It didn’t look like Hera had spent much of her life ranging the forest and gathering Moss, but Huber wouldn’t have needed his history courses to know that politicians generally said “we” when they meant “you.” The funny thing was, they generally didn’t see there was a difference.
That wasn’t a point a Slammers officer raised with a well-placed member of the state which had hired the Regiment. Aloud he said, “But you do have multiple markets for your drugs? For your base, I mean?”
“Nonesuch takes about half the total,” Hera said, nodding agreement. “The rest goes to about a dozen other planets, some more than others. The final processing takes temperature and vibration control beyond anything we could do on Plattner’s World. Building a second spaceport would be easier.”
She paused, looking at her wine, then across at Huber again. “The government of Nonesuch has been very supportive,” she said carefully. “They couldn’t get directly involved, but they helped to make the arrangements that led to our hiring Hammer’s Regiment.”
“But they wouldn’t simply raise their payments for Thalderol base?” Huber said, keeping his tone empty of everything but mild curiosity.
“Where would it stop?” Hera blazed. “If those vultures on Solace learn that they can get away with extortion, they’ll keep turning the screws!”
Based on what Huber knew about the price of anti-aging drugs, he didn’t think a five-percent boost in the cost of raw materials was going to make a lot of difference, but he didn’t need to get into that. There was more going on than he saw; more going on than Hera was willing to tell him, that was obvious; and probably a lot more going on than even she knew.
None of that mattered. The result of all those unseen wheels whirling was that Colonel Hammer had a lucrative contract, and Lieutenant Arne Huber was spending the evening with a very attractive woman.
“My brother claims that even with other states defraying the costs, the UC is taking all the military risk itself,” Hera continued. “But somebody has to have the courage to take a stand! When the other states see Solace back down, they’ll be quick enough to step up beside us and claim credit!”
“It didn’t seem when I arrived . . .” Huber said, the chill in his guts cooling his tone more than he’d intended. “That backing down was the way Solace was planning to play it.”
He smiled, hoping that would make his words sound less like the flat disagreement that he felt. Hera was smart and competent, but she was turning her face from the reality the ambush at Rhodesville would’ve proved to a half-wit. It wasn’t what she wanted to believe, so she was using her fine intellect to prove a lie.
“Well then, if they persist—” she said, but broke off as the waiter approached the table.
“More wine, sir and madam?” he asked. “Or perhaps you’ve changed your mind about dessert?”
The outside door opened, drawing Huber’s eyes and those of the waiter. It was late for customers, though the restaurant hadn’t started dimming the lights.
“Patroklos!” Hera said, her head turning because Huber’s had. “What are you doing here?”
Not coming for dinner, that was for sure. Senator Patroklos Graciano was a good twenty years older than his sister. He was a beefy man, not fat but heavier than he’d have been if he were a manual laborer. His features were regular, handsome even, but they showed no resemblance whatever to Hera’s.
Huber wondered if the two children had different mothers, but that wasn’t the question at the top of his mind just this instant. He got to his feet; smoothly, he thought, but he heard the chair go over behind him with a crash on the hardwood floor and he didn’t care about that either.
“What am I doing here?” Patroklos said. He had a trained voice; he used its volume to fill the domed restaurant. “I’m not entertaining the butcher who destroyed Rhodesville, that’s one thing! Are you part of the mercenaries’ price, dear sister? Your body as an earnest for the bodies of all the women of the United Cities?”