“The hovering sharks were attended by a cruiser squadron and three full destroyer squadrons. The formation was backed by a half fleet of auxiliary ships, planetary-assault craft, and two battalions of the First Guards Division. When the Emperor came to dedicate a building or to legitimatize a conqueror, he preferred to have no surprises – least of all those that began with a bang and directed some sort of projectile in his direction. The fiche that the courier ship had delivered weighed almost a... full kilo and contained everything there was to know or do about its subject: Protocol Manual for Imperial Visits. It included such pieces of information as to what weaponry an honor guard could carry (no crew-served weapons, no individual edge weapons, individual weapons with their firing-section disarmed, no magazines in weapons); length of welcoming speech (no more than five minutes); number of people permitted to speak on landing (three maximum); quartering requirements for Imperial security (one barracks plus apartments adjoining the Imperial suite); dietary requirements for security element (normal Imperial diet for plain-clothesmen; dhal, rice, and fowl or soyasteak for Gurkhas); and so on and on, endlessly.MoreLessRead More Read Less
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