"Jack McKinney - Robotech 10 - Invid Invasion" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKinney Jack)

against the Masters this was even more the case, with the number of mecha on both sides
substantially reduced. With the Invid, however, humankind encountered a horde mentality to rival
any that nature had produced. And true to form, whether army ants or swarms of killer bees, the
Invid carried a sting.
As Scott and the others knew from their previous encounters, initial fusillades were what
counted most. Once separated from its column, the individual Invid ship was blindingly
maneuverable and often unstoppable. In close it favored two approaches: ripping open mecha with
its alloy pincer claws and embracing a ship and literally shocking it to death with charges
delivered by the ships' Protoculture systems. Scott saw both variations of this occurring while he
did his best to keep his own fighter out of reach.
Veritech and crabship were going at it across the field, Mars Division troops and Invid
mecha in deadly pursuits and dogfights, crisscrossing in the upper reaches of the stratosphere
amidst tracer rounds, missile tracks, and laser-array fire from the command ships. Scott saw one
of his team taken out by a claw swipe that opened the Veritech tail to nose, precious atmosphere
sucked from the fractured canopy, the pilot flailing for life inside. In another part of nearby
space, several Veritechs floated derelict after loveless Invid embraces.
Scott realized the hopelessness of their situation and ordered his squadron to reconfigure
to Battloid mode.
Mechamorphosis, or mode selection, was still controlled by a three-position cockpit lever,
along with the pilot's mecha will, which interfaced with the fighter's Protoculture-governed
systems. But where all parts of the first-generation Veritechs participated in reconfiguration,
the augmentation packs and energy generators of the Armored Alphas (essential for the space and
ground missions that typified the Expeditionary Force) remained intact during the process. The
forward portion of the craft telescoped to accomplish this, arms unfolding from behind the canopy
while radome and cockpit rotated up through a 180-degree arc, now allowing the underbelly laser
turret to become the Battloid's head, and the underbelly rifle/cannon to become the weapon that
was grasped in the mecha's right hand.
Thus transformed, Scott's squadron fell in to reengage the Invid, blue thrusters bright in
Earth's dark side.
Meanwhile, a second wave of Veritechs was launched from the transports to respond to
another column of Invid approaching swiftly from Delta sector.
Scott's displays flashed coordinates and signatures of the second Mollusk Carrier even
before he had visual contact. He ordered his team to form up on his lead and throw themselves
against the column. Once again heatseekers found their marks and took out scores of Invid ships;
and once again orange hell-flowers blossomed. But reinforced, the Invid launched a frenzied
counterstrike. Shock vessels broke through the front lines and went for the transports themselves
in suicide runs and massed charges. Particle beams, disgorged from bow guns, swept like
insecticide through their ranks, annihilating ship after ship.
Scott's team regrouped and gave chase to any that survived, blasts from the VTs' chain-
guns blowing pincers to debris and holing carapaces. Still, Scott could hear the death screams of
the unlucky ones piercing the tac net's cacophony of commands and reactions. VTs and Invid ships
drifted from the arena, locked in bizarre postures, obscene embraces. Here, an Invid pincer was
apparently caught in the canopy of the ship it had ensnared; there, another held a VT to itself,
exchanging lightning flashes of death.
Scott, sweat beading up across his forehead, was in pursuit of two Invid ships that were
closing in on Commander Gardner's transport; he had heard Marlene's terror-stricken call for help
only a moment before and had one of the enemy ships bracketed in the chain-gun's sights now. He
fired once, shooting a hole through its groin, and smiled devilishly as it disintegrated in a
brief burst of crimson light. The second Invid, its pincers raised for action, was moving toward
the bridge viewports. But fire from Scott's cannon decommissioned it before it attained striking