"David Weber - Honor 03 - Short Victorious War" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weber David)

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THE SHORT VICTORIOUS WAR
David Weber
[03 Nov 01 - proofed and re-released for #bookz]
"What this country needs is a short, victorious war to stem the tide of
revolution."
V.K. Plehve, Russian Minister of the Interior to General A.N. Kuroparfon,
Minister of
War, 200 Ante-Diaspora (1903 C.E.J, on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War)
"The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of
the most ancient
and dangerous of human illusions."
Robert Lynd (224-154 Ante-Diaspora)
PROLOGUE
Hereditary President Sidney Harris watched the long cortege wind out of sight
along the Promenade
of the People, then turned his back upon it. The conference rooms two-
hundredth floor height had
transformed the black-draped vehicles into mere beetles crawling harmlessly
along an urban canyon, but
their implications showed only too clearly in the grim faces that looked back
at him.
He crossed to his chair and sat, propping his elbows on the long table and
leaning his chin into his
palms while he rubbed his eyes. Then he straightened.
"All right. I've got to be at the cemetery in an hour, so let's keep this
short." He turned his eyes to
Constance Palmer-Levy, Secretary of Security for the People's Republic of
Haven. "Anything more on
how they got to Walter, Connie?"
"Not specifically, no." Palmer-Levy shrugged. "Walter's bodyguards stopped the
gunman a bit too
permanently. We can't question a dead man, but we've identified him as one
Everett Kanamashi . . . and
what little we have on him suggests he was a fringe member of the CRU."
"Wonderful." Elaine Dumarest, the secretary of war, looked ready to chew
splinters out of the table
edge. She and Walter Frankel had been adversaries for yearsтАФinevitably, given
the budgetary-conflicts
between their ministriesтАФbut Dumarest was an organized individual. She
preferred a neat and tidy
universe in which to make and execute her own policies, and people like the
Citizens' Rights Union were
high on her list of untidy individuals.
"You think the CRU leadership targeted Walter?" Ron Bergren asked, and Palmer-
Levy frowned.
"We've got our moles as deep into them as we can," she told the secretary of
foreign affairs. "None of
them suggested the leadership was contemplating anything drastic, but there's