"Steve Perry - The Man Who Never Missed" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Steven)

Khadaji nodded and strolled into the octagon. The place was at capacity, save
for the spaces saved for upranks. He smiled a little to himself. At least one
Sub-Befal wouldn't be dropping by tonight.

There was a man drinking splash alone at one of the spare tables. Khadaji
walked to the table and nodded down at the man. He was a quad leader, a
Sub-Lojt, and he looked familiar, though Khadaji couldn't place him.
"Evening," Khadaji said.

The man looked up and nodded, but didn't speak.

"Drinking alone can be depressing. Mind if I join you?"

The Sub-Lojt shrugged. "Sure. Why not? I was just turning over a few bad
memories."

A server brought Khadaji a flare full of Moet & Chandon, from his private
stock of vintage champagne. He sipped at the pale amber liquid slowly.
"Another splash for the Sub-Lojt," Khadaji said.

"Thanks," the man said. He finished his current mug and leaned back. "You
know, I was going to flake out when my impress was up, but I went for another
tour. Probably the biggest mistake I ever made."

Khadaji nodded slightly, but said nothing.
"I just left the knot ward—one of my quad is in his second month."

"Hit by the Scum," Khadaji said. That's where he'd seen the man's face,
obviously. Only, he couldn't remember the particular attack. There had been so
many.

"Yeah. It was dark, we didn't see 'em until it was all over. We were lucky,
they only got Rudy. I check on him every once in a while."

"You must really hate them," Khadaji said.

The Sub-Lojt shook his head. "You know what the funny thing is? I don't,
really. But seeing Rudy reminds me of what it is I do for a living." The man
paused to stare at his splash for a moment. "I was remembering a time on Wu,"
the trooper said. "That's in the Haradali System."

Khadaji nodded again. "I've heard of it."

"Yeah, well, we had to go in and flatten a local insur-rect—bunch of malcons
somehow managed to get control of a city and were making a lot of noise. A
simple operation, by-the-tape, more gunship diplo than anything else. We waved
the flag from a battlecruiser and a couple of support ships and sent a few
centplexes down to show Confed muscle, you probably know the drill."