"Doohan, James & Stirling, S M - Flight Engineer 02 - The Privateer 1.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doohan James)

troubled eyes on his desk as he raised his whiskey for a sip. Then he
leaned back and looked at Peter.

"The results were good," the Marine general said without preamble. "I
commend you for that." And he raised his glass to the commander. "But you
were very much out of line." He gave Raeder a level stare.

Raeder returned the general's stare without comment.

"Personally," Scaragoglu went on, "I believe you need a little more
seasoning before you take on that flight engineer's job. I'd be interested
in your take on that," he said after a moment's pause.

Raeder looked down at his hands, loosely folded in his lap, and gathered
his thoughts. He assumed that he'd be made an offer of some kind. But it
was dangerous to make assumptions with a man like Scaragoglu. I hate it
when someone wants something from you, but they just have to give you a
test first. I want something, he wants something. Let's get to the
horse-trading part, already.

"You may well be right, sir," he said at last. "But the point is moot
since I'll be relieved of that command and shipped Earthside come
morning."

Scaragoglu took another sip of his drink.

"Is that why you accompanied the captain here? So that you could tell me
you're going back to Earth?"

Raeder had to suppress a smile. An inconvenient, fey part of him had
always found that there was something inherently ridiculous in almost any
crisis situation. Even when it was his career in the balance. But Peter
doubted that the general, like every other authority figure in his life,
would appreciate, or understand if he showed his amusement.

"I followed the captain here, sir, in hopes that you'd have a more
attractive proposition."

Scaragoglu's Turko-African face might have been carved out of scarred
basalt, but Raeder thought he detected a smile in the slight narrowing of
the dark eyes. The captain shifted his stance as though uneasy, and
Scaragoglu's glance found him. Peter wondered if they'd had a bet riding
on his reactions.

"I don't think 'attractive' is quite the word I'd have chosen, Commander.
Your report says that you are, basically, sane. But I do have an
alternative. Are you interested?"

"Very."