“No,” Janacek said flatly.

“Very well.” Chakrabarti stood. “In that case, I submit my resignation, effective immediately.”

“You can’t do this!”

“Yes, I can, Edward.”

“You’ll be ruined!”

“Perhaps I will. It’s certainly possible. But in my judgment, it’s far more likely that I’d be ‘ruined’ if I simply sat by and watched the shuttle crash.”

“Oh?” Janacek looked scornfully at the taller man. “And have you discussed this with your brother-in-law and your cousin?”

“As a matter of fact, I have,” Chakrabarti said, and Janacek blinked at him in astonishment. “Akahito made more or less the same arguments you’ve just made. In fact, his advice was that I just keep my mouth shut and do whatever I was told to do. I can’t say I was too surprised by that. But Adam had a somewhat different viewpoint.”

Janacek realized he was gaping at the First Space Lord and commanded his mouth to close. It wasn’t easy. Like Chakrabarti, he was hardly surprised that Akahito Fitzpatrick had advised his cousin not to rock the boat. The Duke of Gray Water had been one of High Ridge’s closest political allies for decades, after all. But Chakrabarti’s brother-in-law, Adam Damakos, was another matter entirely.

“And just what did Mr. Damakos have to say about it?” The First Lord asked warily.

“I’m not sure it would be appropriate for me to discuss that with you,” Chakrabarti replied. “I’ll simply say that Adam is… increasingly less enamored of the current Government, despite New Kiev’s and MacIntosh’s presence in it.”

“What?” Janacek laughed scornfully. “He prefers that bleeding heart, mealy mouthed, babbling idiot Montaigne?”

“As a matter of fact, I believe he does,” Chakrabarti said. “In fact, he’s not the only Liberal MP who seems to me to be leaning in that direction. But what matters in this instance is that he’s the ranking Liberal member of the Naval Affairs Committee in the Commons. That means he’s considerably better informed on the realities of our naval posture than Akahito is, and his judgment is much the same as mine. We have too many responsibilities and too few hulls to meet them all. Either we find the extra hulls, or we reduce the responsibilities. Those are our only two options, Edward. And if you can’t agree with me on that, then you and I have no business working together.”

“Very well,” Janacek grated. “Your resignation will be accepted before the end of the day. I trust that I need not remind you of the provisions of the Official Secrets Act.”

“No, you most certainly don’t,” Chakrabarti replied stiffly. “I’ll keep my mouth shut about the privileged aspects of my knowledge. When the newsies ask me why I’ve resigned, I’ll use that old standby about personalities that just don’t mesh smoothly. But trust me, Edward. If you don’t do something about this, I’m very much afraid that your concerns about why people may think I resigned are going to be the least of your problems.”