"Timothy Zahn - Blackcollar 3 - The Judas Solution" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

people could do except take their orders seriously.
Still, there was a certain degree of slack in the conditioning. Galway knew a few of his own officers
back on his homeworld of Plinry who never put in more than the bare minimum of effort required. If

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 - Prologue

Weissmann's contingent was as dedicated and efficient as he claimed, perhaps the young officer had
reason for pride after all.
"That's his house over there," Weissmann went on, pointing toward a light brown structure at the end of
a row of modest homes a block away. His eyes flicked furtively to Taakh, shifted quickly away. "Will
you want our assistance in taking him?"
"Yae rill take he," the Ryq rumbled before Galway could answer. "Yae hunans."
"As you command," Galway said, bowing his head in acknowledgment. Either the Ryq didn't want to get
his own hands dirty with this one, or he wanted to see how Interlaken's human contingent handled
themselves. Either was fine with Galway. "Your people are in position, Lieutenant?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," Weissmann said. "My thought was to send four men in through the back. We can cut through
the garden fence and move in under cover of some small bushesтАФ"
"Whoa, whoa," Galway interrupted. "Any reason we can't just try the front door?"
Weissmann seemed a little taken aback. "Uh ... no, sir, I guess not." Lifting his hand over his head, he
gave a series of hand signals. "Whenever you're ready, sir."
Galway gestured, and together he and Weissmann headed down the street, their boots making odd
squeaking noises in the fresh snow. "New Geneva didn't say anything about the khassq being involved in
this," Weissmann murmured, glancing furtively over his shoulder at the big, rubbery-skinned alien.
"Should I have brought more men? I mean, so we would look more professional?"
"If we can take Herr Judas quietly, then by definition you brought enough men," Galway assured him.
Ahead, armed figures were emerging from concealment, converging silently on the target house. Apart
from the standard paral-dart pistols each wore at his hip, Galway saw, their weaponry was a mixture of
various types of flechette and pellet scatterguns. Yet another reason for Weissmann to feel nervous
about Taakh's presence, though the hodgepodge equipment was hardly the lieutenant's fault. "Unusual
name this man has, don't you think?" he commented.
"Yes, it is," Weissmann agreed distantly, his mind clearly concerned with his command's preparedness.
"I don't think I've ever met anyone with such a surname."
"And for good reason," Galway agreed. "Note the pattern here. First they gave us Allen Caine, obviously
named for history's first murderer, and now here we have Karl Judas. The Resistance leaders aren't
without a sense of ironic humor."
Weissmann snorted. "If you can call plotting to betray and destroy their own people humorous," he said
darkly.
That was the loyalty-conditioning speaking, of course. Galway felt the same way, though a small part of
his mind wondered if under other circumstances he might see things differently. "Every era has its share
of malcontents," he reminded Weissmann. "This one's no different."
"Except that the Resistance has gone far beyond simple malcontentment," Weissmann countered. "I
heard a rumor the other day that some of them actually tried to get into the old Aegis Mountain
stronghold in Western North America this past summer."
"There was a team working in the Denver region, yes," Galway confirmed, wincing at the memory. "But
they never got into the base, and I doubt they ever will."
"I hope not," Weissmann said, turning his head slightly to look back at Taakh. "There could be all sorts
of weapons still in there. We certainly don't want them in Resistance hands."