"I must tell you, Siegfried, my single nagging concern about our endeavor is not that we will fail to carry it out, but that success could prove a disappointment to our clients," DeVane said after a moment. "Compared to what we intend to place aboard the Russian orbital platform, the device you fielded is as a cannonball would be to a precision-guided missile."

Kuhl shrugged minimally. A taste.

"Havoc does have a far higher performance watershed to meet, yes, and the fact that one proved reliable is no guarantee that the other will do the same," he said. "Still, the Albanians have paid us up front. As have the cartels. We've made clear that their money is ours to keep regardless."

"I like to take the larger view. Keep our customers satisfied." DeVane paused again. "It is also my wish to see Roger Gordian's reputation and influence suffer for all this. UpLink's growing presence in so many of our pipeline nations arguably represents our greatest threat. The economic and political stability his operations brings to those states is bad for business, and what is bad for business must be eliminated. Think of the trust he stands to lose with his global partners should we deliver on our contracts ... and consider the embarrassment to us if we don't. There are huge dividends at stake on both sides."

Kuhl nodded once.

"A weapon's effectiveness cannot be absolutely proven until it is deployed," he said. "But we know that the engineering difficulties that beset its prototypical antecedents--namely the lack of an adequate, rechargeable energy source, and susceptibility to their own radiation--have been solved. The sun itself will function as an incomparably powerful generator and allow long-range, focused targeting from space. And the exotic metal alloy developed by Ilkanovitch's team has proven capable of shielding the device's components from its intense, repetitive production of broad-frequency microwave beams. Ilkanovitch's documentation of the Russian testing is backed up by the evidence we've seen of its potential."

"You are referring to the railway 'accident'?"