by Neely Dobbs
CHAPTER 23: Coalition
First Science Officer Laytonn entered the private office of Ptoriil Briin and placed her report on his broad desk. The expansive, elegantly appointed room was empty of people. She let out a sigh of relief mixed with exhaustion and seated herself in a pentaform in the informal study area off to one side of Briin's desk. She activated the music system, allowed herself to luxuriate in the contoured comfort of the deep auto-conforming cushions, and gave herself leave to take a much needed one-minute vacation.
Little more than a minute later, the sound of Lord Ptoriil’s calm but firm voice issuing last-second instructions to his aide brought Eebri back from her mini-vacation, back to the office. Before Briin could sweep briskly into the room, she had re-composed both mind and body into a semblance of efficient alertness. But as she stood at attention in front of the desk where he moved to seat himself, a surprisingly undisciplined thought infiltrated her mind: Look at him…What a hunk of a man!
For half a second, Briin thought he saw something flash across her lips. Then it was gone, leaving only the glow of its passing. He allowed himself a quick glance to devour the sight, then relaxed his eyes back to a casual warmth as he motioned and spoke easily, “Sit…please Eebri, forget the formalities. We both have too much on our plates to stand on ceremony, and no one is here to see us drop our rigid diplomatic masks.”
She nodded, re-seated herself gracefully in a military “at ease” posture in an upholstered chair, and flashed a weary but disarming smile. “Thank you, Lord Ptoriil. I must admit that rigorously maintaining a constant diplomatic demeanor can be exhausting.”
“I thought we were on a personal name basis, Eebri. Do I have to call you 'Brie' to get you to be more casual?”
She actually blushed at the thought of such intimacy, her talc-white skin glowing to a pale pink. “Sorry, Briin…it's just hard for me to let my hair down.”
Oh, that you would! he wished. To see that scarlet mane falling softly to your shoulders… However, only a wistful twinkle hinted at his thought. Re-gathering his professional wits, he spoke. “The MAC session is at 1600 Hours, so we had better finalize our strategy.”
“Briin, I've given that a lot of thought. I know you prefer to face them down, but I’m convinced this is one meeting you should conveniently become 'too busy' to attend. 'Affairs of State', you know, or something equally unchallengeable.”
He began to shake his head in the negative, and opened his mouth to speak.
She hurriedly cut him off, dripping sarcasm, “Oh, yes, Your Grace! I know you are indispensable; of course, noble Lord Regent of the House Ptoriil! As you wish, my mighty Chief of State. Certainly, your Eminence…But sliss and pizzle, Ptoriil, you're making a serious mistake if you think your regal presence at this meeting is truly necessary…or even wise!”
Briin's head had stopped swiveling, his face had begun to flush, and his jaw dropped slightly at her incredible temerity and her unprecedented breach of protocol— not to mention her unsavory language. Then he regained his composure and relaxed, remembering he had directed her to drop the diplomatic routine. And it's Eebri, you pompous fool! Lighten up and listen to her. He recomposed himself and nodded graciously, saying simply, “Continue.”
“You don't need to subject yourself to their ridiculous attacks, which will be even more vehement and verbose if you're there. It's not actually the issues that are important to them; they just want to seize this opportunity to remind you how easily they can challenge your power.
“The ‘honorable' Lords Cjorll and Vstoch may be members of the Committee by right of Regency in their own Houses, but they can't support statements of significant substance. They're incapable of it…why, they couldn't raise a single argument with any more weight than a child's hair ribbon! They're still just sniveling, slithering serpents pompously posturing for prestige and power!”
Briin— with an exaggerated pretense of shock at her words, followed by his infectious rumbling laugh— mollified her somewhat. Privately he was filing away a vital bit of information, What a wondrous way with words this woman has…don't ever allow yourself get drawn into a Verbal Duel with her!
Reining in his laughter, he addressed her latest tirade. “Really, Eebri, aren't you being a tad harsh on those boys? Neither of them has been on the Committee for a full year yet. They're young and still feeling their way. And, Eebri, I'm so glad we're behind closed doors…such acidic vitriol coming from such a lovely mouth!”
A modestly contrite smile formed on those full, pink lips. She responded, less stridently. “Briin, please, for the sake of the rest of us, if not for yourself…they'll do nothing but waste our time with their putrid pontifications, and we'll have to suffer twice as long through the fools' salacious slander and flaming folderol if you're there. We both have too many more important items pending on our calendars.”
Postponing his decision, he replied, “Well, you're right about having more on our plates to deal with than we would like.” He nodded toward his desk top and her comprehensive report about the most recent appearance. “And this is one of them.”
“Yes, that's one, and it's a baffler. But, Briin, don't think you can sidetrack me. That reminds me…I need you to fill me in on the deep background of the Eidolon incident. All I've seen is the official fluff, and I can't afford to be caught short on knowledge and long on ignorance going into that MAC meeting— especially if they are going to try to make a mockery of it.”
He pretended to scan the report while in deep thought, then locked his stare to hers. “Eebri, your political senses are as sharp as ever; I yield to your insight and wisdom. You may carry word to the Committee that a “matter of state diplomacy” has arisen to detain me. Actually, that describes the situation truthfully, if not fully. As far as Eidolon is concerned, you're right; you shouldn't walk into that meeting unprepared, and I wouldn't want you to. I'm sorry I haven't been able to share the full redacted info with you yet.”
“No apologies necessary,” she smiled. "We’ve both been inundated. Actually, my involvement with this new planetary appearance has prevented a full debriefing. In fact, before you fill me in on Eidolon, let me update you on Chaattel Menkondra. “We've completely confirmed everything I briefed you on at Iisleen. No threat to any nav-lanes. No systems threatened by its path— at least not for several thousand years. Definitely no loss of life. Other than machine intelligences, the planet clearly had been completely evacuated quite some time prior to its capture. Briin, your opponents have nothing there to capitalize on…at least, not to any meaningful extent.”
“Thank you, FSO Laytonn,” Briin responded with a twinkle in his eye. “Your Science Agency appears to have done its usual fine job." She nodded her acceptance of the compliment. "In fact, Eebri, I'm looking forward to getting your read on the full details of what really happened on Eidolon.”
She quickly accessed her link, then said, "Before we start with that, Briin, may I suggest a short break? I've received a couple of messages from Uunokeener about a tech decision. I need to handle that... and I'm sure you can use the time productively. Could we reconvene in twenty to thirty minutes?"
"Of course, Eebri. Make it thirty and we'll begin then."