"William R. Forstchen & Ben Ohlander - Wing Commander 05 - The Price of Freedom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Forstchen William R)

"Seether to Drakes," he said. "The old man was right. Targets sighted.Lets do it." He checked the
raiders' coded transponders to ensure all four ships were in their correct positions. Two hung off of each
bow of the convoy, for now matching their course and speed with the freighters like sharks after a school
of fish. He sent his wingman the preset code to attack, then goosed his throttle and aimed for the convoy.
"Remember,"he said, "no survivors."

He checked his ship's status,then switched his ready ordnance to an IFF missile. It was a
"fire-and-forget" weapon, one that required no further attention from the pilot once it was launched- The
missile would lock on a target's electronic signature,then would follow it until it ran out of fuel or was hit.

Drake Two dropped out of cloak to his right, firing a dumb-fire missile as he bored in on the first
transport. The dumb-fire was a powerful, unguided rocket that probably wouldn't get a kill on the
freighter, but would certainly shake it up.

He followed Two's lead, dropping his own cloak as an Arrow grew in his sights. The Confederation
fighters exploded into action, scattering like startled quail as the lead element of Drake flight appeared
literally out of nowhere and ripped through the center of the formation. Drake Two broke hard to the
right and opened up on the leading pair with his tachyon cannon, rifling shots around the Confed fighters.
The Arrow on theconvoys starboard bow heeled sharply over, accelerating away in a complicated
corkscrew maneuver.

Seether smiled grimly to himself, his mask of indifference slipping. The Arrow pilots were better than
their formation flying had suggested. He licked his dry, thin lips. Good, he thought, his people could use
some live-target practice.

Vale was just about to order Sparrow back to the convoy when he caught a glimpse of movement out of
the corner of his eye.

He was just turning his head towards it when a single red dot appeared on his tactical display, flickering
into existence on theconvoys starboard bow. A second red pipperappeared, this one to port. It took him
a moment to realize the significance of the red dots as… enemy. "Tallyho!" he yelled, cuing the
squadron's general circuit."Bandits! Vector one-zero-one degrees and three-three-zero, Z plus forty.
Tiger section, break and attack!"

"I copy, Knave," Tiger replied, "we'lltake the bandit on the left." Vale saw her accelerate towards her
target. Sparrow followed a second later, angling back towards his wing slot from his advanced position in
front of the convoy.

He caught quick acknowledgments from Scarman and Tiger, then a beat later from Sparrow as each
reported weapons readiness. He knew that doctrine called for aggressive intercept as far from the
vulnerable transports as possible. He just wished he'd had more time to intercept.

Vale hauled his own control yoke to the right, nearly standing the nimble fighter on its tail as he hit his
afterburners and turned to attack. Scarman turned smoothly with him, the plume of his afterburner
glowing white as he matched his burn to Vale's.
 "Tallyho, boss.I designate Target One," Tiger said, her voice calm. "Range, six thousand kilometers to
target.Accelerating to eight hundred KPS." The raider, at first glance a heavy fighter, opened up with twin
columns of fire. Tiger spiked her craft into evasive maneuvers that took her past the raider and out of its
gunline. She pirouetted neatly and arced in on the raiders flank, her guns blazing.