“Damnit, Kav, that’s your job to fix,” Edmund said. “The officers should be the tactical and leadership cream. Not the cream of… of…” He waved his hand at the well-dressed throng and frowned.

“Whoops,” Herzer suddenly muttered. “I wonder what she wants out of us?”

He smiled and held out his hand as Megan approached.

“Councilwoman Travante,” Herzer said with a grin.

“Oh, God, Herzer,” Megan said, shaking her head. “Don’t start. General Talbot, Galbreath. We may have a legion. General Galbreath, if we can get the ports in Nawlins funded, I need a guarantee that the army will start using Kanaka Beef as a major supplier. I can probably get the port guaranteed, which in general will be a good thing for the nation, if we give Walsh the legion. I can definitely get it if we put another base in his district that isn’t going to march off to war. I’m thinking a basic training base or something of the sort. I know it’s out of the way and a bitch to support, sorry. But I need something here. Oh, and I need a guarantee that the primary embarkation port will be Balmoran since I’m going to have to shaft them on the canal temporarily.”

“I think you lost me in the middle there,” Edmund admitted. “But, yeah, we can put a base in his district. Not a basic training base, something smaller. Maybe a logistics training base. It’s a stupid place for it but logistics is about dealing with the difficult. Is there something you need me to do about the Nawlins port?”

Megan grinned. “Just tell your proxy to vote it.”

“Will do,” Edmund replied.

“The contract, if we have the port, and the embarkation we can do, easily,” Galbreath said. “KBC is a good supplier and I was sorry as hell when we had to go local. But the supply was just too spotty. If we’ve got the base and it can be sailed around Flora in reefer ships, we’re good.”