“I don’t know.” Honor sighed. “If I were calling the shots from the other side, I certainly would have at least started laying the groundwork for some sort of negotiated settlement. I can’t believe they really want a shooting war with us over something like this!”

“Under normal circumstances, I’d agree with you, My Lady,” Caslet said. “But their new choice for their Silesian commander makes me wonder.”

“Um.” Honor gazed at him, eyes troubled, then nodded unhappily and looked at the rest of her officers. “In some ways, I agree with Warner,” she admitted. “Alice met Chien-lu von Rabenstrange the last time all three of us were out here, too, but the rest of you may not realize just how significant the Emperor’s announcement that he’s going to be appointed to the Silesian command really is. Von Rabenstrange isn’t just any old flag officer. Not only is he a Gross Admiral, he’s the Emperor’s own first cousin, and fifth in the succession to the throne to boot. And he also has a reputation as one of the best combat commanders they have.

“But by the same token, he’s an honorable man. And unlike Admiral von Sternhafen, he’s no anti-Manticoran chauvinist. I don’t think he’d feel comfortable about accepting responsibility for executing a policy he expected to lead to war, and he wouldn’t be the sort to enjoy picking a fight with us the way Sternhafen might. I’m not saying he wouldn’t accept the slot and carry out his orders to do just that anyway if he were ordered to, because he takes his duties as an officer seriously. But unless I’m very mistaken, he’d do all he could to talk the Emperor out of deliberately starting something. And he and Gustav have always been close, ever since they were at the Andie naval academy together, so I’m sure he’d have spoken his mind about it. So maybe the fact that they’re sending him out to relieve Sternhafen is an indication that they really don’t plan on starting something.”

“Maybe,” McKeon agreed sourly. “But whatever they may be planning, the way they’re actually behaving is going to push us into an exchange of fire whether or not either side wants one! If they’d just make their demands and let us respond, one way or the other, both sides would know what the options were. At least that way we wouldn’t start killing each other because of some sheer, stupid accident!”

“They probably aren’t making formal demands because they don’t realize what gutless wonders are running the Star Kingdom,” Honor said with a flash of sudden rage. “They think there may actually be someone in the High Ridge Government with a spine—someone who’d actually stand up to them! Someone—”

She chopped herself off abruptly as she realized just how much frustration she was revealing. And, for that matter, startled to realize how angry she actually was… and how clearly she was allowing it to show, despite the way she’d admonished McKeon, Orndorff, and Brigham in the lift car.