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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Rastar shook his head over the invitations laid out on the floor.
"Some of these I can only guess at, but you're right. Whether or not we get any support is going to depend more on these invitations than any Council meeting."
"Am I reading these right?" Roger asked. "Do they really say something like 'and bring a date'?"
"Yes." Rastar chuckled. "The local custom, decadent in the eyes of my people, is to have men and women at the same di
"Bloody hell," Roger said. "Do they realize that one of my main advisers is a woman? And one of my senior officers, as well, for that matter?"
"I'm not sure," Rastar said. "But it's going to be very important for you to attend at least three of these if you hope to achieve anything here in the city. How you divide them up is going to be . . . interesting."
"Eleanora . . . ?" the prince said plaintively.
"I'll do my best," the chief of staff sighed. "I wish I understood the position of women in this society better, though. I'm getting this queasy feeling that we've arrived in the middle of the suffrage movement, which means that any time a female opens her mouth in a definitive ma
"Well, let's go on as we intend to end," Roger told her. "We're a mixed unit from a mixed society, and I don't intend to convey anything else, whatever the societal norms. Also, there's this story of a woman who organized the evacuation of D'Sley."
"There are three invitations from D'Sley nobles," Rastar noted. "But none from a woman."
"Julian," Pahner said. "Track down that story and get us some clear intel on it."
"You think it's important?" Roger asked.
"If we have to stay and fight, it will be," the captain said. "If she can organize a sealift one way, she can organize one the other way."
"Ah." The prince smiled. "Rastar, I get the feeling that D'Sley wasn't a democracy?"
"No," the Northerner said. "It was controlled by a council of nobles and a weak king. From what I've heard, the king is dead, and many of the nobles as well, but many of the commoners escaped, especially the women."
"And they're clogging the city," Julian added. "That's one of the sore points at the moment—all the D'Sley refugees."
"Just once," Roger said, shaking his head. "Just damned once, I would like something to go smoothly somewhere on this planet."
"There is a sense of dejа vu here, isn't there?" O'Casey laughed. "I'll set about divvying up these invitations with Rastar. You go discuss clothes with Matsugae. I'm going to need a clean and presentable dress or suit, as are several of the Marines. We can . . . elevate their social importance for the evening."
"Oh, Lord," Roger said, grabbing his head. "Just once. Please God, just once." He shuddered. "Poertena. At a formal di
* * *
Kostas Matsugae shook his head and grimaced.
"You really don't appreciate me enough," he said.
"Probably not," Roger agreed wryly. "But we need dresses or suits for myself, Pahner, O'Casey, Kosutic, and some of the other Marines."
"Why here? They seemed to do just fine with chameleon suits everywhere else."
"The locals are a bit more sophisticated in K'Vaern's Cove," Roger said. "They deal with so many different cultures that they're more likely to notice the . . . poor condition of the uniforms, even if they don't wear clothes themselves. Unfortunately, we can't afford to create anything but the very best impression, because we need something from these guys, like a fleet of ships, so Armand wants you to coordinate with Eleanora to see to it that any appearance we present is a good one."
"Oh, very well," the valet said with a sudden twinkle. "I'll think of something. There are a couple of bolts of dianda left, and I'm sure the locals have some of that serge-like material I found at Diaspra, if nothing else. And I've already seen some very nice wall hangings and tapestries here, so if I look really hard . . ."
His voice trailed off thoughtfully, and Roger stood.
"Right, well, I'll leave you to it," he said.
"Hmmm," Matsugae said with an absentminded nod, but then his eyes sharpened. "Do we know who's going to be attending these events? And when are they?"
"Uh, no," Roger said as casually as possible. "We're not quite certain yet who's on the guest list from our side. But the di
"Tomorrow!"
"I guess I'd better get going now," Roger said, beating a hasty retreat.
"Tomorrow?!"
"Have a good time, Kostas. Use whatever funds you need," the prince said, and disappeared out the door like smoke.
The valet stood staring at the closed door, jaw still half-dropped, for several fulminating seconds, but then he began to smile.
"Whatever funds I need, hmmm?" he murmured. "And coordinate with Eleanora, is it?" He chuckled evilly. "This one you're going to pay for, Roger," he promised the absent prince. "In fact, I think it's two-birds-with-one-stone-time, young man!"
* * *
Eleanora O'Casey glanced up as Matsugae walked into her office, took one look at his expression, and chortled. Then she gestured at the scrolls scattered over the floor around her.
"Look at this before you complain to me about your problems," she warned him.
"Oh, I wasn't going to complain," he said with a decidedly wicked grin. "I was only wondering if you'd decided on who was escorting whom?"
"Well, we've got a minimum of two separate categories of meetings going on, and probably at least three. The first category consists of the ones which are going to be crucial to getting overall political support, so those are the most critical and I'm assigning senior officers and in some cases some of our more . . . polished NCOs to them."
"All right. And the others?"
"The second category are the di
"So he'll be there in person?"
"Yes, and I'm not entirely certain whether that one ought to be considered overall political or military-technical . . . or possibly in a third category all its own. Call it, um, logistical. Or maybe financial. Whatever, I'm assigning it the same priority as category one. Particularly since Tor Flain, the local Guard's second in command, is also going to be present."
"So who's going to that one?"
"Oh, Roger. Technically, the Council chairman is higher in rank than Til, but given the fact that we're going to have to build our own ships, the combination of economic and military aspects make this the more important meeting, I think. And if military questions arise, I'm sure Roger can field them."
"And who's he going to be escorting?"
"I haven't decided yet. Given its importance, I suppose I should go with him, but there's another that fascinates me more. One of the other Council members, who's nearly as wealthy as Til, has arranged for a di
"That does sound fascinating," the valet said. "Have you decided who'll be escorting you to it?"
"No, I hadn't," she said, then looked up and raised an eyebrow at his expression. "Really?"