"Timothy Zahn - Dragonback 2 - Dragon and Soldier" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

advance team."
"I don't suppose you happened to notice any markings on those Djinn-90 pursuit fighters this time,"
Uncle Virge put in.
Draycos glared over at the monitor camera. Uncle Virge was the Essenay's computer, with an
artificial personality designed by Jack's late Uncle Virgil. A personality, Draycos had discovered,
that often seemed to go out of its way to be irritating. "No, I did not see any markings," he told the
computer stiffly. "I saw no markings when they first attacked our ships. I do not expect to see any
now that I am merely dreaming of them, either."
"Okay, okay, keep your scales on," Uncle Virge said in a huffy tone. "You're the one who's so hot to
track down these pirates or smugglers or whoever."
"They were mercenaries," Draycos said firmly. "Military units of some sort. I have told you that
before."


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Dragon and Soldier


"Yeah," Uncle Virge said. "Whatever."
"And it's not just Draycos who wants to find them, Uncle Virge," Jack said. "I do, too."
"Then let's get serious about it," Uncle Virge said. "Face it, Jack lad; we simply haven't got the
resources for this kind of nickel-in-Nevada search. Not even with our noble K'da poet-warrior
standing brave and true at our side. Watching us do all the work."
"We have only just begun our task," Draycos reminded him, ignoring the implied insult. Uncle Virge
had made it abundantly clear that he didn't think much of the K'da warrior ethic and its strict
emphasis on doing what was right, whatever such actions might cost. He considered such behavior to
be impractical, a waste of effort, and fundamentally stupid.
"We've been chasing data for ten days and have come up dry and poor each time," Uncle Virge
countered. "I vote we chuck the whole thing and drop it into StarForce's lap where it belongs."
"We cannot do that," Draycos insisted. "Until we know who was responsible for the attack, I cannot
risk revealing myself to anyone else. The lives of my people depend on it."
"Oh, come on," Uncle Virge said, and Draycos could almost see a scowling human face behind that
voice. "It wasn't StarForce that attacked your ships. The Internos government doesn't go in for
genocide."
"Yet someone in StarForce or the Internos may have made a private arrangement without official
consent," Draycos pointed out. "I cannot take that risk. We must do this ourselves."
"And what if we can't?" Uncle Virge shot back. "In case you hadn't noticed, friend, the Orion Arm
covers a lot of territory. We are one very small frog in one very big pond. Maybe the whole thing
makes for a great heroic poem, but we could search from here till geepsday and still not come up
with anything."
"What we need is a break," Jack muttered. "Just one. Something to point us in the right direction."
"Don't you think I want that, too, lad?" Uncle Virge asked, his tone suddenly turning earnest and
soothing.
Draycos felt his crest stiffen with frustration. In point of fact, Uncle Virge didn't want a break. Uncle
Virge wanted Jack to turn his back on Draycos, and on the millions of K'da and Shontine refugees
who were even now fleeing to the Orion Arm from the threat of the Valahgua and their unstoppable
Death weapon.
Uncle Virge, in short, wanted Jack Morgan to go back to the simple day-to-day business of looking
out for Jack Morgan.
But he didn't dare point that out. Jack's Uncle Virgil had been a criminal, a con artist and thief, a man