War Of Honor

bridge, watching the glittering icon of HMS Troubadour as the Manticoran superdreadnought accelerated steadily towards the hyper limit.

'I thought—' Kapitan der Sternen Isenhoffer paused, then shrugged ever so slightly. 'I thought that in many ways it all sounded very . . . convenient for Duchess Harrington, Sir.'

' 'Convenient'?' Rabenstrange rolled the word across his tongue and cocked his head at the taller Isenhoffer. 'An interesting choice of words, Zhenting. Not entirely without applicability, I suppose, but still . . .' He shook his head. 'However 'convenient' it might be for her under some circumstances, it remains most in convenient under most of them. I believe the old cliche about rocks and hard places comes to mind.'

'Unless she can convince us not to be the rock . . . or the hard place, Sir,' Isenhoffer pointed out in tones of respectfully stubborn skepticism.

'Perhaps,' Rabenstrange conceded, but his own voice was dubious. 'Still, I suspect His Imperial Majesty would be quite impressed by the logic of her analysis. Assuming, of course, that the data upon which it's based has some basis in reality.'

'I would certainly agree that the accuracy—or lack of it—of her basic information is the crux of the matter,' Isenhoffer said. He started to say something else, then paused, and clearly reconsidered.

'Yes?' Rabenstrange prompted.

'I was only going to say, Sir,' the chief of staff said after a moment, 'that while I continue to cherish my own suspicions about Duchess Harrington's motives, I honestly don't believe she lied to you.'

Isenhoffer was clearly uncomfortable saying that, and Rabenstrange smiled without humor. The kapitan der sternen, he knew, must have hated admitting that. It would have suited his purposes much better if he'd been able to argue that Honor Harrington had been less than truthful about what she had discovered about the Republic of Haven's activities in Silesia. Unfortunately, he had too much integrity for that. Which, the herzog admitted, only gave his suspicions of her motives even greater weight in some ways.

'I think,' the small admiral said slowly, 'that it would be as well to remember that hers are not the only suspect motives in this instance. For example, if we assume that the Duchess has, in fact, been truthful with us, and also that her intelligence officer's analysis is accurate, we must ask ourselves precisely what the Republic is actually up to.'

'Forgive me, Sir,' Isenhoffer said, 'but in my opinion, the Republic's objectives are relatively clear and straightforward. If I were President Pritchart or Admiral Theisman, I would almost certainly have resorted to military operations in order to force a resolution of the negotiations long before this. Assuming, of course, that I had the capability to do so.' He shrugged. 'In that regard, I believe Duchess Harrington was probably completely correct as to the Republic's intentions, both in regard to its own occupied systems and in regard to Sidemore.'

'Perhaps so,' Rabenstrange replied. 'But consider this, Zhenting. The Republic has encouraged us to pursue our objectives in Silesia. True, they've done so only in private conversations, not publicly, but you and I have both read the Foreign Ministry's synopses of Ambassador Kaiserfest's discussions with their Secretary of State. Even allowing for a certain degree of corruption in transmission, Secretary Giancola was remarkably specific. And very encouraging.'

He paused for a long moment, watching Troubadour's icon, then looked back up at Isenhoffer.

'Yet for all his specificity, Zhenting, he never once mentioned the possibility of Havenite operations in the Confederacy. Even more to the point, he specifically informed Kaiserfest that it would be impossible for the Republic to offer us even verbal support openly because of the Republic's internal public opinion.'

'You think that he was attempting to maneuver us into a false position?' Isenhoffer frowned.

'I think it's certainly possible. At the very least, he obviously hoped to use us as a cat's paw, yet another way to distract the Star Kingdom while his own navy prepared its offensive. That much, of course, I'm sure the Foreign Ministry had already considered. But the fact that he never so much as hinted—as far as I can tell from the synopses, at least—that Haven was preparing to resume active operations strikes me as significant. Indeed, I would judge that he went out of his way to avoid even the least suggestion that such operations were being contemplated. Some, at least, of that could be no more than the maintenance of operational security. But the decision to send their own naval forces into the Confederacy without so much as mentioning it to us at the same time as they were encouraging us to embark upon an adventure here was at best . . . reckless.'

