"Peter W. Prellwitz - Book 02 - Shards" - читать интересную книгу автора (Prellwitz Peter W)

The hover was capable of holding twelve personnel and three crew. It was the size and roughly the shape
of a small bus, though of course it used an inverted gravity ion drive. It was completely enclosed and
sagged slightly in the front, where it was plated. Entrance was through a ramp in the rear. With us on
board, there were still four more to go, not counting Thawell. It was normally pretty crowded, but since
this was a raid using light equipment, there was extra room in case we could pull out some ripes. While
we waited, I fired up the terminal and began reviewing the mission. Following protocol, I kept the field
tight, forcing me to keep my head still as I viewed.

By the time I had finished, the last of the team was on board and buckled in. Thawell locked up and the
hov moved off. The craft moaned and creaked as it passed through the pressure shield. The terminal
flicked off for several moments as all access was cut off, then resumed normal operation once we
cleared the negating field. The hov leveled out as it reached the top of the shielded ramp and moved out
onto the desert floor. Through the front portal we could see the darkness of the arid wilderness. There
were no lights of any kind, not even navigational. We were kind of stuck up about our privacy. I looked
up through the top portal and saw the pitch black of the desert night sky, dotted with thousands of stars.
The total elimination of pollution made for spectacularly clear air. The vehicle started ambling off to the
north. Too much speed would leave a heat trail. It would be at least five minutes until we cleared the
minefield and could begin phased travel. As I said, we were pretty touchy about our privacy.

"All right, listen up.тАЭ Thawell's grating voice called for all our attention. I looked at tonight's squad.
Besides my three friends and me, there was one other woman, six men and Thawell. Pretty even split. I
knew them all quite well, and could probably give the mission briefing as well as Thawell. Of course, if
I tried, Thawell would dump me off while we were phasing and let me swim home through solid rock.

"Wyeth.тАЭ I pulled up a solid hologram in the middle of the group. Thawell continued. тАЬOkay, here's the
target. It's a riping facility located inside a legitimate parts factory. Ninety percent of the personnel and
equipment manufacture solar shielding for the ball chasers. They are NOT the target and must be treated
as innocents. No weapons except when necessary, and only disabling charges can be used. Marks!тАЭ A
big man in the back with a swarthy face and slow smile looked up. Cradled in his right arm was a heavy
caliber slug gun. тАЬYou use that cannon tonight anywhere outside of a real fire fight, and I'll issue you a
popgun like Wyeth's. Permanently.тАЭ Marks smiled his slow smile and looked over at me. I smiled back.
Aaron was my wing man on nearly every mission-Sarah was my other wingman-and a better one I
couldn't ask for. Unless it was for someone whose eyes, smile, and voice didn't set my heart to
thumping. Thawell continued.

"As I said, ninety percent of the area is legit. It's the other ten percent we want to take out. That section
is located here.тАЭ I magnified the display and let it flow in the direction most of us would be taking to
break in. Their gazes followed it carefully, as though their lives depended on it, which they did. Our
target was buried deep inside the complex, an intentional ploy to use innocents as shields. NATech
Supreme didn't miss much. Including cover-up, I thought. It had taken me nearly two weeks to pin this


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facility down, and even then it was because I got lucky. That made this pretty hot property.

"We're looking for a total clean-out. It's unlikely we'll find any rescuable ripes, but if we do, it's SOP.
The rest will need to be sacrificed. May God have mercy on their souls.тАЭ A few crossed themselves.