"E. E. Doc Smith - D' Alembert 7 - Planet of treachery" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

draped with a red brocade fabric to resemble a Mongol tent. His desk was carved ebony
with brass fittings. Oriental rugs covered the floor, and a profusion of silk pillows was
scattered about the room. Shen and Lady A were seated on two of the office's
camel-saddle chairs, which were more striking than comfortable.

Shen's extravagances might become tedious once Lady A's regime was firmly
established over the Empire-but until then, his military expertise made him indispensable
to her cause.

Perhaps Shen realized that as well. He was more flippant with her than she usually
allowed subordinates to become. She decided to let his remark remain at face value. Let
him have his little jests for now, she thought.

"The `but' in this case is tolerable-so long as you learn your lesson from it and see that
the mistake isn't repeated. One of your ships, the Lucinda. was captured last week when
it tried an abortive raid on a Navy decoy ship."

Shen shrugged his massive shoulders. "We're in a war. We have to expect casualties
from time to time. A ship or two is hardly a catastrophe-unlike what happened to Ling."
Shen shivered slightly. "That could have really been fatal if you'd actually implemented
Operation Annihilate. We'd have been counting on those ships, and we'd have been
slaughtered."

The incident to which he alluded had occurred several months earlier. Operation
Annihilate had been ready to go into action, awaiting only the word from Lady A-or the
mysterious C-to unleash it. The conspiracy's forces had gathered in the depths of
interstellar space, waiting at several strategic points to descend upon Earth and capture
the heart of the Empire in one bold stroke. The cue was to be the assassination of
Emperor Stanley Ten and Crown Princess Edna during the Princess's wedding at
Bloodstar Hall. With the two best claimants to the Throne dead, the Imperial Navy would
be demoralized-and the subsequent bickering over succession would have allowed a
strong outside force-namely the ships of the conspiracy to sweep in and assume
command.

That, at least, had been the theory. In actuality, the assassinations that were to have
triggered the plan never came about, thanks to the superhuman efforts of some agents


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of the Service of the Empire. Their last-second interference saved the Emperor's and
Princess's lives, causing Lady A to postpone Operation Annihilate.

But, at that same time, her conspiracy suffered another blow when the Imperial Navy
raided one of the pirates' space bases run by Captain Ling, destroying or capturing all
the ships waiting there to take part in the attack. Even Lady A, who claimed to know so
much of the government's inner workings, had been surprised by the raid, leaving her to
wonder whether her own organization's security had been breached; but when more time
passed and none of the other bases were hit, she and C came to the conclusion that this