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

"Sir, we're getting an incoming communication," said
the comm officer, working the receiver. "It's faint, but I
think it's from the fleet. We can only get audio."
A few seconds later there was a hissing sound and then,
"--under attack. This is Captain Tirako of the Cruiser
Impulse. We are under attack by a fleet of Insectoid ships-"
North's voice was immediate, but it was also calm.
"Captain Tirako, this is War Admiral Norman North of the
Glory. What happened to the fleet?"
"...fleet... destroyed. All destroyed. Glory, they're
firing again!" There was an explosion, then a crackle, and
the line went dead.
"Captain, I'm picking up a fleet of Insectoid ships at
extreme range, closing rapidly," said the scanner officer.
For a moment, the bridge was incredibly silent.
"I think we have our answer," said North, very slowly,
in a very soft voice, as if he had difficulty speaking. He
looked grimmer than Wren had ever seen him.
"Battle Stations."
 The attacking fleet was not, of course, the same one
that had conducted the ambush at Vitalics; Vitalics, still
days away, was too far away. Instead, this smaller Insectoid
fleet had started out several days before the Vitalics ambush
occurred, timing their arrival to come just after the
Vitalics rendezvous had taken place.
"I'm reading 78 combat ships,' said the scanner
officer. "12 battleships, 14 battlecruisers, 27 cruisers, the
rest an assortment of smaller ships."
"They knew exactly where we were," North muttered, his
heart sinking as he stared at the line of massive battleships
on the screen. The Insectoids had a two to one advantage in
ships, but probably a three to one advantage in weapons;
while the Insectoids had 12 battleships and 14
battlecruisers, North's fleet had only the Glory, and a
pocket battleship, the Blue Luna, and four battlecruisers.
The rest were standard cruisers and other combat vessels. It
would be a tough fight, and everyone knew it. Normally,
North's cruisers wouldn't stand a chance against Insectoid
battleships. But North had a few surprises planned that would
help even the odds, if everything worked as planned.
North raised his voice, "Only 78 ships? They must be feeling
overconfident." He touched a button on his console to open a
channel to interfleet. "This is the War Admiral. By now you
have heard of the destruction of the main part of our fleet.
I won't deceive you with some public relations doubletalk and
say that everything will be fine."
"But I will say that whatever has happened to the main fleet,
we are still alive and the Insectoids haven't won until
they've beaten us. We've defeated the Insectoids before and
we will again, as long as we continue to be a coherent combat