Heart Of The Tiger Read Online Free Page B

right. Can't go around maligning a fellow officer, and all that, right? But I never could understand what you saw in that cat, and that's the plain and simple truth."
    "That's simple enough. He's a wingman I can trust."
    Maniac gave a derisive snort. "Trust someone who'll kill his own kind? There's a great piece of command wisdom for you."
    "At least I've never known Hobbes to break formation on me the way you did at Gimle. I need to know that I can count on a wingman to back me up, and not go hunting for glory, then yell for help when he gets in too deep . . ." Blair shrugged. He had gone over this same speech with Maniac time and again, but it had never done any good. He didn't imagine the man was going to change now. "When it comes right down to it, Major, I can choose whoever I want as my wingman. That's one of the privileges of rank, you know."
    "Yeah," Marshall said, his tone hollow, bitter. "Yeah, those gold tracers on your collar look real sharp, Colonel Blair, sir. Bet you have to stay up pretty late at night to keep them polished so pretty.
    "No, I don't," Blair said coldly. "I assign majors to do it for me."
    "The difference in our rank, sir, is just a formality," Marshall said, standing up. "We both know who's the better man in the cockpit."
    "That's right. We both do. And that's what has been eating at you ever since the Academy, isn't it, Major?"
    Maniac's look was one of pure hatred. "Will there be anything else . . . sir? Or may I be dismissed?"
    "That's all, ' Blair said, turning away to look through the window into the hangar. He waited until the door slid shut behind Marshall, then he wearily sat down.
    Blair leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself after the angry confrontation. He had wanted to sit down with the wing XO to get an idea of the unit's strengths and weaknesses in equipment personnel, and experience. But seeing Marshall after so many years had driven it all out of his mind, and he had let his personal feelings overcome his judgment. Maniac always had a talent for bringing out the worst in him.
    Blair turned back to his desktop computer and called up the wing's personnel files on his screen. He picked Marshall's records first. Studying them, he began to understand the man's belligerence a little better.
    He'd been the Exec under Colonel Dulbrunin with enough seniority to hope for a promotion to lieutenant colonel and to become Victory's wing commander. No doubt the arrival of Hobbes had been a blow. Blair was sure now that Marshall was behind the ill feelings toward the Kilrathi renegade, since Hobbes had snatched his chance at commanding the wing.
    Then Hobbes bowed out, and Blair arrived aboard to dash Marshall's hopes again. No wonder the man was feeling bitter . . . .
    Another detail caught his eye. Marshall was also the CO of Gold Squadron. Blair had decided to have Hobbes take over that command, too. It was one more blow to Maniac's fragile ego.
    He could reconsider the decision, of course, and let Marshall keep his squadron. But if Hobbes was going to be Blair's wingman, the two of them would have to fly with the same squadron, and Blair still felt more comfortable sticking with the heavy fighters in Gold Squadron. Should he reshuffle the roster to put Marshall in command of another squadron? Maniac certainly had the seniority, even if Blair doubted he had the temperament for squadron command.
    But which squadron could Maniac handle best? He was not suited to command bombers, and point defense work required a leader who could subordinate himself totally to the needs of the fleet. Marshall would probably be happiest in command of the interceptors of Blue Squadron, but Blair shuddered at the thought of putting Victory's crucial long-range strike fighters in Maniac's hands. Patrol duties would take Blue Squadron out of reach of higher authority, and it needed a man with a good head on his shoulders who knew when to fight when to break away, and when to get word of