Jhuri and Kote Strom perambulated through the grounds of the Mentak Coalition capitol on Moll Primus, watching workers erect stages and set up chairs as harried organizers of various species rushed around shouting into earpieces. “This looks like the sort of chaos that eventually resolves into something impressive,” Jhuri observed. “I still can’t believe all the parties are on board. I really thought we’d lose the Kingdom of Xxcha.”
“The guides managed to reach the right people there,” Kote said. “The Greater Union will go forward, and glory will follow.”
“I don’t suppose you know the goal of the great work?”
“The guides have not seen fit to share the wholeness of their vision with me. Only that the formation of the Greater Union is key to the plan.”
“Mmm, yes. They told me the same thing. Have the guides seemed… troubled to you, lately?”
“Perhaps a bit preoccupied,” Kote allowed.
“I hope it doesn’t have anything to do with Felix and the hunt for the fugitives. My operatives haven’t reported in for a while, and the guides refuse to discuss the subject with me.”
“I doubt it’s anything as mundane as that ,” Kote said. “The guides have more on their minds than your small operation. Preparing for our glorious future takes a lot of attention.”
“You seem a bit preoccupied, too.”
Kote winced. “Is it apparent? I have been given an assignment. I have to select some volunteers, and… well… Jhuri, in your official capacity, you have access to explosives, don’t you?”
“When it comes to armament, I can lay my pseudopods on just about anything short of a dreadnought at a moment’s notice.”
“I’ll let you know what I need. The guides say everything is going well, but that it’s important to have backup plans.”
•••
Immental emerged from the meeting with her cousin, the Baron. She had a splitting headache that the guides, in their wisdom, had opted not to soothe. She usually enjoyed the company of the Baron, who appreciated someone who could match wits with him, but he’d just declared her “dull company” and said, “I hope you return to your usual self after all this tedious business with the summit is done.” She’d been looking for an opportunity to give him the sacrament, but there were guards and advisers and toadies and other cousins all over the reception room, and there was never a chance.
The Baron would sign the treaty – he was already being hailed as a visionary, ready to take the Letnev into the future they deserved. That was all thanks to the efforts of the state propaganda machine, guided by a few of the faithful in the right positions. But Immental was the one organizing the summit itself, and there were so many moving parts! The N’orr envoy was not among the faithful, and now she had reports that the L1Z1X were giving the captains assigned to them trouble, and of course the Gashlai couldn’t be inducted into the faith at all , but had to be brought along with ordinary inducements, like preferential trading terms and the promise of violent death to their enemies.
The Baron was putting the entire burden of the summit’s success on her, since she’d been the one who convinced him of the Legion’s importance, and while she could delegate, it wasn’t as if anyone else were competent –
The guides spoke to her. She stopped in the hallway, glanced around to make sure she was unobserved, and then said, “Bombs ? Why do we need bombs, wise ones?”