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

stopped, Captain Drysso. Do you have surrender on your mind?"
Drysso smiled. "I do. Yours."
Terrik's anticipatory smile faded into puzzlement. "I guess you think we don't
want to fight. Believe me, we do." Again he gestured to someone outside the
image area and a much heavier tremor shook the Lusankya. "As your people will
tell you, we've just powered up all of our tractor beams and have them on you.
You can try to break free, but if you do, I've got to see a man about a
guarantee he gave me."
"You better hope he works fast. Rosion, engines full back. Break those locks."
"Can't, sir. Helm is sluggish and those beams are very powerful."
Drysso snarled at Terrik. "You give me only one choice."
"Good. The terms of surrender are . . ."
"No, you fool, my choice is your complete destruction. Weapons, all bear on the
station. Fire on my command!"
"Emperor's black bones!"
Drysso whipped around and spitted Lieutenant Waroen with a harsh stare, but his
aide remained engrossed by a mon-itor and missed it. "What is happening,
Waroen?"
"Sir, we have multiple proton torpedo and concussion missile sensors locked onto
us."
"How many?"
"Many, sir, over three hundred." Waroen looked up. "We're dead, sir."
Drysso turned back to the viewport and imagined the rippling fire of three
hundred proton torpedoes and concus-sion missiles smashing into his forward
shield. Under that onslaught it would collapse and the missiles would begin
nib-bling away on his ship. And that's only the first volley. The
subsequent volleys would consume the Lusankya utterly and completely.
With Drysso's vision of disaster came the crumbling of his plans for the future.
The Lusankya was the key to every-thing, but he'd been tricked. Antilles had
anticipated the strike at the station. He had set up a trap to destroy the Super
Star Destroyer. Even if I do shoot and eliminate some of the launchers, some of
the tractor beams, all that will get away will be a severely damaged ship.
Drysso hesitated and that hesitation should have lost him his ship and his
dreams.
Two kilometers off his bow, the Virulence lanced up-ward, eclipsing the station.
All of a sudden the Imperial Star Destroyer began to shrink, but it was only
when he saw stars flashing back into sight at the corners of his vision did he
realize why it was disappearing. They're not destroying my ship, we're speeding
away from the station-engines are still at full reverse. The Virulence broke the
locks by interposing itself between us and the station.
Drysso smiled and tasted sweat in the corners of his mouth. We're free of the
trap Antilles laid for us. He thought he had found a way to destroy us, but he
did not. Now we get to spring a trap on him.
The Lusankya's Captain turned to face his bridge crew. "Rosion, plot a course
back to Thyferra, as fast as we can get there. Yesti, send Virulence our thanks.
Tell them their sacri-fice will be remembered-a sacrifice that allowed us to
de-stroy Wedge Antilles and hasten the Empire's rebirth."
Waroen looked up at him, disbelieving. "We're not going to help them, sir?"
"They're just doing their duty, Lieutenant." Drysso's mouth soured with the fear
of ever engaging the station. "We now go to do ours."