"E. E. Doc Smith - D' Alembert 9 - The Omicron Invasion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

along the nose. The H-16's shields were stronger than would ordinarily be expected in a ship this size, but
even they could not withstand the strong input of high energy coming from the enemy vessel. The shields
blazed gloriously for a moment, then flared out completely. The ship shook with the impact of an
explosion, fortunately minor, as the beam destroyed the H-16's attitude maneuvering jets.

In just that instant the Empire team lost half their ability to dodge successfully, making them that
much more vulnerable to attack. Lady A knew several tricks to compensate for the loss, but given the
speed on the other fighter it might not be enough. The enemy seemed to have detected this damage,
because the craft came twisting in at a steep dive in an all-out bombing run at its disabled foe.

Disabled it may have been, but the H-16 was still far from helpless. As the fighter homed in along
its path, its course took it in and out of Jules's screen at irregular intervals. He could take the chance on
firing discrete shots, as was standard in warfare; with his quick reflexes, there was a reasonable chance
he'd hit the vessel. But if he didn't there was a better than even chance it would destroy the H-16.

Instead he chose to be unconventional. Disconnecting the timer cutoff, he fired a continuous beam
into a point in space along the other ship's path, and held it for a full fifteen seconds.

The drain on the ship's energy was considerable. To channel that much power into one blaster
beam meant diverting it from elsewhere. The ship's damage assessment computer, realizing that the
attitude controls were nearly gone, took all the power from that system, but it wasn't nearly enough. Lights
went out, sensor screens blanked, even the main drive faltered as energy was diverted into the single ray
issuing from Jules's turret. At the control panel, Lady A swore as the ship responded but sluggishly to her
commands. Jules's own screen was flickering badly, and for a while it was difficult to tell whether his
gamble had any effect.

Then the beam hit the enemy ship, and there was no doubt at all. The bright explosion registered
on all the screens with a flash that made everyone shield their eyes. Jules stopped firing and connected the
timer once more. Even so, it took several seconds before the ship's computers were able to readjust the
power load and bring conditions on the bridge back to normal.

Lady A swiveled her acceleration couch, glaring at Jules. "That was a damned reckless thing to
do!" she shouted at him across the cabin.

"Yes," Jules said, unruffled, "but it worked."

The agreement was that I controlled the ship while we're in flight."

"Exactly. You said fire at will, and I did."

Unwilling to spend further time in pointless argument, Lady A turned to Fortier. "Any further
opposition?"

"None on the screens," the officer answered. "Who knows what'll be waiting for us when we get
around to the front side of this moon again. If we stay on this course unaltered, that'll be in about seven
minutes."
 While listening to him, Lady A had continued to test her instrument panel and asked for a quick
computer assessment of the damage to their ship. "Khorosho, time for a quick decision. Our
maneuverability is severely impaired, which will hinder us in any fight. We could leave and get another
ship, but that delay is unacceptable to me. The alternative is to make it down in this one. That's what I