“Greetings, Commander.”
Van turned to see Colonel Marti holding a wineglass, almost full.
“Greetings. I didn’t see you come in.” Van answered in Hispyn.
“I was late. I noticed you had only recently appeared yourself.”
“I was in the second room,” Van explained. “How are matters going for you?”
“Less eventfully than for you, from what I have learned.” Marti smiled sympathetically.
“The local constabulary wanted to find me at fault for defending myself.”
“Always…that is the way of it. The victim is at fault, and the Lord help him if he actually turns matters the other way.”
“Like poor Byrnedot and the Argentis?” asked Van lightly.
“There is a…rough similarity.” Marti pursed his lips, then moved closer and lowered his voice. “You should be among the first to know. I’m being ordered back to Silvium for assignment to the general staff.”
“That sounds like quite an honor. Congratulations.”
“I’ll be leaving the day after tomorrow. I had to send my wife yesterday. There aren’t that many commercial vessels, you know.” Marti’s smile turned ironic, as he extended his hand. “I did want you to know.”
Automatically, Van took it, and found a datacard pressed into his own hand. He managed to palm it and slip it up his sleeve. He hoped he wasn’t too awkward. “I wish you the best.”
“And you, also.” Marti inclined his head, then drifted away.
“Commander?”
Van turned to find another figure in uniform—a black-haired, black-eyed woman commander in the formal blue-green of the Keltyr. Her skin was milk white. Only the fine lines radiating from the corners of her eyes—and the rank insignia—betrayed her age.
“Yes?” he replied.
“Ayrllis Salucar, Commander, KSF—and defense attaché to our embassy here.”
“I’m pleased to meet you, Commander,” Van replied with a smile. “I would have been in touch with you sooner, except…” He gestured around the room. “And the fact that there were huge numbers of reports to catch up on.”
Commander Salucar nodded. “I’d hoped to meet you. For professional and personal reasons.”
“You have me at a loss,” Van confessed, finally taking another sip from his glass of very warm pale ale.
Salucar smiled faintly. “You wouldn’t know. My oldest brother was commander of the Aixenpax research station.”
No matter where he went, the Regneri affair followed him. Aixenpax had been the planoforming operation that the Vetachi had raided—killing all the military personnel and half the scientists—immediately before Van had destroyed the renegade vessel. He inclined his head to Salucar. “I am sorry, Commander.”
“You couldn’t do anything about Aixenpax,” she replied. “You did stop the Vetachi, and I don’t see what else you could have done. If you hadn’t, who knows how many others would have died or suffered?”
Van glanced sideways, briefly, to see Cordelia Gregory and Emily Clifton easing away. He wondered what Gregory had heard, before he answered. “I’ve told myself that for years. Sometimes, it even helps for a few minutes.”
Salucar glanced after the departing pair, raising her eyebrows.
“The dark-haired woman’s sister was on the Regneri. She thinks I was wrong.”
“She’s never seen the carnage, then.”
“No.”
“It’s the same with some of ours. Unfortunately.” Salucar tilted her head, not flirtatiously. “You’re cautious, aren’t you?”
“In my position, wouldn’t you be?”
Rather than laughing, as Van might have done in her position, she nodded. “I would be very cautious.”
“We should have that meeting before long,” Van suggested.
“Call me on oneday,” Salucar suggested.
“I will,” Van promised.
Then the Kelt commander was gone, and Van went to find a fresh pale ale, although he had drunk less than half of the first one.
The reception dragged on. It was near midnight when Van retreated to his office. Not once had he seen either the Eco-Tech major or anyone who had looked to be from the Coalition liaison office. Nor had he seen anyone from the Hyndji consulate. Had he just missed them?
Back in his office, he slumped into his chair and looked at the card he’d gotten from Marti. Finally, he disconnected the netsystem line, put his console on local, and inserted the card. No face, no image appeared, just text, lines and lines of text, and the text was in Old Anglo. It could have come from anywhere, and that was doubtless what Marti had intended. Van read carefully and slowly. Certain phrases jumped out at him, although they were in no way highlighted.
…continued inability of Premier Gustofsen to create an infrastructure bridging the differences between the militant Conservative Democrats and the isolationist Liberal Commons…Without Gustofsen, the return of civil unrest is highly likely, but the Conservative Democrats (CDs) would retain power in the Scandyan parliamentary assembly, and the militant isolationist faction would dominate…compromise with the isolationist LCs would ensure no outside alliances…
CD ministry heads have been holding meetings with Trans-Scandyan Microtronics on a continuing basis…far more often than with SNI…also a number of the purported TSM “officials” arrived at Gotland orbit station in Revenant couriers. The official explanation was that no commercial transport was available and that the Revenant space forces made space available to facilitate more open trade arrangements, which would reduce the possibility of conflict in the mid-Arm region…
The independent system of Aluyson has accepted through a plebescite “a closer union” with the Community of the Revealed. The plebescite reflects the near-total control of the Aluyson economy by Revenant institutions. The process began over two decades ago with the assassination of then-dictator Charleston Browne and the ensuing collapse of an already-shaky economy…Through an earlier military agreement, Aluyson has already been a basing point for Revenant fleets, and moral reeducation institutes have been established for close to five years on all major continents…
“Moral reeducation institutes?” That was a term Van hadn’t heard before, but it certainly squared with what he did know about the Revenants.
…plebescite was monitored by military officials from several systems, including General Diego Salazar of the Argenti Space Forces, Sub-marshal Jon D. Vickry of the Taran RSF, and Overmarshal Prasad Ghandi…Vickry was the officer in charge of liaison with the Revenant military, quoted as saying, “The
