Page 38 - Unlikely Stories 4

2
La Force de Frappe

From Fantastic Transactions, volume 2 (1997)

Jacques Marteau, commander-in-chief of the republic’s army,
demanded an audience with the new prime minister within hours of the
latter’s election. But power—even less than absolute—does not change
hands like a loaf of bread, in one piece when the price is paid. The
great general cooled his heels in the barracks for several days awaiting a
response; when it came, he hastened to the meeting in a staff car with
flags flying, lights flashing and sirens wailing.
Pierre Laroche regarded the commotion outside his office with one
slightly raised eyebrow. Redecoration was on his mind, not the
inevitable demands of the military. But he was resigned to a
confrontation, as he was to most inconveniences encountered in a
primarily reflective life. His party had insisted on his candidacy as a
counter to the naked acquisitiveness and coarse insensitivity of the
incumbent. The public, weary of scandal and intrigue, took the bait,
putting an academic philosopher in the country’s highest office.
The prime minister was at his desk when General Marteau was
ushered in. Military discipline struggled with outraged propriety:
Marteau stood somewhere between at attention and at ease in front of
his nominal superior. Laroche, whose enjoyment of the moment
remained interior, at length raised his eyes from the doodles on his
desk pad and regarded his visitor.
“And so, General, you have come. Please be seated.”
The old warrior took the proffered Louis XV armchair, yielding little
of his semiformal posture to the stuffed brocade. The two men were
not far apart in age and class of origin.
“I presume, General, that you have come to discuss security
arrangements under the new regime. If so, you may rest assured that
there will be no shake-up in the upper echelons of the military. Nor will
any existing treaties with our allies be abrogated. Does that set your
mind at ease?”

2
Now La Force de Dissuasion.
37