I think.”
She gazed at him, her expression about as emotional as an AI, but he only sat squarely in his chair and returned her gaze levelly. After a moment, she nodded, as if in satisfaction, and continued.
“What I’m about to tell you is, obviously, very classified in my employers’ view of the universe. You do understand what would happen if those employers—or I—should come to the conclusion that having shared this information with you had turned out to be a bad idea?”
“I think I have some small idea, yes,” Harahap said dryly, and she chuckled.
“Rufino said you were a professional.” She smiled briefly, then her nostrils flared as she inhaled deeply.
“Essentially, my employers are worried the Manties won’t stop at the Talbott frontier. According to their sources, Manticore intends to keep nibbling at the Verge, encouraging other star systems to follow Talbott’s example. I’m sure you know even better than I how little love is lost between them and OFS and the League in general. We think—or, rather, my employers think—the worst thing we could do would be to allow the Manties to consolidate in Talbott and simultaneously build up a glacis of local star systems that are…favorably inclined towards them outside that sector. The best solution, in our eyes is to nip the entire thing in the bud by encouraging the League to express its disapproval of the Manties’ ambitions here in the Verge.”
Harahap nodded again, his expression intent. If Bardasano’s unnamed employers actually believed they could maneuver the Solarian League into quashing Manticoran expansion they were very ambitious, indeed. On the face of it, the entire notion was ridiculous, but Harahap was well accustomed to looking beneath the face of things. And he understood better than most the degree to which money talked with OFS bureaucrats and even permanent undersecretaries in the League government. On the other hand, even the most readily bought-and-paid-for bureaucrat needed at least a minimal fig leaf if the newsies came sniffing around his actions.
“As you’ll appreciate better than most, Mister Harahap, there are always tensions bubbling away out in the Verge, and OFS hasn’t made itself beloved by the locals. Even leaving Frontier Security completely out of the equation, there are also plenty of star systems where resentment of and hatred for purely local regimes are driving dangerous levels of internal unrest. In other words, Verge systems are a continual hotbed of serious, semiserious, barely serious, and outright lunatic fringe resistance and reform movements. You were recently in contact with some examples of that on Montana and Kornati, I believe.”
“That’s certainly the way to describe Nordbrandt,” Harahap agreed with a thin smile. “It might be a bit overstated in Westman’s case, however.” He shrugged. “He was definitely dead serious, and I don’t think anyone could reasonably describe him as a lunatic.”
Bardasano appeared to consider that for a moment, then nodded, as if conceding the point, before she continued.
“Well, what this phase of Operation Janus is designed to do is to locate and identify as many of those movements as possible. We want to encourage them, to give them confidence and provide them with weapons and training.”
She paused, and Harahap allowed himself to frown ever so slightly.
“Excuse me,” he said into the pause, as he was fairly certain he was expected to say, “but if the idea’s to keep the Manties pruned back, why would you want to encourage resistance movements that can only undermine local regimes on the Talbott frontier? Wouldn’t that actually provide Manticore with an incentive to expand beyond those frontiers on the theory that the locals will greet them with welcoming arms?”
“That would be what one would expect to happen, wouldn’t it?” Bardasano agreed, allowing her chair to swing slowly from side to side as she nodded, but there was
She gazed at him, her expression about as emotional as an AI, but he only sat squarely in his chair and returned her gaze levelly. After a moment, she nodded, as if in satisfaction, and continued.
“What I’m about to tell you is, obviously, very classified in my employers’ view of the universe. You do understand what would happen if those employers—or I—should come to the conclusion that having shared this information with you had turned out to be a bad idea?”
“I think I have some small idea, yes,” Harahap said dryly, and she chuckled.
“Rufino said you were a professional.” She smiled briefly, then her nostrils flared as she inhaled deeply.
“Essentially, my employers are worried the Manties won’t stop at the Talbott frontier. According to their sources, Manticore intends to keep nibbling at the Verge, encouraging other star systems to follow Talbott’s example. I’m sure you know even better than I how little love is lost between them and OFS and the League in general. We think—or, rather, my employers think—the worst thing we could do would be to allow the Manties to consolidate in Talbott and simultaneously build up a glacis of local star systems that are…favorably inclined towards them outside that sector. The best solution, in our eyes is to nip the entire thing in the bud by encouraging the League to express its disapproval of the Manties’ ambitions here in the Verge.”
Harahap nodded again, his expression intent. If Bardasano’s unnamed employers actually believed they could maneuver the Solarian League into quashing Manticoran expansion they were very ambitious, indeed. On the face of it, the entire notion was ridiculous, but Harahap was well accustomed to looking beneath the face of things. And he understood better than most the degree to which money talked with OFS bureaucrats and even permanent undersecretaries in the League government. On the other hand, even the most readily bought-and-paid-for bureaucrat needed at least a minimal fig leaf if the newsies came sniffing around his actions.
“As you’ll appreciate better than most, Mister Harahap, there are always tensions bubbling away out in the Verge, and OFS hasn’t made itself beloved by the locals. Even leaving Frontier Security completely out of the equation, there are also plenty of star systems where resentment of and hatred for purely local regimes are driving dangerous levels of internal unrest. In other words, Verge systems are a continual hotbed of serious, semiserious, barely serious, and outright lunatic fringe resistance and reform movements. You were recently in contact with some examples of that on Montana and Kornati, I believe.”
“That’s certainly the way to describe Nordbrandt,” Harahap agreed with a thin smile. “It might be a bit overstated in Westman’s case, however.” He shrugged. “He was definitely dead serious, and I don’t think anyone could reasonably describe him as a lunatic.”
Bardasano appeared to consider that for a moment, then nodded, as if conceding the point, before she continued.
“Well, what this phase of Operation Janus is designed to do is to locate and identify as many of those movements as possible. We want to encourage them, to give them confidence and provide them with weapons and training.”
She paused, and Harahap allowed himself to frown ever so slightly.
“Excuse me,” he said into the pause, as he was fairly certain he was expected to say, “but if the idea’s to keep the Manties pruned back, why would you want to encourage resistance movements that can only undermine local regimes on the Talbott frontier? Wouldn’t that actually provide Manticore with an incentive to expand beyond those frontiers on the theory that the locals will greet them with welcoming arms?”
“That would be what one would expect to happen, wouldn’t it?” Bardasano agreed, allowing her chair to swing slowly from side to side as she nodded, but there was
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