“Was there a particular reason why you didn’t tell the entire staff?” the older woman asked after a moment, and Honor shrugged.

“I suppose not, really,” she conceded. “But since none of Alfredo’s people knew they were headed out here when they first sailed, it just seemed that it would be… I don’t know, inappropriate, perhaps, to tell you what they didn’t know. Besides,” her crooked smile turned impish, “Alfredo and I had already decided all of you could use a little unscheduled drill you didn’t know was a drill. And it did get all of us up on our toes, didn’t it?”

“I imagine someone given to understatement might put it that way, Your Grace,” Cardones agreed in a dust-dry tone. “Not,” he continued, turning to Yu, “that we’re not all delighted to see you, Admiral.”

“I believe Captain Cardones speaks for all of us in that, Sir,” Andrea Jaruwalski put in, and shook her head. “You’ve just more than doubled our strength in both SD(P)s and CLACs, after all!”

“And no one knows you have. Not yet, at least,” Brigham observed with profound satisfaction.

“But that cuts both ways,” Jaruwalski pointed out. “If the Andies do decide to try something, then the fact that we have Admiral Yu’s units to back us up is going to come as a profoundly unhappy surprise for them. But if they did know he was here, then his presence might well… dissuade them from any risky adventures.”

“The word will get around soon enough,” Honor reassured her, then paused to accept a stein of Old Tillman from MacGuiness. She smiled her thanks at the steward and turned back to the ops officer.

“The Silesian grapevine is the only genuinely faster than light means of interstellar communications I’ve ever encountered, Andrea,” she continued. “And, frankly, I’m not at all unhappy at how quickly I expect the word to get out. The secrecy about Admiral Yu’s destination wasn’t aimed at the Andies in the first place.”

“Worried about the Opposition in the Keys, Your Grace?” Brigham asked shrewdly, and Honor nodded.

“That doesn’t get mentioned outside ‘the family,’ ” she cautioned, and Jaruwalski, Brigham, and Cardones all nodded in understanding.

“May I ask how long the Protector’s Own will be staying?” Jaruwalski inquired after a moment, glancing back and forth between Honor and Yu.

“Until Steadholder Harrington tells us to go home,” Yu replied in an emphatic tone. Jaruwalski’s expression showed her flicker of surprise at the strength of his response, and he shook his head. “Sorry, Captain. It’s just that my instructions from High Admiral Matthews and the Protector were a bit on the… firm side.”

“I appreciate that, Alfredo,” Honor said. “At the same time, though, I don’t see how I could justify hanging onto this much of the Protector’s Own indefinitely.”

“You don’t have to justify a thing, My Lady,” Yu told her. “Part of our mission profile is to demonstrate our ability to maintain ourselves out of our own resources. That’s why we brought along our own supply and service ships. At the moment, we’ve got everything we need to meet our logistical needs for a minimum of five T-months, and the High Admiral told me that he doesn’t expect to see me back until we reach the bottom of the barrel.”