"13 Sentinels 01 - The Devils Hand" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKinney Jack)

"She's...sweet," Rick said, uncomfortable with the silence the two men fell into.
At, the elevator, Jonathan Wolff stepped out from the car, managing a salute despite the two bouquets of flowers he carried. "Thought I'd try and cheer up our new passengers," he said by way of explanation.
Rick and Lang traded knowing looks.
"Guess every SDF's meant to carry civilians, huh, Admiral."
"Does seem that way, Colonel," Rick said. "Minmei's in room eleven," he added, motioning with his chin.
Wolff moved off down the hall, and Rick and Lang entered the elevator. "I think our dapper young colonel has more than good cheer on his mind," Lang opined.
Rick felt his jaw. "Doesn't he have a wife and coupla kids back home?"
"Ask him."
Rich shrugged. "It's none of my business."

A second debriefing was held later that afternoon. In addition to those who had attended the earlier session were Commander Vince Grant, Brigadier General Reinhardt, Wolff, Lang, Breetai, and Exedore, along with various squadron and company commanders. Photo images and schematics filled the room's numerous screens this time; the crew was still on standby alert, and the ship would shortly reposition itself for an orbital shift.
Lang at last revealed that two of the spacefold generators had been destroyed during the assault. He explained that a fold might still be possible, but there was no guarantee the fortress would emerge in Earthspace, and anything short of that was unacceptable. The twelve-member Plenipotentiary Council had voted to withhold this information from the crew. But it was therefore imperative that the Masters be contacted as soon as possible.
"The Invid presence might prove a blessing in disguise for us," Lang continued. "Because if the Masters are indeed being held captive on Tirol, the Expeditionary mission could well be their salvation."
Lang called up an image of the Fantoma system on the main screen. Like Uranus, the planet had been tipped on its side eons ago. It had an extensive ring system held in check by shepherd satellites, and numerous moons of varied size and surface and atmosphere. Tirol was the third moon, somewhat smaller than Earth, and the only one with an hospitable atmosphere. It was, however, a somewhat desolate world, barren, with much of its topography muted by volcanic flows. Just why the Masters had chosen to remain there with half the galaxy at their disposal was a question Lang had recently added to his long list. In a matter of days the moon would enter Fantoma's shadow, which could complicate things considerably.
"Surface scans and intensity traces have given us the picture of an almost deserted world," Lang added as a closeup of Tirol came up on the screen, "except for this one city located close to Tirol's equator. I have proposed to the general staff that we begin here."
Rick stood up to address the table. "There's evidence the city's seen a lot of nasty action lately, so we've got to assume the Invid have a strong presence down there. I think our best move is to drop the GMU to recon this entire sector and ascertain the Invid's strengths. The SDF will be holding at a Lagrange point, so you'll have all the backup you need in case we've underestimated their defensive capabilities. Any questions so far?"
The men shook their heads and grumbled nos.
"Has everyone received the new authentication codes?" Rick directed to Grant and Wolff.
"We have, sir."
"I've asked Lord Exedore-" Lang started to say when. Breetai interrupted him.
"Exedore and I have decided that my troops should accompany Commander Grant's ground forces."
Rick regarded the Zentraedi with an appraising look. "You're not required to become involved with this, Commander Breetai. You're not under our command..."
"That has nothing to do with it, Admiral. You seem to forget that I have walked this world."
Rick smiled. "I haven't forgotten...Grant, Wolff, do you have any problems with this?"
Vince shook his head and extended his hand to Breetai. "Welcome aboard, Commander."
"Well, that's settled," Lang said, getting to his feet again. "I have one thing to add. It concerns the Invid ships." Perspective schematics of a Pincer Ship took shape while he spoke. "Their central weakness seems to be this scanner that looks like some sort of mouth. So direct your shots there if it comes to that."
"And I hope it won't," Rick interjected. "It's possible that our initial confrontation was a misunderstanding, and I don't want us going down there like liberators. This is still a diplomatic mission, and you are only to engage if provoked." Rick shot Edwards a look. "Is that understood?"
"Affirmative," Wolff and Grant answered him.
"All right, then," Rick said after a moment. "Good luck." And I wish I could be down there with you, he said to himself.

