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have your smooth file.”
    Jeff laughed and Dolly said, “Don’t get started.”
    Jeff raised both hands and smiled.
    Chris reached under the table and took out a set of flip-flops and took off his shoes. Dolly jerked her head at him and he said, “Hey, I’m a civilian now. Besides, did you take a good look at that piece of cloth you wore to our last dance?”
    Dolly looked at Arnold as he loosened his tie and put his feet on the table. She started laughing when he saw he was wearing a pair of satin slippers. “Not you, too?”
    “I suspect it’s going to be a long meeting. I might as well get comfortable.”
    Arvolo and Cyanna entered the room and they saw he was wearing a Cuban shirt and a pair of baggy pants. The pretty blonde woman with him was in her Naval Uniform. She looked around the table and said, “I feel overdressed.”
    RV said, “I told you.”
    Dolly said, “Take your jacket off and make yourself at home. You’ll know better next time.”
    Cyanna shook her head, “I still don’t know if I can bring myself to dress informally.”
    RV said, “I’ll order it. You won’t have a choice.”
    George watched the Cuban closely and decided that he liked the Admiral. He had a quick smile and his eyes were bright. He and the blonde were an item. He leaned back and let Dolly run the meeting. He needed to get a feel for this Fleet Admiral. Could he make the hard decisions that were going to be required? Well, let’s wait and see.
    The Command Team listened as RV and Cyanna went over the recording of the recent fleet action against the Violet Fleet. George noticed that RV deferred to the blonde when questions arose about the tactics used. Hemon asked a direct question of Arvolo, “What if your Needles had not been able to change their initial attack plan in time? Wouldn’t you have lost a lot of them?”
    Arvolo said, “Yes.”
    Hemon said, “And you were willing to take those losses?”
    “Yes, I was.”
    “Why?”
    Arvolo leaned back in his chair and said, “If we had delayed then the Blue Giants would have lost most of their fleet against the advancing fleet. That Fleet would have also split up and gone to attack planets with large populations. We had a limited window of opportunity and we had to use it or lose it.” Arvolo paused and said, “I suspect some of you were of the opinion that we should have called off the attack because of the possible losses we would suffer.”
    George said, “And you think that would have been a mistake?”
    Arvolo noticed that George had remained silent and that this was his first question. He smiled and said, “You are not one of the faint of heart, Sir. You knew that we had to have an idea of how effective our ships would be against their technology. That was the main reason for the attack. Saving the Blue Giants was just a byproduct of what happened.”
    Jeff said, “We are considering giving the Blue Giants our technology.”
    Arvolo looked at Jeff and shrugged, “The Violet Civilization will be coming for them. It would help us in the long run if they could take out as many as possible before we have to face them.”
    Hemon said, “So, you’re in favor of giving it to them.”
    “Only if they agree not to use it against us.”
    “How could you trust they wouldn’t?”
    “If they say they won’t; they won’t.”
    The statement brought the room to silence. George smiled, “How can you make that assertion, Admiral.”
    Arvolo said, “I spent days listening to their transmissions while I learned their language. I don’t know if you realize this but they’re telepathic. It’s difficult, if not downright impossible, to lie when the one you’re communicating with can hear your thoughts. Their entire culture is built around direct and brutal honesty. If they agree to use our technology only for defense, that’s exactly what they’ll do. If they can’t, they’ll refuse to take it.”
    George looked around the room before he asked, “What do you