"Simon R. Green - Deathstalker - 1 - Deathstalker" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Simon R)

The Shard jerked this way and that, like a fish on a hook, running through every
evasive maneuver in the AI's data banks, but the Darkwind stayed with them, the
disrupter cannon firing one after another to maintain a constant pressure.

Hazel shuddered at her fire controls, feeling every hammering blow on the Shard's
shields through her mental link to the computers. She pounded impatiently on the
arms of her chair as she waited the three agonizing minutes it took tor her
antiquated disrupter cannon to power up between shots. The Darkwind didn't have
that problem. She fired her disrupters in overlapping waves, so that each cannon
had time to recharge before it had to fire again. The Empire ship also had far
greater resources of power to drawn on. The Shard didn't stand a chance, and
everyone knew it.

Light dimmed on the Shard's bridge as fires broke out in a dozen places. Smoke
formed faster than the extractor fans could deal with it. Hazel coughed raggedly as
she tried to concentrate on the fire controls. The station next to hers exploded, the
man sitting there suddenly engulfed in flames. He screamed shrilly till the air in
his lungs burned up. The AI was gabbling incoherently in Hazel's ears, its voice
breaking up as it struggled to hold the disintegrating ship together. She spun round
in her seat and glared across the smoke-filled bridge at Captain Markee.

"Surrender, damn it! They're tearing us apart!"

"No point," said the Captain calmly, raising his voice to be heard over the growing
bedlam on the bridge. "They must know we're cloneleggers. They're not interested
in our surrender. We can't fight, we can't run, and we haven't a hope in hell of
raising enough power to go hyper. That only leaves one option. I'm going to use
Lover Boy on their shields and then ram the bastards. If I'm going down, I'm

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Green, Simon R. - Deathstalker 01 - Deathstalker (v1.0) (html)


taking them with me."

Hazel's fire control exploded, throwing her out and across the bridge. She landed
hard, driving the breath from her lungs, her uniform blackened and scorched. She
was badly burned, but for the moment, shock smothered most of the pain. She
rolled slowly onto her side, fighting to stay conscious. She could hear Markee
giving orders in a calm, reasonable voice. Lover Boy. Hazel clung to the thought
as she forced herself up onto her knees. Lover Boy was an experimental program
the Captain had acquire on Brahmin II. It was called Lover Boy because love
laughs at locksmiths, and because the program was designed to give another ship's
security systems a real good screwing. The Captain was going to use Lover Boy to
get the Darkwind to drop her force shields, and then ram her. The Shard would hit
like a single huge torpedo, and that would be the end of the Darkwind. And the
Shard.

Hazel lurched to her feet, grabbed the nearest station to steady herself, and glared
through the smoke and flames at Captain Markee.