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

Jack's throat had constricted and he could not respond for a moment.

*I don't understand these memories,* Bogie added. Then, * Again.*

"No!" Jack cried, as a crimson wash flooded his eyesight, and his body
froze in catatonic reaction as Bogie fed him one last memory. Thrakian
forms rose before him.



Harkness leaned over Alij's shoulder. He straightened and looked out
over the bridge. "Where the hell is he? Is he going to do something or not?
We're out of frigging time."

Leoni said tersely, "He's still suited up in the gym. He's been motionless
like that for hours."

"Maybe he's meditating or something before battle. I heard about those
Knights," Alij added.

"Meditating." Harkness made a sound deep in his phlegmy throat. His
response was cut short by the opening of the bridge portal, and then the
opalescent glare of the whitish battle armor filled the bulkhead. The man
could not move all the way inside; he was too large for the compartment.

Jack took his helmet off. Fresh air tickled across his face. Sweat plastered
his hair to his head as he cautiously ran gauntleted fingers through it. He
smiled briefly in memory of a bald sergeant who swore he'd lost his hair
that way, lasering himself with his own gauntlet.

The three officers looked at him.
 "Well," Harkness rumbled. "What are we going to do?" He stabbed a
finger at the screen where the edge of subspace now defined the clear
presence of a Thrakian warship waiting for them.

Jack said, "I suggest we surrender."




Chapter 3
«^»
Surrender?" Harkness straightened his bulk, a half-growl smothering in his
throat. "I knew it the minute you wouldn't go into cold sleep. I should have
known it the minute I saw the lot of you straggling in, your butts whipped.
You're a goddamn coward."
Alij had gotten to his feet, resting a slim but trembling brown hand on
the back of his chair. "Pilot," he said to his employer, but Harkness was
advancing on Jack, battle armor or not.