"Timothy Zahn - Conquerors 2 - Conquerors' Heritage" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

slashed to a sudden halt the beachhead advance on the Human world of Dorcas, warcraft his brother
Thrr-mezaz had suggested might be the mysterious Copperhead warriors mentioned in the Human
recorder.

Or could they possibly have even been the exact same warcraft?

Thrr-gilag frowned as that ominous thought struck him. If the Copperhead warriors had been able to
slip out past the Dorcas encirclement force... "I want to speak with my brother," he told Chrr't-
ogdano. "Thrr-mezaz; Kee'rr, commander of the Zhirrzh ground warriors on Dorcas."

"Now?" Chrr't-ogdano asked, taken aback. "Wouldn't it be better to speak with him from the
Diligent?"

"To appease Ship Commander Zbb-rundgi, you mean?" Thrr-gilag asked pointedly.

"To appease the dictates of common sense," Chrr't-ogdano shot back. "Or do you wish to still be
here when the Human warcraft return in greater numbers?"

Thrr-gilag sighed. "They won't be returning anytime soon," he said. "As I've already explained to
Ship Commander Zbb-rundgi. It's been nearly six tentharcs since the rescueтАФif the Humans had had
more warcraft nearby, they would certainly have attacked by now. Any future attack must therefore
be coming from one of their worlds. At least another fullarc away, probably more."

"That's an assumption."

"It's the consideration of a specialist in aliens and alien cultures," Thrr-gilag snapped, suddenly tired
of all these arguments. No one had questioned Svv-selic like this when he'd been in charge. "A
pathway to Thrr-mezaz, if you please."

"I obey," Chrr't-ogdano said, glowering, and vanished.

Across the room the door opened, and one of the technics came in pushing a carrier. "Anything new
on our prisoners?" Thrr-gilag asked her.

"They're still asleep," the technic said as she pushed her carrier over to one of the three remaining
tissue-analysis units. "But their metabolic levels seem to be recovering from the trauma of the
transfer aboard ship. The healers think a few more hunbeats should do it."

"Good," Thrr-gilag said, finding a minor flicker of gratification in the fact that this, at least, seemed
to be working out. It wasn't the taste of power on his tongue that was delaying their departure, as
Chrr't-ogdano and Zbb-rundgi both seemed to think. It was, rather, an overriding concern that their
two new alien prisoners might die from their mysterious injuries before they even made it off the
planet. Transferring them aboard the Diligent had been risky enough, in the healers' opinion, and

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Conquerors' Heritage

Thrr-gilag wanted the aliens to have as much time as possible to settle in before they were subjected
to the stresses of liftoff.