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

question?"

Markee's smile came and went again. "There's enough evidence on this ship to
hang us all. Slowly."

"So what are we going to do?"

"The one thing they won't expect. We'll fight. Who knows, maybe we'll get
lucky."

"And if we don't?"

"Then at least we'll die quickly. Are the guns ready?"



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


"Ready as they'll ever be. They haven't been checked, let alone fired, in ages."
Hazel glared at the massive ship on the screens before her. Tears of anger and
frustration burned in her eyes, but she wouldn't give in to them. Her luck had just
turned bad one time too many, that was all. She pounded a fist on the arm of her
chair. "What the hell is an Empire ship doing here anyway? We only made the
decision to come here twelve hours ago! They couldn't have known about us."

She didn't see Markee shrug, but she could hear it in his voice. "A lot can happen
in twelve hours, especially when you've got enemies. Any number of people could
have found out where we were heading and then sold the information to the
Empire."

"But who the hell would send a whole bloody starcruiser after small fry like us?"

"Good question. Wish I had a good answer for you. Could he the Boneyard Boys,
calling in an old favor to put the finishing touch to our destruction. It doesn't
matter. Now suck it in, and stand ready with your disrupters. Hannah is currently
telling the Empire ship that we're an ambulance craft on a mercy mission to a
plague outbreak. She's feeding them all kinds of convincing details, but I didn't
think they're buying it. Certainly they aren't going to buy it long enough for our
engines to power up for a jump into hyperspace."

Hazel's mouth was suddenly dry. "Captain, our two guns aren't worth spit against
all theirs. There must be something else we can try."

"Sorry, Hazel; nothing springs to mind. You know what they say: if you can't take
a joke, you shouldn't have joined."

Hazel waited, but Markee had nothing more to say. She concentrated on her fire
controls. Both the Shard and the starcruiser had force screens that could withstand