"Vatta's War - 03 - Engaging The Enemy" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moon Elizabeth)

Another spoonful of flakes as he looked thoughtful. Then he nodded again. "I do understand a lot of that. If you're asking me."
"Martin, the thing that's bothered me since I first took command of Gary Tobai, back when she was the Glennys Jones, is the lack of a clear chain of command on civilian traders. Sure, the captain's the boss, but who's next? On the smaller ships, it's a muddle. Muddles in war get people killed."
"So what is it you want me to do?"
"Take over training new crew into capable combat-ready crews. Find me some weapons specialists-if you don't know the weaponry, I'll bet you know personnel and can spot the good ones. Help me get this ship organized and ready."
He was nodding along with her words. "Yes, ma'am, I can certainly do that. And I can spend this transit with my head in a cube reader learning the manuals on this ship's weapons, too. I just never had the chance before."
"I know I need a second in command, an exec. I wondered if you-"
He was shaking his head now. "No, ma'am. I'm not the right person for that. I might've made a good senior NCO if I'd kept my nose clean, might even have made a good sergeant major, but I'm a hands-on, feet-in-the-dirt person. The air gets too thin for me in officer country."
"For now, anyway," Ky said. "You might surprise yourself later. So-what do you think of the other personnel aboard?"
"Your pilot's good," he said. "He should shape up with a bit more training-I don't suppose you'd tell them all to get in the gym every day for some physical training?"
"Of course," Ky said. "Good idea."
"That kid Toby's awfully young, but he's smart and hardworking. Can't always tell at that age."
"I hope to get Toby back in school as soon as we can find a safe place," Ky said. Right now she couldn't think of a safe place, but surely she could find something better than the very obvious target they were in.
"Jim's coming along-"
"Thanks to you," Ky said.
Martin shrugged. "Typical young lout," he said. "All he needs is discipline and training; he's got the right instincts most times, though that stupid dog made me wonder. Not officer material, though. Alene's better suited to civilian work than military, but she might fool me in another six months. Sheryl...nice woman, but definitely not military." He stopped there.
"And Rafe?" Ky prompted. Rafe had to be part of her plans. She still wasn't sure what she felt about him, but for his connections alone he was a valuable resource.
Martin's expression hardened. "Rafe. Begging the captain's pardon but I was not aware he was actually on crew." He fairly bristled with disapproval. Ky didn't know whether to be amused or annoyed.
"I'm doing the work," Rafe said, appearing with his usual instinct for the critical moment. As if to prove this, he picked up Martin's empty cereal bowl and spoon and Ky's empty juice mug, and went to the galley sink. "But I believe, Martin, you have other reasons for leaving me out of your fascinating analysis."
"You were eavesdropping again," Ky said.
"I was not interrupting an obviously important conversation," Rafe said. "In order to not interrupt but be aware when it might be polite to come in, I had to be within hearing. If you call that-"
"Eavesdropping," Ky said. "And I do."
"I understand your loyalty is to ISC," Martin said. "Not to Vatta, or the captain."
Rafe grimaced. "My core loyalties, at the moment, are highly tangled. I should be most loyal to ISC, yes. But it was our captain here who saved me from a situation in which honor would have required suicide." He swirled a little cleanser into the bowl and mug, and rinsed them. "Thus I have a certain point to my loyalty to the captain, which frankly is giving me a bit of a headache."
"I can imagine," Martin said.
"I doubt it," Rafe said. Ky grinned to herself. Part of that headache had been literal: Rafe found out the hard way that she wasn't much like her cousin Stella when it came to advances. If the rest of the crew knew that she had dumped Rafe on his back for making a move on her, they were all pretending the incident hadn't happened. "There are...other considerations." The look he gave Ky had the force of a blow.
"For the present," Ky said to Martin, "Rafe is part of the equation. We have determined that our interests run together, since both Vatta and the ISC have been attacked, presumably by the same organization." Then to Rafe, "Have you had any success digging into Osman's files?"
Rafe grimaced. "The man has the best security I've ever seen outside of ISC research labs, and maybe better than that. I'm working on it. So far I've managed not to let the database destroy itself as I sneak in, but that's about it. I have found some interesting references-already forwarded to your desk, Captain. I'm not sure what they mean, but I thought you'd want to look at them."
"Definitely," Ky said. "But I've been shuffling numbers for two hours. I need some exercise before I work my brain any more. I was planning to spend an hour or so in the gym."
"Want to spar with me?" Rafe asked, with just the slightest edge to it. Martin stirred but said nothing.
"Fine," Ky said. "You probably have tricks I don't know..." She kept her voice light, but his eyelids flickered. He knew and she knew. She had surprised him that time; she wouldn't surprise him again.
Ky ran through some simple warm-ups and stretches, noticing that Rafe had his own set, not quite the same as hers. Then they spread one of the mat sets and took opposite sides.
"Half speed," Rafe suggested.
Ky nodded. Her heart thudded; she had always liked hand-to-hand practice and found it hard to go less than full-out, but she had not done this in...too long. Rafe's loose-limbed crouch seemed too casual, but she knew it was not. She settled a little more. He had height and reach on her-
He was moving, a smooth glide, deceptively slow. Ky shifted in time with his movement, meeting his strike with a hand placed to deflect then strike on rebound. His foot slid out to hook her ankle...she had moved, forcing herself to the same slow rate...and for several minutes they ran through a series of attacks and counters, all in slow motion. Ky realized quickly that he was a cunning fighter; his attacks were always multiple, coordinated. She could not react instinctively with the obvious, simple counter without putting herself in the path of the next attack. Her own attacks were complex, too, but she had not gone past combinations of three, and Rafe handled these easily.
"You're quite good," Rafe said, slipping one of her kicks past his hip. "I think I have the edge technically, but you may be faster and that would negate it-" The next kick caught him as he was moving back. "I suppose I don't need to be too ashamed that you got me last time."
"Only ashamed that you tried it," Ky suggested, ducking and weaving to avoid his next series.
"I still think you were lying to the mercs," Rafe said. "You don't really think I'm that repulsive."
"Repulsive, no," Ky said. "You're good looking, in a-" She tried a flurry of strikes, unsuccessfully. "-a certain style of looks."
"Faint praise," Rafe said. His next kick was slow, obvious; Ky shifted sideways and did not take the invitation. "And, damn it, you're too smart. That usually works. Break, please." He backed away to one side of the mat; Ky moved to the other. "I need to talk to you, seriously," he said. "This takes too much concentration. Can we do something else?"
"Sparring was your idea," Ky said. "I'd just as soon try out one of these machines."
"Good. It's about the internal-"
"Ansible," Ky interrupted. "Of course. Let me make it clear. I didn't want it, and now I've got it I don't intend to use it, or tell anyone about it. Is there any way to remove it?"
"Not that I know of. For your own safety, it's important that no one know you have it."
"They won't, unless you tell them," Ky said.
He shook his head. "But if someone finds out, they may try to get at it, or make it work. I was told it would be fatal."

Chapter 2


They were back in her office, and she was about to open the cargo inventory list again when Rafe asked, "Are you going to try a salvage claim? Or just go for a share of value?" For once, his voice had no edge.