The Shadow of Saganami

knew it. No wonder the terrorists were lying low, licking their wounds. Yet another part of her couldn't help wishing the FAK would get through... or at least make the attempt and fail. That sort of proof that the base camp raid hadn't magically finished off the terrorist threat might at least help show Rajkovic up for the fraud he was.

'Excuse me, Madam President.' It was her butler, and she pried one eye open and looked up at him.

'Yes, Luka?'

'Secretary Kanjer is here, Madam President. He asks if it would be convenient for you to receive him?'

Both of Tonkovic's eyes popped open. Kanjer, here? Without a prior appointment? Her mouth felt unaccountably dry, but she swallowed to moisten it and sat upright on the lounge.

'Of course it will,' she said calmly, reaching for a robe and shrugging into it. She belted the sash around her waist, and nodded. 'Show him up, Luka.'

'At once, Madam President.'

The butler disappeared with the soundless, magical efficiency of his kind. He reappeared minutes later, with Mavro Kanjer in tow.

'Secretary Kanjer, Madam President,' he murmured, and vanished again.

'Have a seat, Mavro,' Tonkovic invited, pointing at the chairs around an umbrella-shaded table. The normally vocal Justice Secretary nodded jerkily and sat without a word. That was a bad sign, she thought, but she said nothing, only smiled and settled into a chair on the other side of the table.

'To what do I owe the pleasure?' she asked lightly, once she was seated.

'Mrsic is going to move for a formal impeachment tomorrow morning,' Kanjer said bluntly.

Despite Zovan's warning, it hit her like a fist.

'That seems unlikely,' she heard her own voice say, and Kanjer grimaced.

'Aleksandra, it's been coming for weeks,' he said. 'I admit, I didn't see it either-not until Parliament voted to call you home. And even then, I didn't think this would happen. But I was wrong. They have the votes on the Standing Committee to report out a bill of impeachment, and they're going to.'

'That bastard !' she hissed as the cold hammer of reality began to shatter the armor of her detachment. 'That miserable, traitorous son of a bitch ! He won't get away with it-he won't , I tell you!'

'Who won't?' Kanjer's expression was more than a little confused.

'That bastard Rajkovic, of course! He may think he can steal the presidency this way, but he's got another thought or two coming!'

' Rajkovic? ' Kanjer stared at her. 'Didn't you hear what I said? The motion's coming from Mrsic— Eldijana Mrsic.'

'Mrsic?' Tonkovic blinked as the name finally registered. Eldijana Mrsic wasn't a Reconciliationist. She wasn't even a Social Moderate. She was the senior Democratic Centralist on Cuijeta Krizanic's Standing Committee.

'That's what I'm trying to tell you,' Kanjer said. 'It's coming from inside the Party, Aleksandra.'

'But... but how did Rajkovic get to Mrsic?' Tonkovic asked in bewilderment.

'He didn't, Aleksandra,' Kanjer said almost gently. 'Alenka and I have been telling you all along that Rajkovic hasn't been in secret communication with Parliament. Hasn't been tapping your communications. Hasn't been using the KNP against you and your supporters. You just haven't been listening.'

'But...' She stared at him, confused, and he shook his head.

'Vuk Rajkovic's no saint, Aleksandra. He's an experienced politician, and he can be just as sneaky and devious as any of the rest of us. But he didn't have to be this time. He didn't pressure Parliament into recalling you. All he did was pass on the information Medusa put into his possession through Van Dort. Parliament did the rest. And now Parliament is pushing the impeachment movement.'

'But why? What about our majority?' she asked.

'We don't have one on this issue. Nordbrandt scared too many people, and the Manties got too much credit from those terrified people when they took out her base camp and all those weapons. And, to be perfectly blunt, Aleksandra, the threat that your policies in Spindle could get us blacklisted by the Star Kingdom frightened them even worse than Nordbrandt. That's why the Party's fracturing over the impeachment vote. Some of our deputies actually want you removed from office, because they're scared of exactly the same things and they blame you for it. But more of them are frightened of the consequences at the polls if you remain as Party leader. They want you out, Aleksandra. They believe you've become a dangerous political liability, and they won't support you. At best, they'll abstain when it comes down to the vote. And if they do, you'll lose.'

'What are you saying? Are you saying the impeachment would succeed ?'

'Yes,' he said, and there was a certain kindness in the brutally brief reply. She shook her head, dazed, almost bemused, and he reached across the table and took her lax right hand between both of his own.

'I know what you tried to do,' he said. 'And I believe the majority of the Party does. But it's not a big enough majority. Not with the Reconciliationist bloc in Parliament. If you're impeached, the impeachment will be sustained. Comfortably.'

Tonkovic swallowed. This was a nightmare. It couldn't be -happening-not to her .

'What should I-? I mean, how-?'

'You have to resign,' Kanjer told her gently. Her eyes flashed in instant rejection, and he tightened his clasp on her hand. 'Listen to me, Aleksandra! You have to resign. If you don't, they'll hound you out of office, anyway. It's going to happen. The only choice you have is how you leave.'

'And why should I make it easy for the traitorous bastards?' she snapped with a return of spirit. 'If they want to be rats scurrying over the side before the ship sinks, why should I give a single solitary damn about what they want?'

'Because if you don't, it's the end of your political career.'

'And how much 'political career' does a President who resigns in disgrace have? No Planetary President's ever resigned, and you know it!'

'This is a panic reaction,' Kanjer said. 'The people who ought to recognize what you're trying to do are too frightened to defend you at the moment. But that doesn't mean they won't eventually realize you were right. That by stampeding into the Manties' arms under Alquezar's terms they've thrown away their best-possibly their only- hope of preserving our way of life and, not to put too fine a point on it, their own positions.

'But when that day comes, they'll still be a political force. Not as strong a force as before they threw away all their advantages, but still a force. And the only force dedicated to protecting what's left of our society. When they finally wake up and recognize what they've done, how bad the situation is, they'll need a leader. One who didn't stampede right along with them.

'You, Aleksandra. They'll need you .'

'What is this?' she demanded bitterly. 'Some kind of cheerleader speech? Did they pick you to hand me my walking papers because they figured you could sugarcoat the pill, Mavro?'

'I don't blame you for feeling that way,' he said, meeting her gaze unflinchingly. 'But I'm not sugarcoating anything. It's going to be ugly, and it's going to be humiliating. For a while-possibly even for two or three T-years- you're going to be, at best, a voice crying in the wilderness. But I'm dead serious. Eventually, what's left of the Centralists and Moderates are going to realize they need a leader of stature. And you, as the woman who became a political martyr trying to protect them from their own panic, will be the only logical choice. That's why you have to resign now , before the impeachment bill's voted out. While it's still your choice, and you can tell the people who've abandoned you that you're walking away, with your head high, until the day they realize what a dreadful mistake they've made.'

He paused, then shook his head.

'I can't promise you it'll work out the way I'm predicting,' he admitted. 'But you always said I was one of the best political strategists you knew. Maybe I am, and maybe I'm not. But, in all honesty, what other choice to you have?'

She stared at him, listening to the sunny morning's wind popping the umbrella fringe like jubilantly clapping little hands, and tried to think of an answer to his question.