"Baldwin, Bill - The Helmsman 07 - The Defiance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Baldwin Bill)

"Look out, Tempo," somebody
shouted on the radio.

Suddenly, two stinging shocks. Bang! Bang! The first, distant, smashed us sideways accompanied by agonized screaming on the intercom; must have been in the main hull. The second exploded right beside me. Raw energy roaring through the hullmetal plates, a sudden mist in the flight bridge that disappeared as our atmosphere escaped.
Decompression! My faithful instruments were... gone. Smashed crystal and dark displays mocked me from the smashed panel. But it was my leg that caught my attention. Felt blood pumping in my left leg before my battlesuit sealed itself like a tourniquet just above the knee. This one was seriousЧhurt like fire! The screaming continued on the intercom; all I could do to keep from joining the poor devils.
"Damage report!" I shouted through clenched teeth. "Give me a damage report!"



THE DEFIANCE
BILL BALDWIN



If you purchase this book without a cover you should be aware that this book may have been stolen property and reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher. In such case neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book."

WARNER BOOKS EDITION

Copyright й 1996 by Merl Baldwin
All rights reserved.

Aspectо is a registered trademark of Warner Books, Inc.

Cover design by Don Puckey
Cover illustration by Chris Moore

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First Printing: November, 1996
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Prologue
13 Heptad, 52014

Interstellar Space:
En Route from Braltar to Atalanta

"General quarters!" I called into the blowerЧrather calmly under the circumstances, if I do say so. "All hands man your battle stations! General quarters! All hands man your battle stations!" For a moment, there was only shocked silence and the muted, pervasive thunder of the Drive, then the starship quickly filled with the discordant clamor of thudding boots and slamming airtight doors as our skeleton crew raced to man the few serviceable disrupter cannon we carried on board.
I was flying lead helm in a convoy of sixteen Sherrington Mk V Starfury killer ships destined for the defense of Atalanta, the colossal Imperial Fleet Base on Hador-Haelic. Until moments agoЧjust short of the halfway point from Braltar, the Empire's space citadel in a neighboring sector of the galaxyЧwe'd faced little more than the boredom of an uneventful, three-day trip. Then the head and shoulders of Yin-Hardwyck, our Systems Officer, materialized in one of my globular displays with bad news. Other starships were approachingЧand out here, they could hardly be from our side of the war. "Dampiers, Lieutenant?" I surmised.
"Both proximity systems indicate the enemy ships are Dampier DA-79s, Admiral Brim," she replied.
"Give me the whole thing."