"David Drake - Hammer's Slammers 13 - The Sharp End" - читать интересную книгу автора (Drake David)

carrying weapons, too"

The three clerks in the TOC with Coke were National Army enlisted personnel, two women and a male
who looked fifteen years old. They were chattering in a corner of the open bullpen. One of the women
had brought in a series of holovision cubes of Deiting, the planetary capital, where she'd gone on leave
with her boyfriend, a transport driver.

There was a National Army officer listed asCommander of the Watch, but whoever it was hadn't put
in an appearance this evening. In all likelihood, the fellow was at General Bradkopf's party.

That was fine with Coke. The best a National officer could do was to keep out of the way of the advisor
hired from the Frisian Defense Forces.

Though all the raw data was provided by the combat cars, processing by the base unit in the TOC
added several layers of enhancement to what the troops on the ground could see. Coke checked the
statistical analysis in a sidebar of his holographic display and said, "There's a hundred and seventeen up
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the Auerstadt Road. They're all armed, and ninety percent of them are in spatter-camouflage uniforms."

"Bloody hell,"said Sergeant-Commander Lennox fromThe Facts of Life. "We've got regulars from
the Association of Barons? Then it's really going to blow!"

"And Four-Two has spotted another eighty-four coming down from Hamlet One and points north,"
Coke continued, watching his split-screen display. "The only thing I can imagine from an assembly this
large is that they're planning to attack the fortress itself in a night or two."

Two companies, even of fully equipped regulars, weren't a threat to a base the size of Fortress
Auerstadt; but Parcotch was only one village of the ninety or a hundred within comparable distance of the
base.

The direct views from sensors in the combat cars filled the lower right and left quadrants of Coke's
display. The top half of the screen looked down at an apparent 30┬░ on a panorama extrapolated from the
separate inputs and combined with map data.

Mother Lovewas a klick to the south and east of Hamlet 3.The Facts of Life was within 500 meters of
the hamlets west edge, and that was the problem. Lennox's vehicle was only 500 meters east of Hamlet 2
as well, where the incoming troops had parked a launching trailer full of short-range guided weapons.

The combat cars were in perfect position to do a number on the enemy concentration in Hamlet 3, but
Coke wasn't willing to put Lennox between two fires.

"Any chance the Nationals might send us some support?"Sergeant Dubose said wistfully.

"Any chance the tooth fairy is making a run by your car tonight?"Sergeant Lennox retorted tartly. She
was a lanky woman who shaved her head and was just as tough as she looked."Sir," she continued,
"let's do it. If we rip this one, the locals'll get their heads out of the sand."