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Hector wasn't sure what to make of that story. It sounded pretty shady, but at the same time, he had personal experience with extremely bad publicity. Maybe these Greenworth guys really were innocent.

In any case, President Allen Dance's predecessor had very publicly pushed to outlaw such government contracts with private security companies, and Greenworth had since left the country. Several members of the Security Council wanted Dance to help reverse that decision so that they could either bring Greenworth back or hire a new company to fill their shoes.

For his part, Hector thought this all sounded like a terrible idea, but he could also appreciate how difficult of a situation the Lorentians were in. With the war so close, they wanted to take steps to help keep everyone safe.

His instinct was to not trust any mercenary group with servants in it. Because how were they supposed to be held accountable? If they were more powerful than the government's military, then who could possibly hold their feet to the fire if they broke their contract? And what about the reapers? The Security Council didn't seem to be aware of that wrinkle, but would reapers even care about money? It seemed more likely that they would have some other agenda.

He kept his opinion to himself, however, because this wasn't his area of expertise. He was well aware of how young he was, of how much experience he still lacked. He didn't exactly feel qualified to be telling these heads of state what to do. In fact, he still thought it was pretty weird that they even wanted him to be present for their discussions in the first place.

Garovel seemed to think this was a deliberate bit of political maneuvering on the Lorentians' part. Trying to get him personally invested in the defense of the nation or whatever.

And maybe the reaper was onto something.

More and more, Hector was getting a feel for how these government people operated. What they said they wanted was usually not what they actually wanted. There was more to every action that they tried to take.

It was impressive, in a way. And exhausting, in another.