Shadow of Freedom

On the other hand, Frontier Security hadn’t been able to ship in enough troops to actually garrison the system, either. The Sollies had been forced to rely on local police forces to maintain public order and enforce civil law. That was always the case, of course, but generally those local police forces took their cue from the OFS administration which had co-opted their services. That was one reason Michelle had dreaded what she’d find when they reached Meyers, given Yucel’s reputation.

To her surprise, however, local law enforcement appeared to have avoided the brutality and repressiveness she’d anticipated. Partly that was because Yucel had been assigned to the Madras Sector fairly recently. Another part of it, she’d been forced to admit—grudgingly, grudgingly!—was probably due to Lorcan Verrochio and Junyan Hongbo. In fact, she suspected more to the vice commissioner than to Verrocchio, although it was early to be drawing that sort of conclusion. But even more of it, she thought—hoped—stemmed from the example of King Lawrence and his family.

Michelle Henke wasn’t about to conclude that the Meyers police forces were miraculously free of the corruption which followed Frontier Security like a pestilence. But they clearly took their responsibility as the guardians of public order and safety seriously, and because they did, she was inclined to cut them a substantial amount of slack. The question was who they ultimately answered to.

“I anticipate receiving additional ground troops as soon as they can be forwarded from the Talbott Quadrant,” she continued. There was no need to tell him just how long “soon” might be. “In the meantime, however, we have to make do out of the forces currently available to me, and most of my ground personnel are trained as Marines—as combat troops—not law enforcement personnel. Under the circumstances, I think it would be to everyone’s advantage to keep a trained and experienced police force on the job. Assuming, of course,” she looked into Montview’s eyes again, “that I could come to some sort of mutually acceptable arrangement with some local authority who could command that police force’s loyalty and obedience.”

“Actually, Milady,” Montview said after a moment, “our law officers’ formal oaths of office are sworn to the House of Thomas, not to the Solarian League or Frontier Security.” It was his turn to show his teeth. “An unfortunate oversight on their part.”

“Yes, it was,” Michelle agreed.

It was also fairly standard operating procedure for OFS, however. The legal fiction that the Protectorates were still independent star systems simply “under the protection” of the beneficent Solarian League required local régimes. Those régimes were well aware of the fact that they actually possessed no authority of their own, yet the forms were important. Michelle sometimes thought that was due to the Solarian League’s unhealthy worship of bureaucratic paperwork, but it was also a fig leaf which could be hauled out if some Solarian newsy muckraker started poking about. Imperialism? Oh, my, no! Perish the very thought! We’re simply here as advisers to support yet another neobarb star system in its painful march towards truly representative and democratic government! See? We can’t even give any direct orders to the local police force. They all have to go through the local, duly elected government.

“Should I take it, Mr. Prime Minister, that if I were to recognize—provisionally, of course; as I say, any decision I make would be subject to review by higher authority—King Lawrence as the local, legitimate head of state and charge him with creating a provisional government for the entire star system, he would be prepared to accept that responsibility under the protection of the Star Empire of Manticore?”

Montview’s eyes flickered. For a moment, Michelle wondered why. Then it hit her.

“Forgive me.” She shook her head. “That was clumsily phrased, especially in light of your star system’s experience of Frontier Security’s notion of ‘protection.’” She shook her head again. “Allow me to clarify what I actually meant.”

Montview took a slow sip of coffee, then set the cup on the saucer in his lap and nodded.