"Doohan, James & Stirling, S M - Flight Engineer 02 - The Privateer 1.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doohan James)

"I'm not saying no," Raeder said. Free booze sounds good to me. When the
drink came he raised his glass and said, "To Captain Montoya. A truly
gallant officer."

Sjarhir raised his brows. "And gallant of you to salute her, Commander."
He lifted his glass. "Captain Montoya." And took a sip. Over the rim of
his glass he assessed Peter's condition and resolved that this would be
the commander's last drink. He didn't want to be accused of taking
advantage of a man in his cups.

The Captain looked around and leaned closer to Raeder.

"Word is that Grettirson wants to censure Montoya."

Peter's jaw dropped. "Censure?" he said in disbelief. "He can't do that!
She did everything humanly possible to save that ship."

Sjarhir shrugged and grimaced. "Grettirson's always been a fanatical
disciplinarian. But he's gotten measurably worse since his son was
killed."

Raeder frowned. He liked a commanding officer who hated to see his people
killed. It was by far preferable to the alternative, an officer who
treated his troopers like inanimate game pieces, fungible goods to be
expended like ammunition.

"Still . . ." Peter murmured, shaking his head.

"I don't think he'll get away with it though," Sjarhir said. "I heard that
Anderson practically pulled him out of his chair by the lapels when he
suggested it." He laughed. "She is one officer I wouldn't like to get on
the dark side of."

"What can she do? She's only a vice admiral," Raeder pointed out.

"Yeah. She's his junior, but she's got a lot more respect than he has."
Sjarhir nodded wisely. "He'll pay attention to what she says, even if it
makes him break out in boils."

"How do you know all this?" Raeder asked. How was a lowly captain of
Marines aware of the intimate details of relationships in the upper
echelons of Star Command?

"I've got a bud on the vice admiral's staff," the captain said easily. He
leaned towards Raeder confidentially. "It's what the old man wants to do
to you that worries me."

Peter hunched down over his drink with a scowl and didn't answer. There
was nothing to say.