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

"Not in your present location, Four-Two," Coke said. "If they salvo the full load of missiles, there's no
way you're going to survive. Particularly with what-ever's happening in Three."

"Sir,look," Lennox said."The personnel are going to be in Three with the others, getting a pep talk
or whatever the hell they're doing. The launchers no threat!"

"We don't тАФ" Coke started to say.

A mortar fired just outside the TOC.

"Hold one!" Coke shouted, spinning from the console and grabbing the sub-machine gun he'd slung over
the back of his chair. The National Army clerks jumped up also. They'd been frightened by Coke's
reaction rather than the mortar's flash and hollowCHUG! through the TOC's doorway. The vacationer's
glittering holoviews spilled onto the floor.

Cheers and laughter from outside the TOC told Coke there was no danger. The shell popped thousands
of meters in the air, casting harsh magnesium light across Fortress Auerstadt. General the Marquis
Bradkopf was using parachute flares to provide fireworks for his party.

Which suggested a way out of Cokes immediate problem.
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In theory, Coke's console was linked to the NationalArmy net. Rather than go through the complicated
handshake procedures, however, Coke turned to the rack system at the adjacent bay.

He switched the unit from standby to operations and waited a moment for it to warm up. When the light
went from amber to green, Coke keyed the address of the heavy battery of the artillery battalion attached
to the fortress defenses. The clerk responsible for the communications bay watched Coke in concern
from across the room, but she didn't attempt to interfere.

Marquis Bradkopf began hectoring a subordinate outside the door of the TOC. Drink and anger slurred
his words so that Coke couldn't make them out, A woman's voice wove a descant around Bradkopf's.

"Battery Seven," a man said. "Yeah?"

"This is Fortress Command," Coke said crisply. "I have an immediate fire mission for you." As he spoke,
his left hand addressed a target information packet on the Frisian console. "This will require seeker shells,
so I'm authorizing you to release them from locked storage."

"What!" said the soldier on the other end of the line. "What? Look, I'll get Chief Edson."

Theoretically, the Frisians were in advisory capacity without direct control of National Army forces. As
with other large organizations, somebody who was willing to claim authority was more than likely to be
granted it.

The mortar fired again, lofting a second flare into the night sky. There was static on the land line, masking