"Andrew J. Offutt - Spaceways 19 - King of the Slavers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Offutt Andrew J)

make needles waver. "Don't waste time! Blow the bloody bastards away!" He
still could not believe that his magnificent liner was in any real danger. It
was just that repairs were expensive and they always came out of his share.
Still, just to make sure, he decided to call battle stations. The crew were
not really combat types but they'd had some training. They could even handle
swivel pods if SIPACUM should be disabled and it came down to the
primitive. "Third ship approaching," SIPACUM dispassionately advised, and
routinely put up a display onscreen. Trinn Yosef gritted his teeth. If the
piratical swine were going to keep popping up like breeding rabbits this could
get serious. He worked to keep his voice at a level command tone: "Override,"
he said. "Forget about hull integrity. Convert!" "Hull breached in four
places. Coriolis strains during conversion to tachyon and ftl movement allow a
survival probability of .0001." "Cap-tainn-" a voice said, on a rising note
and starting to quaver. 18 Yosef was stuck. He would have to fight it out
with this veritable swarm of pirate scum. "Give it your best shot," he said,
"and call ship's company to battle stations." Sirens began whooping. An
instant later the ship shuddered, and the wailing sound began dying. SIPACUM
was crippled! "Suit up! Suits, suits! We may have to repel boarders!" "Red
Rover," the outship comm said in the pirate's voice, as if on cue: the usual
code for "We're coming over"-meaning to board. A new voice intruded, close to
hand. "Captain: I am the Viscount Sirandary. I must demand that we surrender
the ship, lest we sustain more hits-Captain, we can all be killed!" Yosef
swung around in the master's chair to face this unauthorized newcomer in his
con-cabin. "They don't want to kill us, they want to rob us. No pirate is
going to blow away a-" "Captain Yosef I insist!" "Red Rover, Starqueen," that
other voice came. "Stand by to receive us. Want one across the drive
intakes?" "Get this . . . person out of my con-cabin!" Trinn Yosef snapped in
one direction, and in another: "Listen, pirate, we can blow you away and you
know it!" "Why don't yer ask your passengers, Captain. Think all those
richies'd rather die, or let us come onboard and take a few well-insured
baubles?" Behind Yosef as he started to reply, someone yelled. A moment later
a cool pressure against his neck made the captain turn, carefully, to face his
mate. "Sorry, Captain. Someone's got to do something sensible, and it isn't
sensible to try to bluff it out or fight 19 with three well-armed attackers.
Your pride is in command, sir, and it's endangering us all." " You
rotten-" Captain Yosef started moving, getting up, turning toward his
stopper-wielding mate, reaching for his own sidearm tucked into the pocket of
the master's chair -and receiving a number Two holt from his mate's stopper
that set him all ajiggle and kept him that way. "Open outer airlocks to
boarders," Starqueen's mate said, to crew and SIPACUM alike. One or the other
had to be functioning. Trinn Yosef no longer could. And to the outship comm:
"Arvaga here, in charge. Red Rover." "What the Santa Maria Mahal is that
about?" Man-janungo demanded of his own outship comm, the one linked with both
Kenyo's Gelor and Sibanda's Serendip. "Who's Arvaga? Is that a code?" "Arvaga
is my person onboard Starqueen," Sibanda advised in an equable tone worthy of
a computer. "The liner is ours. Shall we board together, partner?" Manjanungo
stared at the commlink. "Your p-you have a person on-you've had a spy on that
liner all along?" "Pos, Captain. I had a spy onboard that you didn't know
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