Clman: переводы

→A moment later a voice returned. “Sir, our scanners indicate the source of the incoming fire to be a . . . siege tank. Firing from one of their docking bays.”

→“That’s all you had to say, skipper! Yeee-haaa!!” Forest engaged the shock cannon. There was massive recoil, and when Keel looked back at the targeting monitor, he saw a satisfying impact wave spreading across the neighboring vessel’s shield. The blast was enough to force the defensive barrier to collapse. A bright ripple ran through the shield and then it was gone. Forest fired again. This time, the impact tore through the Norad’s outer hull.

→“I want to know just what in the name of the fathers is firing at us!” the colonel yelled. “Start scanning! Hell, they’re right next to us for Krydon’s sake. Go to a lookout and give me a visual!”

→“What in the name of all the charted planets was that?” It seemed every warning Klaxon in the ship was sounding at once. A voice from the comm announced to the colonel that there was a breach in the outer hull, and that sections G–L of the Median deck had been compromised.

→The door was opening. Minute debris swept out into the vacuum of space as the outer seal was broken. The tank, moored by augmented G-forces, held steady. Beyond the door was a massive beast of metal, the Norad II. Forest Keel now understood the general’s plan. A smile spread across his face as the old man became giddy with anticipation. Then the general’s voice came through Forest’s helmet mike. The shields outside had now been worn to almost nothing, and a great deal of the noise had died down. Still, Forest had to strain to hear. “Sergeant Keel, you may fire when ready.”

→The rebel next to Somo, Saunders, he thought his name was, was down and, judging by the amount of armor-piercing spikes Doctor Flanx had pumped into him, dead. The marines in the hall began firing, into the room and in opposite directions down the hall outside. Pollock, who was being targeted by one of the marines outside, had taken cover against the wall next to the hatchway. Doctor Flanx now swung his weapon toward Somo. There was a piercing, high-pitched noise, accompanied by a monumental jarring that knocked Hung onto his back. The doctor fell against the marines in the hall, who somehow managed to remain standing, and with eyes completely devoid of the last vestiges of sanity, now pointed the barrel of his confiscated rifle back down at Somo. Somo let loose with a short burst of fire, aiming at the doctor’s chest. The weapon ran away from him slightly, and when Somo looked at Flanx, he saw a trail of gaping holes starting from the man’s sternum and ending in his forehead. Somo watched the doctor’s wide, lifeless eyes as the man fell back against the huddled marines and then slumped to the floor like a discarded puppet. On either side of Somo, three rebels had recovered from the jolt and began directing fire back into the hallway. A few marines had managed to take flanking positions on either side of the hatchway and were still firing bursts into the room.

→Long ago, General Mengsk had read of ancient battles, back on Earth, from a time when men crossed oceans in bulky, cumbersome wooden craft. At that time, when these ships fought, they would position themselves alongside each other and blast away with cannon. That had always fascinated the general. Now, millennia later, in the boundless ocean of space, Arcturus Mengsk decided to try his hand at naval warfare.

→General Mengsk managed to stand. He stumbled to the comm, shouting to be heard: “Seal off docking bay two and open the outer doors, now!”

→She fell to the deck in a fetal position, her hands against her ears. On the upper level, Arcturus had been forced to his knees, and was likewise clutching his ears, but managed to keep his eyes on the lookout screen. Outside, brilliant flashes and ear-piercing shrieking accompanied the abrasion of the two shield systems. But slowly, incredibly, they were still moving forward, pushing the other ship away and aside in a rotating circle so that the bridge of the Hyperion would soon be flanking the bridge of the Norad II. Soon, the two ships would be side-by-side.

→There was a brilliant flash just outside as the shields collided. The clash was accompanied by a horrific screeching noise and a massive, gut-wrenching jolt. Sarah clasped her hands to her ears, shutting her eyes tight, fighting to maintain her balance, but to no avail.

→The Norad II was not moving. Sarah took a deep breath. We’re really doing this, she thought as the hatches and panels grew closer; she fancied that soon she would be able to read the serial number on the other ship’s cooling compartment.

→The general looked at Sarah then and motioned to his chair, indicating that she could strap herself in there if she liked. She glanced at the chair briefly, then shook her head, unable to keep her eyes from the lookout for very long. She could see small details on the looming, larger ship now, hatches, panels, and outer compartments— the kinds of things a person saw on another vessel just before a collision.

→“And brace for impact.”

→“Shields to full, yes, sir.”

→“Bring shields to full.”

→They were almost on top of the Norad now. Sarah could hear minor impact noises from the strafing Wraiths outside. It would take a long time for the fighters to break through the Hyperion’s shields. But the behemoth cruiser before them was another matter altogether.

→In the hallway behind them, the hatchway they had just passed opened and two more rebels stepped out. Doctor Flanx saw his world unraveling around him; saw his fantasies of the easy life on Tarsonis shattered. His eyes grew impossibly wide and his brow knotted as he screamed: “You ignorant grunts! Get me outta here!” Something in the doctor snapped. He snatched a gauss rifle from the nearest Confederate, pointed it into the compartment to his right, and began firing.

→Just then a hatchway to the doctor’s right opened. Pollock stepped into the room immediately, where four fully suited soldiers stood. One of the men passed Pollock a gauss rifle. The doctor then heard shouting. He looked down the corridor and saw that another hatchway had opened, just before the next turn. Two rebels stepped out; one kneeled. Both trained their weapons down the hall at the Confederates. They had their visors up and they yelled for everyone to drop their weapons.

→Doctor Flanx led the soldiers to an L turn in the corridor. The hallway stretched on, past personal quarters, to another turn, and then they would be at the hatchway to the main deck. They were halfway down the passageway now, and the doctor was smiling; he was picturing himself accepting a medal of valor from one of the ruling fathers. Then the promotion, of course, he thought, and a life of affluence on Tarsonis. Maybe even—

→On board Norad II, the word arrived to Colonel Duke’s command post that the Hyperion was on the move. The colonel assumed that the vessel was retreating, perhaps trying to reposition to make the subwarp jump. He asked for clarification, and was told that the vessel was moving forward.