"John G. Hemry - Stark's War 3 - Stark's Crusade" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hemry John G)

vectors on the cargo shuttles swung around. Attitude jets pushed the spacecraft tails toward the
black heavens and pointed their noses back toward the dead Moon below. “Okay. Standby on
the artillery.” He checked the armed shuttles, watching as they canted wildly as well, arcing
their courses around so they were also pointed at the Moon’s surface. The displays updated the
spacecrafts’ courses continuously, the projected paths of the two groups of shuttles now
pointing toward each other. Wiseman’s armed shuttles were curving in from over the
American enclave toward the enemy front lines as the fleeing cargo shuttles headed toward the
same location from the opposite direction.

“I sure as hell hope this works,” Vic whispered.

“You and me both. Artillery. Sergeant Grace? Execute preplanned fire mission Bravo
Foxtrot.”

“Roger. Understand execute fire mission Bravo Foxtrot.” Behind the lines the heavy artillery
pieces sat within their own bunkers, monsters designed to hurl shells long distances. On the
Moon, with only one-sixth the gravity, those shells carried a lot less propellant and a lot more
warhead. As Stark watched, threat symbology sprang from the artillery sites, heading for the
same area as the shuttles were converging upon.

“You know,” Sergeant Tran remarked. “If I were one of those enemy soldiers at that spot,
I’d wonder what the hell was coming at me.”

“That’s the idea,” Stark noted. “Wiseman, how’s it look?”

“Just keep those warships off my tail.” Her face seemed oddly flattened under the force of
her shuttle’s acceleration. On display, the enemy warships were pushing the edge of the
Colony’s anti-orbital defenses. A few threat symbols detached from the warships, marking
desperate attempts to achieve an improbable hit against fleeing targets at maximum range.
“Just for the record,” Wiseman added, “I really hate accelerating toward the surface of planets
and moons. Understood?”

“I assume you’re planning on pulling out before you hit.”
 “Assuming everything works right, yeah. If it doesn’t, I’m gonna be real pissed.”

And real dead . Stark checked the converging tracks of cargo shuttles, armed shuttles, and
artillery. Okay. Artillery hits first. Saturates the defenses around that location while Wiseman’s
shuttles sweep in from the front and the cargo shuttles come in from the rear. Any functioning
defenses should automatically engage Wiseman’s shuttles because they’re an incoming target.
Defenses should give the cargo shuttles low targeting priority because they’re fleeing targets.
Hopefully none of the defenders will realize we’re planning on that and switch to manual targeting
in time. Those cargo shuttles don’t have half the survivability of Wiseman’s armed shuttles. “Cross
your fingers, Vic.”

“And my toes,” she assured him.

Enemy defenses began throwing out rounds to intercept the incoming artillery, but Stark’s
barrage was too big to be stopped. He’d sat under enough artillery barrages himself to know
exactly what would happen while those big shells were hitting the enemy line. Exposed sensors
and weapons would be shielded and troops would keep their heads as low as possible. In the