“All right.”
“But you have to understand that at the level I work at, we don’t really get into the philosophy of the organization. Do you, sir? Do you spend a lot of time thinking about the ethics and philosophy of the Colonial Union and what it does?”
“Actually, I do,” I said, and smiled. “But overthinking things is a hobby of mine. I’m the first to admit I’m weird.”
“My job was to manage communications,” Lau said. “I spent most of my time thinking about my immediate tasks and the people I was working with. I’m not a great thinker, Lieutenant.”
“This mission,” I said. “It was with the same group you’ve been with since the beginning.”
“No. The team I was part of was mostly wiped out when the Chandler attacked Equilibrium headquarters. I survived because I had been temporarily assigned to another team to train some new recruits. After that attack I stayed with that team, which Commander Tvann led. That’s the team you obliterated.”
“I’m sorry for the loss of your friends.”
“Thank you. It’s kind of you to say, even if I doubt you’re entirely sincere.”
“I have to say you’re more forthcoming than Commander Tvann has been.”
“I have a lot fewer secrets to keep,” Lau said. “And I don’t want to die.”
“I know Tvann was not happy with you that you were willing to talk with us. That he tried to attack you to shut you up.”
“Like I said, he has more secrets to keep than I do.”
“I suspect he’s unhappy with the level of loyalty you’re showing.”
Lau barked out a Rraey laugh at this. “You said it yourself, Lieutenant. I’m a mercenary. I have been since the moment Equilibrium hired me. Equilibrium pays well, but right now I can’t spend a single coin of what they pay me. You, on the other hand, can kill me. I value my life more than all the money in the world.”
“That’s a very practical point of view, Ketrin.”
“I was hoping you might appreciate it, Lieutenant.”
“I do, very much. And I think you’ll find that my superiors will appreciate it too.”
“I was hoping that you would say that. Remember, there’s only so much I know. I won’t withhold anything but there are limits to my knowledge.”
“Like I said, I’m interested in other things from you than I am from Commander Tvann. I think you’ll be very useful.”
“Then let’s get to work,” Lau said. “I do have one request for the moment.”
“What is it?”
“Lunch.”
* * *
“Do you know who I am?” Masahiko Okada asked, with just the right amount of outrage to his voice. The same room again, but a slightly different cast of characters. Okada was sitting at the table. I was standing against the wall near the door. The question was not directed at me but at the person sitting directly across from him.
“You’re Masahiko Okada,” said Ode Abumwe, Colonial Union ambassador, and also my boss.
“Precisely,” Okada said. “And you know my position.”
“Yes I do,” Abumwe said. “You’re a Colonial Union prisoner of war.”
“I’m prime minister of Khartoum!” Okada said, voice shaking.
“No,” Abumwe said. “No, you are not. You may have been, but that was before you acted in open rebellion against the Colonial Union. That was before you ordered ships to attack a Colonial Defense Forces vessel. That was before you ordered ground-based weapons to blast individual CDF soldiers out of the sky. Whatever you were before, Mr. Okada, right now you are a traitor, and a murderer, and a prisoner of war. Nothing more than that.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Okada said. “We declared independence from the Colonial Union, that’s all.”
“You declared independence from the Colonial Union and then hid in a secret location,” Abumwe said. “Which surely suggests you knew the Colonial Union would respond to your independence and would send forces to retrieve you. And when we did, we were attacked. Not by Khartoumians, Mr. Okada. By others entirely.”
“I didn’t authorize any attack.”
Abumwe sighed audibly at this.
“I want to speak to Secretary of State Galeano. When she finds out what you and your Colonial Defense Force stooges have done to me, you’ll be lucky just to be fired.”
“Mr. Okada.”
“Prime Minister Okada.”
“Mr. Okada,” Abumwe repeated, and I could see the mottled rage rising up Okada’s neck and face, “you appear to be under the impression that by sheer force of personality, you will change your circumstances at the moment. That you will, by issuing demands in that stentorian campaign voice of yours, cow me to your will. You misunderstand my role here, Mr. Okada. I am not the one keeping you from returning to your previous, exalted status. I am the one that is keeping you from being turned into a floating brain in a transparent column of nutrient broth.”