"Not overly, my Lady." She'd been IntelDiv, all right, Thompson thought. E-Team, yes, but he'd be willing to bet she'd been a field agent before that--and that she'd set up the interview with her Chief of Detectives and had a complete set of journals waiting for him. She'd know better than to try misleading him, with her background, but Thompson could understand her setting things up to let him get information without too much effort. And something in the information she'd arranged for him would tell him why she said his report would ask for some kind of intervention. He was starting to enjoy himself. This was the sort of puzzle IntelDiv people liked to set up for each other, and it let him be sure there was nothing seriously wrong. "Let me see. You couldn't have known I'm susceptible to the pseudo-virus, since this is the only system that tests for that, which means it has no bearing." "Correct." "Okay." Thompson thought back. "The journals were a pretty straight-forward account, so you probably set them up just to give me background. The key has to be the interview, then." He saw her nod slightly, and concentrated. "The Empire can't do much about your feeding problem, if you need mostly fresh blood, so that's not it either. Oh!" He nodded, realizing. "You can't deliberately hurt anyone, which means you'd have a hard time defending yourselves from anything, criminals to a full-scale invasion. You need an Imperial military presence, probably a Sub-Sector or Sector-level base. Maybe police, too, though Narvonese who aren't Kins may be able to handle that." The Count looked pleased. "Exactly, Captain. I do need a full-scale base, and the Empire has none in this Sector as yet. Debate on where to place one is evenly balanced between this system and Argyros; your report on our limitation will swing that debate in our favor." It sure would, Thompson thought. Given equal merit, the Empire preferred to site bases and jobs where the need was greatest, and a completely vulnerable system needed a base far more than one like Argyros, which could defend itself at least until reinforcements could arrive. "As for police," the Count went on, "yes, non-Kins can handle most of what Kins cannot--but I have already begun trying to recruit Security Division veterans. Non-susceptible ones, of course." Thompson grinned appreciation. Former SecuDiv Marines made the best police available, if you were willing to let them do the job you paid them for; if you didn't, they'd probably consider it a breach of contract and leave. Not too many people were willing to deal with someone who'd alienated such police, so that was a definite point in the Count's favor. "I'll be glad to recommend construction of a base, then, my Lady."