“Good.” Janacek managed to conceal his irritation at the edge of condescension in Houseman’s tone. It wasn’t easy, even for someone with his decades of political experience, but he made it look that way. And it wasn’t as if Houseman’s attitude was a surprise. Even though Janacek was now a civilian, the fact that he’d ever been a naval officer was sufficient to contaminate him—in Houseman’s eyes—with the automatic ineptitude and stupidity of all officers. Which made any evidence of competence or imagination on the First Lord’s part perpetually surprising and unexpected.

Of course, Janacek reflected, the fact that the Navy’s officers in general-and one of them in particular-have made their opinion of him crystal clear probably has a little something to do with the strength of his feelings. Pity it’s the only thing I’ll ever agree with that lunatic Harrington about.

“Assuming that we freeze construction on all units not at least sixty-five percent completed, scrap about twelve percent of our older ships of the wall still in commission, mothball another sixteen percent of the wall to go with them, and put the yard space we won’t need anymore into inactive controlled storage, we can implement your plans and still reduce naval spending by approximately fourteen percent of the currently budgeted funds,” Houseman continued, and this time there was a pronounced note of approval in his voice. “That amounts to the better part of two trillion dollars we can divert to far more useful ends.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Janacek replied, and he was. Not, perhaps, for the same reasons which had produced Houseman’s obvious pleasure, but he’d long since accepted that politics made strange bedfellows. His toleration of Houseman as Second Lord, the civilian lord in charge of the Admiralty’s fiscal policy, was certainly proof of that! On the grander scale, the liberation of so much cash for the Government to use primarily on projects of which Janacek himself heartily disapproved was yet another. He understood the logic behind the strategy, and intellectually he approved of it, but that made it only marginally more palatable.

He extracted Houseman’s datachip from its folio and plugged it into his own console, then brought up the file header. He advanced to the first page of the report summary and scanned the first few paragraphs while Houseman adjusted his own memo pad in his lap and keyed its display.

“As you’ll note in paragraph two,” the Second Lord began, “we can begin by listing the entire King William-class for disposal. After that…”

· · • · ·

“So you agree we can safely reduce military spending,” Lady Elaine Descroix observed in that bright, cheerful tone which always set Baron High Ridge’s teeth on edge. Descroix was a small, sweet-faced woman who took great pains to project the image of everyone’s favorite aunt, and he reminded himself yet again not to forget the armor-plated pseudocroc behind her smile.

“Within limits, Elaine,” the Prime Minister of Manticore cut in smoothly before the First Lord could respond to his Foreign Secretary. “And that assumes the situation in the People’s Republic—excuse me, the Republic of Haven—remains effectively what it currently is.”