The dropship hangar bay was the scene of mounting tension, tempers, and liveliness when the word came down to scramble. Men and women ran for gear and ordnance while the massive GMU rumbled aboard the ship that would take it planetside. Jack Baker was among the crowd, Wolverine assault rifle in hand as he lined up with his teammates for a last-minute briefing. Like the rest of them he had missed yesterday's EV action, but stories had spread among the ranks of an engagement with some new breed of XTs, who flew ships that resembled giant one-eyed land crabs. And now the GMU had been chosen to spearhead a ground assault on the Robotech Masters' homeworld. Jack would still have preferred piloting an Alpha Fighter with the Skull, but under the circumstances this op was probably the next best thing to that.
He looked down the long line of mecha pilots waiting to board the dropship and spied Karen Penn just as she was donning her helmet, blond hair like fire in the red illumination of the hangar.
"Karen!" he yelled, waving and hoping to get her attention above the sound of alert klaxons and high-volume commands. He was tempted to give it one last try, but her helmet was on now and he knew he wouldn't be heard. He did, however, lean out of line to watch her rush up the ramp.
At the same time, he peripherally caught sight of a captain taking angry strides toward him. Hurriedly, Jack tucked his chin in, steeled himself, and muttered a prayer that the line would get moving.
"Just what the hell was that all about, Ensign!" the captain was yelling into his face an instant later. "You think this is some kind of goddamned picnic, bright boy! You've got time to wave to your friends like you're off on some cruise! Well, let me tell you something, you deluded piece of space trash: it's no picnic and it's no cruise! You got that, you worthless little sublife protein! Because if I see, you stepping out of line again, you're going to be sucking vacuum before we even hit!"
Jack could feel the woman's spittle raining against his face, but told himself it was just a cooling sea spray washing over the bow. The captain continued ranting for a while longer, then gave him a powerful shove as the line suddenly jerked into motion.
Oh well, he reminded himself, the worst she could do was chew him out, which didn't amount to much considering there were things down there waiting to kill him.

In another part of the hangar, Minmei was saying thank you to Jonathan Wolff. A personal note from Admiral Hunter had gotten her past security, and now she and Wolff were standing by the broad and flattened armored bow of the dropship. Several Micronized Zentraedi were gaping at the singer from a respectable distance, but Breetai soon appeared on the scene and hurried them to the ship with some harsh grunts and curses.
"I just had to thank you before you left," Minmei was saying. "Janice wanted me to tell you the same. You saved our lives, Colonel." She vaguely remembered him from the wedding; but then she had met so many men during those few hours...Still, there was something about Wolff that caught her attention now. Maybe it was the mustache, Minmei told herself, the man's swashbuckler's good looks and tall, broad-shouldered figure. She wished she had chosen some other outfit to wear. The RDF uniform just wasn't cut right for her shape.
Wolff didn't seem to mind it, however. "Actually the honor could have gone to anyone," he said, showing a roguish grin. "But I was lucky enough to volunteer."
Minmei liked that. "Janice and I were just trying to get a better look at the fortress, and all of a sudden...well, you know."
Wolff's eyebrows arched. "Really? That's strange, because I had your flight recorder checked, and it seems you two actually flew directly into the vortex of the ship's spacefold flash point."
Minmei's face reddened. "Well, whatever happened, I'm glad about it now."
"Me, too," Wolff said, holding her gaze.
Suddenly Minmei went up on tiptoes and kissed him lightly on the corner of the mouth. "Be careful down there, Colonel."
Wolff reached for her hand and kissed it. "Can I see you when I get back?"
"I'd like that, Colonel-"
"Jonathan."
"Jonathan." She smiled. "Take care, Jonathan."