"John Ringo - Council War 3 - Against the Tide" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ringo John)

enemies by maneuver. The Blood Lords' proud boast was that they could, while wearing full infantry
armor and carrying their field gear, run any cavalry unit into the ground over the long haul.
The course was also the go/no-go course for potential officers of the United Free States Federal
Army. Any person who wanted to become an officer in the UFS Army, at least in its infantry which was
the core of the UFS force, first had to spend time in regular units, at least a year in most cases, then
prove they could "hang" with the Blood Lords. Those that did not could run the supply depots or
become engineers. They might even make it into the archery corps that gave the Blood Lords a run for
the elite money. But they were never going to command legions.
The top graduates from the Blood Lord course were then sent for polishing to the burgeoning
Academy. They had a variety of teachers. Civilians who had been history buffs before the Fall. Others
who had studied the techniques of preindustrial engineering, people who knew not only how to use a
slide rule, but how to make one. And a small group of instructors, like Herzer, who more than anything
knew what it was to stand before the charge of a thousand screaming Changed enemies, and beat them
into offal. Herzer hadn't gotten his prosthetic by getting his hand caught in a sawmill.
"It'll do," Herzer said, waving the coffee mug. "You didn't call me out of my class just to grill me
about my students, or to tell me you've gotten your hands on coffee."
"No, but it's almost a good enough reason," Edmund said. "Four years since I've had a decent cup
of caffeinated beverage. Almost makes the other news pale by comparison."
"Ah," Herzer said, leaning back and sipping at the coffee again. Yes, not bad at all. "And the other
news is . . . ?"
"New Destiny punched their combat fleet," Edmund replied. "Their orcas and ixchitl have pushed
back the mer and delphino scouts, but there's no indication that the main invasion fleet has sailed."
Herzer thought about that as he took another sip. The UFS' New Destiny enemies in Ropasa had
started building an invasion fleet almost immediately after the Fall, while the UFS was still being
conceived. The fleet was mostly unwieldy caravels and merchant ships. But it included a fair smattering
of surface combat units. And, since the UFS had demonstrated the ability of their dragon-carriers to
destroy any other ship, dragon-carriers of their own.
"It's a counter carrier mission," Herzer said. Each of the converted clipper ships could carry thirty-six
wyverns or ten great dragons. Each of the wyverns could carry three canisters of napalm for dropping
on the wooden ships of the enemy fleet. The great dragons could carry nine.
There were never enough of the latter, though. Great dragons were not a permitted Change under
the protocols that still held post-Fall. They were survivors of a race that had been created in the heyday
of genetic manipulation. A race that, while long-lived, had slowly dwindled in the millennia before the Fall
until there were but a handful left on earth. They were intelligent, unlike the wyverns that made up the
bulk of both sides' air arm, and just as inventive about destruction as humans. They also were, by and
large, mercenaries, unlike the riders of the wyverns who were all UFS officers or enlisted.
But with five carriers in the UFS fleet, they could gut any potential invasion by New Destiny. If they
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were around to gut it.
"That's my take as well," Edmund said. "The fleet has moved to engage them, though. Current
reports are that they are 'highly confident' of success."
"Overconfident?" Herzer asked. "New Destiny has carriers of their own, and Marshal Chansa, while
a bastard, is not a dummy. He wouldn't be courting action if he thought he was going to lose."
"Again, you're reading my mind," Edmund said, grimly. "But I'm Eastern Land Command. North
Atlantis Command is Admiral Draskovich. I'm not a member of the Balmoran Yacht Club."
"Now, there you've lost me," Herzer replied, setting down the empty cup.
"More?" Edmund asked.
"No, save it for later," Herzer said. "What is the Balmoran Yacht Club and what does it have to do