"Jack McKinney - Robotech Sentientals 4 - World Killers" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKinney Jack)

Renquist's face took on the pallor and distortions of molten candlewax.
Sweat started from his brow. "You misbegotten freak! I'll have you blown to
atoms!"
Too bad the Valivarre hadn't gotten more of a head start, Breetai
reflected. His chances of ducking the cruisers would have been good, and he
thought it unlikely that Edwards would let half of his main line of defense
roam far from Tirol, or be gone for too long.
Of course, Breetai could try to evade them, but the faster SDF escort
ships would dog his track easily. Furthermore, fighting a deepspace battle at
superluminal speeds was tricky, and the advantage would lie with Renquist and
his cruisers and Lang's new generation of weapons. It would be better to
settle things here.
Breetai crossed his arms on his enormous chest. "I hardly think that's
likely, since you would destroy all the monopole ore left in this region. And
none of you will ever get home to Earth, will you? Nevertheless, if battle is
what you seek, the Zentraedi will gladly accommodate you. Breetai has never
run from a fight. Come, then!"
Renquist's throat worked as he swallowed laboriously; the bluff had
failed, and both commanders knew it. In destroying the ore, Renquist would be
sealing his own fate. He tried to show determination, but it only came out as
a weak bluster. "By god, we beat you devils once, and we'll beat you again! If
you don't surrender instantly, I'll give the order to launch!"
Breetai nodded gravely. "Let us not keep our pilots waiting, Commodore."
What Renquist had said was undeniable: the Humans had defeated the giant
warriors years before. But this time Minmei wasn't there with her songs to
turn Zentraedi against Zentraedi, and this time there was no SDF-1 with its
final Barrier Shield explosion.
Breetai thought of an expression he had heard Max Sterling use: We've
got 'em over a barrel, and soon we'll have 'em in the barrel! Only, who would
be thus vanquished this time?
"He's launching mecha, my lord," a bridge tech said.
But not many of them-certainly not as many as the cruisers carried.
Perhaps it was a probe, or it might be that Edwards hadn't really spared as
many of his Ghost Riders as it seemed at first. And maybe there was another
element in this situation.
"Order forth our Battlepods," Breetai said in his super-basso voice.
"And order the gunners to fire at will at the mecha, but not at the cruisers,
is that clear?"
Alphas, Betas, and Logans rode trails of blue thruster fire across the
eternal night, bearing down on the Valivarre. The huge Battlepods of the
Zentraedi came out to meet them.
The giants' mecha were like gargantuan headless ostriches-torsos
suggesting alloy light bulbs mounted on two long reverse-articulated legs. The
chest plastrons were bristled with cannon and missile racks. Officers' pods
had, in addition, extra two-barrel gun mounts that they brandished as if they
were huge derringers.
The Human fliers were Ghost Riders, loyal only to Edwards, more than
willing to slay the giants who had been Humanity's staunch allies not so long
ago. They had been briefed on the pods' vulnerable spots and performance
profiles; they swept in confidently.