Read Online Orphan's Alliance (Jason Wander) by Robert Buettner - Free Book Online Page B

If I was going to air my disagreement at all, it wouldn’t be after thirty seconds’ consideration, in the middle of the Tank. I said, “Yes, sir.” Then I folded my chippad.
    The chairman raised his palm. “We aren’t finished, General. Tressel owes us a favor, thanks to you. But Tressel won’t be sharing any external burdens with us if it dissolves into anarchy.”
    I turned my palms up. “Sir?”
    The undersecretary of State said, “Our Consulates have identified General Planck as a potential unifier. Just as you have. They say you’ve bonded with him personally. That makes you the perfect choice to encourage him to enter politics. So on your way to Bren, you’ll stop by Tressel, and pay your respects to General Planck.”
    The chairman’s aide interrupted the meeting to get the chairman to thumb documents, and we broke for five minutes. I leaned toward General Cobb and whispered, “Sir, I understand why I’m getting the Bren advisory assignment, even if I don’t like it. But I’m the last person I’d send to advise Aud Planck, or anybody else, about politics. I stink at diplomacy.”
    “Jason, there are two kinds of diplomacy. The kind you stink at is the tea-party stuff, like pretending the shape of the negotiating table matters. Parties resort to that stuff if they don’t trust each other. The best diplomacy is based on trust. Trust is based on personal relationships. Planck trusts you and you trust him.”
    Still, I almost guffawed. The State Department trusted me to jigger intragalactic politics. But Nat Cobb wouldn’t let me talk to the Lions Club. Until that moment, I had forgotten my earlier discussion with my boss. This tour meant I would be bouncing around outer space again, for years. I was due for rotation in one lousy month. Just hours before, I had specifically asked General Cobb for a non-separation tour. My heart rate sped up.
    I had never ducked a dirty job. But now I had asked for just one dirtside assignment, and this was the thanks I got? I just wanted to spend time with Jude, before I bought the farm. It was the one lousy thing I had ever asked of the Army, after all it had asked of me. Who could say I wouldn’t have a stroke tomorrow, like Stump Peavey? The hell with Washington. Maybe I’d retire early, too, like Stump. I felt the adrenaline pump, the chairman reconvened the meeting, and I started to stand. Then, below the table, I felt General Cobb’s hand tug me back down by my jacket hem. He had told me, before the meeting, to shut my pie hole if it came to this. But, like he said, I stink at that kind of diplomacy.
FOURTEEN
    BEFORE I COULDinsert boot in mouth, the Air Force Chief of Staff cleared his throat and smiled. “I can see General Wander’s upset. No living officer has sacrificed more over the years. If I were in his shoes, I’d prefer a dirtside tour. The Air Force would be willing to dig in and handle these missions.”
    I was grateful to him for his remarks. For a nanosecond. He was calling me a crybaby. Besides, what could the Air Force do, other than bomb Tressel and Bren back to the Stone Age? Which was ridiculous because they were already halfway there.
    All he was doing was grabbing at a piece of the Outworld pie for his service, which the Air Force had been trying to do for years. I sat back and swallowed a smirk. In the Tank, nobody would tell him he was wrong, of course. I waited for somebody to thank him for his suggestion, and take it under advisement, which was Washingtonese for calling him an idiot.
    General Cobb said to the idiot, “Burt, you’re right.”
    I turned to Nat Cobb and gaped.
    General Cobb tapped his fist on the mahogany table. “Fine idea. But Jason, here, knows the ground. What if we expand the delegation to two. Jason and an Air Force representative?”
    The Zoomie rocked back in his chair. He had got half of what he wanted, and twice what he deserved, without a fight. He felt for the hook, but couldn’t find it. So he nodded,