"Michael Stackpole "The Bacta War"" - читать интересную книгу автора

carrying a dozen TIEs at best, and the freighters can maneuver out of the
effective range of its guns. Going after two squadrons of snubfighters, half of
us with proton torpedoes, means this cruiser has gotten itself into a fight it
really can't win.
Before Wedge could begin to issue orders, two things happened. The first, the
lighting-up of a red warning light on his console, was something he expected. It
told him that the Interdictor Cruiser had powered up the gravity well
projec-tors and that none of the ships in the system could jump to hyperspace to
escape. Not a wise move to trap us here.
The second thing squeezed an icy fist around his heart. One third larger than
the Interdictor Cruiser, the Corrupter appeared to interpose its bulk between
the cruiser Aggregator and the snubfighters. Its turbolaser batteries and ion
cannons immediately began spraying green-and-blue energy bolts out toward the
waiting freighters. Wedge knew instantly the bar-rage was untargeted, meant more
to inspire panic than do damage.
As TIE fighters started pouring from the Destroyer's belly, Wedge immediately
started snapping orders to his peo-ple. "Booster, scatter freighters. Move!
Tal'dira, give me a flight to orient on me and another to orient on Tycho. Use
the others to vape those TIEs, but don't close with Corrupter. Rogues, slave
your torpedo targeting to my signal. Transmit-ting now. Tycho, I go first, then
you follow."
"I copy, Wedge."
Wedge's droid, Mynock, shrieked furiously as Wedge punched the throttle forward
and drove straight at the Victory //-class Star Destroyer. "Shut up, Mynock.
Distract me with your screaming, and we'll both end up dead!" The droid fell
silent, and Wedge promised himself that if he sur-vived the run, he would get
the droid's memory wiped and ; rename it something suitably heroic.
Though the droid lacked courage, his assessment of the current situation was
dead on. And worth screaming about. The Destroyer and cruiser carried, between
them, three squadrons of TIEs. Wedge's confidence in his people knew no ;
limits, but the Rogues were standing off to shoot their proton torpedoes, which
left the Twi'leks to fight against the TIEs. The chances that some TIEs would
get through to harass the freighters were overwhelming.
The TIE threat was the least of the problems they faced in the system. The only
way to counter the Corrupter's threat was for the X-wings to hit it with a
spread of proton torpe-does. The squadron, firing double shots, could pump out
twenty-two proton torpedoes. If they hit-and missing a nearly kilometer-long
ship was tough-they could blow through the shields and do some damage. Wedge
would fly in close to target the ship for the first volley, then have Tycho
follow up for a second, hopefully catching the Corrupter without shields in
place. If the second spread hits the Star Destroyer in an unshielded area, it
could rip it apart. We'll get damage on the first spread, but it will be the
second that knocks it out.
Wedge pushed all power to his forward shields as he hit a wall of TIE fighters
six kilometers out from the Corrupter. Once past them he evened his shields out
with a flick of his thumb and then started draining his lasers of energy and
pumping it into his shields. At two and a half kilometers he would get a firing
solution for the Corrupter. He'd hold it until his squadron had launched, launch
himself, then pull up and out. "Coming up on targeting. On my mark. Five, four,
three, two, one. Get ready."