“Well, at least we know where they aren’t,” Truman said sourly. “Or, at least we know one star system where they aren’t anymore.”

“Yes, we do,” Honor said, and Truman looked at her. So did Yu, and McKeon turned his head to give her a very sharp glance indeed as the thoughtful edge to her tone registered. The three of them gazed at her for several seconds, then looked at one another.

“And?” McKeon prompted after a moment.

“Um?” Honor shook herself. “I mean, what did you say, Alistair?”

“We all know that tone, Honor,” he told her. “There’s something going on inside your head, and I just wondered if you’d care to share it with the rest of us mere mortals.”

He grinned impudently at her, and she shook her head.

“There will come a time, Alistair McKeon, when lese majesty will come home to haunt you. And if there is any justice in the universe, I’ll be there to see it!”

“No doubt. In the meantime, you’re still not sharing.”

“All right,” she conceded. “I was thinking about something—something you brought up earlier, in fact.”

“Something I brought up?”

“When you were wondering whether or not the Andies knew the Republic was fooling around out here.”

“What about it?” McKeon asked, cocking his head and frowning in thought.

“Well, it’s just that if I were the Andies, I wouldn’t be very happy about their presence. Especially not given how unhappy the Empire already seems to be about our presence out here.”

“Forgive me, My Lady,” Yu objected mildly, “but if I were the Andies, I might not be very upset at all by the prospect of having the Republic attack the people I’m already trying to squeeze out of Silesia. Worst-case scenario, either we beat them, or they beat us, and the winner is much weaker than he was before the engagement. Which means the Andies can basically either simply order the ‘victor’ out of the region, or move in with the virtual certainty that they can take whatever he has left.”

“That’s all true enough,” Honor agreed. “But hasn’t it occurred to you, Alfredo, that whatever the Andies are up to in Silesia may be the result of an error on their part.”

“What error?” Truman asked. Honor looked at her, and the golden-haired admiral shrugged. “I can think of several errors they could have made. Which one did you have in mind?”

“The same mistake High Ridge and Descroix have been making for years, in a sense,” Honor told her. “Maybe they’ve been assuming the war between us and the Republic was effectively over, as well.”

“If they ever thought that in the first place, surely they realized when Theisman announced the existence of his new navy that all bets were off,” McKeon protested.

“Maybe not,” Honor said. “We keep thinking about how good Andie naval intelligence is, but there are limits in all things. And even if their intelligence people got all the available information straight, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the Emperor and his advisors drew the right conclusions.”