“Are there?” Lady Kincaid asked directly of the Legate.

“Not that we have discovered,” Ruskoff admitted. “But we are seeing more cases of insubordination and even outright revolt. With the Second McCarron’s running free on Liao, we spend too much time worrying our own ranks to discover whom we can trust. Administration policy to confine pro-Capellan troops to Liao is working against us.”

“There is no such policy,” Hidic said, managing to sound accused and self-righteous all at once.

“We can argue that there is or there isn’t, Lord Governor.” Ruskoff walked his career into dangerous ground. “Prefect Tao will certainly confirm that our official policy is one of enlightened liberalism. That does not explain why some top-drawer grads from the Conservatory, as well as Bulics and Renfield academies, were not accepted to postings in the Triarii and Principes and lesser candidates were.”

Lady Kincaid blinked slowly, digesting this idea. “You are worried that any show of less than complete control will encourage further episodes.”

“I have eleven men and women, three of them officers, absent without leave. I cannot prove they have gone over to the Second McCarron’s, or to the Ijori Dè Guāng, but there is that chance.”

“Eleven.” Leon Beresk shrugged. “Hardly a drop in the bucket.”

“Legate Ruskoff,” the Knight-Errant spoke up again, “how many soldiers have you lost to underground activity in the past four years. Prior to the invasion?”

“Three.”

“That is an increase of nearly four hundred percent.”

“You aren’t buying into this?” Hidic asked. The Lord Governor went to a side bar to splash a small stream of bourbon over ice. “We’re talking eleven people who may simply be scared their first time facing live fire. We don’t know.”

“No, we don’t.” Gerald Tsung plucked at the sleeve of his shirt where it peeked out of his suit jacket. “But we’ve also had two local diems and the city magistrate of Duan question Republic policies in official forums of late. Their stand mirrors the Cult of Liao platform. Not a lot, in and of itself, but …suggestive.”

“Suggestive. A politician’s word for needing more polling data.” Hidic nearly smiled. “Anna worried about the next elections?”

“Why should she be?” Tsung asked breezily. “She ran on a People’s Choice platform. At this rate she’ll be looking at a landslide.”

The discussion was getting far afield from where Ruskoff intended. He dialed back the rhetoric. “I’m not saying that we’re looking at open rebellion in the streets,” he said, conceding the point, “but I’d like to show a decisive move. Now.”

“Then deal with McCarron’s Armored Cavalry,” Hidic ordered. “You’ve let that wound fester too long.”

He nodded. “Tell me where they are, and I will destroy them.” He waited. “That is our problem. The Armored Cavalry moves too swiftly, striking only when it suits them. They are quite obviously getting support from the local population as well.”

The Lord Governor frowned. “What do you propose?”

Knowing he was about to make a political enemy, Ruskoff said, “First, we retake the Liao Conservatory. The longer we leave students in control, the more we legitimize their position. And I don’t want that dagger held at my back if we do get a line on the Armored Cavalry.”

“You’ve given them five days,” Lady Kincaid noted. “Why haven’t you handled this already?”

Tsung cleared his throat. “That was the Governor’s call. We have two dead students riddled with machine gun fire, several more wounded… a lot of fence-sitters went over to the demonstrators after that. The Conservatory also has popular support from the suburbs of YiCha and Suri. The Governor hopes to avoid further loss of life and try diplomatic means. It worked once before.”

“But not permanently,” Beresk noted. “Another black mark against Ezekiel Crow. That man must’ve had the devil’s own touch.” A look of disgust passed over Lady Kincaid’s face at the mention of the Black Paladin. No one liked to think of Paladins and Knights of the Sphere as corruptible.

Ruskoff had an agenda beyond discussing Ezekiel Crow. “We have no time for diplomacy in this case. I respectfully suggest using my Triarii and the Principes Guard to retake the Conservatory. Then we bottle up the Armored Cavalry best we can while waiting for whatever reinforcements the Sixth Hastati can spare.”

Hidic tossed down the rest of his drink, and set his glass back to the sideboard with a rattle of ice. “Unacceptable,” he finally declared. “First of all, there will be no reinforcements, Viktor. Prefect Tao is stretched thin as it is. Second, second–” he held off an interruption with a raised hand “—allowing the Confederation to contest Liao is a show of weakness that undermines the entire Prefecture. You said it yourself; we must be decisive.”

“You’re telling me what you want, Lord Governor. I’m telling you what we can accomplish.” Tension tightened Ruskoff’s shoulders. “If we cannot call in the Sixth Hastati, why not bring up more of the Principes Guard?”

But Legate Ruskoff was not fully briefed on off-world movements.

“The Principes Guard is on Gan Singh,” Eve Kincaid told him now, “replacing the Sixth Hastati, which are being pulled back. Prefecture VI is having more border trouble with the Oriente Protectorate.”

This wasn’t news to Hidic or Beresk, who glanced nervously at each other. Gerald Tsung collapsed back into his chair, momentarily stunned.

Tsung found his voice before Ruskoff. “What of our arrangement with New Canton?” he asked, his polished voice showing a bit of tarnish for once. The Lord Governor had promised to coordinate with his counterpart in Prefecture VI for their mutual defense.

“Suspended, for the time being.”

Ruskoff distanced himself from Tsung, paced a tight box around the room, thinking. With the exception of Lady Kincaid, everyone seemed too wrapped up in their own fears to focus on anything he had to say. “So we can rely on no new resources?” he finally asked.

“Minor,” Lady Kincaid answered for the Lord Governor. Or, more likely, for Prefect Tao. “Our hope is to delay the Confederation advance, reorganize our defense, and then break their thrust off at the base.”

Extend and amputate. Ruskoff nodded, knowing what the Knight-Errant had just given him. She was a second link to Prefect Tao, and they were planning to strike back at Daoshen on his staging worlds inside The Republic or actually over the border into Confederation space. That would likely be determined by the level of reinforcements—any reinforcements—that Shun Tao could draw from other sources.

“In that case,” Ruskoff said, “we simply cannot run the Armored Cavalry to ground. Not without calling up militia units, which risks more defections and the real possibility of open mutiny.”

Marion Hidic wasn’t hearing it. “I don’t want excuses, Legate. I want results.” He drew a measure of strength from nods by Beresk and Tsung. “You may handle the students politically or you can ignore them, but get that blasted Confederation force off my world.”

“At your service,” Ruskoff promised, then cut a military turn for the study door. He’d had enough of this room and quite enough of this council. Liao was more Governor Lu Pohl’s world, more his world, but the Legate knew when to accept a tactical retreat. Viktor Ruskoff was still a soldier. And he had his marching orders.