2020 space-navy SF, stand-alone novella in the Castle Federation series.
Before the last big war, an admiral has to decide who set up the
obvious trap.
For the long-term reader of the series, it's amusing to see the
tech downgraded several notches. But more importantly there isn't much
in the way of actual space battles here: the important thing is
whether two admirals, commanding task forces from small empires in a
loose non-aggression treaty, will regard each other as the enemy or
manage to communicate and sort out what's really going on.
And these are peacetime navies and states, which haven't fought
capital ship battles in most people's memory, rather than
combat-experienced ones; people want to do things by the book.
All right, I already like Stewart's approach to military SF and if the
others don't work for you I don't suppose this will either. It fills
in an interesting bit of history, and I think it's intended as a route
for new readers into the series, but mostly it's a pleasant diversion.
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