The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight

“I see.” She let alternatives tumble through her mind before looking back at him. “All right, General. They’re your responsibility. If they do anything, if they contact anyone, I expect to be informed.”

“I’ll do that.”

“Are there any more surprises for me, General?” Iceni asked.

Another pause as Drakon frowned in thought. Would he tell her about Malin’s apparent assassination attempt against Morgan? Her source had already given her all the details of that, but would Drakon say anything at all?

“Yeah, one more thing. I had a serious incident on my staff. But it’s been resolved.”

That was something. More than she had expected. “Good. I will also try to keep you informed in the future. If the hits had been only against your workers last night, I’m certain that your suspicion would have turned my way.”

He gave her that crooked smile of his. “If you’d planned hits against me, I probably wouldn’t have survived to register any complaints.”

“How nice of you to say so. But now we will have no secrets from each other.”

“Of course not.” Drakon mimicked her own sarcasm in a shared joke about how untrustworthy CEOs actually were. Neither she nor he would really believe the other wasn’t withholding some secrets.

Drakon gave a gruff farewell and left, leaving Iceni looking at her door after he had closed it. An apology and a promise, both of which appeared to be at least partly sincere. Damn you, General, you’re providing far too powerful a good example for me.

Is it just an act?

* * *

DRAKON walked steadily back toward his headquarters, hardly noticing the citizens who were hastily clearing a path for him, now with every sign of enthusiasm rather than fear. He wished he could believe that the emotions the citizens showed him were genuine, but over the centuries people at every level of Syndicate society had gotten very good at hiding their true feelings, instead projecting whatever they thought they were expected to show.

Just like CEOs. He wished he could believe that Iceni was sincere.

Why did I tell her about Malin and Morgan? I didn’t tell her much, but I still revealed that my staff had a serious problem with dissension, and that’s exactly the sort of thing CEOs always want to know so they can try to exploit that dissension. Why did I tell Iceni that there was a possible crack in my defenses that she could exploit?

Of course, she might think that was a trap, designed to see if she would make a move in that direction.

I did intend to say I was sorry for not doing my job well enough. I made a mistake. The one thing I hated most in my bosses over the years has been their failure to admit when they screwed up. That was one of the pillars of the Syndicate Worlds, I guess. Never admit a mistake. I can’t remember the government ever doing that. Hell, even when Black Jack was knocking on their door with a fleet the previous Syndicate supreme council would rather have died than admit they had made any errors. And so they did die. But I doubt the new bunch at Prime is any better.

They’re CEOs, aren’t they?

But, then, so is Iceni. And so am I.

Can you teach old dogs new tricks? But I never learned the old tricks. That’s how I got here, exiled for not being self-focused enough, for not being willing to write off the lives of subordinates as the cost of my own promotions. And Iceni was exiled, too, for reporting on illegal activity instead of just trying to grab a piece of it for herself. Neither one of us fit properly into the Syndicate system.