“I’d wager my left nut on it.”
Drusus smiled tightly. He liked the work, but he didn’t like the threat it represented.
“What surprises me is that Turov herself isn’t here to present this to me.”
“Uh…”
“Ah!” Drusus said, working his tapper. “I see she’s in her office. I’ll summon her up here for her input.”
“Oh…”
Right then, I realized I had a big decision to make. If I admitted to Drusus that Turov was in the dark about Green World’s location—not to mention crazy blue lizards and a dozen other details—it was going to look bad for her. It would appear that I’d jumped the chain of command, and worse, that Turov was incompetent.
Now, all of that was true and more—but I didn’t want Drusus thinking it. There would be hell to pay with Galina if he did.
Drusus messaged Turov, calling her to an emergency meeting. Then he began to page through the files I’d dumped on his desk, marveling at the work.
While he was distracted, I messaged Galina privately.
Act like you know everything. That was all I sent, and then I put my tapper behind my back. My forearm vibrated several times, but I didn’t dare look at whatever it was she sent back.
In the meantime, Drusus made an awful discovery. He’d finally gotten around to realizing Green World was in the middle of Province 928.
“Is this correct?” he asked, aghast. “Is this planet located inside Skay territory?”
“Well inside, I’d say.”
His shoulders slumped. “Diabolical. It makes so much sense… there are countless examples of this kind of asymmetrical warfare in history, you know.”
“You don’t say.”
“Yes. A weak power, such as a rebel group, often hides inside the territory of a rival. That way, the nation that’s under attack can’t simply fly out and destroy them. If they do, it will cause a greater war that the abused nation doesn’t want.”
“Hmm… what are we going to do about it?”
Drusus paced again. “We’ll have to do what nations have done under such circumstances for thousands of years: we’ll fight a small, dirty war. We’ll infiltrate, we’ll sabotage—anything that can get to them without admitting that’s what we’re doing.”
“Uh-huh.”
About then, Galina arrived. She seemed a little out of breath. Possibly, she’d run from the elevator to Drusus’ office doors.
She gave me a weird look as she was let inside. I suggested she have some of Primus Bob’s excellent coffee, but she passed.
Drusus beckoned, requesting her presence at the big battle table.
Galina stood straight and marched right up there. She gave me one worried glance, but I just stood there and grinned like an idiot. I didn’t dare give her any more hints on how to play things.
Fortunately, she was almost as good as I was at bullshitting. “Praetor Drusus? I see McGill has given you his report.”
“Yes… I must say, I’m quite impressed. Perhaps you can fill me in on certain details.”
She swallowed—hard. Her expression didn’t show it, but I knew she was curling up her toes and digging her nails into her palms. She did that when she was freaked-out.
“I’ll explain what I can. Some of it is technical.”
“Right… you must have put quite a team on this. Who did you use?”
Galina hesitated, and she glanced at me. I didn’t give her any hand-gestures or other nonsense. Drusus was simply too sharp for that kind of junior high skullduggery. Instead, I grinned and waited.
“Uh… Natasha, of course. She’s one of our best techs.” Galina glanced my way, and I dared to give her the slightest of nods. She was on safe ground, as she knew that I always got Natasha to do my homework.
“Specialist Natasha Elkin did all this?” Drusus asked incredulously. “Star-charts? Astrophysics? That’s incredible, we’ll have to promote that woman immediately.”
“Ah… well, there were others.”
“Like who?”
Galina seemed flustered. She looked around, thinking hard. Then her face changed, and she looked slightly annoyed. “Floramel, from Central’s underground labs. Isn’t that right, McGill?”
Finally, she’d given me an opening.
“That’s right, sir,” I said loudly. “Floramel has access to some of the best minds we have in this complex. She’s got my own daughter Etta working for her, too.”
“Ah, I see…” Drusus said, and he went back to looking at force positions. I could tell he was plotting distances, trying to figure out if we could secretly fly a ship out there to Green World or not.
Galina took this moment of distraction to cast me a sour glance. She was jealous of both Natasha and Floramel. There was quite a history there. A whole can of worms I’d rather not open up again today.
Even worse, though, she’d been surprised by all this and I knew she hated surprises. Hated them.
Drusus frowned slightly at us. Maybe he’d picked up on an odd vibe. “Where are these experts? If they have a better grasp on the details, they should be here for the presentation.”
“Ah…” Galina said, but I moved in to save her pretty behind again.
“You see, Praetor sir, we worked all night on this. I sent them to the barracks to get some sleep.”
Galina jumped in, not wanting to be left out. “I also thought it would be better if McGill and I did the presentation. Some people have skills when summarizing complex information—and others do not.”
“I get it. All right,” Drusus said at last. “Good work, you two. I’m impressed. I’m going to have to call a special meeting of the Joint Chiefs. Make sure you’re both available, along with any other support personnel you might require. Mobilize the entire legion as well, just in case. And McGill, take a shower. I can smell you from here.”
“Will do, sir!”
After that, he kicked us out of his office.
Galina headed straight to the elevators, and I followed her.
“James…?”
