Danai shook her head. It was incredible. A sloppy story. But as she thought about it, it actually made sense. It started to come together.
"You were set up," she said.
"This is what I'm telling you."
"They planted this woman. Gave her an IrTech badge. Had her schmooze you. Made sure she had some interesting information to drop to keep you interested. Then did absolutely everything in her power to get you arrested."
"Right."
"Park Place really was attacked," Danai said, still thinking out loud. "That's all over the news. But they set this woman up with information that Menkalinan and Kyrkbacken were supposed to be the targets but that was changed. So either that's what happened or that's what they want us to think happened."
"There's one other tidbit there," Bell added. "Not a shock, but good to have confirmation of the rumors— IrTech's making 'Mechs for the Protectorate."
"If the woman was telling the truth. But we'll assume she was. Which means Oriente was originally planning to go deeper into Prefecture VI, but didn't." A light went on in Danai's head. "That's why Daoshen was so mad. That's why he pulled us away so quickly. It wasn't that I screwed up. He wanted the Protectorate to put more pressure on New Canton, but they didn't. So he gave up, not only because he thought we couldn't handle the full brunt of Triarii forces, but because he was mad at Jessica and wanted us to get some kind of payback." She knew Jessica would hear those words soon, if she wasn't listening right now, but she didn't care. She figured Jessica must already know all this, or she wouldn't have given the information she did to Bell.
"So we know what ticked him off," Bell said. "But why let us know this now?"
"Because it doesn't matter. At least we know the situation, but we have no real leverage—nothing, at least, to compare to what Jessica got by arresting you. It's a power play. She's showing the strength of her position."
"And what are you supposed to do?"
"I have no idea."
Later that night, she still didn't know. But she'd decided one thing—she was sick of being played. She was sick of being a step or two behind all the machinations, sick of being tossed on the winds of diplomacy. She needed to get some control back.
She had a weapon. A big weapon. The Duchy of Andurien was about to become a partner with the Magistracy of Canopus, which made it a de facto ally of the Capellan Confederation. That was a nice, big stick and she was about to swing it.
She'd been in the middle of these diplomatic games long enough—her whole life, in fact. She had spent her life learning Daoshen's rules, Jessica's rules, everyone else's rules. Now it was time to make some moves of her own.
24
Amur, Oriente
Oriente Protectorate
15 April 3136
Jessica strung her along for a few more days, making her wait for a meeting. More games, Danai thought. More reason to do what I'm going to do.
Her situation had not changed. Bell was still in jail, and Danai was not inclined to press for his release—if she received any concessions from Jessica, that was far from the first one she wanted.
Finally, five days after Bell's arrest, Danai was granted another meeting. She was told it would be in the private office, which she hoped represented a thaw in relations.
She arrived with her customary companions, and was met by Jessica, Nikol and their implacable stenographer. Greetings on all sides were strained. The long, fruitless meetings combined with the recent turmoil hadn't made any of the parties involved too happy with each other. Danai's "hello" with Nikol was particularly awkward, as they hadn't spoken since the last meeting. The sting of Nikol's betrayal still froze Danai's heart.
Danai had rehearsed her opening lines repeatedly over the past few days. What she intended to say was this: "I'd first like to offer an apology for the actions of my sergeant at arms. I have no excuse for what he did. He certainly should have known his own boundaries, where he could go and where he should not. Because if you do not know your borders—if you don't know what's going on in your most crucial, most vulnerable areas—then you have trouble indeed."
It sounded perfect. Vaguely threatening, specific enough about borders while being vague enough to not say which borders she was talking about. It would get Jessica's attention and start her guessing about what Danai knew. Then the game would be in force.
But she had to wait before she could deliver her salvo.
"Thank you for coming, Sao-shao Liao-Centrella," Jessica said. "I regret the gap in our meetings, as well as the difficult situation of recent days. I hope to use this meeting as an attempt to get past those troubles and move productively forward."
Danai nodded, then prepared to move to take some control over the situation.
"All right. You want to move forward? Great. No more games."
Danai stopped. Had she just said that? She checked her memory. Yes, that sounded like her voice. But that wasn't what she intended to say. In fact, it was quite the opposite—she was going to start playing games, not end them. What an odd thing for her to say. Time to get things back on track.
"We're not going to get anywhere unless we're straight with each other. I know you set up Bell. I know why you did it. And it's fine. He could use some time in the brig. But we're not going to communicate through strange women or veiled threats. We're going to talk. We're going to ask each other straight questions, and we're going to give each other straight answers."
Dammit, that wasn't right either. She was getting further and further off message.
"I'll start. The attack on Zion. Yes, I ordered it. But only because I didn't know the details of your agreement with the chancellor. He didn't see fit to tell me. Naturally, if I had known, I would never have attacked. It was a move to try to draw New Canton's attention away from Aldebaran—similar to the intent of your move to Kyrkbacken and Menkalinan, the one that didn't happen. I'm happy to leave Zion alone if that's what you want. My intent was never to interfere with the Protectorate."
