"Elizabeth Moon - Familias 05 - Rules of Engagement" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moon Elizabeth)

still made her uncomfortable: she had never really thought about love,
about being loved, and she could hardly believe it had happened, or that
it might last. But she still felt the touch of his hands on her face—she
pulled herself back from that memory and made herself consider what
came next.
She glanced at the space combat scene again and could not help
shaking her head.
"Gruesome, aren't they, sir?" asked the sergeant at the first
security station. "Supposed to be very old and valuable, but really—it
looks like something done by a half-gifted amateur."
"That's probably what they got," Esmay said, grinning. She
presented her orders and identification.
"New rules, Lieutenant, require a full med-ID scan before you
receive station tags. If you'll follow the yellow line to the next station,
they'll get started."
Security had been tighter all the way across Familias Space, a
natural result of all that had happened in the past quarter year. Still, she
hadn't expected the level of confirmation required here, at a training base
whose only access was through a Fleet-controlled orbital station. Where
were intruders supposed to be coming from?
An hour later she was waiting outside yet another security
checkpoint. It was ridiculous. How long did it take to do a retinal check,
even a full neuroscan? Her stomach growled, reminding her that she'd
broken one of the great rules of military life—eat whenever you get a
chance. She could have grabbed a snack before leaving the transport,
but (her memory mocked her) it was only supposed to be a couple of
hours down to Copper Mountain.
In for the retinal check at last. "Just follow the yellow line,
Lieutenant . . ." said the voice behind the screen.
"But can't you just—"
"Follow the yellow line."
Which ended in another bench to wait on until her name was
called. Ahead of her was a whole squad of neuro-enhanced combat
troops . . . she'd heard of these but never seen any up close. They
looked like anyone else who happened to be carrying about twice the
muscle and half the fat of anyone else. They had been chatting, but fell
silent as she came up to the bench. She felt fragile beside them.
"Excuse me, Lieutenant—" She looked up to see that they had
reshuffled themselves to put one of the women next to her.
"Yes?"
"Are you the Lieutenant Suiza who was on Despite and then
Koskiusko?"
Esmay nodded.
"Lieutenant, I'm really glad to meet you. I—we've always
wondered what it's like outside during FTL flight. Would you mind
telling us about it? They tell us the debriefing sims won't be out for
another six months."
"It's . . . really odd," Esmay said. "First, the starfield
disappears—" She was about to go on when the clerk called her name.
"If we don't take you now, you'll be here for hours," the clerk