“Edward?” he invited.

“I fully recognize that the Admiralty is proposing a not inconsiderable change in priorities,” Janacek said a touch pompously. “But the realities of the current situation require a systematic reconsideration of our previous posture.”

He did not, High Ridge noted, specify even here exactly why that was. No one else seemed to notice that minor fact, and the First Lord continued in the same measured tones.

“The deployment policies and force mix we inherited from the Cromarty Government might have made sense as the basis for prosecuting the war against Haven. Mind you, I believe our force mix was badly skewed in favor of the older, less effective capital ship types. Like certain other officers, I’d wanted to change that mix for years, even before the war broke out, but it was probably too much to expect any Admiralty to recognize the validity of such new and radical concepts.”

He let his eyes circle the conference table, but no one chose to comment. All of them knew he was referring to Admiral Sonja Hemphill. It was a habit of his to give Hemphill and her so-called jeune école full credit for the enormous changes in the Royal Navy’s hardware, since, after all, she was his cousin. Of course, that overlooked the fact that the success of the new ship types which had revolutionized combat had resulted at least as much from people who’d managed to restrain Hemphill’s enthusiasm by opposing her most radical suggestions. And the fact that she’d all but publicly disassociated herself from the Janacek Admiralty because of her fundamental disagreement with the Government’s policies. That disagreement was probably the only reason he didn’t mention her by name. It might also have been an unwonted exercise in tact, however. It was an open secret that it was Hemphill who’d cast the decisive vote at the court-martial leading to Pavel Young’s dismissal from the Queen’s service, which probably wasn’t something to remind Pavel’s brother of just at the moment.

“But whatever might have been the case before the war began, or even as recently as four or five T-years ago,” Janacek resumed, “the Cromarty military posture is hopelessly out of date in light of the new realities of naval warfare and our current fiscal constraints. Our plan will hold the number of battle squadrons up to approximately ninety percent of the current totals.”

By, he did not add, reducing each squadron from eight ships to six. Which meant that a ten percent reduction in squadrons represented a thirty-three percent reduction in hulls.

“As for the ships we’re talking about taking out of commission, whether by scrapping or mothballing,” he continued, “the truth is that they would be no more than obsolete deathtraps if they were committed to combat against the new missile pod superdreadnoughts or LAC carriers. Not only would it be unconscionable for us to send our men and women out to die in ships which were little more than targets, but every dollar we spend on manning or maintaining those ships is a dollar not spent on the new types which have proven their combat superiority so decisively. From every perspective, including that of maintaining a lean, efficient fighting force, the inventory of useless older types has to be reduced.”