"RUSCH, DEAN WESLEY SMITH KRISTINE KATHRYN - TREATYS LAW 4TH IN THE DAY OF HONOR SERIES STARTREK B" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

rolled over, rocking back and forth on his back as hard and as quickly
as he could in the dirt and mud of the ditch, letting the coolness of
the ground smother the flames of his clothing. Many mornings he had
cursed the cold ground as his aching joints worked it. Now he thanked
it. When he was sure the flames on his back were out, he stood, ignoring
his pain. For fifty paces on either side of him, his crops were nothing
more than smoking ashes illuminated by small flickering fires along the
edges of the destruction. In the distance through the smoke Kerdoch
could see the two aircraft as they continued their burning run through
his neighbors' crops. Who were they? Why burn his crops? The Empire's
food? There was no sense to this action. Behind him, from the direction
of his home and the main colony center came loud explosions.

He spun around. Flames shot into the air as more strange aircraft
attacked the colony. His family, his wife, and his home were near the
center of the colony. Instantly he was running, intent on saving his
family. And paying back in death whoever was doing this.

Captain James T. Kirk crossed his arms and leaned against the wall in
the tiny office. The office belonged to Commander Bracker, who ran
Starbase 11, one of the smallest starbases Kirk had ever been on. Small
and uncomfortable. This office barely accommodated Kirk and Bracker,
let alone the four other people in the room. The size of the office
didn't help Kirk's mood. He glared across the desk at the smiling face
of his friend Captain Kelly Bogle of the U.S.S. Farragut. Bogle was
standing behind Bracker, somehow making himself the center of attention
in the small space. He had arrived before Kirk and taken the place
Kirk would have had. The place Kirk had had when both captains arrived
on the starbase. Bogle's position was symbolic of his recent victory
over Kirk. Kirk adjusted his arms, but he couldn't relieve the tension
in his shoulders. He had lost. And he hated to lose, even in a
friendly game of catch-the-thief. But worse, he hated to lose to Kelly
Bogle, his friend and former shipmate on the Farragut. That galled Kirk
even more. Captain Bogle stood only three inches taller than Kirk, but
to Kirk the difference had always seemed much greater. Bogle somehow
carried himself with a straight-backed posture that always made him seem
like the tallest man in the room, even when he wasn't.

His light brown hair was never out of place. Kirk also knew that
straight-backed posture and perfect hair were consistent with the way
Bogle captained his ship. He did everything by the book. But in a
fight, Kirk couldn't honestly think of a better ship, crew, and captain
to have at his side. He liked Kelly Bogle, partly because Bogle was one
of the few people who could get the better of Kirk. Rarely, to be sure.
But Bogle could do it, and he could do it by the book. Near the door,
two red-shirted Farragut crew members held a tiny, childlike, and
extremely thin humanoid between them. The prisoner wore regulation
starbase children's clothing--probably stolen--and a small duck-billed
cap. He was the first member of the Liv Kirk had ever seen, but he'd
heard a great deal about them over the past few years. They were