“So do I,” Descroix seconded with a vigorous nod.

“I follow your logic,” New Kiev agreed, although her voice and manner were considerably cooler than those of her two colleagues. Then she paused for a moment, and Janacek held his mental breath, wondering if she were about to point out the gaping hole in what he’d just said.

“I follow your logic,” she repeated, “but even granting all you’ve just said, I have to admit that the mere fact that they’ve announced the existence of these ships worries me badly. They’ve obviously spent years successfully concealing it, given how long it takes to build a ship of the wall, so what inspired them to voluntarily stop concealing it? And why do it at this particular moment?”

Janacek exhaled internally, his attentive expression hiding his enormous relief that she hadn’t pointed out that the ONI which was confident of the RMN’s technological superiority was the same ONI which had been equally confident of its numerical superiority up until approximately thirty-six hours before this meeting.

“I have to admit to concerns of my own in that regard,” he told her, and turned to the Foreign Secretary. “I’m not aware of any compelling military reason for Theisman to have made this information public,” he said. “Which leads me to suspect that there must be some other consideration which justifies him and Pritchart, at least in their own minds, in making this announcement. Have your people been able to come up with anything in that regard, Elaine?”

Descroix returned his bland gaze with a composure he suspected was equally false. It was obvious that she fully understood his relief at finding another target against which he might direct the attention of their ministerial colleagues. Fortunately, he thought, there wasn’t very much she could do about it.

“We haven’t had a great deal of time to think about it, Edward,” she said with an air of reason. “Given how completely… unexpected Theisman’s announcement was, none of my diplomatic analysts had seen any reason to allow for anything like it in their evaluations of the Republic’s negotiating posture. After all, since no one had even hinted to them that these ships existed, they could hardly have factored them into their analyses, now could they?”

Her sweet smile held more than a hint of malice, and Janacek hid a mental wince as her swift riposte drew blood.

“I’ve spent several hours conferring with my senior people since we received the news, however,” she continued in a tone which added an unspoken “of course” to the sentence. “At the moment, we see two main possibilities where political and diplomatic considerations are concerned.”

“First, and simplest, is a possibility you’ve already raised yourself. It’s been apparent for some time that Pritchart has been less than delighted with our refusal to make the ridiculous concessions her negotiators have demanded from us.” New Kiev shifted ever so slightly in her chair, but she didn’t interrupt, and Descroix went on smoothly. “Our best analyses suggest that Secretary Giancola is even unhappier than she is. In fact, it would be completely unreasonable for us to expect either of them not to be displeased, under the circumstances. After all, one of the realities of interstellar diplomacy is that someone is in the weaker position in almost any negotiation, and since Saint-Just sued for a truce, that someone has been the Republic.