And now this. All very well for Chakrabarti to suggest at this late date that they go crawling to Benjamin Mayhew and his precious High Admiral Matthews. He wasn’t the one who’d had to deal with the insufferable, arrogant, religious fanatic barbarians and put them in their places! No, that had been Janacek’s job. So of course it was easy for Chakrabarti to propose that the First Lord eat dirt and beg Grayson to save their bacon now!

“Just where did this particular brainstorm come from all of a sudden?” he demanded icily.

“It’s not ‘all of a sudden,’ ” Chakrabarti replied. “I admit that I haven’t broached the possibility of calling on Grayson with you before this, but you’ve certainly been aware of my concern over how thinly we’re spread. Harrington’s report may have galvanized my concerns, but I’ve been thinking about this particular possible solution for two or three months now, particularly in light of my correspondence with Admiral Kuzak.”

“Kuzak!” Janacek spat out the name like a fishbone. Theodosia Kuzak was the one senior fleet commander he’d been unable to get rid of. He’d had to choose between her or White Haven, given the way the citizens of San Martin worshiped the pair of them. White Haven might have liberated the system, but Kuzak had commanded the fleet which protected Trevor’s Star for almost ten T-years. He’d wanted desperately to fire her right along with her precious friend White Haven, but High Ridge had overruled him. The Prime Minister had been unwilling to expend the political capital involved in firing both of the flag officers the San Martinos held in such high regard.

“Yes, Kuzak,” Chakrabarti acknowledged. “That’s one reason I haven’t discussed the possibility with you. I knew anything she approved of would automatically… irritate you. But she’s got a point, Edward. We’re in trouble. How we got there is really immaterial at the moment in practical terms. Getting out of it is what matters, and if the Graysons are prepared to reinforce us, then I think we need to very seriously consider asking them to do just that.”

“No,” Janacek repeated in a somewhat calmer tone. “And not just because I don’t trust the Graysons or Kuzak. I don’t,” he admitted, “and for good reason, I think. But leaving that completely aside, asking Grayson to send additional units to back up our pickets at this point could only be seen by the Republic as a provocative move.”

“Provocative?”

“Of course it would be provocative! You’re talking about strengthening our naval presence in the very systems whose possession is under dispute. How could that not be seen as a provocative gesture at this time?”

“Unless I’m very much mistaken, the diplomatic note we’ve just sent them could certainly be considered provocative, Edward!”

“Not in the same fashion. One is only a matter of diplomacy; the other is a matter of actual military movements. I think there’s a very distinct difference between the two, myself.”

“I don’t think you and I are going to agree on this,” Chakrabarti said after a moment. “So let me ask you one more time. Will you agree to ask the Prime Minister to modify our Silesian policy so that we can bring sizable portions of Task Force Thirty-Four home, or else to explore the possibility of seeking Grayson reinforcements for our system pickets?”