"Mike Moscoe - Society of Humanity 03 - They Also Serve" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moscoe Mike)

They'd put up a fight that stopped the proud 2nd Guard in its tracks. Mary had guided
the missile that put the shrapnel in Ray's back. After the war he'd hired them all. Over
beers, he and Mary refought the battle; each time, Ray ended up shaking his head. He
had been surprised good.
Was this meeting another surprise? Then, as now, he had no way of knowing. Ray
shook off the thought. "How's the ship, Matt?" he asked without letting go of Rita.

"The yard folks did a damn fine job of converting her back to a merchant ship. Well,
half merchie, half gunship. Rita, when you see your papa next, tell him thanks for me?"

Rita rotated in Ray's arms. "Be glad to. Second Chance pass inspection?" she asked,
one ship driver to another.
"We won't know for sure until we got space under her keel, but she looks sweet."

"You dug the crew out of their favorite bars?" Ray asked.

"Bars weren't the problem," Mary explained with a laugh.
"My number two, Cassie, used her shore leave to join a kind of skid row monastery.
Getting her separated from her guitar dang near required surgery."
Rita broke from the clinch and stood aside to give Ray room for the swinging walk his
legs and canes required. She took the time to brief him on things that hadn't reached his
desk, reports that Matt was just as interested in. "Andy's search for boffins is getting
interesting. Elie's set up a consortium with a batch of universities. They'll pay room and
board if we'll let professors on sabbatical ride our scouts." That drew a laugh. As an
ex-university professor herself, Ellie was bargaining the schools hard to get what
Wardhaven would have paid for. Outfitting the scout ships with science teams had been
one of Rita and Ray's biggest headaches. For now, they were making due with a batch of
recent grads Matt had commissioned as temporary merchant midshipmen. Before the
war, people on the rim of human space were barely able to educate their kids; science
advancements came from the inner worlds. Wardhaven planned to change that, bringing
those avid to push the edges of knowledge out to where humanity was straining at its
leash.
Captain Andy Anderson had commanded the brigade Ray's troops failed to evict from a
worthless piece of real estate only war made priceless. He and his drafted college
professor, Ellie. had heard about Matt's return from a bad jump and come hunting for him
after peace broke out. Ray hired both. Enemies they might have been, but Ray knew
where their hearts were. While they started the job of exploring a very big galaxy, he and
Rita and other powers-that-be on Wardhaven tried to sort out who was on their
sideтАФand who was still looking for a way to get even with Earth and her Society for
Humanity.

In war, the enemy wore different uniforms. In peace, you found your friends where
you could. Like at the meeting he was headed for? Damn! Life was easier in the infantry.
The elevator took them to the garage. Two limos waited. Ray's official car would whisk
him and Matt out to the port. The other? "Dad sent his car to make sure I showed up for
dinner. I'll stay with him and Mom while you're gone." Rita kissed him.

"I'll be back before you miss me," Ray promised.

That promise would haunt him in the months ahead.