The earl shrugged.

“Willie managed to convince Elizabeth that, under the circumstances, her best bet is to just file all of this away for now and concentrate on what we can do to prepare for a possible attack despite ‘her’ government. The best possible outcome would be for all of this to blow over with no shots fired, even if High Ridge got credit for that outcome. If shots are fired, then she’ll have the information of the way they screwed the pooch on file when it comes time to form a new government. And by doing what we can quietly, behind the scenes and without any public fanfare, we may actually accomplish some good without striking the final spark a domestic political dogfight might provide.”

“Um.” Benjamin frowned, then leaned back and tugged at an earlobe.

“I follow the logic. I’m not sure I agree with it, but your domestic situation is different from ours. And I do agree that the best possible outcome would be no shots fired… however unlikely I think that might be.”

“I agree, Your Grace,” Matthews said. “Both that it would be the best outcome and that it’s unlikely at this point. And Lady Harrington’s analysis of the Peeps’ possible opening gambits certainly makes sense to me. If the Republic really intends to attack the Star Kingdom anywhere, it’s going to hit Trevor’s Star as one of its primary objectives—if not the primary objective.”

“And knowing Thomas Theisman,” White Haven said grimly, “it’s going to hit Third Fleet with enough strength to smash it to bits.”

“Absolutely.” Matthews nodded. “Not just to take the terminus away from you, either. That would be important enough, given the logistics advantages it offers, of course. But their real objective would be Third Fleet’s SD(P)s and CLACs.”

“Agreed. But I can’t get Janacek to agree to reinforce. He flatly refuses to do it.”

“In all fairness to Janacek,” Matthews said in the voice of a man who manifestly found it very difficult to be anything of the sort, “he doesn’t have a great deal he could reinforce with. I’d imagine that he’s hoping desperately that everything will blow over without ever coming to actual fighting. If the Republic does attack, he probably figures he can do a repeat of your relief of Basilisk from Trevor’s Star using units of Home Fleet direct from Manticore.”

“Then he’s dreaming,” White Haven said flatly. “Even if he had Home Fleet sitting out on the Junction, which would leave Manticore and Sphinx effectively unprotected, he couldn’t get them through the Junction and into support range of Theodosia’s fleet before an attacking force could pin her against San Martin and force her into action.” He laughed harshly, the sound cold and ugly. “I found that out when I couldn’t stop Giscard from blowing the entire Basilisk infrastructure to Hell!”

“Oh, I know that,” Matthews snorted. “The problem is that I don’t think Janacek does.”

“Neither do I,” Benjamin said. He tipped back in his own chair, gazing at White Haven thoughtfully. “Do you think Janacek would accept a squadron or two of our SD(P)s to support Third Fleet?”