"Tanya Huff - Valor 2 - The Better Part of Valor" - читать интересную книгу автора (Huff Tanya)

turned into something more. "Whether he expects our presence to
reassure or intimidate the civilian scientists who will also be in
attendance remains unclear at this time."
Lance Corporal Ken Tsui snickered—there was one in every team
who always got the joke—and several Marines smiled.
"At the briefing." Torin continued, "we'll meet our commanding
officer, Captain Travik."
Johnston's slate squawked as he closed his fist around it. A heartbeat
later, eleven of the twelve started talking at once.
"... serley asshole couldn't command his way out of a wet..."
"... had a thytrin with him at Horohn ..."
"... part of a fukking PR show ..."
"... bastard tries that 'hero' shit on me ..."
". . . General Morris trying to get us fukking killed..."
Torin folded her arms and met Werst's eyes across the room. He
took a long drink of his sah, expression no different than it had been
before she'd started speaking. One by one the other Marines noted her
position and their protests trailed off.
"All right, now that you've got that out of your system," she told the
renewed silence, "let's get a few things clear. One, General Morris is
not trying to get us killed. The Krai in Parliament want more senior
officers, and Captain Travik was the politicians' choice.
Unless the general wanted a repeat of '89, his hands were tied."
"Fuk the politicians," someone muttered.
Torin snorted. "Thank you, but no. Two, this is not a public
relations show. Until we've determined exactly what we're dealing
with, we're under level four security and a full media lockout—which
is why they didn't move in an existing team. The media watches troop
movements, they don't watch individual Marines."
"Staff?"
"What is it, Dursinski?"
"Why a full media lockout?" The lance corporal's frown fell into
two well-defined vertical lines in the center of her forehead. "Is there
something about this ship they're not telling us?"
"Probably. But I'm sure if you all put your little minds to it, you
could come up with an infinite number of reasons for command to
keep the discovery of this ship away from civilians until we've
determined what it is."
"Well, if it’s one of the Others' ships, they could get hurt."
"While I appreciate enthusiasm, Private Guimond, I wasn't actually
asking for reasons."
Head cocked to one side, his lips moved as he silently repeated her
previous statement. "Oh." His smile grew a little sheepish. "Sorry,
Staff."
"It's okay. Three ..." She swept the room with a flat, emotionless
gaze. "... Captain Travik is a Marine Corps officer and his orders,
passed to you through me, will be obeyed. What you think of him
personally is irrelevant. Do I make myself clear?"
A ragged chorus of, "Yes, Staff." Scattered nods.
Werst took another drink.