“Unless she can convince us not to be the rock… or the hard place, Sir,” Isenhoffer pointed out in tones of respectfully stubborn skepticism.

“Perhaps,” Rabenstrange conceded, but his own voice was dubious. “Still, I suspect His Imperial Majesty would be quite impressed by the logic of her analysis. Assuming, of course, that the data upon which it’s based has some basis in reality.”

“I would certainly agree that the accuracy—or lack of it—of her basic information is the crux of the matter,” Isenhoffer said. He started to say something else, then paused, and clearly reconsidered.

“Yes?” Rabenstrange prompted.

“I was only going to say, Sir,” the chief of staff said after a moment, “that while I continue to cherish my own suspicions about Duchess Harrington’s motives, I honestly don’t believe she lied to you.”

Isenhoffer was clearly uncomfortable saying that, and Rabenstrange smiled without humor. The kapitän der sternen, he knew, must have hated admitting that. It would have suited his purposes much better if he’d been able to argue that Honor Harrington had been less than truthful about what she had discovered about the Republic of Haven’s activities in Silesia. Unfortunately, he had too much integrity for that. Which, the herzog admitted, only gave his suspicions of her motives even greater weight in some ways.

“I think,” the small admiral said slowly, “that it would be as well to remember that hers are not the only suspect motives in this instance. For example, if we assume that the Duchess has, in fact, been truthful with us, and also that her intelligence officer’s analysis is accurate, we must ask ourselves precisely what the Republic is actually up to.”

“Forgive me, Sir,” Isenhoffer said, “but in my opinion, the Republic’s objectives are relatively clear and straightforward. If I were President Pritchart or Admiral Theisman, I would almost certainly have resorted to military operations in order to force a resolution of the negotiations long before this. Assuming, of course, that I had the capability to do so.” He shrugged. “In that regard, I believe Duchess Harrington was probably completely correct as to the Republic’s intentions, both in regard to its own occupied systems and in regard to Sidemore.”

“Perhaps so,” Rabenstrange replied. “But consider this, Zhenting. The Republic has encouraged us to pursue our objectives in Silesia. True, they’ve done so only in private conversations, not publicly, but you and I have both read the Foreign Ministry’s synopses of Ambassador Kaiserfest’s discussions with their Secretary of State. Even allowing for a certain degree of corruption in transmission, Secretary Giancola was remarkably specific. And very encouraging.”

He paused for a long moment, watching Troubadour’s icon, then looked back up at Isenhoffer.

“Yet for all his specificity, Zhenting, he never once mentioned the possibility of Havenite operations in the Confederacy. Even more to the point, he specifically informed Kaiserfest that it would be impossible for the Republic to offer us even verbal support openly because of the Republic’s internal public opinion.”

“You think that he was attempting to maneuver us into a false position?” Isenhoffer frowned.