"Clayton Emery - Descent FreeSpace - A Thousand Years" - читать интересную книгу автора (Emery Clayton)

"Roger. My master computer shows four Harbinger missiles packed in your aft bomb-bay.
Confirm."

"Confirmed, admiral, but itтАЩs a screw-up --"

"WeтАЩll take what luck we can get, lieutenant. Pick up your speed and prime all your
projectiles. Red FlightтАЩll sweep wide along 290 and pull up over the cruiserтАЩs midship
gunwales. You target the conning tower with your Harbingers. The shields are weakest
there. Blue Flight will clear your flight path."
"Target the -- Admiral, these are proximity missiles!"

"Affirmative." The cool voice could order soldiers to die, like it or not. "You drew the short
straw. Prime, please."
*Please commit suicide? Well, what the hell.* More of her friends were dead than alive: it
was simply her turn. And someone had to carry the payload to the enemy. Atsuko flicked
switches with trembling fingers. "P-primed, maтАЩam."
"Follow my tail, pilot. WeтАЩre going in. Good luck."

"Thank you, admiral." Formal as a funeral parlor. "You too."

As if soaring down a black tunnel, the new Red Flight slid across the sky. The Terran cruiser
RETRIBUTION, long as a city, was etched black against snowy Laramis II. The moon
Laramis Prime had orbitted into view, and in the far distance floated two -- no three! --
Shivan D-Class cruisers. Blocking the flightтАЩs path buzzed a swarm of silver Shivan
destroyers, transports, convoy vessels, and fighters. Stationed back at the three-quarter
mark of the flight, AtsukoтАЩs Hercules was ringed by flaming steel ships steered by vulnerable
human beings. As the flightтАЩs speed increased and the silver web of enemies grew larger,
the sky began to wink and sparkle. Not with starlight, but with munitions fire. Lights flashed
like dawn until they were engulfed in hell.

Atsuko watched flight after flight peel away to attack or repulse the enemy. Many didnтАЩt
return, knocked to splinters of flying metal. One of Admiral American HorseтАЩs Athena
escorts exploded, so close pieces bounced off AtsukoтАЩs shields. Flying Tiger ships were
pared from AtsukoтАЩs right flank, so she watched that side more than most. Those guards
didnтАЩt return either, the flank destroyed. Would *anyone* survive this war to see victory?

A hunchbacked GTA Ulysses flicked by upside-down, a factory-new beauty without a
scratch. What miracles Atsuko could have performed flying that ship! But the Terran pilot
waffled, lost and confused. More Terrans flocked, unsure whether to attack Red Flight or
escort it. Atsuko wondered what story the admiral was spinning to stall them. GTA couldnтАЩt
know yet that the Tigers had croaked their first cruiser: so far they probably believed the
Shivans had hit a soft spot, or else the ship imploded through internal mishap. *Frag the
GTA*, Atsuko cursed. The Terrans would figure out the LaramitesтАЩ master plan when their
second cruiser novaed in their faces.
Atsuko watched in wonder as a triple-wing Shivan ship dropped almost onto her head, but it
targeted the admiralтАЩs flagship. A side-mounted Flail cannon pulsed, hurling a cloud of
krypton-powered laser beams to push the enemy back. The Shivan answered with chained
lightning that etched cracks in LAKOTAтАЩs hull. The tri-wing ignored its own wounds and
actually accelerated into the snarling hellstorm. The Shivans formed suicide squads too,
Atsuko marveled. She harried the enemy ship with laser bursts, as did other flyers, until the