"Sometimes you have to......burn the infection out. It leaves a nasty scar, but it's better than being eaten by gangrene or blood poisoning." Elizabeth said, "
speaking of blood..."
Generalleutnant Bhailovic flinched, because the "Archon's Pet" that had bored his colleagues with a plan that would do savage things to his own portfolio crossed the sitting room in an eyeblink. "I think yours wants out, what do you think, Herr General?"
"W-what do you
want??"
"I want to drink your blood, but I'm open to other options." she said, he noted the slim girl was holding all 120 kilograms of him off the floor one-handed. Her balance was a bit difficult, their difference in mass was visible-but what was
also quite evident was the pain his uniform pants were inflicting on the flesh between his legs-because she'd lifted him by his belt-buckle. "Do you respect strength and violence, then?" she asked him, "because I was
there when you failed to respect Archon Melissa's wisdom, intelligence, and
tact, Herr General...cheer up, your pants are choking it off so you can't soil yourself like this...I think?" she dropped him against his desk.
"
so, Let's hear the options from you, that let you walk through
That door at the end of this little chat, with all your pieces still attached, Hmm?"
"This...the Archon Prince could NOT have approved!!"
"Right. Victor is a good man, a
kind man, so he didn't authorize this little visit, and I'm sure we can spend a few minutes going over how many laws i'm about to break if you don't start with the well-reasoned options that don't include me drinking your life's blood before your guards can get in here to fail to stop me."
"wh-what do you
want??"
"I want my nation intact, Herr General, I want the invaders driven from every scrap of Lyran Soil, I want every Lyran citizen to be freed from bondage, especially foreign bondage by the Clans, I want a Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces worthy of the term 'Armed Forces', for no soldier to go without food, ammunition, medicine, and the kind of comforts that make a soldier's life in the field tolerable. I want the best of our soldiers to stop seeing the Mercenary market as a better option than patriotism...and I want the general staff to
do their ****** jobs to make this happen."
"We-, wE ARE!!" he bleated.
"no, you're not.
forty percent of the Commonwealth is occupied and the best military assets to protect what's left?
are foreigners from the Federated Suns!!"His hand found a sternsacht, and he fired it, the first shot wild.
she took his pistol hand, pistol in it, and pressed the muzzle, "No wonder we're in trouble, you can't even shoot a woman holding your junk!!" She scowled up at him, and he could
see her eyes were red-tinged black pools, not whites in evidence. "AGAIN!! FIRE IT AGAIN!! How can you
Miss at this range??"
He fired.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!!
BANG!!
BANG!!
he could
see how the bullets punched through her body, but that relentless, cold hand was a grip of
iron.
"Now you've made me
hungry." she said to him. "I find your argument unconvincing."
His bladder let go, as did his bowels, in a wave of destroyed dignity and real fear, as she opened her mouth, showing
fangs like hooked razors.
"Try. Again." she said, and broke his hand to take his hold-out pistol. "Why should I let you live, Herr General? Tell me a good reason not tear out your throat and drink your life's blood?"
"You...you're..." he babbled.
"An undead abomination? a monster? Ja, Herr General, I'm an unnatural
thing right out of the stories your mutti told you as a tiny child. The important and relevant thing, is that I am less than a meter from your carotid artery, less than a meter from plunging these fingers-" she showed him fingers tipped in black, sharp claws, "-into your chest to show you your heart as you die...or, you can try to convince me
not to do that, that your life is worth more than my calories. pull yourself together, and
convince me."
He stared at her with wide eyes, shaking.
For her part, Elizabeth held out her other hand, and Simon handed her a warmed bag of fluid.
she drank the preserved whole blood while the General marshalled himself, or had a heart attack, she wasn't sure which would be more likely.
"I..I deserve to live! I can help!!"
"See? was that so difficult, Herr General?" she asked him, "There are a list of failed programs, you will see to it that funding is cut to those failed programs, and the proceeds from that are directed to properly equipping and paying good Lyran soldiers...and our foreign allies, you will
make it a priority that
all the money goes where the paperwork says it is
supposed to go...minus your two percent. If you take more than two percent, ever again? I won't give you the chance to redeem yourself-they can't kill me, Herr General, and you can't be certain that containment will
hold if I have to return to visit you, your wife and heirs will profit, but you won't be alive to see it. Any other backhanders involved will be taken from your two percent, and you will actively pursue anyone who gets greedy, am I understood, ja?"
"You're letting me steal two percent?"
"I'm allowing a
maximum of two percent, total. If you cannot maintain enough discipline in your subordinates? I will be back and then I'll have this talk with your replacement, probably after your funeral." she told him. "THink of this as a 'reminder' that while Graft is inevitable, it is the duty of those entrusted with National Funds to prioritize the
nation over their other concerns."
she reached up, and caressed his cheek with cold, clammy, dead fingers. "Do we understand, Herr Generalleutnant? the good of the nation supersedes pride, it supersedes tradition, it supersedes personal interests...and if you can't do that, your replacement can learn."
"I-I don't have that much power!!"
"So tell me who I need to eat, to make sure you can do your job." she told him. "We serve the public, whether officially or not. who can make you mind, if the Archon cannot and your life in peril cannot. Who am I going to remove?"
***
"She was HERE!!" Generalleutnant Bhailovic insisted, "Your little Duchess,
what the hell is she??"
Victor sighed, surveying the disrupted sitting room. "Not very subtle, I think." he turned to the older man, "So...she was here, and you're still
alive...what did she say she wanted?"
Here, the older man hung his head in shame.
"She wanted you to do your job, ja?" Victor asked, "because she does not feel you were doing your best at it, ja?"
the old man nodded silently, swiftly.
"She let you live with a warning of some sort, and tried a sweetener to make it tolerable." Victor continued, "Didn't she?"
"ja Mein Archon."
"and you promised, with some guarantee, to do it. so she let you live."
"I can't even
resign!!" Bhailovic whined, "She told me this was for my
redemption and if I did not 'carry the ball' she would
eat me!!"
Victor sighed. "I see. well, a man's life in danger, if he doesn't do his duty-not unusual in our business, ja?" he turned with false jocularity to regard the elderly general officer. "I don't feel you should die, Bhailovic,
can you do what she asked?"
"I can
try."
"That's all I would ask." Victor told him, "until she's...contained or eliminated then, you have a job for the Realm to do-I suggest you get to work, she's managed to slip past several teams of agents, but her...her heart? seems to be in the right place for the time being, which will make it easier to end this threat."
"Milord, I confessed-"
"So you did. and if this were an earlier era, I would give you a pardon and let you resign with your dignity, but until this threat is over, until Frau Ngo is under control again, I guess our compromise, is that you will do as you were directed, that is,
your duty, and once she's in custody, I will graciously let you resign and enter civilian life with your dignity."
"thank you Milord."
"I can't very well hold it against you when you
confessed and begged me for help, now can I?" Victor added, "It's honorable to confess and submit to your lawful lord, but I wish you'd come forward without the coercion. It poisons the whole thing...get cleaned up, do your duty."
"thank you milord."