"Charles Ingrid - The Sand Wars 06 - Challenge Met" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ingrid Charles)

"Then why'd he fake his death and leave?"

Another recruit added, "And he lost his armor."

The growing clamor quieted at that. Someone said, "Is it true? Did he lose
his armor?"

Lassaday spat to one side, scattering recruits. Then, "Yes. That much is
true."

No suit, no soldier. They'd been drilled with that since the day they'd
been accepted into Emperor Pepys' resurrected Knights. Those of them
who'd made it this far into the service shivered as they thought of being
without their Flexalink skins, their weapons, their second selves. He'd lost
his armor. That alone was tantamount to treason.

"We can't judge what happened," Lassaday said, his gravelly voice low.
"Not until we hear th' story."

A slender man moved into the doorway, and leaned against it, his
captain's bars winking on his shoulder. Travellini met the sergeant's stare as
he said, "And what if Pepys doesn't allow us to hear it?"

The NCO rocked back on his heels slightly at the unthinkable. "No," he
answered. "That wouldn't be."

The captain traced a seam down the outside of his slacks and flicked off a
piece of lint or dust. He looked up. "Nothing says Pepys has to give Jack a
military court-martial. It wouldn't be the first time Storm has been betrayed
by the system."

A freckle-faced recruit crouching over his boots, applying a patina like
that of stainless steel, blurted out, "That's not fair."
 The Dominion captain's mouth twisted at one corner as he answered,
"None of us are likely to ever learn what drove Commander Storm away
from here—and what brought him back. And we dare not judge him until,
as the old troopers like to say, we've walked in his boots."

"Amen," echoed Lassaday, his anger soothed by the captain's calmness.
The knots of men began to break up, voices quieted now, tones somber.
Never before had one of their own been brought back in shackles, bereft of
his armor, rumors of treason and cowardice hanging over his head.

But then, the aged sergeant thought, none of their own had ever dared to
fight both the enemy and the emperor. He braced himself. "Now, all right,
you spineless excuses for Knights. Which ones of you are goin' with me in
escort?"

Rawlins stepped out of the shadows. Lassaday felt a prickle of