"Jack McKinney - Robotech 02 - Battle cry" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKinney Jack)

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Robotech: Battle Cry

Book Two of the Robotech series

Copyright 1987 by Jack McKinney




CHAPTER ONE

If there was any one thing that typified the initial stages of the First Robotech War, it was the
unspoken interplay that developed between Captain Henry Gloval and the Zentraedi commander,
Breetai. In effect, both men had been created for warfare-Gloval by the Soviet GRU, and Breetai,
of course, by the Robotech Masters. When one examines the early ship's log entries of the two
commanders, it is evident that each man spent a good deal of time trying to analyze the
personality of his opponent by way of the strategies each employed. Breetai was perhaps at an
advantage here, having at his disposal volumes of Zentraedi documents devoted to legends regarding
the origin of Micronian societies. But it must be pointed out that Breetai was severely limited by
his prior conditioning in his attempts to interpret these: even Exedore, who had been bred to
serve as transcultural adviser, would fail him on this front. Gloval, on the other hand, with
little knowledge of his ship and even less of his opponent, had the combined strengths of a loyal
and intelligent crew to draw upon and the instincts of one who had learned to function best in
situations where disinformation and speculation were the norm. One could point to many examples of
this, but perhaps none is so representative of the group mind at work inboard the SDF-1 than the
Battle at Saturn's Rings.

"Genesis," History of the First Robotech War, Vol. XVIl



Zor's ship, the SDF-1, moved through deep space like some creature loosed from an ancient
sea fable. The structural transformation the fortress had undergone at the hands of its new
commanders had rendered it monsterlike-an appearance reinforced by those oceangoing vessels
grafted on to it like arms and the main gun towers that rose now from the body like twin heads,
horned and threatening.

What would the Robotech Masters make of this new design? Breetai asked himself. Even prior
to the transformation, Zor's ship was vastly different from his own-indeed, different from any
vessel of the Zentraedi fleet. Protoculture factory that it was, it had always lacked the
amorphous organic feel Breetai preferred. But then, it had not been designed as a warship. Until
now.

The Zentraedi commander was on the bridge of his vessel, where an image of the SDF-1
played across the silent field of a projecbeam. Breetai's massive arms were folded across the
brown tunic of his uniform, and the monocular enhancer set in the plate that covered half his face
was trained on the free-floating screen.