“Triage,” Kat said.
“Exactly,” William said. “Do you save one person who is on the verge of death? Or do you use the resources you would have used to save him to tend to three more people? Maybe those people will die without attention, maybe they won’t . . .”
“I am not unfamiliar with the concept,” Kat said stiffly. “But the first person is going to die.”
“Yes,” William said. “But three more will live.”
He cleared his throat. “The king has shown consistent bad judgment,” he said. “I don’t deny he has good points, and I don’t disagree with his logic, but it seems to me that paying for everything he wants is impossible. And his reluctance to propose a more meaningful compromise means that Parliament is determined to block him completely. The catfight over the Royal Wedding, of all things, is merely a symptom of a more serious problem.”
Kat smiled, humorlessly. “You’ve been studying.”
“I studied politics for a long time,” William said. “It’s never been as . . . poisonous . . . as they have been now.”
“You’re lucky to be out of it,” Tanya said.
“Am I out of it?” William snorted, expressively. “Whoever rules Tyre will have immense influence on the surrounding sectors. If the king comes out ahead in this political battle, the Royal Navy will deepen its commitment to the sector; if his opponents get to set the agenda, the navy will be withdrawn as quickly as possible. Either way, Asher Dales will be affected.”
“I’m afraid so,” Kat agreed, quietly.
“It could get worse,” William added. “The Commonwealth was never designed to fight a war. King Travis couldn’t turn it into a more federal structure, despite his best efforts. King Hadrian managed to make inroads during the war, but at the cost of making all the prewar tensions worse. And now the war is over, and we have to deal with the consequences of his actions.”
“He did what he had to do to win the war,” Kat said. “My father supported him.”
William nodded. “Yes,” he said. His voice was very quiet. “But now . . . I don’t like what I’m hearing, Kat. People are choosing sides. All those tensions are coming into the open, and . . . and I don’t know where they’ll lead. The Commonwealth could be on the verge of civil war.”
“Impossible,” Kat said. “It’s . . . unthinkable.”
“Is it?” William looked down at his hands. “Suppose Tyre slaps new restrictions on colonial labor? Or puts limits on tech transfers? Or even starts ejecting planets from the Commonwealth completely? How long would it be until outright civil war broke out?”
“Not long,” Kat said. “But even trying to eject planets would be dangerous.”
“Yes,” William said. “People are scared. And scared people do stupid things.”
Kat sat back, unsure what to make of it. She didn’t want to believe that civil war was possible, let alone probable. And yet, she also knew she’d been isolated. She’d heard worrying stories from back home, but she hadn’t seen anything for herself. Perhaps she should be relieved at being so isolated. If people really were choosing sides, all hell might break out at any moment.
“I hope you’re wrong,” she said, finally. “Anyway, there’s something else I came to ask you. Are you still in touch with your brother?”
William’s face went very still. “I can send him a message, if you like,” he said. “I have a StarCom code for him, although I have no idea how frequently he checks it. It’s just a dead-drop message account, really. Why?”
“Someone is supplying the Theocrats,” Kat reminded him. “If we can find that person, if we can shut them down, we might be able to put a lid on the crisis.”
“It might work,” William agreed. “But I doubt any sane smuggler would have anything to do with the Theocracy.”
“Some people will do anything for money,” Kat pointed out. “And smugglers are constantly on the brink of losing their ships.”
“Yes, but they’d be aiding and abetting destruction and atrocities on a massive scale,” William countered. “They’d have to account for their complicity in war crimes when they get caught. And the force they’d be supplying will not survive indefinitely. Even if it did, even if the Theocracy was resurrected . . . they’d be fools not to expect a knife in the back.”
“True,” Kat agreed. “Can you ask anyway? We’re running out of options.”
“Will do,” William said. “What are you going to do in the meantime?”
Kat sighed. “I wish I knew.”
“Put ECM drones in each of the threatened systems,” William suggested. “They can pose as superdreadnoughts. They’ll know that some of the ships are fakes, but which ones?”
“Good,” Kat said. She grinned at him, remembering times when the universe had made more sense. Was it wrong of her to miss the comradeship of the war? “A splendid idea of mine that you thought of.”
William saluted. “You’re welcome.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
TYRE
“There is a crowd of protesters outside the palace,” the driver said. “Traffic Control is redirecting us.”
Peter frowned as he put his datapad away and peered out of the window. A mass of people was clearly visible outside the gates, shouting and screaming about . . . something. Large protests had been unknown on Tyre before the war; now, they were depressingly common. A number of protesters were clearly students, skipping classes in favor of shouting and screaming at the palace; others, more alarmingly, were middle-aged men and women, people who should be in professional jobs. He couldn’t help wondering why they weren’t at work.
They probably don’t have any work any longer, he thought as the aircar banked to evade a handful of police and security floaters. The really big layoffs have yet to begin, but too many people have already lost their jobs.
His eyes scanned the palace warily. The palace had always been heavily protected, but the weapons emplacements that had been
