"John G. Hemry - Stark's War 3 - Stark's Crusade" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hemry John G)

stay between me and them.тАЭ

тАЬCouldnтАЩt the warships defend the convoy better by coming at your shuttles and hitting
them hard? You couldnтАЩt hold your ground against that. TheyтАЩd drive you away for sure.тАЭ

тАЬHey, Commander, leave the Navy stuff to experts. ThatтАЩs why IтАЩm in charge of your fleet,
right? Listen close, mud crawler. Those warships arenтАЩt charging after me because of
something called physics. You ever study naval tactics?тАЭ

тАЬI saw a lot of old vids when I was a kid. You know, slave galleys and sailing ships and stuff.
I wouldnтАЩt expect that to have anything to do with what youтАЩre doing.тАЭ

тАЬWrong. WeтАЩre playing by the same rules up here as those oar-powered galleys did. ItтАЩs all
about limited propulsion resources and momentum. These ships, even my shuttles, are big.
Lots of mass. We accelerate slow, relative to things like our weapons, and once we get going in
one direction we canтАЩt shift to a new course by turning on a dime. Mass donтАЩt like changing
direction, and unlike ships back on the World, we donтАЩt even have water to turn against.тАЭ

Wiseman tapped some controls, bringing up a small 3-D panel in one corner of the comm
screen. тАЬSee? HereтАЩs the convoy, coming out of one of the EarthтАЩs orbital facilities, making a
standard approach to the Moon. Standard because it requires the best combination of least fuel
and least time.тАЭ A broad arrow extended outward from the World, curving as it intercepted the
MoonтАЩs own orbit. тАЬPhysics tells those shuttles they need to follow this path to get to their
objective on the Moon. We know physics, too, so we know the path theyтАЩre gonna take.тАЭ

A short red arrow arced up from the Moon, aiming to intercept the shuttles. тАЬWeтАЩve got
what youтАЩd call a window up here, an area above the Moon guarded by our antiorbital
defenses. We pop out that window and make a move at the convoy. The warships try to keep
us from getting close enough to nail any of the convoy shuttles, but the shuttles are scattering
anyway because theyтАЩre a bunch of civs hired to haul loads and none of them want to get shot
at. Meanwhile, everybody and their friend throws out various junk designed to keep enemies
from tracking a target, like the little doppelg├дnger decoys that pick up emissions from other
ships in the area and mimic them. ItтАЩll all disperse or deactivate eventually, but for now weтАЩve
confused the traffic control situation up here something awful. Anybody monitoring this
location will be seeing some stuff that ainтАЩt there, and not be able to see some stuff that is
there.тАЭ

Stark confirmed WisemanтАЩs statement by checking the confused tangle of symbols on the
headquarters display, then studied the 3-D panel again. тАЬGreat. But that still doesnтАЩt explain
why those warships donтАЩt just charge at you. YouтАЩd have to run, then.тАЭ

Wiseman grinned. тАЬThereтАЩs more than one direction to run. We could accelerate straight
past them. Risky, but getting hits on us during a high-speed pass would be real hard. So, sure,
those warships could come after us, but if even one of my shuttles gets past them, those
warships will have the devilтАЩs own time turning and accelerating back in the other direction to
try to catch it. WeтАЩd be in among the convoyтАЩs supply shuttles for sure before the warships got
back.тАЭ
 Vic Reynolds, standing near Stark, nodded. тАЬSo youтАЩre saying the warships have some
probability of winning, but prefer the certainty of not losing.тАЭ