"Robert E. Vardeman - Battletech - Mechwarrior - Dark Age 03 - The Ruins Of Power" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vardeman Robert E)

off the autocannon, the detonating rounds in the weapon adding to the fiery hell. Worse, his forward laser
winked once with its deadly pure-light lance, but the second shot was delivered with diminished power.
The forward laser refused to recharge.

Sensing the weakness in his opponent, Dale came in for the kill. Austin rocked him again with another
salvo of rockets, then had even this offense stripped from him by DaleтАЩs accurate laser fire. The launcher
erupted, rocking him and destroying most of his torso.
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No autocannon, forward laser damaged, missiles not responding as he tried to launch themтАФAustin was
a sitting duck. His HUD showed theEnforcer advancing, but its lasers fired wildly, most shots going
astray. AustinтАЩs fierce attack had damaged theEnforcer тАЩs targeting system but had done nothing to deny
Dale of the lasersтАЩ power. It was only a matter of time before one laser blast hit a vulnerable target.

Austin jerked as a laser blast sawed off his тАЩMechтАЩs left arm. Then more of his right vanished in a mist of
molten armor. He tried again to fire his torso-mounted laser but produced only tiny sparks as debris in
front of him vaporized, hardly enough for Dale to register on his threat assessment readout.

TheCenturion was ready for the scrap heap, but Austin refused to surrender. He spun away as if to run,
then slowed, bent over to give a smaller targeting cross section, and waited. Time ticked by, a dozen
heartbeats for every second, but he did nothing. Austin tracked theEnforcer тАЩs approach with his still
functional rear sensors. Sweat soaked the front of his vest as the cooling system threatened to die
completely, although the persistent, sluggish coolant flow gave him hope. Small, faint hope. Austin made
certain his rear laser was fully charged.

By instinct, Austin straightened theCenturion to its full height, no longer trying to present as small a
target as possible. In a single huge gulp of information, he took in every detail of the rugged battlefield.
Austin fired his rear laser into theEnforcer тАЩs torso. Dale had not expected to find a fighting, firing
Centurion when it appeared that Austin was disabled and trying to escape.

AustinтАЩs vision blurred as the heat in the cockpit blasted upward. He felt as if he had been popped into
an oven like a loaf of bread. But he saw the firing assessment show that he had speared theEnforcer
dead in the center of the torso and had killed it. He waited to see if Dale ejected. The other pilot stayed
with his тАЩMech. AustinтАЩs rear laser had destroyed DaleтАЩs emergency pod capability along with the rest of
the BattleMech.

Then the out-of-controlEnforcer smashed into theCenturion , knocking both to the ground. Austin fired
his rearward laser again as he crashed forward. His control panel flared red when his LRM magazine
exploded under him. Everything went black.



тАЬDouble kill,тАЭ Dale Ortega said, slapping his brother, Austin, on the shoulder. тАЬYouтАЩre getting better with
that oldCenturion . You didnтАЩt let me beat up on you as much this time.тАЭ

тАЬWhyтАЩd you choose anEnforcer ?тАЭ Austin asked, leaning back in the command couch of the
BattleMech simulator. It took him a few minutes to shake free of the virtual experience of piloting a