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included approving all promotions above the rank of commander. The Board also
oversaw the navy's budget and general state of readiness. As a result, some
very important people began to take Claudia seriously, and many wondered if
the Emperor had already chosen her to succeed him.
McCade shrugged. "So I suppose he chose Princess Claudia."
Swanson-Pierce nodded understandingly. "A logical conclusion... but as it
happens... he didn't."
"Ya mean he picked the boy instead?" Rico asked.
"Exactly," Swanson-Pierce said.
"But why?" McCade asked. "I'd always heard Prince Alexander was about as
worthless as they come.
Surely the Emperor knew that."
"I honestly don't know why he picked Alexander," Swanson-Pierce said with a
frown. "All I can tell you is that Admiral Keaton believes the Emperor had
good reasons for his choice. According to Keaton, there was a special bond of
some sort between father and son, even when Alexander was at his worst.
The Admiral also believes the Emperor feared what Princess Claudia might do if
she assumed the throne.
Unlike her father, she's a hawk, and believes war with the II Ronn is
inevitable. In her opinion we're better off fighting them now, rather than
waiting and being forced to do so later, when they're even stronger."
Now McCade was beginning to see why Sara had sided with Swanson-Pierce. If
Princess Claudia took over, she might destroy the delicate balance of power
preventing war between the human and II Ronn empires. For a number of reasons
humans and II Ronn were natural enemies. Strangely enough, their mutual
hostility stemmed more from similarities, than differences. Both races were
ardently expansionist, and as their respective empires grew in size, the
once-thick band of frontier worlds separating them grew constantly thinner. As
this occurred, squabbles over real estate became increasingly common.
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Fortunately, the II Ronn had evolved on a hot, dry world and, in spite of a
reverence for water, detested the wet worlds so loved by humans. Nonetheless
both sought certain rare ores and isotopes, and would fight for any planet
which contained them.
However some of the mutual dislike stemmed from other, less obvious, causes.
For one thing, the two races had very different histories and cultures. The II
Ronn had been around a long time. In fact, most authorities agreed they had
preceded man into space by thousands of years. Had their culture allowed the
giant leaps made possible by individualism, instead of the slow but steady
growth of group consensus, chances are the II Ronn would have rolled over the
human race while it was still living in caves. But they didn't. They preferred
instead a deliberate expansion, in which each potential acquisition was
painstakingly studied, and then carefully annexed.
Not so the humans. Once in space, their sphere of influence expanded in rapid
fits and starts, sometimes accomplishing in days what the II Ronn might have
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taken centuries to do. Unfortunately, the opposite was also true. Internal
dissension, bickering, and laziness often destroyed human gains more quickly
than they were made. The result was two large empires of roughly equal size
and power, both of which were inexorably expanding toward each other.
For years, the first emperor, and then his son, had worked to forstall the
almost inevitable collision.
While both had worked to prepare the Empire for the possibility of war, both
had also done everything they could to avoid it. Even to the point of
tolerating the pirates because they helped keep the II Ronn in check.
Nonetheless, some had always felt conflict was certain, and couldn't be
avoided. Claudia was one of these. So, if she took the throne, there was a
good possibility that war would follow.
And, since only the frontier worlds separated the two empires, they would be
the most likely battlefield.
And that accounted for Sara's interest in helping Swanson-Pierce. She was
trying to protect Alice.
McCade imagined hell bombs falling, entire cities turned to black slag,
millions or even billions of lives lost, and all to please a few power-mad
idiots on both sides. Viewed that way, he really didn't have much choice. For
better or worse, he'd have to find the idiot prince, and put him on the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]