"Smith, E E Doc - d'Alembert 8 - Eclipsing Binaries" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

Lady A raised a hand to silence her. "No one's blaming you for anything. Don't start
looking for excuses where none are due; it's bad form. No, everything on Gastonia itself
went as scheduled. You performed admirably. The reason for failure lay elsewhere."

She settled back in the glowing egg, but her body never fully relaxed. "To be candid, I
suppose I should admit the fault was mine."

"Oh no," Boros said quickly. "It was purely accidental . . . "

"No." Lady A slammed her left fist on the side of the egg with a force that echoed
through the quiet room. "If I won't accept that excuse from my inferiors, I have no right to
lean on it myself. There are no accidents; there's only sloppy planning or inadequate
execution."

Unexpectedly she stood up and walked a few paces from her egg, staring out at the
triscreen with her back to Boros. "We've spent the last six months analyzing the failure,
both from our side and from the reports we've seen in the Empire's records. If I needed
an excuse, I could blame it on that robot who's now so conveniently destroyed, for its
failure to make certain Commander Fortier was dead before proceeding with its plans.
That was the pivotal factor.

"But to be honest, I must look beyond that to the errors in planning that made such a
mistake not only possible, but fatal to our plans. The fact is, the operation was over
planned. In trying to be so clever, we outfoxed ourselves. We had the force and the
resources to make the attack work. If we'd just gone ahead and bulled our way through,
it would have worked. Instead, we tried too hard for finesse, and it threw us just enough
off balance to let the Imperial forces recover. We lost a great deal in that disaster, more
than just the seventy-five percent of our fleet. But it's a mistake that will not happen
again-I swear it by the throne I intend to take."

Tanya Boros felt distinctly uneasy. Lady A was not known for being particularly
introspective, or for admitting weaknesses or imperfections in front of her subordinates.
Why was she behaving so uncharacteristically in front of Boros'? What had caused her to
reveal this unexpected side of her nature'?

The mask of perfection was suddenly back in place as though it had never been awry.
Lady A turned abruptly away from the triscreen and returned to the jade egg to face
Boros.

"All this, of course," she said, "is of only peripheral interest to you. You need not concern
yourself, at present, with matters of policy. That will come later, if you develop as well as
I hope. In the meantime, I have to know whether you are prepared to begin assuming
responsibility for your proper role in this conspiracy."

"My proper role?" Boros was puzzled. "I don't understand. I've always taken your orders,
since you first contacted me on Gastonia. I didn't like being forced to stay there, but, as
you said, it was out of the way and no one noticed me. What do you consider my `proper
role' to be?'

Lady A gave her a long, frowning stare. "Have you forgotten your heritage this