Williams hugged her wasted chest and began to cry, though whether her pain was physical or mental was beyond deduction. Estaing stared at Daniel in silent fury; his goblet was only half-full but his hands trembled so badly that the contents were sloshing. The others kept their eyes averted, from one another as well as from Daniel and Adele.
“Fellow officers . . . ,” Daniel said. He stopped there because he wasn’t sure where to go from that opening.
He knew there had to be some way. He saw—well, saw the kernel—of a way to defeat the Alliance squadron. The Aristoxenos’ officers didn’t. They hadn’t been the Tree, and also they weren’t Daniel Leary who through luck, a crack crew, and perhaps something more, had won against long odds in the past.
All this Daniel understood, but he didn’t understand RCN officers being unwilling to fight. The RCN had never lacked ignorant personnel and even downright stupid personnel, but no one imagined it was a haven for cowards. . . .
Adrian Purvis looked at O’Quinn, waiting for his superior to speak. Under the pressure of the commander’s eyes, the Admiral said, “See here, Leary, I understand what you’re trying to do, but you have to appreciate our situation. Helping out some Cinnabar spacers in a brawl here in San Juan, that’s one thing, but now you’re asking us to get involved in a war with the Alliance. When you were here before, Officer Mundy—”
He nodded to Adele, his expression sternly professional save for the nervous twitch at the corner of his left eye.
“—made it perfectly clear, insultingly clear I might have said, that the Republic had no use for us. Now you say it does? Well, I’m afraid it’s too late!”
“Admiral O’Quinn,” Daniel said. He was as calm as he’d be in battle, even a battle he knew he couldn’t win. “You know that the first thing an Alliance squadron in support of the Commonwealth will do is to reduce the Cluster to submission. The Aristoxenos—”
“We don’t know anything!” Adrian Purvis said. “We don’t know that there’s even an Alliance squadron on Gehenna. This is probably a trick by you and the Commonwealth to lead us into an ambush!”
Daniel looked at him. “Mr. Purvis,” he said, “you have my word as a Leary of Bantry that the situation is as I’ve described it.”
“Yes, and what’s the word of a—” Purvis said.
Adele slapped him across the mouth with her right hand. It was a sharp sound, very like a pistol shot.
Daniel picked up a wine carafe. There wasn’t much chance of getting out if matters went the wrong way, though with Hogg and Tovera in the courtyard there was just a chance. If you were an RCN officer, you didn’t stick your head in the sand and wait for death. . . .
Commander Purvis backed a step. He put his fingers to his mouth, then lowered them, his eyes fixed on Adele’s. No one else moved.
Admiral O’Quinn said, “I don’t believe there’s anything more to accomplish here. I won’t tell you your business, Leary, but I suggest you go back to Cinnabar and place the affair in the hands of the proper authorities. If they don’t act or don’t act quickly enough, well, that’s not your fault.”
“Cousin Adrian,” Adele said in a voice which rang like a bell in the silence. “You are a disgrace to a family which has had more than its share of fools, but no cravens I was aware of until now.”
“Fine!” Purvis said. “Since you insist, we’ll settle this! My seconds will call on you in the morning.”
Adele laughed. “Don’t bother,” she said. “My colleagues and I have matters of state to conduct. But I will say that the one regret I have about the Princess Cecile attacking the Alliance squadron alone is that I won’t survive to cleanse the blot from the family honor with your blood!”
She turned on her heel and walked out. Daniel bowed to his host and followed. Halfway down the outside stairs he realized he was still holding the carafe; he handed it to the petty officer waiting at the bottom.