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

The targeting reticle on his head-up display went red. "Mark!" Wedge pulled the
trigger on his stick, launching two proton torpedoes. Launch report after launch
report from his squadron scrolled up on his screen. Hey, even the Gands got off
two concussion missiles.
Preparing to break off and run, Wedge glanced at his sensors and saw four TIEs
in his rear arc. Realizing that pull-ing up and away would allow them to pounce
on him, Wedge rolled his X-wing to port, then took the snubfighter down in a
long loop that would carry him below the Corrupter's hull. If they want to come
after me, they get to brave their own fire, too. Juking right and left, Wedge
bounced the fighter back and forth between streams of turbolaser fire.
A brilliant incandescence blossomed above him. The pro-ton torpedoes slammed
into the Corrupter's shields all along the ship's length. The shields acted like
huge, invisible para-sols to ward off the fierce energy unleashed by the proton
torpedoes' detonations. Roiling plasma curved up and around, following the arc
of the Corrupter's port shields as if some energy creature were trying to take a
bite out of the ship. Then several torpedoes arrived late and pierced the shield
at its heart, causing it to collapse. The tardy torpedoes and two concussion
missiles pounded the destroyer's hull, blasting apart armor plates and crushing
turbolaser batteries.
"Beginning my run now!"
Wedge felt a moment's joy at the collapse of the Cor-rupter's shields, but it
died as the big ship began to maneuver. It rotated in space above him, executing
a roll that swapped up for down and presented the squadron with its undamaged
starboard shields as a target. Convarion knows we have a limited supply of
proton torpedoes. If he survived this salvo, we've got one last shot to take him
down. If he repairs his shields and rolls again, we're done, because then he can
take all the time he wants to come after us.
Wedge keyed his comm unit. "Corran, set up for the third run."
"I copy, Wedge. Lots of eyeballs out here."
"Here, too." Wedge pulled back on his stick and brought his X-wing up between
the Aggregator and the Corrupter. He got a good look at the damage the torpedoes
had done to the Destroyer and saw fire in the ship's interior. He knew
bulk-heads had already been sealed and the fires would go out as soon as the
atmosphere drained away. So it's time to see if I can add to the problem. He
started to angle in at the Cor-rupter, but green laser bolts slashed past him
from behind, causing him to break off the run, roll, and dive.
Tycho's voice boomed over the comm unit. "On my mark. Five, four, three, two,
one. Get into firing position."
Right. The pair of TIEs on Wedge's tail had no intention of letting him set up
on the Corrupter. Wedge chopped his throttle back, then reversed his thrust and
ran it up to full. The TIE fighters immediately closed and snapped off quick
shots, then bypassed him. Hitting the right rudder pedal, Wedge brought the
X-wing's nose around on the track of one of them. Switching over to quad-fire
lasers, he hit the trigger. Three of the bolts hit the TIE. Two lanced through
the cock-pit while one boiled away a corner of a solar panel. The fighter
immediately went into a flat spin and arced out toward the system's outer
orbits.
More rudder brought the X-wing around to point back up at the Corrupter. Wedge
killed his reverse thrust and started it forward as Tycho said, "Mark! Fire
now!" Wedge thumbed his fire control over to missiles and got a lock, but never