The Prince stared at the four other people gathered around him. "Comments?"

Field Marshal Yvonne Davion, seated farthest from the Prince on the right side of the table, looked angry enough to spit fire. "Of course we didn't hit the substation their holovid shows us destroying. The 'Mechs that hit it have all the right insignia and serial numbers to be with the Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers, but that particular unit was engaged in burning down a forest at the time of the attack." The gray-haired woman looked at the others around the table. "I daresay that if we hadhit that substation, no holovid camera operator would have escaped the perimeter with that recording."

Hanse smiled genuinely, then glanced at Quintus Allard. "Why did they decide to interdict us?"

Davion's Intelligence Chief leaned back in his chair. "ComStar is a pacifistic organization. They may see a refusal to move our messages as an act of civil disobedience."

The woman next to Quintus, a Marshal with the Third Crucis

Lancers, shook her head in disagreement. "Were that their motivation, they would have interdicted the Lyran Commonwealth."

Quintus smiled easily. "Quite true, Marshal Pedroza. That makes me think it's something else. To your knowledge, have our advances interfered with ComStar business?"

Jessie Pedroza smiled like a child caught stealing a piece of candy. "In keeping with security measures agreed upon before the start of the invasion, one of our first acts is to cut off normal civilian communications. We've not destroyed any ComStar equipment, but we have cordoned off some ComStar stations, restricting access to people we know are not Liao agents."

The fourth person seated at the table, Colonel Nicholas Furth, nodded quickly. "We saw the same thing in the Terran corridor when Kurita hit our worlds. Civilian authorities were prevented from using ComStar facilities to relay messages to our incoming troops."

The Prince raised one foot to the seat of his chair and leaned forward with his elbow on that knee. "We shall assume, then, that this is ComStar's opening gambit in some game they want to play. They may believe that limiting us is a way to pour oil on troubled waters, but that matters not at all to us. We are without ComStar's services as of now."

The Prince pointed to a metallic black box sitting on the table in front of him. A third of a meter long and wide, but only half as high, it was featureless except for the numberpad on its surface and a slot extending from side to side. "Marshal Pedroza ... Colonel Furth, this is what we refer to as a Black Box, for rather obvious reasons. I cannot tell you exactly whatit is because I do not fully understand its workings myself, but it has been the source of the 'faxes' you've received from messengers over the course of the war. This device, and the roughly four dozen others in use in the Federated Suns, will circumvent the most bothersome consequence of the Interdiction."

Both military men peered closely at the machine. The Prince lifted it up so they could see the slot on the bottom into which paper was fed, then turned it around to show the various power and computer jacks built into it. "What I can tell you about these boxes, gentlemen, is that they enable us to send and receive messages between stars. Messages travel much more slowly than the hyperpulse communications sent out through ComStar, but we can actually beat them on shorter distances because ComStar often batches messages for transmission. That was an economical feature that impressed the Lyrans who first examined these boxes."

Jessie Pedroza looked up. "How fast do messages travel?"

The Prince frowned momentarily. "We've run clocked messages at roughly an hour per light year traveled. The biggest problem is that only simple data can be transmitted over this equipment. Text and crude graphics go out fine, but more complicated things like video or audio get garbled when sent."

The Prince drew in a deep breath. "Both of you have gotten the fax messages these machines transmit from our messengers. The messenger corps was set up by Quintus's MHO, but we're moving the boxes out of the shadows and into your headquarters. This device is still codeword top secret, but you'll have direct access to it now that the Interdiction has been called.

"It is imperative that these devices not be captured, and that no word of their existence leak out. ComStar would see it as a direct threat to their power, and this Interdiction suggests any reaction from them would be hostile. Quintus's people will set up security for your comcenters, but in the event a headquarters is ever overrun, you must see to it that the Black Box is destroyed."

The Prince smiled, and looked up at Quintus Allard. "What does the Interdiction do to our intelligence efforts?"

The white-haired Minister frowned. "It hurts us badly. Our active agents are known to ComStar because they've been using ComStar to deliver messages to us. That flow of information will stop immediately. We can activate sleeper agents by jumping ships into a system and beaming a broadcast at a planet, and possibly gather intelligence by monitoring public broadcasts in a similar manner, but things will be dicey. The Confederation is such a repressed society that the only information in the media is information Liao wants out."

Yvonne reached across the table and patted Quintus's right arm. "What about our people in the Maskirovka? Can they issue orders to agents in our holdings that will tip us about upcoming things?"

Quintus shrugged. "That is possible, and something I'd expect of our more inventive operatives. Right now, though, I think the best we can hope for is some rerouting of important information in the Liao sphere so Max can make mistakes. If anything big comes up, like Liao's decision to kill Ridzik earlier this year, I'm confident Alexi will find a way to get the information to us. We'll get some warning."

The Minister's frown deepened. "What has me most worried is how the Interdiction will affect our communication with the subversive elements we've been fostering in the Free Worlds League. Right now their activities are keeping Janos Marik all tied up, but their supplies are bound to run out soon. Without ComStar to transfer money through, we can't support them. If they evaporate, House Marik will be free to enter the war."

The scowl on Jessie Pedroza's face told Hanse the Marshal had no desire to fight the Free Worlds League, too. "Thoughts, Marshal Pedroza?"

Pedroza stroked her chin. "If House Marik throws forces in at the old Tikonov-Sarna border, we could be in trouble. We've pacified those worlds, which means we've only garrisoned them with militia troops. In fact, on some planets, we're relying heavily on private minority militias to keep order. The Free Worlders could make some headway, which means I would have to pull line troops off the drive into that region. We'd lose the advantage we gained by not having to defend against Ridzik's troops because of our deal with him. Hell, he might even get greedy and liberate the half of Tikonov we've occupied to save it from House Marik."

Yvonne sat back, grinning broadly and her eyes sparkling with unholy lights. "If you please, my Prince, couldn't we urge Ridzik to lop off a chunk of the Free Worlds League to forge that link between the Lyran Commonwealth and the Federated Suns we'd discussed early on in the invasion? That would give him something to do with his troops, and it would give the Free Worlders someone to hate. If things went well, they might even kill him for us."

Hanse joined the general chuckling as the group considered her idea. Very good, Yvonne. Whoever said, "Just because there's snow on the roof doesn't mean a fire isn't burning in the cabin," must have had you in mind. You and Quintus.