"Gabriel Mesta - StarCraft 02 - Shadow of the Xel'Naga" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mesta Gabriel)

Media Group for his encouragement on this project; Debra Ray at AnderZone for cheering us on;
Catherine Sidor, Diane E. Jones, and Sarah L. Jones at WordFire, Inc., for keeping things running
smoothly; and Jonathan Cowan, Kiernan Maletsky, Nick Jacobs, Gregor Myhren, and Wes Cronk for
being ourStarCraftтАЬtour guidesтАЭ and for their unquenchable enthusiasm for the game.



SHADOW OF THE XEL'NAGA




CHAPTER 1
AS A SMOTHERING BLANKET OF DARKNESS descended over the town of Free Haven, the
rugged settlers scrambled to avoid the storm. Night came quickly on the colony planet of Bhekar Ro,
with plenty of wind but no stars.

Pitch-black clouds swirled over the horizon, caught on the sharp mountainous ridge surrounding the
broad valley that formed the heart of the struggling agricultural colony. Already, explosive thunder
crackled over the ridge like a poorly aimed artillery barrage. Each blast was powerful enough to be
detected on several still-functioning seismographs planted around the explored areas.

Atmospheric conditions created thunder slams with sonic-boom intensity. The roar itself was sometimes
sufficient to cause destruction. And what the sonic thunder left unharmed, the laser-lightning tore to
pieces.

Forty years earlier, when the first colonists had fled the oppressive government of the Terran
Confederacy, they had been duped into believing that this place could be made into a new Eden. After
three generations, the stubborn settlers refused to give up.

Riding in the shotgun seat beside her brother Lars, Octavia Bren looked through the streaked windshield
of the giant robo-harvester as they hurriedly trundled back to town. The rumble of the mechanical treads
and the roar of the engine almost drowned out the sonic thunder. Almost.

Laser-lightning blasts seared down from the clouds like luminous spears, straight-line lances of static
discharge that left glassy pockmarks on the terrain. The laser-lightning reminded Octavia of library images
she had seen of a big Yamato gun fired from a Battle-cruiser in orbit.

тАЬWhy in the galaxy did our grandparents ever choose to move here?тАЭ she asked rhetorically. More
laser-lightning burned craters into the countryside.
тАЬFor the scenery, of course,тАЭ Lars joked.

While the bombardment of hail would clear the air of the ever-present dust and grit, it would also
damage the crops of triticale-wheat and salad-moss that barely clung to the rocky soil. The Free Haven
settlers had few emergency provisions to help them withstand any severe harvest failure, and it had been
a long time since they had asked for outside help.

But they would survive somehow. They always had.

Lars watched the approaching storm, a spark of excitement in his hazel eyes. Though he was a year