"Steve Gordon - Ensectoid 01 - The Ensectoid Invasion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gordon Steve)

force. That's why it's vital we win this encounter with a
minimum of losses. There will be time for grieving later. For
now I expect you all to give your best. Prepare to conform to
the attack plan Hunt 1 exactly as we rehearsed it. Good luck.
North out."
The previous silence was replaced by a babble of voices
as bridge officers readied their stations for combat.

The Insectoid Admiral, a junior Queen, was puzzled. She
had expected North's forces to be stationed in high orbit
around Hunt, to take advantage of the defenses afforded by
the battlestations. She had been prepared to conduct a
standoff attack with missiles to destroy the battlestations
first. Instead North had his forces strung out around Hunt's
moon, where the battlestation weapons wouldn't be effective
and where even the battlestation's fighters would take
several minutes to engage. The Insectoids had fought Norman
North too long to underestimate him, and yet the Insectoids
still couldn't see what North was trying to achieve or why he
would take such an obviously inferior defensive stance.
The Admiral studied the scanner interface. It was a
pity they didn't have the same suppression equipment they
used at Vitalics; but there had been barely enough there to
get the job done there. Well, they'd have to conduct this
battle more conventionally. Either way, the result would be
the same.
"Order the attack," the Admiral ordered.
The Insectoid attack fleet closed in a narrow
formation. During their first attack they intended to punch
through the human fleet, currently in low orbit. Then, while
their formation was disrupted, the Insectoids would engage
the enemy one-on-one until they were all destroyed. The
Insectoid Admiral had competed with others to have the honor
of destroying the great Norman North. She wondered what kind
of honor the Queen would bestow upon her when she brought the
Queen his head.
Her attention snapped back to the present as her fleet
plowed through the human fleet, firing madly at their ships.
The human shields were holding up, but so were those of the
Insectoid ships. The Insectoids, having gone past the human
fleet and between it and Hunt's moon, started to brake, and
turn, and...
Brilliant beams of light shot up from the surface of
Hunt's moon, impacting on several of the Insectoid ships. The
Insectoid Admiral turned her scanners to the moon and saw,
for the first time, that portable laser batteries had been
set up on the surface. Where had they come from?
She had no time to wonder, because even as those laser
batteries opened fire, dozens if not hundreds of fighters
were streaming out of hidden caves beneath the moon's