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

But stupidity at high levels really pissed her off.
Because stupidity at high levels was the sort of thing that got people
killed.
A Krai territorial cry sounded from the rear compartment, closely
followed by a stream of happy Human profanity. Jerked out of her
mood, Torin was startled to see she'd been brooding for almost an
hour.
The profanity got a little less happy.
Not her problem.
She heard the corporal's voice rise and fall and then the
unmistakable sequence of flesh to flesh to floor.
Now it was her problem.
Standing, she shrugged into her tunic and started down the aisle. No
point in letting a bad mood go to waste...
The corporal was flat on his back. One of the Krai privates—
probably the female given relative sizes—sat on his chest, holding his
arms down with her feet.
He wasn't struggling, so Torin assumed he'd taken some damage
hitting the floor. The smaller Krai had a pouch of beer in the foot Torin
could see and was banging both fists against the seat in front of him,
nose ridges so dark they were almost purple. The di'Taykan were
nowhere to be seen—all three of them had probably crammed
themselves into the tiny communal chamber the moment the shuttle
had entered Susumi space—which left, of the original six privates,
only a Human who seemed to find the whole thing very funny.
He spotted Torin first. By the time she'd covered half the distance,
his eyes had widened as the chevrons on her sleeves penetrated past
the beer. By the time she'd covered the other half of the distance, he'd
stopped laughing and had managed to gasp out something that could
have been a warning.
Too late.
Transferring forward momentum, Torin wrapped her fist in the
female Krai's uniform, lifted her off the corporal, and threw her back
into a seat.
The sudden silence was deafening.
She reached down and helped the corporal to his feet.
Someone cleared his or her throat. "Staff, we ..."
Her lip curled. "Shut up."
The silence continued.
"If I hear one word from any of you while Corporal Barteau..."
No one seemed at all surprised she knew the corporal's name.
"... is telling me what the hell is going on back here, I will override
your seat controls and you will spend the rest of the trip strapped in."
Eyes narrowed, she swept the silent trio with a flat, unfriendly stare.
"Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Staff Sergeant."
"Good. Corporal."
They walked back to the wall dividing the lower ranks from the
NCOs.
Torin pitched her voice for the corporal's ears alone. "You all