The Complete Hammer's Slammers, Vol. 2 полностью

A dozen Hindi machine guns in the dikes and causeway rang bullets offGang-buster II's armor. One round snapped the air close enough to Des Grieux's face to fluff his moustache. It reminded him that he was still head and shoulders out of the cupola.

He shoved down the crash bar and dumped himself back into the fighting compartment. The hatch clanged above him, shutting out the sound of bullets andGangbuster II's own tribarrel plucking incoming artillery from the air.

Des Grieux slapped the AAD plate to put the tribarrel under his personal control again.

All three of the tanks in overwatch fired within split seconds of one another. A column of flame and smoke mounted far to the north, suggesting fuel tanks rather than munitions were burning.

Of course, the victim might have been one of the Han vehicles.

The topographic display onGangbuster II's left-hand screen showed friendly units against a pattern of fields and hedges. The entire Han line was in motion, spurred by the mercenaries' leapfrog advance and the Han's own amateur enthusiasm for war.

They'd learn. At least, the survivors would learn.

"General push," Des Grieux said, directing the tank's artificial intelligence to route the following message so that everyone in the Strike Force—locals as well as mercenaries—could receive it. "All units, follow me to Morobad!"

His hand reached into the breaker box and disconnectedGangbuster IIfrom incoming communications.

* * *

The flooded rice paddies slowed the tank considerably. One hundred seventy tonnes were too much for even the eight powerful drive fans to lift directly. The vehicle floated on a cushion of air, but that high-pressure air required solid support, also.

The water and thin mud of the paddies spewed from the plenum chamber.Gangbuster IIrode on the clay undersurface—but the liquid still created drag on the outside of the skirts as the tank drove through it. To make the speed Des Grieux knew it needed to survive,Gangbuster IIhad to have a smooth, hard surface beneath her skirts.

The causeway was such an obvious deathtrap that none of the Han vehicles had even attempted it—but the locals didn't have vehicles with the speed and armor of a Slammers tank.

And anyway, they didn't have Des Grieux's awareness of how important it was to keep the enemy off balance by punching fast as well as often.