His gaze swept over all of them, but it settled on Giscard, and his eyes held the admiral’s steadily as he continued.

“I’m not at all certain I agree with her reasoning. I can’t really offer a better plan, however. And even if I could, the fact is that she’s the elected President, and that means policy is hers to make, not mine. To be perfectly honest, that principle is important enough that even if I vehemently disagreed with her, I’d shut up and carry out my orders when she gave them.”

“In this instance, those orders were to announce the improvements in our combat capabilities in a way which was certain to catch the Manties’ attention as publicly as possible. And they were also to prepare—as unobtrusively as possible—to meet and defeat any preemptive strike Janacek and Chakrabarti might be inclined to launch. And as a third point, they were to prepare the best possible plan for a renewed general war with the Star Kingdom of Manticore.”

If the temperature had seemed to drop earlier, now it was as if an icy wind had blown through the briefing room. The fleet commanders and their chiefs of staff sat very, very still, eyes fixed on the Secretary of War. Only Marquette, Borderwijk, Foraker, and Anders had known what he was about to say; the other four looked as if they wished they had never heard it.

“Let me emphasize,” Theisman went on in a firm, quiet voice, “that neither the President nor I are actively contemplating operations against the Manties. Nor do we have any desire to contemplate them at any time. But it’s our responsibility to be certain that if something goes wrong, the Navy is prepared to defend the Republic.”

“I’m sure all of us are relieved to know we’re not planning to attack the Manties,” Tourville said. “However, I’m also sure that everyone in this compartment recognizes that however much the current tech balance may favor them, at the moment the overall military balance is probably as close to favoring us over them as it’s ever going to get.”

“I take your meaning, Lester. And I agree with you,” Theisman said after a moment. “In fact, that’s one of the main reasons I announced only the existence of the new ships of the wall, not the CLACs. And why I understated the number of SD(P)s we have in commission, as well. Obviously, I didn’t want to panic Janacek into recommending that the Manties do something foolish and preemptive. But the longer we can keep them unaware of our true capabilities, the longer they’ll be less likely to begin any vigorous countermeasures. Which, hopefully, translates into a longer period in which we can maintain whatever military edge we currently have.”

“I don’t know how ‘vigorous’ their countermeasures are likely to be, assuming they don’t go for a military option,” Giscard observed. “But all they really have to do to offset any edge we may have is to complete all of those damned SD(P)s and CLACs they laid down before the Cromarty Assassination.”