Her eyes widened, as she saw how serious he was. “Of course, my Lord. It was only a joke, and it won’t happen again.”
“Good, then.” He let the matter pass as though it had never happened. “Go on with your analysis.”
“This ship itself is a stroke of genius. With The Republic fragmented, worlds isolated from distant authorities will rally to a tangible symbol of power, especially one as benign as this. It seems your intent was to make yourself into a kind of royal celebrity, and in that, you’re well on your way.” She lowered her voice conspiratorially. “Your liaison with Ginger Li was an especially masterful touch.”
Aaron frowned. “Who?”
“Ginger Li, the Tri-Vid actress.”
“Oh,” said Aaron, leaning back in his chair. “So that was her name.”
Cisco raised an eyebrow, but made no comment. “Moving on, Lord Governor; with as much good as you’ve done, you’ve taken huge risks, and have been incredibly lucky. I don’t believe in leaving things to chance. It’s just as easy to generate negative spin as it is to generate positive. If we’re going to work together, you have to trust me to know the best way to project the image you wish to create.”
Aaron rubbed his chin and smiled slightly. He wasn’t ready to tell her the true story of Shensi, and might never be. On the other hand, she had to know on some level how he worked, and the lengths to which he was willing to go to in order to achieve his goals. “Ms. Cisco, I believe that there is no such thing as luck. You’re right about not wanting to leave things to chance. I believe that successful people make their own luck, and that even adversity—such as the attempt on my life—can be used as opportunity.
“Know that you will not—at first, anyway—always be privy to all my dealings. Those aren’t your concern. My public face is. Know, too, that if you need something—anything, no matter how outrageous or impossible it may seem—to shape that public face, then you must tell me.”
“Anything?”
He looked her squarely in the eye. “Anything. I have remarkable resources at my disposal. Don’t assume I can do ‘anything,’ but don’t assume that I can’t.”
He smoothed his hair with his fingers. “Which brings us back to Poznan. It’s going to be a difficult world to win: a nest of ethnic tensions, dissidents, and malcontents. There are many there who would welcome Liao forces with open arms.”
She nodded. “And just as many who would start a civil war to resist them, which isn’t in our interests, either.
“We have to convince all the ethnic groups that you are offering them something they’ve never seen before—something that addresses all their desires. I have some suggestions—”
The intercom built into the desktop chimed gently. “Excuse me.” He pushed a control. “Duke Sandoval.”
It was Clancy’s voice. “Duck, just thought you’d like to know. A ship just jumped into the point ahead of us. Got a DropShip called the Mercury on it, and they’ve got your boy, Erik.”
Erik leaned his face against the cool ferro-glass of the shuttle’s viewport to get a better look at the Tyrannos Rex. He hardly recognized the ship now, its silver hull gleaming in the light of the nearby star over whose north pole the ship was currently floating. As the shuttle moved around the egg-shaped hull, the huge SwordSworn seal came into view.
The sight of it caused a tightness in his chest that he couldn’t identify, a strange mixture of pride, anger, and revulsion. Nor could he identify the source of the negative feelings. Was it because of the symbol itself, or the fact that it was on Aaron Sandoval’s ship? There was a great deal to sort out yet, and he’d hoped for more time.
It was an unfortunate accident for them to arrive at the Ningpo jump point just as the Duke was about to leave the system. If things had gone a little differently, he might have had additional days, or weeks, to untangle that knot in his chest. Now he was going in, wounds still fresh, the sting of betrayal coloring his every thought.
He was shocked, as they approached the bay, to see an archway flanked by Greek columns grafted to the side of the ship. Perhaps Aaron really had gone mad. Perhaps the man who had come back from New Canton was not at all the uncle he had once known.
The shuttle slipped into the bay, the door slid closed, and the bay began to pressurize. Erik was the only passenger in the little ship, which was otherwise jammed with cargo, military equipment, and parts requisitioned from the Mercury to help complete the Duke’s irrational plans for the Tyrannos Rex.
The hissing of air outside became louder and finally stopped. The shuttle’s doors opened with a slight whoosh, and Erik’s ears popped. Apparently the pressure regulator on the shuttle was out of adjustment. He climbed down the line to the inner airlock, and was surprised to find Deena Onan waiting just inside the door.
She smiled as she saw him, and it seemed genuine. But the smile quickly faded as she saw his face, and she looked away. “I’m glad to see you’re well, Commander.”
“Amazingly, I escaped death several times over during my little visit to Shensi. Who knew it would be such an exciting place?” He waited for her answer.
She didn’t shift her gaze. “For what it’s worth, Erik, I thought you knew—that you were in on the plan. I wasn’t trying to deceive you that day; I just didn’t know how to tell you.”
He looked at her. His face felt still and dead. He had been attracted to this woman once—even gladly endured the hidden laughter and taunts of those who claimed she was unapproachable. Now he felt nothing, and wondered why it had ever been different. “Perhaps—” He swallowed. “Perhaps you were deceived yourself. I’d like to think so, anyway. But you’re still here.”
“I have my loyalties, Commander,” she said stiffly. “I will not apologize for them.”
“Your loyalties have been bought, you mean. The Duke is your meal ticket, your shortcut to wealth and power well above your station. I’ve always known this. I simply didn’t understand, until now, exactly what it meant.”
She did not bend, but he could see that his words had stung her. Good.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “that you feel that way.”
“I have to see the Duke. Where is he?”
“The gymnasium on the crew deck. He’s expecting you.”
Erik brushed past her. “I imagine he is.”
Aaron slipped his feet into the stirrups at the base of the resistance machine, and slid his shoulders under the bar, placing his hands around the grips. The gymnasium, and as many of its facilities as possible, was designed to function either in free fall or normal gravity.
Since weights wouldn’t work without gravity, the resistance machine allowed the user to work against computer-controlled bands of myomer, the synthetic muscle used in ’Mech limbs. The myomer could be programmed to provide any amount and pattern of resistance. Aaron currently had the machine programmed for 130 kilograms.
Working out in free fall was an old habit of his. In theory, a simple pill taken every day prevented the loss of muscle and bone density that had plagued early space travelers, but he didn’t want to take chances with his body.
Captain Clancy watched him skeptically. It was clear that what muscle the little man had came solely through honest toil. Clancy could often be seen down in the engine rooms or in the cargo bays, working right along with his men. “Don’t bust a gut there, Duck. I still got some use for you.”
Aaron tensed, pushed the bar to its stop, slowly lowered it back down. The rep-counter clicked to one.
“So you do, Captain. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. We haven’t had time yet, given the current emergency, but I wanted to assure you that, at the earliest opportunity, the Tyrannos Rex will get the finest upgrades available, to all its systems. With a special emphasis on the armor, engines, and weapons.”