“But in favor of what?” North Hollow pressed. However bright he might not have been, he was extremely good at projecting the attitude he wanted, and at the moment, he was earnestly questioning, certainly not criticizing.

“The Navy has been badly in need of lighter units for years,” Janacek replied. “For the most part, the relative drawdown in those types was unavoidable, especially in the early years of the war. The need to build the largest and most powerful wall of battle we possibly could diverted us from the construction and maintenance of the light cruisers and cruisers required for things like commerce protection. Those we did build were never sufficient to meet the scouting and screening requirements of our main battle fleets, let alone police commerce in places like Silesia. As a consequence, piracy activity everywhere in the Confederacy beyond the immediate reach of Sidemore Station is entirely out of hand.”

“So you intend to concentrate on building up the forces we need to protect our shipping,” North Hollow said, nodding sagely. “As Secretary of Trade, I can only approve of that objective, and I do. But I’m afraid of what some so-called ‘expert’ working for the Opposition might be able to make of it. Especially given the decision to suspend work on the SD(P)s which haven’t yet been completed.”

He cocked an eyebrow at the First Lord, and Janacek made a sound which the less charitable might have described as an irritated grunt.

“No other navy in space has so far commissioned any pod superdreadnoughts,” he pronounced with the infallibility of God. “Admiral Jurgensen and his analysts at ONI have amply confirmed that! We, on the other hand, have a solid core of over sixty. That’s more than sufficient to defeat any conventional navy, especially with the CLACs to support and scout for them.”

“No other navy?” North Hollow repeated. “What about the Graysons?”

“I meant, no potentially hostile navy, of course,” Janacek corrected somewhat testily. “And while no one but a planet full of lunatic religious fanatics would be idiotic enough to pour so huge a percentage of their gross planetary product into their naval budgets at a time like this, at least they’re our lunatics. Exactly why they think they need such an out-sized navy is open to different interpretations, of course, and I, for one, don’t happen to believe their official explanations are the whole truth.”

In fact, as all of his colleagues knew, Janacek nursed more than a few dark suspicions about Grayson. Their religious ardor made them automatically suspect, and he did not find their argument that the lack of a formal peace treaty required them to continue to build up their defenses convincing. It was entirely too convenient a pretext… as he and the rest of the Cabinet had already discovered. Besides, Graysons were uppity, without the proper respect and deference such a planet full of hayseed neobarbs ought to show the Alliance’s senior navy. He’d already had three venomously polite exchanges with their High Admiral Matthews—who’d only been a commodore, for God’s sake, when Grayson signed the Alliance—that amply demonstrated Grayson’s overinflated opinion of its interstellar significance.