Crown of Slaves

your gunslinger-your damn shoot-from-hip specialist. I know his record, Kevin! That lunatic can and will improvise anything on his feet. This stunt he pulled on Erewhon was even hairier than what he did in La Martine!'

Her eyes fell on the now-empty display screen on her desk, where she'd spent several hours studying the report Virginia Usher had brought back from Erewhon the day before. 'Hairy?' she demanded. 'Say better-'furry,' as in grizzly bear. For God's sake, he deliberately set up the killing of an entire unit of the Queen's Own Regiment!'

'That's not true!' burst out Ginny.

Pritchart glared at her, but Ginny stood her ground. Sat up straight, at least.

'Well, it isn't,' she insisted. 'The attack was launched by Templeton and his fanatics. Victor had nothing to do with it.'

Pritchart's snort wasn't feeble in the least. 'Oh, splendid. But he knew about it, before it happened. Didn't he? He could have warned them-in which case dozens of people wouldn't have been slaughtered, half of them completely innocent civilians.'

Ginny's expression was mulish, but she said nothing. Eloise continued her tirade.

'Not to mention the possible murder of a member of the Star Kingdom's royal house-whom he left right smack in the middle of a gunfight! Do you-either of you-have any idea what an unholy mess you'd have landed me in if it ever became known to the Manticorans that a Havenite agent… '

Her words trailed off, ending in a groan. She slumped back into her chair.

'Oh, I forgot that, didn't I? The Manticorans do know about it. Cachat- that maniac!-dragged the princess herself into the scheme afterward.'

'He didn't drag her,' Ginny muttered. 'It'd be better to say, she jumped at the chance.'

Before Pritchart could respond, the fourth person in the room cleared his throat and said: 'You're really not being fair, Ms. President.'

She swiveled her head and stared at Wilhelm Trajan, the director of the Federal Intelligence System. Her lips quirked into a half-grimace.

'Et tu, Wilhelm? I'd think you-of all people-would be even more pissed than I am. Among other things, this whole shaggy operation was a complete slap in the face to you.'

Trajan shifted uncomfortably in his chair, his shoulders moving in a little shrug. 'Yes. On the other hand, who's to say it wasn't a deserved one?' He gave Usher, seated across from him in the President's office, a none-too- friendly glance. 'I can't say I appreciate it personally, of course. But the truth is-'

He planted his hands on his knees and leaned forward. 'Madam President, let's start from what is in fact the key point. However he did it, Victor Cachat seems to have laid the basis-helped it along, anyway-for a break between Erewhon and Manticore. And, possibly, the beginning of an alliance between them and us.'

He paused, cocking his head, waiting to see if she chose to dispute the point. Pritchart's expression was sour, but… she said nothing.

'Right,' Trajan continued. 'And I'd point out that, if push comes to shove, I'm a lot more impressed by the possibly tens of thousands of Republican soldiers' lives which may be saved as a result of what he did, than I am with the death of some Erewhonese civilians and some Manticoran soldiers. With whom, by the way, we are still officially at war. Sorry, I know that's ruthless, but it's a cold universe.'

Pritchart's face was very sour. But, still, she said nothing.

'Right,' repeated the FIS Director. 'So I think that before we climb all over Cachat, we at least need to give the devil his due.'

' 'Devil's' the word, too,' hissed Eloise. 'Or demon.'

Trajan smiled thinly. 'Well… what's that old saying? 'He's a bastard, sure-but he's our bastard.' Face it, Ms. President. Cachat is brilliant at this kind of thing. The real problem we've got here-the reason, being blunt, that he had to use what you call 'furry tactics'-is because FIS is still such a shuffling mess. If I'd been able to get this outfit turned around fast enough… if we hadn't had such an incompetent FIS staff on Erewhon…'

The FIS Director's face sagged wearily, and he lapsed from his usual formality. 'Look, Eloise, face it. I'm not really cut out for this. You know-I know-Kevin knows-that Kevin would be ten times better at it. And, on the flip side, if we didn't face such a delicate political situation, I'd do a lot better as the head of the police force. I'm just not cut out for this work. I'm not incompetent, and I'm honest. But, other than that…'

He shrugged. 'I don't have what it takes to give a foreign intelligence service the kind of panache and self- confidence it needs. It's as simple as that. And with so many of the real experts from the old Saint-Just regime now tossed out, that means I'm left with a cadre that's prone to sluggishness and excessive caution. And I just can't turn it around.'

Eloise rubbed her face, which, in that moment, looked as tired as Trajan's. 'Wilhelm, I can't afford to lose Kevin as the head of the FIS. Whatever else, I've got to make sure there aren't any more coup d'etats. And I don't know anyone except him who'd really do any better than you running the FIS.'

Trajan smiled crookedly. 'Of course you do. It ought to be blindingly obvious by now.'

She frowned with puzzlement, for a moment. Then, when his meaning penetrated, gasped. Partly with shock, partly from outrage.

'You can't be serious! Cachat?'

Trajan's smile remained on his face. And his gaze remained level. 'Yes, Eloise. The 'demon' himself. Again- start with the key point. He's loyal. Whatever else about him irritates you, I know you don't have any doubts about that. And he is a wizard at this work.'

'He's a maniac!'

Ginny shot to her feet. 'He is not!' Then, as if realizing who she was talking to, she flushed a little. 'Okay, maybe a little. But he's not a 'maniac.' That just isn't fair.' She plopped back into her chair. 'It isn't,' she insisted.

'I'm not proposing to replace me with Cachat immediately, Madam President,' Trajan said softly. 'I agree with Ms. Usher that he's not a 'maniac,' but… ah… there's no question he could use some… ah…'

'Civilization?' Eloise demanded sarcastically. 'Massive anti-testosterone treatments?'

Hearing a suspicious choking sound from Usher, she moved her eyes to him. 'What are you trying not to laugh about?'

Usher waved a large hand. 'Ah, never mind. Someday, after you've calmed down, Ginny can fill you in on some of the more private details of Cachat's, ah, operation on Erewhon.'

Pritchart rolled her eyes. 'Oh, marvelous. I had a hunch there was more to that renegade Solarian Marine officer than the reports said.'

'She's not a renegade,' Ginny growled.

Kevin sat up, discarding any traces of his previous-and very atypical-abashment. 'No, she isn't. And cut the crap yourself, Eloise. You know the reality of the Solarian League. The woman's from Ndebele, for Pete's sake. Even if she were a 'renegade' from the SLN, so what? More power to her.'

Pritchart rubbed her face again. 'All right, all right,' she grumbled. 'Forget I said it. So Cachat's finally got a girlfriend, huh? Yes, yes-I'm sure she's a paragon of virtue.'

Finally, the President's underlying sense of humor surfaced. Her shoulders rippled with a little laugh. 'Figures, though. Who else but an Mfecane superwoman wouldn't be intimidated by the maniac? Ah, sorry, Ginny. 'Excessively irrepressible agent of, God help us, the Republic of Haven.' How's that?'

Ginny chuckled. 'I can live with that.'

Eloise studied Trajan. 'Are you really serious about this? And, if you are, how do you propose to train him properly? I warn you, there is no way-no way, Wilhelm-that I'd agree to promoting Cachat to that extent until I'm satisfied he's under some kind of control. Self-control or otherwise.'

Trajan looked at Usher, his eyes not quite hard, but… close.

After a moment, Kevin nodded. 'I'll give him up, Wilhelm. And no tricks. I'll make clear to him you're his boss from now on.'

'Good enough.' Trajan looked back at Eloise. 'This doesn't have to be done all that