"David Drake - Hammer's Slammers 10 - Paying The Piper" - читать интересную книгу автора (Drake David)

Leagues of city statesтАФthe Achaeans and Aetolians in Greece proper, others in Asia MinorтАФhad their
own interests. New kingdoms, particularly that of Pergamum, were growing at the expense of their
neighbors, and barbariansтАФboth Celtic and IllyrianтАФwere becoming regional powers instead of merely
raiding and moving on.

Rome was still in the wings but the violent morass would shortly draw her in, ending both the chaos and
her own status as a republic. (The region's enormous wealth and complexity, in my opinion, inexorably
turned Rome into an empire.)

I adapted this setting forPaying the Piper . The general background is that of the war between Rhodes
and Byzantium, ostensibly over freedom of navigation. It was about as stupid a conflict as you're likely to
find, during which the real principals licked their lips and chuckled while well-meaning idealists wrecked
their own societies in pursuit of unobtainable goals by improper means. Much of the military detail is
drawn from the campaigns of Phillip the Fifth and his allies against the Aetolian League, particularly the
campaign of 219 bc which culminated in Phillip's capture of Psophis.

I guess it isn't out of place to add one comment about the study of history. Knowing a good deal about
how cultures interacted in the past allows one to predict how they will interact in the present, so I'm
rarely surprised by the daily news. But I regret to say that this understanding doesn't appear to make me
happier.



Dave Drake
david-drake.com



CHOOSING SIDES
The driver of the lead combat car revved his fans to lift the bow when he reached the bottom of the
starship's steep boarding ramp. The gale whirling from under the car's skirts rocked Lieutenant Arne
Huber forward into the second vehicleтАФhis ownFencing Master , still locked to the deck because a
turnbuckle had kinked when the ship unexpectedly tilted on the soft ground.

Huber was twenty-five standard years old, shorter than average and fit without being impressively
muscular. He wore a commo helmet now, but the short-cropped hair beneath it was as black as the
pupils of his eyes.

Sighing, he pushed himself up fromFencing Master 's bow slope. His head hurt the way it always did
just after star-travelтАФwhich meant worse than it did any other time in his life. Even without the howling
fans ofFoghorn , the lead car, his ears would be roaring in time with his pulse.

None of the troopers in Huber's platoon were in much better shape, and he didn't guess the starship's
crew were more than nominal themselves. The disorientation from star travel, like a hangover, didn't stop
hurting just because it'd become familiar.

"Look!" said Sergeant Deseau, shouting so that the three starship crewmen could hear him over the fans'
screaming. "If you don't have us free in a minute flat, startingnow , I'm going to shoot the cursed thing off