"Timothy Zahn - Blackcollar 2 - The Backlash Mission" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

The universe seemed to agree with his assessment. Outside, the sky rained down bucketfuls of tears
against the car. Tears for the shamed warriors.




Chapter 1
"The blackcollar forces are the elite warriors of this upcoming conflict of oursтАФthe best chance the
Terran Democratic Empire has of surviving the Ryqril war machine being launched against us."

For no particular reason the words flashed through Allen Caine's mind as he stood alone in the
darkness. Words of hope, spoken originally by the TDE's chief military head at the first Special
Forces Training Center commencement in 2416. The hope had been short-lived, of course. Two
years later the war had begun: thirteen more and Earth itself had finally surrendered to the
humiliation of Ryqril occupation troops and puppet governments.

And as for himself, Caine wasn't feeling especially elite at the moment. Nor, for that matter, much
like a warrior.

So much for the wisdom of the past.

A faint scraping noise reached his ears, snapping his mind back to the immediate problem at hand.
Somewhere between four and ten menтАФseven, he thought, from the soundsтАФwere out there in the
sparse woods, closing in on him with lasers and flechette guns at the ready. Against such firepower
Caine's own shuriken, nunchaku, and slingshot didn't seem like a hell of a lot.

Especially considering his opponents weren't blind.

Automatically, before he could relax them, his eyes strained against the opaque goggles. Damn you,
Lathe, this is ridiculous, he thought once. Taking a quiet breath, he forced his mind to relax and
concentrate.

He had four of his opponents firmly placed: two ahead and to the right, one behind and also on his
right, one dead ahead. The other three weren't so certain, but he at least knew they were somewhere
to his left. Whether they knew exactly where he was or not wasn't clear; but it was clear some of
them were getting too close for safety.

And blinded as he was, Caine's only hope was to take the initiative before they tripped over him.

Carefully, making no sound, he dipped his left hand into his thigh shuriken pouch and drew out a


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Blackcollar: The Backlash Mission

stack of five stars. He shifted one to his right hand, took a deep breath... and rose suddenly to his
knees, hurling four of the stars rapid-fire at his known targets.

All four stars were away before the shout of discovery came from his left. Caine sent his fifth