"Richard Hatch - Battlestar Galactica 02 - Warhawk" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hatch Richard)

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Battlestar Galactica
Warhawk by Richard Hatch
Prologue
VALOR DELIGHTED IN THE STARSHINE and the silence of the
celestial sea. He was in stationary orbit around the third moon of the
planet Xerik-12, and had been there enjoying the tranquility for much
longer than he knew he should. He was overdue to return to the outpost on
that moon that had been established by his people, the Sky.

Valor had just begun his descent toward the lunar atmosphere when
the stellar serenity was shattered by a horrible psychic screamтАФ a scream
that quickly became the agonizing wail of a pair of his Sky brothers in
their death throes.

Then there was silence once more.

The Sky were a gentle race. Peaceful and loving. To them, there were
few troubles that could not be solved by soaring through the air of their
home planet, or even the distant worlds and moons upon which they had
built their embassies. Still fewer existed that would not be cured by a brief
sail on the astral winds.

A gentle race.

But not a foolish one. The Sky knew that their benevolence was not
shared by all of their galactic neighbors. And knowing this, they had
become a race of warriors.

The instant Valor heard the first psychic cries, pseudopods extended
from the front tip of his body to alter his course. What surrounded him
was part starship, part armor. It followed quite closely the contours of his
body, and served as a protective covering as well. Even without their
armored shells, the Sky could propel themselves through the air, and
space; but the armor had its own engines, which made long-distance
space travel less dangerous and, of course, faster.

Even the strongest Sky could not fly without rest indefinitely.

Valor could feel the power in his armor, the way its plating conformed
to the wide, flat, muscular "wings" that made up the halves of his bodyтАФa
slightly swollen crescent moon, tips forward. At the convex curve of the
crescent shapeтАФValor's backsideтАФwas the green fire of his armor's