"David Weber - Honor 09 - Ashes of Victory" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weber David)

"I'm sure it will be months before we get all the details straight, Milady,"
the earl said, and Honor hid a wry mental grimace at his formality. He clearly
had no intention of calling her by her given name . . . which was probably
wise of him. "Lord knows we've only scratched the surface so far! Still, there
are a few things I simply have to ask you about right now."

"Such as, My Lord?"

"Well, for one thing, just what the devil does `ENS' stand for?"

"I beg your pardon?" Honor cocked her head at him.

"I can understand why they're not `HMS,' given that you've been acting in your
Grayson persona, not your Manticoran one," White Haven said, gesturing at the
blue uniform she wore. "But that being the case, I would have expected your
units to be designated as Grayson ships. Obviously they aren't, and I haven't
been able to come up with any other organization, except perhaps the Erewhon
Navy, to fit your terminology."

"Oh." Honor gave him one of her crooked smiles and shrugged. "That was
Commodore Ramirez's idea."

"The big San Martino?" White Haven asked, frowning as he tried to be sure he'd
fitted the right name to the right face on a com screen.

"That's him," Honor agreed. "He was the senior officer in Camp Inferno -- we
never would have been able to pull it off without his support -- and he
thought that given the fact that we were escaping from a planet officially
called Hades, we ought to call ourselves the Elysian Space Navy. So we did."

"I see." White Haven rubbed his chin, then grinned at her. "You do realize
you've managed to open yet another can of legal worms, don't you?"

"I beg your pardon?" Honor repeated in a rather different tone, and he laughed
at her obvious puzzlement.

"Well, you were acting as a Grayson, My Lady . . . and you're a steadholder.
If I remember correctly, the Grayson Constitution has a very interesting
provision about armed forces commanded by its steadholders."

"It -- " Honor broke off and stared at him, her single natural eye very wide,
and she heard the sudden hiss of an indrawn breath from the armsman behind
her.

"No doubt you're better informed than I am," White Haven said into her sudden
silence, "but it was my understanding that steadholders were specifically
limited to no more than fifty personal armed retainers, like the Major here."
He nodded courteously over his shoulder at LaFollet.