"Charles Ingrid - The Sand Wars 04 - Alien Salute" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ingrid Charles)

But that was then. This is nowтАж




Chapter 1
 ┬л^┬╗
The aged freighter hardly qualified as a transport ship, let alone a cold ship,
but none of the nearly five hundred people crowded into it complained.
They stood and shivered and talked quietly to each other in knotted groups,
looking pale and shaken as they waited for processing.
Only one man had an expression of triumph seized out of the jaws of the
defeat that had forced them into exodus. Tall, made massive by his
opalescent battle armor, he looked the crowd over now, and his eyes flashed
with eagerness even as he assessed the results of the evacuation.

"What if the emperor offers you the command?"

He made a noise of anger. "Kavin's hardly cold in the ground."

The woman with the questioning, gentle brown eyes remained
composed under the wash of his anger, tilting her head slightly to one side
as though to veer away from it. "But we have to consider it, don't we?" She
kept her hand on the Flexalink sleeve he supported her with. Beneath her
fingers, she felt the smoke and grime of battle, and her delicate nose still
scented blood faintly though most of it had been washed away. They'd both
witnessed the violent death of his commanding officer and friend. They
stood intimately close in the immense hold of the transport ship that
vibrated loudly under their feet. "And I need to talk to youтАж I need time to
tell you what happened." The man's helmet was off, hanging from an
equipment hook at his waist. Sweat darkened his sandy blond hair and
fatigue washed out his blue eyes. Even with his strong cheekbones, he was
plain-faced, ordinary, but there was something commanding in his features.
Tiny lines were etched at the corners of his eyes and into his forehead, for all
he appeared at the prime of his twenties. His avid gaze deflected from his
field command to her, and softened as he took her in. The reflection of her
image in his eyes was as intimate as an embrace. тАЬYou don't owe me an
explanation. I just thank god you came back."

A shiver swept over her, setting off the intricate blue patterning of the
tattoos that covered herтАФthat made her alien from her lover. These tattoos
were only a small portion of what she had suffered, when the religious wars
had swept across Bythia and forced the Dominion settlers to flee. But she
knew Jack was most concerned about facing Emperor Pepys. "You've got
two months of chill time to think about it," Amber returned. "You'd better
have an answer for the emperor by the time we get home."

"If he offers it to me, I'll think about it."

"Not good enough," she said, and streetwise savvy edged her tones.