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

back. He had reason to be concerned. There were eight or nine Katrien,
all talking at once, a half a dozen Humans, three di'Taykan, three Krai,
four Niln, and a Ciptran—sitting alone, antennae flat against his/her
head, one mid-leg fiddling with the controls on the inhaler implanted
over the gills on both sides of his/her carapace. The Katrien and the
Niln were local to this sector, the Humans, di'Taykan, and Krai had
probably been chosen because of the military presence in an effort to
keep species numbers down. Torin had never seen a Ciptran before but
had been told they were the exception to the rule that said only social
species developed intelligence.
When Captain Carveg and two of her officers arrived to represent
the Berganitan and things still didn't get started, Torin wondered who
else they were waiting for.
He made his entrance at 0759, stepping through the hatch as though
both the scientists and the Marines had been gathered in this room, at
this time, for his benefit. A civilian, a Human male; just under two
meters tall, with broad shoulders and heavy arms, almost broad and
heavy enough to be out of proportion to the rest of a muscular body.
Torin watched him cross to the general through narrowed eyes. She
didn't know much about civilian styles, but she knew attitude when she
saw it. And she was seeing it. In spades.
When he reached the officers, he smiled broadly, spread his hands,
and said something too low for Torin to catch.
"The exact same thing happened to me." Captain Travik's voice
carried clearly over the room's ambient noise. "That's the Navy for
you, can't draw a straight line between two points. You ought to come
stay with the Marines."
Torin glanced at Captain Carveg who gave no indication she'd
overheard the comment. If Parliament wanted to promote a Krai, why
didn't they start with Carveg? A Navy captain held rank equivalent to a
Marine colonel; Travik had a way to go to even catch up. On the other
hand, Torin mused, her gaze flicking between the officers, if they leave
Carveg where she is, she can keep doing a job she's good at, and if
we're very lucky, they'll stuff Travik where no one on the lines'll miss
him.
General Morris moved out beside the large vid screen at the front of
the room and various conversations trailed off into an anticipatory
silence. "We all know why we're here," the general began without
preamble. "A vessel belonging to no known species has been
discovered drifting in space. It is, or rather will be, our job to find out
everything we can about this vessel. At this time, I will turn the
briefing over to Mr. Craig Ryder, the CSO who made the discovery."
CSOs, civilian salvage operators, haunted the edge of battle zones
where they dragged in the inevitable debris. Some they sold back to the
military, the rest to the recycling centers. The overhead of operating in
deep space being what it was, even the good ones never made much
more than expenses.
Like all scavengers, they performed a valuable service and, like all
scavengers, they profited by the misfortune of others. Since most of
that misfortune happened in combat to people who were never