"Richard Hatch - Battlestar Galactica 01 - Armageddon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hatch Richard)

"Got it!" he shouted. "It's a Cylon base, all right, and no base stars on
the scanners. Got to be a colony of some kind!"

"Great, now let's get out of here," Starbuck said without enthusiasm.

The nine Cylon ships had gained on them as Apollo held back, waiting
for his scanners to examine the base. Now he pressed his navi-hilt
forward, picking up thrust.

"Divide and conquer, Starbuck!" he ordered.

"Gotcha, buddy," Starbuck answered. "And if it works, I'll share that
bottle of ambrosa with you when we get back!"

Simultaneously, Starbuck banked left and Apollo rammed his navi-hilt
to the right. The Vipers peeled away from one another in opposing arcs.
Ochoa was silent below them. Apollo saw no more launches on his
scanners, and he hoped that meant these were the only Cylon fighters the
planet had for protection. It wasn't likely, but after six years, he didn't
know if he was any expert on current Cylon tactics.

The Cylons fanned out to follow them, finally splitting into two
groupsтАФfive after Starbuck and four after Apollo. The maneuver was
going just as planned, and practiced, so long ago in the Academy. The
realities of space flight required such tactics. Head-on space battle ended
in microns; one pass and it was over. By then, you and your enemy were
too far away for the battle to continue. Without an atmosphere to provide
friction, it took a significant expenditure of force to re-vector the ship's
momentum.

But when Warriors were determined to do battle, and patient, the
lights would go on, long pass after long pass. Colonial Warriors were
trained to use themselves as bait to set up the enemy for their fellow
pilots.

Starbuck's Viper circled around and Apollo's Scarlet-class ship
mirrored the move in the opposite direction. Moments later, they were
re-vectored and facing one another.

The two Vipers raced toward each other. Instead of slowing, Apollo
thrust the navi-hilt forward, triple-pulsars spouting gouts of blue-white
tylium fire. A klaxon alarm signal blared inside the ship, warning of
imminent collision.

"Alarm off!" Apollo barked, head splitting with the noise. "It isn't like
I've fallen asleep in here!"

He gauged the distance between his ship and Starbuck's, watching
through the cockpit canopy as the archaic Viper filled his field of vision.
He could see Starbuck's face, see the grin that was spread across his