"David Weber & Steve White - Starfire 4 - Shiva Option" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weber David)

gazing across the conference table at him, saw that heтАЩd even restored his beard to its neatly
sculpted norm . . . but she detected a salting of gray hairs among the black. Is it possible, she
wondered, that what weтАЩve been through over the last few weeks couldтАЩve done that already?
Or maybe itтАЩs been there all along and IтАЩve just never looked closely enough to notice.
Since the escape from the last system, their behavior towards each other had been
scrupulously correct. Not, she thought wryly, that theyтАЩd had much opportunity for incorrect-
ness. And not that theyтАЩd actually avoided each otherтАФtheir duties wouldтАЩve made that
difficult. No, theyтАЩd just worn formality as armor against their own feelings. Feelings they
couldnтАЩt openly express under the present circumstances, even if theyтАЩd known how.
One crisis at a time, Sommers told herself firmly. And preferably not the personal one first. She
concentrated on listening to FeridounтАЩsтАФno, her chief of staffтАЩsтАФreport.
Concentrating was hard, though. She already knew most of the facts he was reciting, and
they were too painful to bear thinking about.
First, her loss figures. Out of SF 19тАЩs original strength of seven battlecruisers, one fleet
carrier, two light carriers (both from the space fleet of TerraтАЩs Ophiuchi allies), nine light
cruisers, and two freighters, sheтАЩd lost two battlecruisers, three light cruisers, and a freighterтАФ
every one of which she felt like a stab wound. And it was worse than it sounded, for
practically all the survivorsтАФincluding and especially JamaicaтАФwere damaged in varying
degrees. And besides . . .
Hafezi voiced her own gloomy thoughts as he summed up.
тАЬBoth the battlecruisers weтАЩve lost were Dunkerque-A-class, out of the four we originally
had. The impact on our firepowerтАФтАЭ
тАЬYes, yes,тАЭ Sommers interrupted. The Dunkerque-AтАЩs were rated as BCRs: ships that
combined a very respectable battery of capital missile launchers with a battlecruiserтАЩs speed
and nimbleness at the expense of sacrificing almost everything else. They were formidable
missile platforms, especially when knitted into datalinked firing groups by Jamaica and her
other two Thetis-A-class command battlecruisers. All three of those had survived. But . . . her
lips quirked into what could almost be mistaken for a smile. тАЬStill just as many chiefs, but not
as many Indians,тАЭ she said aloud.
Hafezi looked puzzled for a momentтАФthe joke belonged to her cultural background, not
his. But then he caught the sense, and he responded with a smile as humorless as hers. It was
a mistake, for their eyes met in a more direct contact than theyтАЩd known since the battle.
HafeziтАЩs shied away, and he hurried on.
тАЬFurthermore, the carriers suffered heavy losses in their fighter squadrons.тАЭ The figures
appeared on the conference roomтАЩs display screen. тАЬAnd all our depletable munitions are in
short supply after the loss of Voyager.тАЭ
тАЬThat last loss worries me more than all the others. And not justтАФor even principallyтАФ
because of the missiles she was carrying,тАЭ Commander Arbella Maningo, the logistics officer,
put in. In the earlier stages of their flight, sheтАЩd wavered on the ragged edge of panic. But
sheтАЩd steadied as the situation had grown more desperate, as people sometimes did, and the
freighter Voyager had been her special concern.
Sommers was inclined to agree with the logistics officerтАЩs observation. Still, she wished
Maningo hadnтАЩt brought it up, for there was nothing they could do about it, and just thinking
about it gave her the beginnings of a migraine.
With no other alternative but annihilation, Survey Flotilla 19 was fleeing outward into the
unknown in the forlorn hope of eventually finding itself back in known space. The notion
wasnтАЩt completely unrealisticтАФthe warp connections sometimes formed clusters of
interconnected nexi, and the Terran Federation and its allies encompassed a lot of warp
points. But its chances of success were directly related to the length of time they could sustain
the search. Under such circumstances, the loss of fifty percent of the flotillaтАЩs logistics support