"Don Pfeil - Look Back to Earth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pfeil Don)

Look Back to Earth

By Don Pfeil



A MANOR BOOK



Manor Books, Inc.

432 Park Avenue South

New York, New York 10016



Copyright 1977, by Manor Books, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Published by arrangement with the author.

Printed in the United States of America.



ISBN CODE0-532-15299-9



Chapter One
William Byrne squirmed restlessly in the center seat of the front row in the fleet com-mand center of the
Myriad, overlooking the battleship's busy control deck and fire control center below. Just behind him
stood a young, blonde woman with striking golden skin, her hand resting lightly on his shoulder, her eyes
more on him than on the bustle of activity as the mighty ship was prepared for battle.

On the situation screens in front of him, currently set to search out to the limits of their range, the little
points of light that indicated the position of the main Imperial battle fleet sparkled in a cloud too dense to
resolve into individual ships. Out there, on a collision course with his fleet, were nearly five thousand
warships, which in slightly less than an hour would be locked in combat with the Myriad fleet.

The computer projection had indicated to Byrne that over a hundred thousand men would lose their lives
in the coming battle, and briefly he wondered if the end, any end, could be worth such an expenditure of
human life. Wondered if perhaps he might have chosen a better course, a way of achieving his goals that
would not have demanded open warfare between Myriad and the Empire, would not have cost so much
in money and material, and, above all, lives.
 "Fleet tactical dispersal complete, sir," an older, gray-haired man in the uniform of a full admiral
reported.