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Eloise Pritchart walked briskly to her chair at the head of the table, sat down in it, and turned to face the rest of her assembled Cabinet. No one who didn’t know her well could have suspected her anxiety level for a moment from her expression or body language.

“Thank you all for coming, Ladies and Gentlemen,” she said with her normal courtesy. “I apologize for convening this meeting on such relatively short notice, but given the nature of the latest reports out of Manticore, I felt it would be wise for all of us to discuss them before the press gets hold of them.”

“May I assume all of you have reviewed Director Trajan’s report?”

She let her gaze circle the table, and one by one, the Cabinet secretaries nodded.

“Good. In that case, I suppose, we should start with State. Arnold?”

It said volumes for her thespian skills that her tone was pleasant and her smile apparently genuine as she turned to the Secretary of State.

“At first glance,” Giancola said after the briefest of pauses, “it’s relatively straightforward. The Manty government hadn’t taken an official stance before Wilhelm’s people dispatched their reports through Trevor’s Star, but it was pretty clear which way High Ridge was inclining. They’re going to go ahead and annex Lynx as well as the actual terminus system, however much they may be pussyfooting around announcing that fact.”

“You’re really confident that it’s that cut and dried?” Secretary of the Treasury Hanriot asked.

“In the end?” Giancola shrugged. “Yes, I am. They may go through the motions of public debate, but I can’t see High Ridge or Descroix commenting so positively on the economic opportunities that decision would offer if annexation wasn’t what they ultimately intended. Or, especially in Descroix’s case, carrying on at such absurd length about how membership in the Star Kingdom would help to safeguard the human rights and self-determination of the citizens of the Cluster. I might have put some credence in an argument like that out of someone like New Kiev, but Descroix—?”

He shook his head.

“Speaking of New Kiev,” Secretary of Commerce Nesbitt put in, “what’s your read on her, Arnold?”

“I think she’s unhappy about it,” Giancola said promptly. “But I also think she’s been overruled by High Ridge, and that she’s not going to break ranks with him at this point.”

“I see.” Pritchart cocked her head, regarding him thoughtfully. “I noticed, though, that you said their positions seemed relatively straightforward ‘at first glance.’ Would you care to elaborate on that?”

“Of course.” Giancola tipped his chair back slightly, resting his elbows on the arms and half-turning it in her direction.

“Basically, what I meant was that while all of the arguments they’ve put forward are rational enough on the surface, particularly from their perspective, I don’t believe that they’re publicly stating their complete rationale for pursuing this expansion into Talbott.”

“What they have publicly stated seems comprehensive enough to me,” Thomas Theisman observed mildly.