"Charles Ingrid - The Sand Wars 04 - Alien Salute" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ingrid Charles)

"What are you going to do?"
 He took it in before responding, "What kind of weaponry do you have?"

"Four, guns, two mounted on each fin aft. Not much."

"Is the firing circuitry mounted on a single board, or do you have to have
a man at each gun?"

"They're tied in."

"That helps. Anything else? Mines?"

"No. My reputation is my best defense. Everybody knows I don't carry
much of any worth," Harkness said.

"And this ship maneuvers like a garbage scow." Jack saw the pilot wince,
but did not apologize. He looked over Alij's shoulder to the computer screen
where the graphics overlay brilliantly detailed the window of their exit and
the likely placement of the Thrakian warship waiting for them. "We have
some time," he said. "I need to think." With that, he left a stunned silence
behind him on the bridge.

***

He sought the gym and Bogie. The battle armor hung on its rack, quiet
and yet deadly. Jack approached it and sat down cross-legged in front of it.

The battle which the transport crew and the Thraks were about to engage
in was not in his line of expertise. He knew that and surely Harkness' crew
comprehended it—but perhaps not. He fought on the surface, a man-shaped
mobilized tank, a machine meant to slog through the lines of the enemy. He
was, in so many words, a weeder.

The thought creased into a smile. Some weeds were tougher than others
to pull.

He stood up and went to the suit. He needed to think and there was only
way he could do it without interruption. Bogie blossomed open to him and,
after kicking off his boots and stripping off his jacket, he stepped in. Inside,
he kept himself occupied clipping leads to his torso and taking care of the
other details of suiting up. He tried to ignore the chamois at his back as it
settled about this shoulders like some bat-winged creature. He closed the
seams and snugged the helmet on with a half-twist to seal it. The world
immediately became muffled. Isolated. Refined to the visor and the target
grid.

"Bogie," Jack said. "I need to remember."

The sense of welcoming surrounding him pulled back in surprise. Then,
*Jack, do you not remember on your own?*