marine.

“Yes, Major?” she replied. Then she noticed Barney Isvarian standing by the briefing room hatch, and her eyes narrowed. “You have that deployment plan for me?”

“Yes, Captain. Sorry it took so long, but Major Isvarian—Well, he was pretty worn out, Ma’am, and then we had to chase around assembling decent maps and some hard figures on what the NPA actually has on-planet.”

“No problem, Major,” Honor said, and meant it. If there’d been the least trace of defensiveness in Papadapolous’s tone she might not have, but he was simply stating facts, not making excuses. She climbed out of her chair and shook herself, then looked over at the officer of the watch.

“Mr. McKeon?”

“Yes, Skipper?” The exec looked up from his displays, and Honor saw one or two heads twitch as if they wanted to turn and look at him. His use of the word “skipper” no longer sounded outright alien, but it didn’t sound exactly natural, either. Not yet.

“I’d appreciate it if you could join Major Papadapolous, Major Isvarian, and me in the briefing room. I’d like your input on this.”

“Of course, Ma’am.” McKeon rose and looked down at Lieutenant Cardones. “You have the watch, Mr. Cardones.”

“Aye, aye, Sir. I have the watch,” Cardones replied, and McKeon walked briskly into the briefing room with Honor and Papadapolous.

The Marine, who had always seemed detached from Honor’s relations with her naval officers anyway, appeared blissfully ignorant of any change in her relationship with McKeon. He crossed to the briefing room table and fed a pair of data chips into one of the terminals, then waited while Honor and McKeon found seats. Isvarian, who looked infinitely better than the last time Honor had seen him in this compartment, also found a seat, and Papadapolous cleared his throat.

“Basically, Captain, Commander McKeon, I’d like to give you a brief overview of our ideas before I show you the actual deployment order. Would that be acceptable?”