Honorverse favorite passages

Jonathan_S wrote:In fact it might be "The Empty Tomb" instead of "The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier".
To signify and honor all those who were lost, body unrecoverable, in the combat of space.

Jonathan_S wrote:

saber964 wrote:
Also I don't think there would be a Tomb of the Unknown unless it was entirely symbolic in nature because of the advanced DNA technology.

*quote="akira.taylor"**quote="dreamrider"*

Thermonuclear explosions, and deep space ship kills with no friendlies around do not leave analyzable DNA.

dreamrider*quote*

The details may have changed, but the idea probably hasn't. There are those who go off to war, and never come back, even as a body (or as a note on which grave they are in overseas). The Tomb of the Unknown is for them (or their families, or their comrades who know that could be them, depending). It might have a different name, though.

"Willie, I'm tired of people making allowances for what I think and why I think it. Yes, I've been in closer contact with the Ballroom — and with Anton Zilwicki and Victor Cachat" — Elizabeth's face tightened visibly at the second name, but Honor's voice didn't even pause — "than anyone else in this room. And, yes, my family history predisposes me to hate Manpower with every fiber of my being. All of that's true. But I am sick and tired of people who persist in using those facts to justify their refusal to look at the evidence because it doesn't suit their preconceptions."

"Meaning exactly what, Honor?"

Elizabeth's voice was sharp, and the look in her brown eyes was hard, as close to a glare as she had ever turned upon Honor Alexander-Harrington. But Honor looked back without flinching.

"Meaning, Elizabeth, that I've been telling you literally for months that it made absolutely no sense for the Havenites to assassinate Admiral Webster or try to kill Ruth and Berry. I'm not going to dispute with you over who did what to our prewar diplomatic correspondence, although I realize you know I don't think that's quite as open-and-shut as a lot of people seem to believe, either. But I'm telling you, Eloise Pritchart doesn't go around having people killed just for the fun of it, and she is not an idiot! If she'd actually wanted to derail her own summit meeting and killing Admiral Webster looked like the only way to do it, she would have found somebody one hell of a lot more deniable than her own ambassador's driver to pull the trigger."

White Haven managed not to cringe, but he didn't need Honor's empathic talent, or even Samantha's and Nimitz's soft hisses, to realize just how angry his wife truly was. She hadn't raised her voice, hadn't given the least indication of disrespect by tone or mannerism, but in a service not exactly noted for the pristine purity of its language, "the Salamander" was renowned for the fact that she never swore.

"That opinion isn't shared by the majority of the intelligence community," Elizabeth replied in a tone which made it obvious she was trying to throttle her own emotions.

"That isn't quite correct," Honor said flatly. Elizabeth's nostrils flared with anger, but Honor was no longer a mere cruiser captain meeting her monarch for the first time, and she continued without hesitation.

"That opinion wasn't shared by the majority of the intelligence community at the time and given what they knew then because they'd concluded that they couldn't think of anyone else with a motive.

"But we know things now we didn't know then, and not just the stuff Mike's just discovered at New Tuscany. There's Lester Tourville, for one thing. You know I know he was telling me the truth when he said that when Thomas Theisman originally briefed him for Operation Beatrice he told him no one in Pritchart's administration had expected to be resuming operations. That that was the reason they didn't start assembling his strike force until after we'd walked away from the summit talks. Of course Theisman could have lied to him, and of course it could still have been some kind of rogue operation launched by someone without Theisman's or even Pritchart's knowledge, assuming the someone in question had some personal reason to prevent the summit. So even granted that Tourville's been telling us the truth, and that Theisman told him the truth, there's still been the question of who else had a motive.

"Well, I submit to you that it's just been amply demonstrated — again — in New Tuscany that there is someone else with a perfectly good motive, and that someone is Manpower, Incorporated. Admiral Webster was hammering them on Old Terra; Berry is a symbol of everything they hate; the very existence of Torch is an affront to them; the weapon of choice for that attack was a bio-weapon; and they're busy trying to get us — successfully, I might add, from all appearances — into a shooting war with the Solarian League. For that matter, according to Mike's report, one of their operatives just casually killed more than forty thousand people in New Tuscany to help their efforts along! And let's not forget that fleet of StateSec rejects that Manpower subsidized for an attack on Torch. I'll concede that I still don't know how they managed to respond that quickly to shoot down the summit, unless they've got enough penetration in Haven to have found out about it at least a couple of weeks before we did, but I'm not prepared to simply assume they couldn't have that kind of penetration. Not in the face of everything else we are finding out now! And do you think for one moment, Elizabeth, that Manpower isn't aware of how you feel about Haven? Or that they wouldn't be willing to play any card they could to get what they want?

