Uncompromising Honor (Honor Harrington, #14)

by David Weber

“I have communicated the Alliance’s terms and conditions publicly, so that there can be no misunderstanding. So that no one like Malachai Abruzzi can distort them, lie about them. And I also inform you today that the Alliance will see to it that those demands and conditions are met. “We will not put armed forces on Old Earth. We will not invade any of the League’s member worlds. We will not send our personnel to take the Mandarins into custody. We will not threaten the life of anyone on any League planet. “We have taken no civilian lives here in the Sol System. We will continue to avoid the infliction of mass casualties. But if these terms are not accepted, if the motion to assemble a constitutional convention has not cleared the Assembly, within one month, I will divide Grand Fleet into four taskforces, and those taskforces will proceed to the next four wealthiest star systems in the Solarian League. When they reach their destinations, they will do to those star systems what I have done today to yours. And at the end of another month, if these terms still have not been accepted, they will move to the next four wealthiest star systems. And the next four. They will continue doing so until our conditions are accepted…or there are no more industrialized systems in the Solarian League.”