"Duane, Diane - Tos - Spock's World" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duane Diane)

chance to j see you. I wanted to thank you, very much
indeed."
"You earned it," Jim said. "Don't think other
wise. If I helped with the timing a little, consider it
my j pleasure. Meanwhile, how's the loading
going?"
Jorg heard the when under the "how." "Half an
hour, Captain," he said. "Less if possible."
Jimsmiled more widely, for reasons that had
nothingto do with the timetable. "Good enough.
Carry on," he said, and went away feeling
unusually pleased inside.
j He strode across the loading floor, and all
the way j across it was "Good morning, Captain,"
"Good eve ning, Captain," and Jim's smile
got broader and broader: not at the inconsistency
among greetings, for the ship was back on
cruise shift schedules again, three shifts
relieving one another, and some people were working overtime. Out
into the corridor, and it j was the same thing, when he
said hello to his people or they said hello to him: no
"Admiral," nothing fancy, just "Captain" again,
as God intended. It was f a great relief. As
he walked the hails, Jim acquired a grin that
would not go away.
The long afternoon in Fleet Admiral Nogura's
office had been trying, but the results had been
worth it. Twenty hours after beaming up from the
Willow Groveeaeight hours after beaming over
to Fleet to 27
handle the inevitable paperwork involved with a new
set of missions, he was happily demoted
to captain, effective immediately, revocable at
Fleet's discretion. Some people would not have understood it,
this desire to be de-admiraled. But most of those people
weren't naval, or had lost touch with the naval
tradition that was so much a part of Starfleet. And
Nogura, in love (jim told himself
tolerantly) with the power of the Fleet Admiral's
position, couldn't understand it either. It's not his fault,
Jim thought. He's been one too long, that's all.
Admirals, from time immemorial,
didn't command anything but fleets: they managed
strategy and tactics on a grand scale . . . but
Jim wasn't interested in a scale quite that grand.
Captains might be obliged to give admirals
rides to where they were going, and to obey their orders: but
for all that, the captains were more in command than ever an
admiral was. There might be more than one admiral
on a ship . . . but never more than one captain.