replace Manpower's operations with their own.'
Web had exchanged looks with Jeremy and Berry and Thandi Palane.
'Consider it done, Admiral,' Palane had said then, with one of her simultaneously dazzling and ferocious smiles. 'We'll keep 'em on ice for as long as you want.'
'Are you sure, Luiz?' Berry repeated now. 'You paid a terrible price for this ship, and the others.'
For a moment, Rozsak's face looked a bit drawn. 'Yes, we did. But there are some very good reasons why it'd be better if the surviving State Sec ships were pressed into Torch service rather than Mayan service.'
'Such as?' Berry asked.
He looked at her for a moment, then shrugged.
'Trust me, it's not a case of misplaced gallantry on my part, Your Majesty!' He snorted in obvious amusement, then sobered. 'The truth is, that they'd be white elephants as far as we're concerned. There are . . . reasons we'd just as soon not have anyone from Old Earth poking around in Maya, Berry, and if we start taking ex- Havenite ships into service, someone's likely to do just that.
'And they're
She gave a little shrug, and he nodded.
'Understood. But we're going to tell the galaxy it was the
'No, they're not,' Berry agreed with a certain flat steeliness. Then she drew a breah tna nodded.
'Okay, then. If you're sure.' When she looked around the flag bridge this time, she seemed a little less bewildered. 'I still can't figure out most of what's happening here. But I know Thandi's happy about getting this ship—it's a heavy cruiser, right?—and the rest of them.'
She smiled. 'Well . . . 'happy' isn't quite the right term. 'Ecstatic' might be better. Or 'beside herself with joy.' Or 'delirious.' '
Rozsak smiled also. 'I'm hardly surprised. She'll have a fleet that goes almost overnight from having a frigate as its flagship to—yes, it's a heavy cruiser, Your Majesty.'
'Please, Luiz. Call me Berry.'
She returned from the
So, when she returned to the palace, her first words were to Saburo.
'You're promoted, starting immediately. Now please leave Hugh and me alone, for a bit.'
Saburo nodded, and left the room.
Hugh's face had no expression at all. As the months had gone by, Berry had learned that he was very good at that. It was one of the things she planned to change.
'Have I displeased you, Your Majesty?'
'Not hardly. I just can't deal with this any longer. I want your resignation. Now.'
Hugh didn't hesitate for more than perhaps a second. 'As you wish, Your Majesty. I resign as your chief of security.'
'Don't call me that. My name is Berry and you damn well don't have any excuse any longer not to use it.'
He bowed, slightly, and then extended his elbow. 'All right, Berry. In that case, may I escort you to
The smile that came to her face then was the same gleaming smile that had captivated Hugh Arai since the first time he'd seen it. But it was as if a star had become a supernova.
'Ice cream would be nice. Later. Right now, I'd be much happier if you'd take me to bed.'
Chapter Sixty-Two
December 1921
'So you've finished your analysis?' Albrecht Detweiler asked after his son had settled—still a bit cautiously— into the indicated chair.
'Such as it is, and what there is of it,' Collin Detweiler replied, easing his left arm. 'There are still a lot of holes, you understand, Father.' He shrugged. 'There's no way we're ever going to close all of them.'
'Nobody with a working brain would expect otherwise,' Collin's brother, Benjamin, put in. 'I've been pointing that out to you for—What? Two or three weeks, now?'
'Something like that,' Collin acknowledged with a smile that mingled humor, resignation, and lingering discomfort.
'And did your brother also point out to you—as, now that I think about it, I believe your
'Touché, Father. Touché!' Collin replied after a moment. 'And, yes, Ben did make both of those points to me, as well. It's just . . . well . . .'
Albrecht regarded his son with fond exasperation. All of his 'sons' were overachievers, and none of them really ever wanted to take time off. He practically had to stand over them with a stick to make them, in fact. That attitude seemed to be hardwired into the Detweiler genotype, and it was a good thing, in a lot of ways. But as he'd just pointed out to Collin (with massive understatement), the regeneration therapies placed enormous demands upon the body. Even with the quality of medical care a Detweiler could expect and the natural resiliency of an alpha-line's enhanced constitution, simply regrowing an entire arm would have been a massive drain on Collin's energy. When that 'minor' requirement was added to all of the other physical repairs Collin had required, some of his physicians had been genuinely concerned about how hard he'd been pushing himself.
Albrecht had seriously considered ordering him to hand the investigation over to someone else, but he'd decided against it in the end. Partly that was because he knew how important it was to Collin on a personal level, for a lot of reasons. Partly it was because even operating in pain and a chronic state of fatigue, Collin—with Benjamin's assistance—was still better at this sort of thing than almost anyone else Albrecht could have thought of. And partly—even mostly, if he was going to be honest—it was because the chaos and confusion left in the wake of the massive destruction hadn't left anyone else he could both have handed the task over to
'All right,' he said out loud now, half-smiling and half-glowering at Collin. 'You couldn't hand it over to someone else because you're too OCD to stand letting someone else do it. We all understand that. I think it's a family trait.' He heard Benjamin snort, and his smile broadened. Then it faded just a bit. 'And we all understand this hit pretty damned close to home for you, Collin, in a lot of ways. I won't pretend I really like how hard you've been driving yourself, but—'
He shrugged, and Collin nodded in understanding.