"Dark Lord - The Rise Of Darth Vader (James Luceno)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Luceno James)

Unexpectedly, the gunship gained altitude as it approached the
shoreline, then pulled up short of the beach, as if being reined in.
Repulsorlifts engaged, the gunship hovered. At the same time, hundreds of
Separatist battle droids marched onto the beach, firing their blasters in
unison.

The intercom squawked, and the pilot said, "Droid buster away!"

A concussion-feedback weapon, the droid buster detonated at five
meters above ground zero, flattening every droid within a radius of fifty
meters. Similar explosions underscored the ingress of a dozen other
gunships.

"Where were these weapons three years ago?" one of the troopers asked
Salvo.

"Progress," the commander said. "All of a sudden we're winning the war
in a week."

The gunship hovered lower, and Shryne leapt into the air. Using the
Force to oversee his fall, he landed in a crouch on the compacted sand, as
did Chatak and Starstone, if less expertly.

Salvo and the clone troopers followed, descending one-handed on
individual cables, triggering their rifles as they slid to the beach. When
the final trooper was on the ground, the gunship lifted its nose and began
to veer away from shore. Up and down the beach the same scenario was
playing out. Several gunships failed to escape artillery fire and crashed
in flames before they had turned about.

Others were blown apart before they had even off-loaded.

With projectiles and blaster bolts whizzing past their heads, the Jedi
and troopers scurried forward, hunkering down behind a bulkhead that braced
a ribbon of highway coursing between the beach and the near-vertical cliffs
beyond. Salvo's communications specialist comlinked for aerial support
against the batteries responsible for the worst of the fire.

Through an opening in the bulkhead hastened the four members of a
commando team, with a captive in tow. Unlike the troopers, the commandos
wore gray shells of Katarn-class armor and carried heftier weapons.
Hardened against magnetic pulses, their suits allowed them to penetrate
defensive shields.

The enemy combatant they had captured wore a long robe and tasseled
headcloth but lacked the sallow complexion, horizontal facial markings, and
cranial horns characteristic of the Koorivar. Like their fellow Separatists
the Neimoidians, Passel

Argente's species had no taste for warfare, but felt no compunction