"John G. Hemry - Stark's War 3 - Stark's Crusade" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hemry John G)

above the surface of the table. “Okay, you apes. What went right and what’d we do wrong?”

Vic swung one finger slowly along the arc of low elevations studded with defensive
symbology that marked the enemy front. “We got our forces in past there and out again. That’s
a big plus.”

“Yeah, but it still cost us a shuttle. We haven’t got a lot of those. Gordo.” Stark focused on
his supply officer, Sergeant Gordasa. “Have we had any luck trying to get more on the black
market?”

Gordasa shook his head. “Too expensive, but more to the point, too tightly monitored.
Nobody can figure out how to get one to us without being caught.” He offered a small smile.
“Now, if you’d brought back all that ammunition you blew up, I might’ve been able to trade
that for one.”

“Sorry, Gordo. We were too busy to form a work detail.” He turned to Sergeant Tran.
“Speaking of that ammo, any problems with all the junk it blasted into space? Any of it gonna
fall on us once its orbit decays?”

“No,” Tran stated. “It was a surface blast, so most of the debris flung upward came from
the ammo itself, and that debris was fairly small stuff. A lot of it, but small. Nothing any of our
surface installations can’t handle. They were built to deal with small impacts.”

“Okay. Stacey.” Security officer Sergeant Yurivan, leaning backward in her chair as if
half-asleep, opened one eye slightly and cocked it toward Stark. “Any reaction from back
home?”

Yurivan yawned. “Nope. Of course, the powers that be ain’t telling anyone about this back
home. There’s a lot of buzz about the explosion, because you couldn’t hide the blasted thing
from anyone on Earth who was looking this way, but officially its cause remains
undetermined.”

Reynolds snorted. “How long does the Pentagon and the government think they can
stonewall something like that?”

“If they’re being stupid, maybe they think a long time. Or long enough to deal with us first
and then keep everything classified until the sun burns out, anyway.” Stacey Yurivan smiled.
“Oh, yeah. Got an unofficial thanks from a couple of civ contractors who you let run away
from that landing field. They say they owe us. Could be nice friends to have.”

“Could be,” Stark agreed. I guess that’s doing well by doing right, or something like that.
“Chief Wiseman, how’re you doing?”
 His naval commander made a small face, then waved away the question. “I’m okay. You
lose people. It happens.”

“You lost real good people,” Reynolds corrected.

“That’s right,” Stark agreed. “You sailors all did great, and that shuttle crew… well, they did
above and beyond. For real. I made a promise, Chief. They’ll be remembered.”