'What possible motive could they have?' Isenhoffer wondered aloud.

'I can think of at least one,' Rabenstrange said grimly. 'Suppose their intention—or, their hope, at least— was that we and the Manties would, indeed go to war, and that one of us would defeat the other. I believe that their strategists could confidently assume that whichever of us won, we would be severely damaged, possibly crippled, in the process. And if it were to happen that the Republic just coincidentally had a fresh, unbloodied fleet of its own in the vicinity . . .'

His voice trailed off, and Isenhoffer's frown deepened.

'Sir, do you actually believe that the Republic of Haven would seriously contemplate going to war with the Star Kingdom and the Empire simultaneously?'

'On the face of it, it would seem ridiculous,' Rabenstrange admitted. 'But you've seen the same intelligence reports I have. For all of our inability to penetrate 'Bolthole's' security, it's perfectly obvious that Theisman and Pritchart have been able to build a substantially larger and more modern fleet even than the one they've admitted to possessing. Perhaps they've accomplished even more than we believe they have. Don't forget that for decades the Legislaturalists' foreign policy was based on a timetable of first the Star Kingdom, then Silesia, and then the Empire. If Pritchart and Theisman feel they have sufficient naval power, might they not to be tempted to revert to that policy now?'

'Nothing any of the analysts have reported would suggest that President Pritchart's mind works that way, Sir,' Isenhoffer pointed out.

'Analysts can be wrong. Perhaps more importantly, Pritchart doesn't operate in a vacuum. I've never felt comfortable with our grasp of the internal dynamics of her government. It's impossible for us to know all of the factions and counter-factions she might find herself forced to cope with. And even if she was as reluctant to resort to active operations against Manticore as our analysts and her own public statements would seem to suggest, she certainly seems to have decided to do so anyway. And if she feels herself compelled to go back to war, then perhaps she also sees an opportunity to accomplish the traditional Havenite goal in this sector once and for all.'

'The possibility no doubt exists, Sir,' Isenhoffer said slowly. 'It just strikes me as rather more Machiavellian than I would have expected out of her.'

'Me also,' Rabenstrange admitted. 'To be honest, I don't like considering the possibility even now. But it's possible that her public concentration on domestic reform has, in fact, been something of a mask all along.' He shook his head with a grimace. 'Even now, when I hear myself saying it, it's hard for me to believe that of her. But what I keep coming back to, Zhenting, is that her Secretary of State approached us with the offer of an informal, behind-the-scenes understanding. Almost an undeclared alliance against Manticore. He came to Kaiserfest, not the reverse. And the entire time that he and Kaiserfest were building their 'working relationship' he never even broached the possibility of Havenite naval forces in Silesia. Not once, Zhenting. Clearly Pritchart is working to some sort of carefully orchestrated plan, and equally clearly the Empire will eventually become aware of the presence of her military forces in the Confederacy. This is not a stupid woman, because a stupid woman couldn't have achieved all that she has. So why would she deliberately approach us with this informal alliance, and then turn around and intrude militarily into the very area she's had her Secretary of State encouraging us to annex? Unless her entire plan was to keep us ignorant of her ships' presence for as long as she could. Until it was too late for us to do anything about them.'

'But that way, it sounds . . . plausible,' Isenhoffer said finally. 'Insanely reckless, unless they have indeed managed to build their naval forces to a level far in excess of Intelligence's estimates, but plausible. Yet, with all due respect, Sir, every bit of it is completely speculative. At this point, we don't have any proof even that the Republic is contemplating attacking the Star Kingdom at all. Duchess Harrington's hypothesis is the only indication that they might be, to be perfectly honest. And whatever suspicions you might have, His Imperial Majesty's instructions are explicit.'

'I realize that. But the ultimate responsibility is mine as the Sachsen fleet commander. And our timetable