Please, he thought, managing somehow not to smile. Oh, please, don’t throw me in that briar patch!

“Firmness,” Pritchart said, “isn’t necessarily the same thing as being ‘confrontational.’ ”

“I didn’t mean to imply that it is,” he lied. “I’m simply saying that I don’t see any way to make our position clearer without explicitly telling the Manties we’re prepared to resort to military action if our demands aren’t met.”

“I don’t think we’re so far along that our only options are to accept something like Descroix’s meaningless response or go to war, Arnold,” Pritchart said frostily, her eyes hard. It was interesting, she thought mordantly, the way that Giancola the firebrand had suddenly cooled off when the polls showed she was the one garnering public support for “standing up” to the Star Kingdom.

“I’m sorry if you think that was what I was saying,” he replied, his expression a carefully crafted blend of frustration and mild disappointment even as a voice deep down inside was exulting Gotcha! “All I’m saying is that we’ve already made our feelings and our position amply clear. Obviously, the Manties haven’t been impressed by that, however. So it seems to me that if we intend to continue to press them for concessions in the negotiations, we have to find some way other than still more diplomatic exchanges to increase the pressure on them. I probably overstated my position by mentioning military action, but let’s be honest. What means do we have for exerting more pressure besides the potential threat of a resumption of hostilities?”

“I think we’ve already made them fully aware of that threat’s potential,” Pritchart said. “I see no reason to escalate tensions by waving the Navy in their direction even more explicitly. But I do intend to continue to press them on the diplomatic front. Do you have a problem with that?”

“Of course not,” he said in a voice which implied exactly the opposite. “Even if I did, you’re the President. However, if you—I mean, we—intend to maintain the diplomatic pressure, I believe we have to pursue all other avenues, as well. Which is why I would like to very strongly urge once again that we announce the existence of our CLACs, as well as the SD(P)s.”

“Absolutely not,” Pritchart said, then grimaced mentally. Her refusal had come out rather more forcefully than she’d intended. Partly, she suspected, that was because she was trapped between Thomas Theisman’s position and Giancola’s and resented it. The fact that Theisman was a friend while Giancola was something else entirely only made her resentment worse.

And, she reminded herself yet again, another part of it stemmed from her growing tendency to see anything Giancola suggested as a bad idea simply because it had come from him.

“No,” she said in a calmer tone, and shook her head. “I’m not prepared to override Tom Theisman on that—not yet. But I do intend to reply to Descroix in no uncertain terms.”

“It’s your decision to make,” Giancola conceded unhappily. Really, he reflected behind the cover of his frown, this was turning out to be even easier than he’d expected. It was like the old fables about “leading” a pig by tying a string to its hind leg and pulling in the opposite direction from the way you wanted it to go. The last thing he wanted at this point was for someone in the Star Kingdom to wake up too soon to the reality of the military threat it faced, and telling it about the CLACs was likely to accomplish just that.