Robert Asprin – Tambu

He paused for a moment. There was dead silence in the room as the captains waited.

“As to my position on the Defense Alliance, I have given the matter considerable thought and attention. Like all questions, it involves both logic and emotion, and unfortunately my final solution is also logical and emotional.

“As to the logic, I have tried to strip the problem down to the bare essentials. We have always considered ourselves a peacekeeping force. While we will fight to defend our ships or our crews, a peaceful person outside our fleet has nothing to fear from us. The charges and criticisms of us we have attributed to misinterpretation, misinformation, or outright lies.

“The Defense Alliance is also a peacekeeping force. While we seem to be their primary targets, I am sure they would not hesitate to attack a pirate if they chanced upon one. In short, they are in the same business we are-except they aren’t as good at it as we are. I’m not talking about fighting here, even though I believe we could beat them man-for-man and ship-for-ship. I’m talking about the day-to-day drudgery once the romanticism wears off. They’re all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, planning to beat us at a game we’ve been playing for ten years. I don’t think they can do it.”

He paused for emphasis, scanning the rapt faces in the viewscreen.

“I’m basing my orders-my entire strategy-on that belief. They can’t do it. They’re going to run into every problem, every financial hassle, every planetside hassle that we did, and I don’t think they’ll be able to take it! I