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

Vale realized as he looked in vain for a life pod from Scar's ship that resistance was futile. The convoy
was lost. It was time to salvage what he could, in this case a young pilot who didn't deserve to die.
"Sparrow," he said harshly, "disengage. Get home and make a full report. Intelligence'll need to know
what we saw here."

The other Arrow slowly turned away. Vale felt ice in his guts as he saw the two black ships slashing in
towards the transports. He rammed his throttles to the stops, punching the little ship towards the convoy.
A tiny voice inside his head screamed at him to disengage, to run for home, to live. He gritted his teeth
and bored in to attack.

His target fired its missiles, volleying them all off in a single salvo against theElgin Dailey . The weapons
bloomed in explosion after explosion as they punched into theDailey's guts. Vale watched the stricken
ship slew out of formation and angle away. A massive explosion rocked the transport, blowing off the
front section containing the bridge and the life bubble. It tumbled alongside the remainder of the ship, still
spewing gas and debris.

Vale checked his scanner and saw Sparrow running flat out for home. Vales chest tightened as he saw
one of the black ships flicker into existence behind the rookie. The raider accelerated and fired a missile.
Sparrow dodged and weaved, trying to avoid the warhead. His maneuvering cost him enough forward
speed for the fighter behind him to close. The black ship fired.

"Hail, Mary, full of grace…" Vale heard Sparrow whisper as the bloom engulfed the back half of the
light ship. The multiple impacts spun Sparrow to hisright, killing his drives and snapping him end over end.
The Confederationpilots prayer turned into a long scream that ended only when the ship exploded… The
rookie never had a chance to eject.

He turned his attention back to the two raiders closing in on the transports. He fired on the closest,
switching to lasers and plinking at the heavier ship from long range. The raider ignored the fire while it
poured shots into the third transport, theBed's Gamble . The raider walked hits up the freighters
defenseless spine.

TheGamble burned brightly, its cargo outgassing and oxidizing through the holes punched in its hull by
the raiders' cannon. Vale saw flames licking out into open space, an indicator of the intensity of the
inferno within.

The second raider bored in on theGamble and fired, hitting the stricken transport with both tachyon
beams and a heavier weapon that ate whole sections of the freighter. The transport detonated a moment
later, one moment coasting in open space with bright jewels of flame winking along its sides and the next
vanishing in an actinic flare. The detached, clinical part of Vale's mind noted that the ship's reactor core
must have detonated.

A fourth black ship dropped out of cloak on his right flank, firing as it closed the range. His Arrow
rocked under the blackfighters hits. Vale slashed his control yoke back and forth, frantically trying to
dodge the converging weapons' streams. He felt his drives fail.

He glanced down at his display. System after system glowed red. The eject warning flashed. He reached
down between his legs, groping for the yellow-painted eject bar.
 The ship heeled to one side, hit by another salvo. He glanced up. The raider loomed close, its weapons
pointed at his cockpit. It fired from point-blank range, twin bolts of violent energy that blanked out the
ship behind. Vale didn't even have time to register pain…