"Huff, Tanya - What Ho, Magic!" - читать интересную книгу автора (Huff Tanya)

Erik shrugged and studied the displayed schematics. "Yeah. So?"
"They're just D-class cruisers," Kelly said thoughtfully. "What do you think, Val?"
"We can't outrun them," the ship pointed out. "They're built for speed. We've got to fight."
Kelly's fingers danced over a bank of pressure-sensitive switches. "Val, I'm bringing us into real space. Raise the shields, and swing us about when we've switched. Maybe we can talk to them first."
"My uncle always says shoot first, ask questions later."
"Easy for him to say. He has the heavy artillery."
The screen flared through a complete spectrum, filled with a blaze of wheeling stars, and then showed a distant view of the two cruisers.
"You didn't lose them," Erik mentioned, rather unnecessarily.
"Didn't intend to."
"They're separating, Boss. They'll probably try to flank us." The Valkyrie rocked as a blast from one of the cruisers grazed her shield. "Still think we should talk to them?"
Kelly shrugged. "So the one time I don't assume the worst, I'm wrong. Line us up, Val."
"Aligned."
"Then fire."
An energy beam fountained out from the freighter and splashed explosively against the nearest cruiser. Light flowed over the cruiser's bow but left no visible damage.
"Hey," Erik cried as the Valkyrie deflected another shot. "It didn't work."
"Guess again. Her front shields folded."
"How can you tell?" the boy asked suspiciously, scanning the screens and finding no answer.
The board blurred under Kelly's fingers. "There isn't a shield in the imperial fleet built to take on a T-ray."
"Cargo freighters don't carry T-rays!"
Kelly grinned. "This one does."
Erik's jaw dropped and his eyes grew round. "YouЕ" he choked. "You're a pirate!"
"Am not. Hurry up a bit, Val."
The boy bounced gleefully on his couch. "If you're not a pirate, you've got to be a smuggler!"
"Do not. Careful, Val. She doesn't need shields to shoot at us. I'm an independent freighter captain, carrying legitimately contracted cargo."
"Then what about the tracker and the gun?"
"I like to stay competitive. Val! Move it!"
"Aligned."
"Fire!"
The forward shields of the second cruiser went the way of the first.
"Oh yes, I'm good," Val muttered.
"All right!" Erik's whoop echoed around the control room, and he flung'a grimy fist into the air. "Now let's take the T-ray and finish them off."
"Great idea, kid, but we just used the last charge."
Val rolled hard to starboard and the boy grabbed for support.
"You only carry two charges?" he yelped incredulously.
"Have you any idea how much one of those things costsЕ?" Kelly began, but broke off as a near miss lit up the room. "Watch what you're doing!" she ordered her ship. "We're not out here on a Company picnic, you know. How much longer until you've got them lined up?"
"Ready now."
"Then why are we hanging around?"
The two humans slammed up into their harnesses as Val dropped straight down out of the battlefield. The cruiser commanders had barely enough time to stare at each other across empty space before the twin blasts, meant for their quarry, tore their ships apart.
"Someday," Kelly mused, watching the twin explosions, "the empire will realize that space has three dimensionsЕand then what'll I do?"
Erik's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Wow! Teach me to do that!"
"You think I'm crazy?" Kelly sat back and swung her feet up. "First thing I know, you'd use it on me."
"No, I wouldn't." He reached over and grabbed her arm. "Honest."
Kelly plucked his hand free, grasping it between thumb and forefinger as though it was a particularly noxious growth. "I don't like to be touched," she said sternly and dropped it back in his lap.
The boy's lower lip went out, and he rocked back and forth in the copilot's couch. "You gonna take me to my father now?" he asked at last.
"Well, I've got a cargo to get rid of." She ran a hand through her hair and studied the boy, her brown eyes thoughtful. Traditionally, stowaways were spaced. Traditionally, stowaways were not snot-nosed kids. Traditionally, snot-nosed kids were not under attack by the most powerful man in the sector. Kelly's lip curled. And she'd be fried if she let the Atabeg have him, not after that malignant tumor ordered her destroyed without even checking to see if she could be bought. "You stay with me for now," she said at last. "I'll figure out what to do with you later."
Erik considered it and grinned. "Great, you can teach me to be a smuggler."
Kelly closed her eyes and counted to ten. What had she done? The whole point is to keep him alive, she reminded herself, turning to the controls. "Back to Susumu space, Val. Previously plotted course." The stars streaked and ran. "We've got business on Elite."
"Elite?" repeated the Atabeg. "What makes you think anyone would go to that wretched scum hole?"
"We have reason to believe that the woman is smuggling Susumu crystals, Most Exalted. Elite is at present the only place she can possibly dispose of them."
"Who commands our garrison on Elite?" "Company Commander Gripe, Most Exalted." "Inform him of what's going on. He will hold both the woman and my nephew until I arrive." The Atabeg stood, an unpleasant smile of anticipation creasing his face. "We leave immediately."