"Doc Savage Adventure 9 - Dominion War 2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doc Savage Collection)

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CHAPTER
1

"SIR, THE STATION'S shields are holding!"
"Impossible. Federation shields have always proven
useless against our weapons ...."
Ah, battle and its surprises.
Damar's claim about the shields was unexpected,
yes, but somehow the Vorta's response was a charm-
ing satisfaction. How good it felt to see the elegant
"ally" confused.
In the cramped command area of this smelly Jem
Hadar ship, Gul Dukat deliberately didn't look at the
Vorta representative. So many complications--hav-
ing to fly this breed of ship instead of a Cardassian
fighter, crewed by the rocky, dim-witted Jem Hadar
soldiers. The only familiar face, the only Cardassian
face, was that of Damar, now manning the helm.
And having this ќorta individual on his flagship,




guiding the touchy alliance between the Cardassians
and the race calling themselves the Dominion from
halfway across the galaxy... little of this arrange-
ment settled well in a man's stomach. This was a
bittersweet situation, to have a Vorta on each Jem
Hadar ship. At least they didn't insist upon also
having a Vorta on each Cardassian ship. That
would've been almost impossible to shove down the
throats of Cardassian Guls.
He watched as asteroid-sized cauliflowers of flame
and energy bounced from the shields of station Terok
Nor as ships fired over and over. There was something
satisfying about that, about the invading Jem Hadar
vanguard finally feeling the sting of repellent force,
giving Gul Dukat a surge of pleasure even as his own
weapon fire sheeted ineffectually out into open space.
And seeing the Vorta's chiseled face and pale-jewel
eyes crimped in confusion, seeing the self-greatened
political officer of the Dominion set back a pace, was
worth the momentary loss.
Dukat raised his chin--a childish but effective
maneuver and gloated in the wake of the setback.
"I've found it wise," he began,"never to underes-
timate the Federation's technical skills or Captain