"Four planetary governors removed, numerous nobles arrested, public exposure of the involvement of militia personnel in illegal cross border slave raids. In what possible way could this be called handling the problem discretely!"

If Mrs Welzak's anger phased Percival he didn't show it. Instead he picked up his cup of tea and made a show of taking a relaxed sip.

"May I rephrase?" he said, knowing full well that the mock politeness would incense Mrs Welzak even further. "Our agent, upon uncovering an illegal cartel, took effective and immediate action to protect innocent victims of a heinous crime and reported the illegal activity to the proper authorities, who in turn promptly empowered other agents to ensure that victims on other worlds were likewise protected and the guilty brought to justice."

He took placed his cup back on its saucer.

"While also giving the Canopians a serious enough bloody nose to make them think twice about crossing the border again," he added forcefully as he glared at Mrs Welzak, daring her to contradict him.

"Agreed, it is all about how we play it." Mr Garland interrupted smoothly. "We claim that the mercenaries' actions were sanctioned by headquarters and place the blame squarely on a few rotten eggs at the planetary level that have already been punished. Play it right and the Fed Com comes out looking like the heroes while putting the fear of god into anyone who is looking to step out of line. We all win."

"Unless anyone in this room was involved." Percival added innocently.

There was an uncomfortable silence as that idea floated across the room. Percival took the opportunity to watch the reactions of the rest of the room, to see who was looking guilty and who was looking a little too indignant. It wasn't easy, most of them were as experienced at hiding emotions as he was.

"Percival that comment is unworthy even of you." Mr Garland said angrily.

"My apologies, withdrawn." Percival replied, though he struggled to suppress a smile. He had known Mr Garland long enough to know mock anger when he heard it. Besides, Mr Garland had also taken the opportunity to try and work out which of his colleagues was crooked. The joke of course was that all of them were crooked to some extent, they wouldn't have got into this room without being. But, there was being crooked and there was being crooked and Percival felt he knew where that line was. He was also sure that not all of his colleagues did.

"Putting that aside." Mr Garland said matter of factly as he got the meeting back on track. "Next item on the agenda."