"David Weber - Empire of Man 02 - March to the Sea" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weber David)

the tuskhorn that . . .
. . . suddenly rolled sideways as Patty plowed into the larger beast at full speed.
Roger pumped three fatal rounds into the exposed underbelly of the wounded beast, then leaned
over to offer the sergeant major a hand.
"Come on!" he shouted, and jabbed the packbeast in the neck the instant the NCO's hand locked
onto his wrist. "Hiya! Come on, you stupid bitch! Let's get out of here!"
The beast spun on its axis with a bellowing hiss and charged back towards the embattled company.
Patty appeared to have forgotten that she was a flar-ta. She was on the warpath, and the mountains had
better beware.
***
Pahner swore vilely as Roger's packbeast accelerated straight towards the stampeding giants.
"Action front!" he called over the company frequency. He saw a couple of javelins skitter off the
armored front of the charging beasts and shook his head. Most of the company had one magazine of
ammunition left. If they used that up, there was no way they could take the spaceport. But if they all died
here, it wouldn't matter.
"Weapons free! Armor piercingтАФdo it!" He dodged a milling packbeast as he pulled his own rifle off
his shoulder. "Move the packbeasts forward! Use them as a wall!"
He had a brief flash of Roger hitting the avalanche of flar-ke. By some miracle, the boy was able to
convince his mount to go through the charge rather than ramming one of them head-on. As they passed
the head of the column there was a glimpse of the prince pumping fire into the stampede; then he
disappeared into the dust.
The experienced CO knew a moment of despair. The charge had hit them from the front and come
on, headfirst, down the long axis of the column. That meant the Marines could target only the head
shields, which were the most heavily armored part of the attacking beasts, and the fire that was starting to
pour into the charge was having negligible effect. He saw a single beast go down, but in another moment
the company would be engulfed in a charge of elephants, because nothing was going to stop them.
The first grenades started to fall into the mass, but not even that was enough to turn them. And the
only way to kill them was to hit them from the side. It took just a moment for a thought to percolate
through his shock, and his sense of guilt for the lives that momentary delay cost would live with him the
rest of his life.
"On the packbeasts!" he yelled, grabbing for a dangling strap on the flar-ta he'd been dodging and
swinging himself frantically aboard. "Everybody on the packbeasts!"
The stampede hit like a meat and bone avalanche. From his precarious perch, Pahner saw dozens of
the Marines go down under the feet and tusks of the giant lizards. But manyтАФmostтАФof the others were
scrambling onto the company's mounts.
Even that wasn't the most secure situation, but at least it gave them a fighting chance as the enraged
flar-ke charged clear through the company, then turned to charge right back. The good news was that
they didn't seem to realize which was the greater danger and directed their fury at the packbeasts rather
than the insignificant humans who were actually hurting them, and they slammed into the flar-ta like lethal,
ancient locomotives. The thudding of massive impacts and screams and shrieks of animal rage and pain
filled the universe, but the company's bead rifles were finally able to come into play in the melee. As one
of the giant herbivores charged, massed fire from the Marines perched on its flank would smash into it
from the side. They were using ammunition like water, but it was that or die.
 The situation was a complete madhouse. The Marines, some surviving afoot, some perched on
packbeasts, some even having attained the safety of the treetops, poured fire into the rampaging herd. At
the same time, the flar-ke were charging and slashing at the company's packbeasts and the Marines
who'd been dismounted.
Pahner spun from side to side, snapping orders for concentrations of fire where he could, then
looked up just in time to see Roger come charging into the melee. Where and how the prince had learned
to use a flar-ta as a war steed was a complete mystery, but he was the only member of the company