The Shadow of Saganami by David Mark Weber

Author:David Mark Weber [Weber, David M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: http://c3jemx2ube5v5zpg.onion
Published: 2004-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

“ ... not an ideal solution, Milady,” Gregor O'Shaughnessy said, “but I'm afraid of the way the situation's escalating.”

“Madam Governor,” Rear Admiral Khumalo said heavily, “I must reiterate my concerns about becoming overly involved on the local level in the Cluster's politics.”

“With all due respect, Admiral,” O'Shaughnessy shot back a bit sharply, “you were the one who wanted to intervene against Nordbrandt after the first Kornati bombing in Karlovac.”

“Yes, I was, Mr. O'Shaughnessy,” Khumalo rumbled. “But that was rather a different situation from this, as I hope you'll admit. Nordbrandt is a killer, a murderess on a mass scale. Dropping Marines onto Kornati, assuming the local planetary government invited us to do so, to hunt down a cold-blooded, calculating killer would be one thing. Dropping Marines onto Montana to go after one of its most prominent citizens, who's apparently well on his way to becoming some sort of folk hero—or antihero—and hasn't killed a a stray dog yet, much less members of the local parliament, would be another thing entirely.”

“But we're already engaged there on a day-to-day basis,” O'Shaughnessy said. “We've had a presence in the system—and, arguably—a responsibility to support President Suttles' government ever since he gave us permission to station your support ships there. For that matter, we could provide the support direct from those ships.”

“Those ships are neither designed for nor capable of providing that sort of support,” Khumalo said frostily. “Ericsson is essentially nothing more than a freighter hull wrapped around machine shops and storage for spare parts. Her entire complement's under two hundred—technicians, not combat personnel. And Volcano's only an ammunition ship, with an even smaller crew. They've got military-grade impellers, compensators, and particle shielding and minimal sidewalls, but they aren't warships and they are totally unsuited to this sort of task. Even assuming that asking any of our ships to perform that task was a good idea. Which it isn't.”

“I think—” O'Shaughnessy began, but Dame Estelle raised her hand. He closed his mouth, looking at her, and she smiled crookedly.

“In this instance, Gregor, Admiral Khumalo has a point,” she said. “A very good point, in fact. There'd be substantial local popular support if we intervened in Split. So far, Nordbrandt's still at the stage of evoking far more horror, revulsion, and repugnance than widespread support. She's done a lot more damage to her own planet than Westman has, and she's made it perfectly clear she's escalated her strategy of pure terror to go after anyone who 'collaborates' with us or the elected Kornatian government on any issue, not just the annexation.

“She's using a sledgehammer, a brute force approach. Westman's using a rapier. So far, at least, his target selection's had exactly the opposite effect from Nordbrandt's. As far as I can see, there's no immediate danger of his turning around Montana's support for the annexation, but he's more likely to have that effect in the long run than she is. More to the point, from the perspective of the Convention, he's more likely to

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