"Yes, we're at war with the Republic of Haven. And, yes, they fired the first shot. And yes, they even launched the attack on our home system, and a lot of people have been killed. A lot of people I knew, people who weren't just professional colleagues but who'd been friends of mine for decades. Friends who'd literally risked their lives against impossible odds to save mine when they didn't have to, if you'll remember that little jaunt to Cerberus. So, believe me, I know all about anger, and I know all the reasons for distrust and hostility. But look at the evidence, for God's sake. Mike hit it exactly in her report—Manpower is operating like a hostile star nation, and we're the object of its hostility! Worse, it's got a hell of a lot more resources than we ever thought it did, even if it's hijacking some of them from the Sollies. And—" her almond-shaped, dark brown eyes pinned Elizabeth into her chair "—if there's anyone else in the galaxy who's even more inclined than the Legislaturalists or Oscar Saint-Just's State Security ever were to use assassination as a tool, it's Manpower.

"I admire you, and I respect you, both as my monarch and as a person and a friend, Elizabeth, but you're wrong. Whatever you may think, the real threat to the Star Empire at this moment isn't in Nouveau Paris or Old Chicago at all. It's in the Mesa System... and it's in the process of destroying the Star Kingdom you're responsible for ruling."

roseandheather wrote:So help me God I have never loved Honor Harrington more than I did at this moment.

Hutch wrote:

roseandheather wrote:So help me God I have never loved Honor Harrington more than I did at this moment.

You are not alone, rose. Not by a long shot.

"Wonderful," [Giscard] sighed bitterly. "The goddamned lunatics are running the asylum!"

"They are," Pritchart agreed unflinchingly. "But there's nothing we can do about it except survive, and maybe accomplish a little something for the Republic along the way."

Their eyes met once more, and Giscard smiled crookedly. Like himself, she never spoke of "the People" when they were alone. Their loyalty was to the Republic, or at least to the tattered remnants of the ideal of the Republic, which Rob Pierre had promised to restore. And that, of course, would have been the final proof to StateSec that neither of them could be trusted.

He chuckled at the thought, and she raised an eyebrow again, as if asking him to share the joke. But he only shook his head, then bent to kiss her once more. Her lips warmed under his, clinging with desperate longing, and he felt the urgency rising within him. It had been months since they'd last been alone together, and he pulled back from the kiss, just far enough to look deep into her shining topaz eyes.

She took down two towels and began rolling them up. “If we cover her with something,” she said, coming back into the main room, “these should pass as legs. We’ll need a way to attach them to her stumps, though. Push comes to shove, we could use some sort of twine, but that’s likely to be uncomfortable for her.”

Happily, there was one ancient product that was still widely in use. Some things were so perfectly designed for their purpose that modern substitutes weren’t much needed. “We’ve got some duct tape,” said Stephanie. She rummaged in a small chest in a corner and came up with a roll. What was left of it, rather. Duct tape had a lot of uses in an old and decrepit building like this one.

Moving slowly and carefully, so as not to arouse the badly-injured woman, Thandi used the tape to secure the rolled towels and attach them to Karen’s stumps. She then rolled her up in the blanket on the cot and lifted her into her arms.

Carl wrote:I'm not going to quote it but one of the more touching little moments is from Mission of Honor when Elizabeth and her government sit down in the aftermath of the strike. When it comes to the treecat casualties the minister in question address Ariel rather than Elizabeth, it's just really touching moment somehow.

Talking of the Tomb's, not got every single book so got to ask, did we ever get the full story of Ellen D'Orville? I know we got Saganamei in the first Talbot book, but never run across more than the odd mention of her.

Benjamin Mayhew stepped past the major, followed by Katherine and Elaine Mayhew, and Elizabeth felt a sudden pang. It was only seven T-years since her state visit to Grayson, yet Benjamin was perceptibly grayer. He stood just as straight as she remembered, but there were more lines on his face, and she wondered if it was only her imagination that he moved a bit more slowly.

He’s six years younger than I am, she thought. Thirteen years younger than Honor. But he looks older than either of us.

It was true. In fact, looking at Benjamin and Honor side-by-side, anyone from a pre-prolong society would have thought the age differential was reversed…and twice what it actually was.

For a moment, as she was brought face-to-face with the awareness that Benjamin Mayhew had never received prolong, she felt a presentiment of loss to come. The loss not simply of a valuable political ally, of a trusted military ally, but of someone who’d become a personal friend. Somehow, despite the regular messages they exchanged, despite the exchanged Christmas and birthday gifts, the personal recordings which had nothing at all to do with state occasions, her inner image of him hadn’t really changed until she saw him here, on these familiar grounds, in person.

Oh, stop that! she told herself. Yes, you’re going to lose him…eventually. And you’ve always known—you’ve both always known—you were. But it’s not going to happen tomorrow, and the last thing he needs—the last thing either of you need—is you getting all maudlin! Besides, she glanced sideways, quickly, at Honor, there are people who’re going to miss him even more than you are when that finally happens.

Honor seemed unaware of that quick scrutiny, although Elizabeth knew better.

“I think we should go meet our guests, Your Grace,” she said.

“I think that’s an excellent idea, Your Majesty,” Honor agreed.