War Of Honor

'The exact nature of the proposals contained in her note is somewhat sensitive,' she continued, edging very carefully into potentially murky waters. 'The nature of such complex, ongoing negotiations, particularly those in which feelings have indeed, upon occasion, run high on both sides, demands a somewhat greater degree of confidentiality than might otherwise be the case. Her Majesty's Government craves the indulgence of this House and requests that that confidentiality be respected in this case.'

'While I fully appreciate the need to maintain confidentiality under some circumstances, Madame Secretary,' Alexander replied, 'I find it somewhat difficult to believe these circumstances require it. These negotiations have been ongoing for more than four T-years. The newsfaxes have covered every aspect of them in minute detail. Unless President Pritchart's note contains some new and total departure from the Republic's previous positions, I cannot see any legitimate need to conceal her 'proposals' from the members of this House. After all,' he allowed himself a wintery smile, 'she already knows what they are.'

Descroix found it even more difficult not to play with her note cards this time. Under the unwritten but ironbound constitutional precedents which governed the Official Questions List, she could refuse to answer Alexander's questions only if she were prepared to assert that the security of the Star Kingdom required that she do so. That option was always available to her, but while there might be one peer who would be stupid enough to believe her claim was anything other than a desperate political maneuver, there couldn't possibly be two of them. And if she invoked security concerns, then she effectively confirmed that Pritchart's 'proposals' did, in fact, constitute a major escalation in the tension between the two star nations.

There was, however, an appeal which should remove her from the horns of this particular dilemma without resorting to that dangerous alternative.

'I regret that Her Majesty's Government must find itself in disagreement with you on this point, My Lord,' she said firmly. 'In the Government's opinion, and in my own, as Foreign Secretary, the best interests of the Star Kingdom and our hope for progress in our negotiations with the Republic of Haven would not be well served by a violation of the confidentiality of the negotiating process. I must, therefore, appeal to the judgment of the House at large, praying that its noble members will sustain my position and that of Her Majesty's Government.'

'Ladies and Gentlemen of the House,' the Speaker announced, 'the Honorable Secretary craves your indulgence and asks you to sustain her in declining further specific response to the noble member's Question. Please indicate your pleasure on this matter.'

Descroix stood calmly, her expression confident, as the members of the House entered their votes into their own consoles. It didn't take long, and then the Speaker looked up from the display which tallied them before him.

'Ladies and Gentlemen of the House,' he said, 'you have indicated your pleasure. The vote is three hundred and seventy-three in support of the Honorable Secretary's position and three hundred and ninety-one opposed, with twenty-three abstentions. The Honorable Secretary's position is not sustained.'

Descroix stiffened. Several decades of political experience allowed her to maintain her calm expression, but she felt herself pale in dismay. In the entire four-plus T-years of the High Ridge Government, the House of Lords had never failed to sustain the Government when it declined to answer an Official Question. The same could not be said in the Commons, but the Lords had been a bastion of solid support, and she'd expected it to sustain the government today, as well.

The fact that it had chosen not to left her with no option but to answer or flatly refuse on the basis of national security. She could do that, but it would strip the Government of any cover of mature, considered support from the House of Lords at large. That was bad enough, but the vote totals were even worse. The number of abstentions was a sufficiently unpleasant shock, but the Opposition in the Lords could normally count on no more than three hundred and fifty votes. Which meant that at least sixty peers upon whose support the Government usually could have firmly relied had either abstained or actively supported the Opposition.

She stood there for a moment, making certain she remained firmly in command of her voice, then made herself smile at Alexander.

'If it is not the pleasure of the House to sustain the Government's position, then, of course, I am at your disposal, My Lord.'

'I thank you for that gracious acknowledgment, Madame Secretary,' Alexander replied, with a small bow. 'In that case, may I renew my request that you share President Pritchart's 'proposals' with this House?'

'Certainly, My Lord. First, President Pritchart notes that, from the beginning of the negotiation process, the position of the Star Kingdom in relation to Trevor's Star has been that . . .'

* * *

Elaine Descroix stormed into the conference room. Her normal, benign expression was notably in abeyance, and Michael Janvier hid a mental wince at the ferocity of the scowl she turned upon the waiting members of the working Cabinet as she slammed through the door.

Despite his own membership in the House of Lords, the Prime Minister had decided that prudent tactics required him to be unavoidably detained on official business rather than attend the session Descroix had just endured. Had he been there, and had the session gone poorly—as, in fact, it had—then he might have found himself, as Prime Minister, drawn into responding to the Opposition, as well. Under the circumstances, that was not an acceptable situation. Descroix, as a mere Foreign Secretary, could get away with evasions a Prime Minister could not. And ultimately, a Foreign Secretary was expendable. He could always request her resignation from her current office if some minor prevarication came home to roost or if a sacrificial victim were required to propitiate the newsies. Her position in the Progressive Party would make it necessary to find her another Cabinet level post if he did, but such reorganizations were scarcely unheard of.

The fact that he hadn't attended the session, however, hadn't prevented him from monitoring it from his office. Which meant he understood exactly why Descroix looked ready to strangle Opposition peers with her bare hands.

And, he thought mordantly, she'd probably just as soon throttle some of our peers, for that matter.

'Hello, Elaine,' he said as she stalked across to her chair at the conference table.

She snarled something which might have been interpreted as a greeting, jerked out her chair, and flung herself into it.

'I regret that you've had such an unpleasant morning,' High Ridge continued, 'and I deeply appreciate your efforts on the Government's behalf. I mean that sincerely.'

'You'd damned well better appreciate them!' Descroix half-snapped. 'Jesus! And you'd damned well better have a long heart-to-heart talk with Green Vale, too!'

Jessica Burke, Countess of Green Vale, was the Government Whip in the Lords. That post was far from a sinecure in a coalition of such diverse ideologies as that of the current government, and everyone in the conference room knew it. Nonetheless, High Ridge reflected, it was undoubtedly fortunate that Green Vale wasn't present at the moment.

'I assure you that I'll be speaking with her,' he said mildly after a moment. 'In all fairness, however, I feel confident she did all that could have been done under the circumstances.'

'Oh?' Descroix glowered at him. 'And what sort of Whip doesn't even warn us when we're likely to lose a vote like that?'

'The margin was only eighteen votes,' High Ridge pointed out. 'That's barely two percent of the members actually present.'

'But the total shift was sixty-three votes, counting the abstentions,' she pointed out in venomous response. 'And by my math, that's over eight percent. Which doesn't even count the thirty-seven members of the House who managed to not even be there in the first place.' Her eyes would have sent daggers through the heart of anyone less stoutly armored by his own sense of who he was than High Ridge.

'Admittedly, it was a most unfortunate occurrence,' the Prime Minister conceded. 'All I meant to indicate was that the margin of votes actually cast was close enough that I believe it would be unfair to fault Jessica for failing to realize ahead of time that the House wouldn't vote to sustain.'

'Then why the hell do we have a Whip in the first place?' she demanded.

He didn't respond to the obviously rhetorical question, and, after a moment, she shrugged in petulant acknowledgment of its pettiness.

'At any rate,' she went on after a moment, 'I don't see any way we can regard today's fiasco as anything