“I take your point—yours and Alistair’s both,” Honor said after a moment. “But I think this is probably something we shouldn’t be discussing even ‘in the family.’ ” She knew Yu and Caslet well enough to feel no discomfort at saying such a thing in front of them, and Grant, Yu’s chief of staff, was an old-school Grayson; it was impossible to conceive of him ever telling tales out of school. Besides, the three of them were family themselves, by adoption, at least, and she gave them a smile as she went on. “There’s no point pretending we’re not all concerned over the lack of new instructions, and I don’t see any way to avoid speculating on why we’re not receiving any. But I’d very much prefer for us to minimize discussion of how stupid we think our existing orders are. I don’t expect either of you to tell yourselves to stop thinking about it, but, frankly, we’ve got more than enough distrust and resentment floating around the staff without our adding fuel to the fire.”

She held Brigham’s eye for a moment, then swept her gaze over Orndorff and McKeon, as well, waiting until each of them had nodded.

McKeon started to say something more, but then the lift car arrived at its destination. The door hissed open, and he shrugged, with a crooked grin for the distraction, and stood back to follow Honor out into the passageway.

· · • · ·

Andrea Jaruwalski and George Reynolds were waiting in the briefing room when Andrew LaFollet poked his head through the hatch to give the compartment his customary once over. A tallish, fair-haired senior-grade RMN captain and an unusually youthful Sidemorian lieutenant commander were waiting with the staffers, and LaFollet let his eyes linger on them for just a moment, as if committing their faces to memory. Then he withdrew into the passage once more, and permitted Honor to lead the rest of her small party through the hatch.

Her juniors came to their feet respectfully, and she waved them back into their chairs as she headed for her own place at the head of the table. McKeon seated himself to her right, with Orndorff to his own right, while Yu and Caslet sat to her left. Brigham found her own chair between Jaruwalski and Reynolds, and Honor waited a moment longer while the two treecats settled down on the tops of their people’s chair backs, then turned her attention to Jaruwalski.

“Are you and George ready for us?” she asked.

“Yes, Your Grace,” the operations officer replied.

“Then we might as well get started.”

“Yes, Your Grace,” Jaruwalski repeated, and nodded to Reynolds. “Go ahead, George.”

“Certainly, Ma’am,” the staff “spook” said, more formal than usual in the presence of outsiders. Then he cleared his throat.

“First, allow me to present Captain Ackenheil.”

“Of the LaFroye, I believe?” Honor said, raising one eyebrow at the captain.

“Yes, Your Grace,” Ackenheil replied.

“That was a nice piece of work with Wayfarer,” she complimented him. “Very nice. I could have wished we hadn’t taken a slaver who was a namesake for one of my old ships,” she grimaced, “but liberating almost two hundred slaves is more than enough to make up even for that. My report on the incident strongly commends you and your people for the job you did.”