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

"Enemy cruisers launching capital missiles!тАЬ Hinarou snapped, and Khardanish gripped his
chairтАЩs armrests in fingers of steel. Capital missiles from cruisers? Ridiculous! And why wait this
long and then launch extended range weapons at such close quarters?

"Sonasha is gone, sir,тАЬ Yahaarnow said flatly. The least claw merely nodded. Znamae was
alone, but there was no time even for grief; she would be joining her sisters soon enough.

The bridge lighting flickered as fresh energy stabbed his ship. Her shields were down, baring her
to the enemyтАЩs needle beams, and the close-range precision weapons struck viciously. They
ripped through her weapon bays, mangling her force beams and crippling her point defense, and
the capital missiles screamed in to complete her destruction.

But they never struck. An explosion trembled through the hull, then another and another, but
they were too weak for warheads. They were -

"Captain!тАЬ Yahaarnow whirled from his useless weapon console. "Those missiles were some
sort of vehicles! Their crews are blowing holes in the hull and boarding us!тАЬ

Khardanish stared at his exec. Board a starship under way? How could they even penetrate the
drive neld?l

тАШIntruders on deck eightfтАЩ a voice shouted over the intercom. "Deck seven!тАЬ

"Deck five!тАЬ Pressure loss telltales burned crimson, and a sick wave of understanding swept the
least claw. He had no idea how it had been done, but he knew why. They wanted his shipтАж and
her data base.

More explosions bit breaches in the hull, and vac-suited boarders swarmed through them like
demons, armed with automatic weapons and grenades. Destroyers carried no Marines, and
ZnamaeтАЩs pitiful stock of small arms was locked in the armory. Her officers were armed, but only
with the edged steel of their defargaie, the honor dirks of the Khanate.

Yet ZnamaeтАЩs crew were Orions, and they turned on their enemies with clawed fists and feet and
improvised bludgeons. They were cut down by bullets, slaughtered as grenades burst in the
confines of steel passages, but they did not die quite alone. A few captured enemy weapons,
turning them upon their foes before they, too, went down on the blood-slick decks and the tide of
combat swept over them.

A tractor beam dragged Znamae toward Kepler, and Least Claw Khardanish rose, reaching for
his own de-fargo as a thunderous explosion blew the sealed bridge hatch open and hurled
Yanaarnow and two of his ratings to the deck in bloody gruel. Chattering gunfire cut down still
more of his bridge crew, and then the first invader leapt through the hatch.

KhardanishтАЩs eyes were slits of fury, but even through his rage he realized it had all been a lie.
Whatever their attackers were, they were not Terrans! The squat-bodied invader was too stocky,
his arms too long and his legs too short. The least clawтАЩs mind recorded it all as the alienтАЩs
thundering autorifle swept the bridge.

Observer First Hinarou vaulted her console, defargo drawn, but the invader cut her down and