"William R. Forstchen - Wing Commander 06 - Action Stations" - читать интересную книгу автора (Forstchen William R)

I believe that I can finally admit here, for the first time, that, during the court martial of Admiral Tolwyn, I
was granted access to him in my capacity as Historian of the Fleet and was able to interview him on three
separate occasions prior to his suicide. For one who had seen him at his moment of greatest triumph, it
was a trying experience. On the night of his suicide I arrived at the military prison only minutes after the
discovery of his death and was admitted to his cell after his body had been removed. Neatly arranged on
his bunk there were three itemsтАФa photograph of his wife and children, lost in the war, and beside the
photograph were the wings and ensign's bars issued to him on the day he graduated from the
AcademyтАж troubled soul, may you rest in peace.



Col. Wilhelm Schwarzmont
Department ofMilitaryHistory
ConfederationFleetAcademy



Chapter One
CONFEDERATION STANDARD DATE 2634.89

TO: CICCONFEDFLT

FROM: CONFEDFLTINT

SUBJECT: INTEL UPDATE KILRATHI MILITARY\POLITICAL INTENTIONS

COPY NUMBER ONE OF ONE.

FOR EYES OF CICCONFEDFLT ONLY

Admiral, as per your orders 2634-98,1 have provided a full update on the current internal political and
military situation within the Kilrathi Empire. The report, as requested, is attached along with full
evaluations of all known Kilrathi military assets, ships, bases, and industrial capability. You will notice that
the report, to say the least, is slim. As I have already reported to you in our last conversation, we are
looking at a mystery wrapped inside an enigma. No official of the Confederation has ever been allowed
access into the Empire, and those border worlds where individuals living outside the law might come into
contact with Kilrathi personnel are beyond our ability to adequately infiltrate. What resources ConFedFlt
does have are, as you know, barely adequate to patrol the rapidly expanding frontiers, of which our
sector bordering on the Kilrathi Empire is but one small part. Though this is outside my realm, I only wish
the powers that be to whom we answer would devote more resources to this one sector which, I believe,
poses the most serious threat to the Confederation since its creation. What little data my division has
been able to obtain has been through remote sensing, extensive interviews with border world merchants
who trade outside the realm of legal intercourse, and one covert op team, which filed a report of less than
a thousand words and half a dozen holo images, of what we believe were Kilrathi capital ships, before
disappearing.
 In the five years since we've first had contact with the Kilrathi Empire, our base of knowledge is, in
reality, no greater than what we had already heard from the Varni refugees who fled into our space after
their disastrous war with the Empire. The numerous skirmishes on the frontier have yet to result in our
acquiring any real, hard information as to their political intentions or their true military assets. In short, sir,