"Elizabeth Moon - Serrano 3 - Winning Colors" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moon Elizabeth)

"We start here," the admiral said, pointing out the system on the display. "They're used to neglect from the
R.S.S.; Aethar's World raiders took out their stationary defenses last year, and they've been issued nothing
to replace them. It's an agricultural world, thinly populated; we'll lose no essential industries if we scorch it
lightly."
"Resistance?"
"Negligible. Farmers with hand weapons, even if they scatter and survive the scorchтАФwe can ignore them."
"Principal crop?"
The admiral chuckled, a daring act in that room. "Horses, if you can believe it."
"Horses?"
"And not workhorses. They export sperm and embryos of fancy horses."
The Chairman leaned back, thumbs in his waistcoat pockets. "Show horses . . . I like horses. If they survive
the scorch, I'd like a souvenir, Peri." Which meant they had better survive the scorch . . . it was punishment,
mild enough, for laughing in the Boardroom.
"Of course," the admiral said, making the best of it.
"My granddaughter, you know," the Chairman said to the others, as if he needed to explain. "She likes pretty
horses." He turned back to the admiral. "Be sure to bring one 'Lotta would like. White feet, a long tail, that
kind of thing."
"Of course," the admiral said again, tallying in his mind the extra time it would take to scorch selectively, so
that the Chairman's granddaughter could have a pretty horse for a souvenir. It shouldn't be too bad, even if
their agent betrayed them. He would add another couple of ships to the advance strike force, which would
give them the margin for a careful scorch.
"Why not this system?" asked one of the others, pointing. "It has the same advantages."
"Nearly," the admiral admitted. One did not directly contradict one of the Board, not if one wanted to leave the
room with breath intact. "But it connects directly to only one jump point, with only three mapped vectors. As
well, it's near enough to Guerni space that the Guernesi might take notice. Our chosen target connects
directly to two jump points, offering a total of eight mapped vectors, most of them into high-vector points. And
of course, its other border is the unstable one with Aethar's World, from which the raiders have come."
"Quite so," said the Chairman. "We have already approved your target, Admiral." That was dismissal, and the
admiral saluted, bowed, and left.
When he reached his office, he found that he had been given a final command . . . interesting that the
Chairman had not wanted to say that in front of the others. The Chairman would be honored if the admiral
would allow the Chairman's great-nephew, now in command of a heavy cruiser, to be part of this expedition.
Unmentioned was the young man's record; neither needed to mention it. The young man had risen more by
influence than ability, everyone was sure . . . and yet he wasn't stupid or cowardly. Dangerous to both friends
and enemies, the admiral thought. Convinced of his ability; convinced he had not been given a chance
because of the relationship . . . that his real successes had been overlooked, along with his mistakes.
Perhaps it was true.
The admiral considered. Was this the Chairman's way of letting the younger man hang himself, or his way of
sabotaging the admiral, whose own grandson might otherwise have been chosen? He couldn't take bothтАФhe
could afford only one less experienced captain. Of course he must take the Chairman's choice, but he need
not make it easy. He would assumeтАФhe would document that assumptionтАФthat the Chairman wished to test
his kinsman, wished him to prove himself.
He grinned suddenly. Let him be the one to find and bring home a pretty horse for Carlotta.

Chapter Two
Uncertain, Heris thought as she closed her end of the secured comlink, was a mild term for the swiftly
unraveling tangle of political yarn that had so recently seemed to be a stable web of interlocking interests. All
her lifeтАФfor many hundreds of Standard yearsтАФthe Familias Regnant had had its Grand Council, and
commerce had passed between its worlds and stations as if no other way existed. She knew of course that
other ways didтАФthat Familias space was surrounded by other ways of doing things, from the cold efficiency