Jessica exchanged a glance with Nikol. The captain- general looked troubled, but Nikol looked amused. They held a brief whispered colloquy, then Jessica returned her attention to Danai.
"I have to say, this is an approach to diplomacy I haven't seen much. And it's . . . pleasant. But how would this work? How many questions do we get? Do we have to answer all the ones we ask?"
"This isn't another game," Danai said impatiently. "There is no set number of questions. There are no rules. If you need to not answer a question immediately, I understand—you don't spend as much time as I have with Daoshen—I mean, Chancellor Liao—without understanding that some things can't be revealed. But if that's the case, we say so. Directly. We don't play coy. We just talk. Like we're normal people."
Jessica laughed. "But we're not."
"I know. But for the time being, we're going to pretend we are."
"All right. Let's see how long we can keep it up. Seeing as how you've already provided me with an answer, perhaps it's your turn to ask a question."
"Fine. You were going to go to Kyrkbacken and Menkalinan, but then you decided not to. You knew this would aggravate the chancellor, but you thought it was worth it. There's only one reason for that—you wanted him to offer more than you had gotten. So what is it you want?"
"Security," Jessica said. "I've got too many borders where the situation is dicey at best. If I could move troops away from some of these borders, I could concentrate my forces where I want them."
"Where do you want them?"
"That's a second question," she said. "And one I probably wouldn't answer even if it was the first."
"Fair enough. What do you want to know from me?"
"Our border with the Confederation is quite broad, and I intend to leave it fortified until the day I die. But the exact number of troops I commit there is an open question—how much do I have to worry about Capellan aggression?"
"You want a straight answer?" Danai leaned forward. "As long as Daoshen is chancellor
, you will always need to worry about Capellan aggression."
Her point made, Danai sat back. "That's the long- term reality," she continued. "But luckily for you there's also short-term pragmatics. And grudges. For the time being the chancellor would rather have his border with the former Free Worlds League secure instead of hostile. There are two things he wants more— the Republic reduced as a threat, and the Davions punished for their long years of being Davions. I can't reveal the specifics of where he wants to go, but if you really thought about it you could figure it out for yourself. So for the time being, I think the chancellor would rather have you as a partner instead of an enemy." She paused. "Of course, the chancellor is known to be mercurial."
"That's one way to put it," Jessica said. "But you answered my question fairly. I suppose that makes it your turn."
"Okay. This is a simple one. You say you want your borders to be more secure so you can move your troops where you want them. I assume you'd like Capellan help. Let's say I return to the chancellor, and we find a way to make your borders more secure. Would that motivate you to move where you originally planned—to go into the Republic as far as Menkalinan?"
Jessica didn't hesitate. "Yes. And that's probably something we should get in writing this time."
Danai nodded. "All right. So. Progress. We've made progress. I'll need to return to Sian, of course. To talk to the chancellor."
"Of course," Jessica said. "In the meantime, I'll just hold on to Sang-wei Bell. To motivate you to make your trip as rapidly as possible."
Danai dropped her head a little. "Fine. I'll do what I can."
Jessica stood. "Then I think we've done all we can for the time being. We'll look forward to your return."
Danai rose, grasped Jessica's hand in a firm but not overly warm handshake, nodded curtly at Nikol and walked out.
"We all need to pack and get out immediately," she told Clara and Wiggins as they walked away. "The more we look like we're in a hurry, the better off we'll be."
"Look like we're in a hurry?" Clara said. "Shouldn't we actually be in a hurry?"
Danai didn't respond, but she walked quickly to stay ahead of the other two so they wouldn't see her grin.
* * *
She was ready to go within an hour, but she understood the rest of the preparations would take longer. Since she had no intention of going to Sian, she went to her DropShip so she could talk to the pilot about interesting places to blow a few months. She'd been in a foreign place for almost four weeks, and been either in transit or in battle for untold months before that. It was time for her and everyone else in her company (except, of course, poor Bell) to enjoy a nice, extended leave.
And it had all been made possible by her brain, which had, for some reason, thrown out her well-planned strategy and gone with something entirely different.
Who could guess that after weeks of Jessica trying to maneuver Danai into a corner—and finally succeeding— that Danai would get out of it without any of the manipulations she'd been repeatedly exposed to? It was a revelation; the games Daoshen was so fond of were not, in fact, a necessary part of ruling. She didn't have to play them, and she might somehow be able to avoid Dao- shen's fate. There could be something more in her future than being an empty vessel for Capellan ambition. She could be an actual person instead of a—whatever Daoshen was, and still do her job as a Capellan and a Liao.
It was the most comforting thought she'd had in months.
25
Shuen Wan Jump Point
Capellan Confederation
20 May 3136
The tremendous JumpShip took longer to recharge at each jump point than any other ship because of all of the lights. Lights everywhere, flashing, red and green and blue and yellow. Spelling out words, casting odd shadows, making skin—and there was plenty of it on display—appear in colors nature never intended. Drinks that were illuminated from within darted through the air on hovering trays, available to anyone who dropped enough chips into the tray's slot. There were dozens of rooms with throbbing lights and deafening music, and all of them had plenty of corners and nooks for pairs or trios or however many people could fit into the small spaces.
