“To me?” Rabenstrange repeated carefully. “Duchess Harrington herself?”

“That’s what Troubadour says, Sir,” Isenhoffer replied.

“I see.”

“With all due respect, Sir,” Isenhoffer said, “I would advise against allowing Troubadour to come any further in-system.” Rabenstrange looked a question at him, and the chief of staff shrugged. “Duchess Harrington’s request, even if it’s sincere, is ridiculous. There are proper channels for one fleet commander to contact another through.”

“And why do you think the Duchess failed to avail herself of those other channels?”

“I suppose it’s possible that this represents some dramatic attempt on her part to find a peaceful resolution to the tension between her command and yours,” Isenhoffer said carefully. As Rabenstrange’s chief of staff, he knew how strongly the herzog had argued against the Empire’s current policy in Silesia. He also knew exactly what Rabenstrange had said to Sternhafen before that admiral had been sent home in disgrace. Perhaps even more significantly at this particular moment, Isenhoffer was also aware of the respect in which Rabenstrange held Honor Harrington.

“From your tone,” the herzog observed now, “although you may suppose it’s possible, you don’t find it very likely.”

“Frankly, Sir, I don’t,” Isenhoffer acknowledged. “And, again with all due respect, even if that’s what this is, surely she must realize that by now it’s too late.”

“I don’t recall having issued any orders to attack Sidemore Station,” Rabenstrange said in a suddenly chill voice.

“Of course not, Sir!” Isenhoffer spoke quickly, yet there was an edge of diffident stubbornness in his reply. Chien-lu Rabenstrange hadn’t picked a chief of staff he expected to be a yes-man or a weakling. “I didn’t mean to imply that you had. But Duchess Harrington must be aware by this time that His Imperial Majesty fully intends to secure our strategic frontiers here in Silesia. I would submit to you, Sir, that, that being the case, the only thing she could say to you which would resolve the tension between our two forces would be a concession on her part of our territorial demands. And if she were prepared to make such a concession, it would undoubtedly represent instructions from her government at home, which would have been communicated to us through normal channels.”

“Which brings us back to the question of why she didn’t use those channels in the first place, does it not?” Rabenstrange asked, and Isenhoffer nodded. “Well, if you don’t believe she’s here to propose some sort of diplomatic resolution, then why do you think she’s here?”

“I think, perhaps, for two reasons, Sir,” Isenhoffer replied. “First, I would not be surprised to discover that she’s here on her own authority in an effort to at least delay the inevitable. She may propose some sort of stand-down while she requests additional instructions from her government, but I would be somewhat suspicious of any such proposal. The delay involved might well permit the Star Kingdom to transfer additional reinforcements to Sidemore.

“Secondly, Sir, I can think of very few ways in which she could acquire a more precise estimate of our current strength here in Sachsen than by bringing a ship of the wall, with its sensor suite, right into the heart of the star system. I don’t say that that would be her primary objective, but it would almost certainly be an inevitable consequence if we permit her to enter the system.”