"Gordon, Steve - Insectoid 02 - Escape from the Insectoids" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gordon Steve)

The Ken Pilot nodded. "I was a pilot on the Ken."
"But were you Ken Pilot, Ken Pilot 04?" Took persisted.
The Ken Pilot paused, as if considering the question. Then he nodded.
"Can someone enlighten me?" said Marsten. "The Ken incident was a bit
before my time."
"Were you sleeping through your military history class at the academy,
Mars?" said Took. "The Ken was one of those old-styled modified "quarter
carriers", cruisers carrying one full squadron. They tangled with an enemy
fleet around Porstan-"
"Locutus," interrupted the Ken Pilot.
"Locutus," said Took, nodding, "and ran directly into an enemy carrier,
with three or four full squadrons-"
"Four," said the Ken Pilot.
"Four," said Took, looking at the Ken Pilot as he were a legend out of the
pages of history. "The Ken was swamped, of course, and her fighters were
quickly overwhelmed. The ship was destroyed, as were all the fighters...
except one. Ken Pilot number 04. The story goes that he was outnumbered 40
to one, but managed to destroy all their fighters. When a relief task
force arrived, they found his ship just sitting there, dead in space, out
of fuel, surrounded by the carcasses of all those enemy fighters."
"Really?" said Obe skeptically. "You destroyed 40 fighters on your own?"
"41," said the Ken Pilot.
"41," Obe repeated. "Uh-huh."
"You know, you did some pretty fancy moves out there in that hunk of junk
of yours," said Took. "No offense, but it really looks like its on its
last legs."
The Ken Pilot made no comment.
"If you're going to fly with us, you should fly one of our 145-D's or
150-B's."
The Ken Pilot shook his head.
"That bucket of bolts you're flying could come apart on you at any
minute."
"I can handle anything that comes my way," said the Ken Pilot.
"Yeah, you've got that look about you," said Took. He noticed the other's
confidence, took it for cockiness. "So, you think you're a better pilot
than us?"
"Iday-" Marsten interrupted.
"I can handle myself," said the Ken Pilot quietly.
"Do you think you could take one of us in a mock dogfight?"
The Ken Pilot nodded.
"Would you like to test that theory out?"
The Ken Pilot shrugged, as if he didn't care.
"Afraid?" said Took.
The Ken Pilot gave Took a cold, long look for a moment. Then he said, "All
right."
"Who do you want to fly against?" Took asked, hoping it would be him. "Me?
Obe? Mars?-"
"All of you," said the Ken Pilot.
"All of us?" said Took. "All right, we'll do a series of one-on-one
battles-"