There were SO many ways to spend money. Gaming rooms, bars, restaurants, acrobats, freak shows and the finest, most open brothels in the known universe.
One cannot spend a great amount of time among soldiers without learning a lot about brothels. You don't even have to go to the brothels, you just need to listen to the others talk about them.
Common complaints about brothels tended to fit into two categories. The first was the quality of services offered, whether concerning the age, appearance or enthusiasm of the professional delivering them. The second was the awkwardness involved in negotiating a transaction, as it wasn't always clear what services were being offered, how much they cost and whether the establishment was in danger of being raided by local authorities.
The brothels in Canopian pleasure circuses took care of both complaints. The high level of income flowing through the establishments enabled them to be particular in their hiring, employing only the best, and the menu of services posted in the lobby made it quite clear what you could get and how much it would cost you. Added to this was the fact that absolutely no one on board one of the traveling circuses had any interest in raiding the brothels.
Danai understood how this made the brothels appealing to some, though they weren't her preferred method of entertainment, but she still didn't quite understand the lengths some people went to visit them. Were the planets from which these people came—along with all the planets they passed when journeying to the pleasure circus—so empty of potential partners?
Maybe they were, maybe they weren't. But being able to get exactly what you wanted clearly held strong appeal, and the fulfillment of this desire brought billions of C-bills to the Magistracy of Canopus through the pleasure circuses each year.
Danai and her company had been holed up in the pleasure circus for about two weeks now. In a few weeks more it would be time to head back to Oriente to continue exercising the diplomatic art. In the meantime, her main responsibility was to make sure she stayed entertained by a most impressive collection of amusements. She didn't even need to keep her company under some degree of control—they couldn't really wander too far away, they couldn't get arrested unless they tried really hard and even if they got incredibly blasted, they'd have a long journey back to Oriente to dry up. The only real risk was that one of the Capellan ships that liked to harass pleasure circuses might show up. The Capellans made a pile of money taxing the circuses more than any other nation, but they often felt the tax burden itself was not enough to display their objection to the general principles behind these establishments, and so they embarked on the occasional raid. Of course, the worst that could happen was that Danai and her company would leave the circus, go back to their own JumpShip and find something else to do until it was time to return to Oriente.
Danai spent a lot of time with Clara and Sandra, dancing and gaming and taking in whatever shows they wanted to see. Other than having to endure the occasional leering customer asking them where their price sheet was, everything went very well.
It was too bad Daoshen would never comprehend the full extent of the coup Danai was currently realizing. She wasn't sure he had it in him to have fun for the sake of having fun. After all, how did having fun advance the Capellan Confederation?
But that was the beauty of this trip—she was, in fact, advancing the Confederation by maintaining the illusion of traveling all the way to Sian. Her entire plan would blow up if she went back to Oriente now. Duty required her to stay put.
The activity for this particular evening was a contest; Clara, Sandra and Danai went to three different blackjack tables and they were going to stay there for three hours—not a minute more. At the end of the time, they would meet and compare stacks of chips, and the loser would buy the others drinks while they sat together and made fun of the other players at their
respective tables. It sounded like a good plan to Danai.
After two hours and forty-five minutes, Danai was pretty sure she was going to do the buying. She was down—not much, but she was down. The problem was, she wasn't really paying attention to the game. She was too engrossed in the people walking by: the single people trying to pair up without spending money at the brothels, the sharks patrolling tables looking for marks, the fleet-fingered thieves lifting a few chips off the top of particularly large stacks in front of inattentive players—it was better than most of the shows she'd seen on the ship. Since she wasn't employing any strategy, she was left to rely on luck, which, when it comes to blackjack, usually means losing.
She tried to stage a rally in the last fifteen minutes, and a double-down on an eleven that hit to twenty at least got her back to even. She sputtered with mediocre hands for a few minutes, then hit a blackjack with two minutes left. She had a small handful of chips as her profit, so she decided to call it a night.
A few minutes later she was buying drinks with her winnings as Clara and Sandra flipped a few of their extra chips at people walking by, trying to peg them in the forehead. A waiter eventually came by and politely asked them to knock it off, but they slipped him a few chips, which allowed them to nail a few more passersby before they decided to call it quits.
Danai weaved through the hallway toward her cabin. She wasn't really drunk, but weaving just felt like the right thing to do. Despite her loss in the evening's contest, this whole trip counted as her first real victory in a long time, and she was enjoying it.
She walked into her cabin, didn't bother turning on the lights and sprawled happily in her bed. She rolled around on it a few times to find the most comfortable spot, then settled into it and got ready to sleep for ten hours or so.
After a minute, she noticed something pulsing. A light. She could see it through her eyelids, a faint blinking on and off. She couldn't remember having any blinking lights in her cabin.
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