"David Weber - Fifth Imperium 02 - The Armageddon Inheritance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weber David)

diminutive and Vietnamese, and all rhetoric about Asian Solidarity notwithstanding, there was very little
love lost between the Southern Chinese and their Vietnamese "brothers." Thousands of years of mutual
hostility could not be forgotten that easily, nor could Vietnam's years as a Soviet proxy be easily forgiven,
and the fact that Quang was a merely marginally competent whiner with powerful Party connections only
made it worse.

Quang broke off, puffing with exertion, and the marshal smiled inwardly. He knew the smaller man
resented how ridiculous he looked trying to match his own long-legged stride, which was why he took
pains to emphasize it whenever they met Yet what bothered him most just now, he admitted, was hearing
a fool tike Quang say so many things he had thought himself.

And what of me? Tsien frowned at his own thoughts. I am a servant of the Party, sworn to protect the
State, yet what am I to do when half the Central Committee has vanished? Can it be true so many of
them were traitorsтАФnot just to the State but to all humanity? Yet where else have they gone? And how
am I to choose when my own decision has suddenly become so all important?

He looked up at the sleek vehicle waiting on the taxi way. Its bronze-sheened alloy gleamed dully in the
cloudy afternoon, and the olive-brown-skinned woman beside its open hatch was not quite
Oriental-looking. The sight touched him with something he seldom felt uncertainty. Which made him think
again of what Quang had been saying. He sighed and paused, keeping his face utterly impassive with the
ease of long practice.

"General, your words are not new. They have been considered, by your government and mine"тАФwhat
remains of them, idiotтАФ"and the decision has been made. Unless his terms are utterly beyond reason, we
will comply with the demands of this Planetary Governor." For now, at least."

The Party has not been well-advised," Quang muttered. It is a trick."

"A trick, Comrade General?" Tsien's small smile was wintry as the wind. "You have, perhaps, noticed
that there is no longer a moon in our night skies? It has, perhaps, occurred to you that anyone with a
warship of that size and power has no need of trickery? If it has not, reflect upon this, Comrade
General." He nodded in the direction of the waiting Imperial cutter. "That vehicle could reduce this entire
base to rubble, and nothing we have could even find it, much less stop it. Do you truly believe that the
West, with hundreds of even more powerful weapons now at its disposal, could not disarm us by force
as they already have those maniacs in Southwest Asia?"

"ButтАФ"
"Spare me your comments, Comrade General," Tsien said heavily. Especially since they are so close to
my own doubts. I have a job to do, and you make it no easier. "We have two choices: comply, or be
deprived of the poor weapons we still possess. It is possible they are honest, that this danger they speak
of is real. If that is true, resistance would spell far worse for all of us than disarmament and occupation. If
they are lying, then at least we may have the opportunity to observe their technology at first hand,
possibly even to gain access to it ourselves.''

"ButтАФ"

"I will not repeat myself, Comrade General." Tsien's voice was suddenly soft, and Quang paled. It is bad
enough when junior officers question orders; I will not tolerate it in general officers. Is that clear,
Comrade General?"