The Heart of Valour Read Online Free PDF

if only because of the di’Taykan weight the word carried and not because she was actually getting any anywhere else.
    “I’ve got no way to keep him from mentioning it to me, sir.”
    “
NinLi
civilians!”
    Like many sentient races, the primary Taykan religion had not only the concept of damnation but the profanity to go with it.
    “Yes, sir.”
    But while the major had said,
“The alien ship is classified,”
her expression had added,
“What escape pod?”
It was fast, gone almost before Torin saw it. Someone watching a little less closely would have missed it entirely, but Torin had spent years learning to spot bullshit and next to some of the di’Taykan she’d commanded, for whom bullshit was a vocation, Major Alie was an amateur.
    Her anger at not knowing had given her away.
    Intell hated to think there were things they didn’t know.
    At 12:45, Torin set down her lunch tray and pinged the
Promise
from a table terminal in the SRM.
    “What the bloody hell did you ask at that morning briefing?”
    Torin poured creamer in her coffee, the artificial stuff significantly safer than the real cream in the other jug. There were no cows on Ventris Station. “I asked the major about your possible salvage.”
    “Just like that, then?”
    “You wanted to know.”
    “I expected you to be a little more… I don’t know, circumspect.”
    “I said I’d ask.” She took a preliminary swallow—the coffee had probably been started by the first cook on Ventris—and added a splash more creamer. “This is not the kind of thing that I can sneak about trying to discover for you. Nor would I if I could.”
    “I had a visit this morning from a couple of Marines who thought I needed to be reminded of what classified meant.”
    That wasn’t entirely unexpected. “And?”
    “They pointed out that military salvage tags don’t grow on fukking trees.”
    Neither was that. It was, after all, the only handle they had on him. “Happy ending?”
    “They’re letting me bail, if that’s what you mean. In fact, they pretty much told me to rack off.”
She heard him sigh, could see him sitting back in the pilot’s chair, feet resting on the spot his heels had worn shiny on the control panel.
“I’m never going to see that salvage, am I? Never mind. Don’t answer that. Are you in the crapper for bringing it up?”
    It surprised her that he’d ask. “Not so far.”
    “Good. Let me know when you’re back at OutSector.”
    “I will.” She cut the connection, ate her soup and her sandwich, and wasn’t at all surprised to find a Marine waiting for her in the corridor outside the mess when she left.
    * * *
    “Come in, Gunnery Sergeant Kerr. I won’t keep you long.”
    Torin entered as ordered and came to attention in front of the desk, staring at the gray-green plaque on the wall just over General Morris’ head. It was the same color as Major Svensson’s fingernails and that led down paths she’d rather not travel—although artificial fingernail was not the strangest building material she’d ever seen used. She couldn’t quite make out what battle the raised letters commemorated.
    “Damn it, stop doing that. You know I hate it.”
    “Yes, sir.” She relaxed slightly into parade rest. “What escape pod, Gunny?”
    That drew her attention to his face. “Sir?”
    Hands linked, he tapped joined index fingers against his chin. “You asked Major Alie this morning about an escape pod from Big Yellow.”
    Not a question but she answered it anyway. “Yes, sir.”
    “What are you up to?”
    “Sir?”
    “There was no escape pod, Gunny.”
    By the time she’d made sergeant, Torin could remain expressionless under any condition. That skill came in handy now. There had been an escape pod. She’d seen Craig Ryder get into it on Big Yellow and had seen the alien ship spit the pod out into space. One of the Jades from the
Berganitan
’s Black Star Squadron had caught it up in an energy field and maneuvered it back to the