"David Weber & Steve White - Starfire 2 - Crusade" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weber David)

"Evasive action!тАЬ Khardanish commanded, and his ships, too, leapt to full power. They swerved
in frantic evasion maneuvers, and Znamae lurched as the first warhead burst against her
shields. The energy gunners had required a moment to activate their targeting systems, but now
the force beams opened up, slamming at the enemy with electromagnetic fists.

"Launch courier drones,тАЬ Khardanish said softly, and his bridge crew knew their commander had
already written off his entire squadron.

"There,тАЬ KeplerтАЩs captain said coldly. "That oneтАЩs done all the talking. ThatтАЩs the one we want.тАЬ

Courier drones spilled from the embattled destroyers, racing for the warp point beacons as
nuclear flame boiled on their mother snipsтАЩ shields. The squadronтАЩs overloaded point defense
stations could stop only a handful of the incoming missiles, but KhardanishтАЩs own missiles were
striking home, and he watched explosions crawl over the heavy cruiserтАЩs shields. The invisible
blows of his force beams savaged them as well, and they were going down.

But so were his, and the light code of the destroyer Tramad flickered as her last shield died and
the first missile impacted on her drive field.

"TargetтАЩsshields are weakening,тАЬ Yahaamow reported. "One enemy destroyer streaming
atmosphere. We - тАЬ

His voice broke off as a savage burst of energy swept past ZnamaeтАЩs shields and slashed into
her bows, and KhardanishтАЩs eyes went wide in shock.

"Forward armor destroyed. Life Support Three inactive. Shield Compartment Two no longer
responds. Heavy casualties in Missile One.тАЬ

Khardanish slewed around towards Hinarou, and the observer firstтАЩs ears were flat to her skull in
disbelief.

"That was an x-ray laser, Captain!тАЬ

The least claw turned back to his display, but his brain raced. That surpassed anything the
Khanate or Federation could do. It took a bomb-pumped laser to produce a weapon-grade beam
of x-rays at such a range, and though independently deployed bomb-pumped lasers were
feasible for static defenses, they were far too cumbersome for deep-space use against targets
capable of radical maneuvers at ten percent of light-speed. And how could anyone use a bomb-
pumped laser on board a ship, anyway?! Carbon lasers were retained there because their
neutrally-charged photons could pierce a shinтАЩs electromagnetic shields, but none of them could
do damage like that at this range!

His display wrenched his mind from its thoughts as TramadтАЩs light code suddenly vanished. Now
he commanded only three destroyers - and then Honarhae followed Tramad into destruction.

"Shields down!тАЬ Yahaamow reported as ZnamaeтАЩs defenses crumbled under the enemyтАЩs
pounding, bvit no fresh missiles darted in to take advantage of her nakedness. They were
tearing his ships to pieces, but aside from that single laser hit, Znarruie had taken no damage at
all! Why?