Battlestar Galactica Warhawk Novel By Richard Hatch and Christopher Golden (The page numbers come from the 1st printing, hardcover edition, published September 1998)

After nearly two decades, the fleet reunites with the lost battlestar Pegasus.

Notes from the BSG chronology

Page 11 of the novel mentions that this story takes place about half-a-yahren after the encounter with the Cylons in Armageddon.

Didja Know?

This book is dedicated by Richard Hatch to Lorne Greene, Lloyd Bridges, and John Denver. Of course, Lorne Greene (1915-1987) played Commander Adama in the TV series and Lloyd Bridges (1913-1998) played Commander Cain. John Denver (1943-1997) was a singer/songwriter.

Didja Notice?

The dust jacket of the hardcover edition speaks of the exiles led by Commander Cain. But they are not exactly exiles; they were just cut off from the Colonies by space and the Cylons about 20 yahrens ago and then from the rag-tag fleet at the end of "The Living Legend" Part 2.

The Sky character of Valor appeared previously in Armageddon.

Page 10 reveals a ship of the fleet called the Ligeia, frequently used for presenting theatrical productions and musical performances. In Surrender the Galactica, theater troupes are said to tour the fleet, performing on various ships.

It is stated on page 10 that all triad tournaments are held on the Rising Star. But in "War of the Gods" Part 1, a triad game is taking place on what is implied to be the Galactica. Possibly all the triad games were moved to the Rising Star at some point during the 18 yahrens since that episode.

Page 11 describes just the barest hint of white beginning to show in Starbuck's hair.

On page 12, Troy mentions that there are only 9 Nomen left in the fleet. In Armageddon, there were 13, though a few may have been killed during the prison riot on the Icarus in that novel.

Page 12 reveals that, while on Caprica, the Nomen were not under Colonial rule. Apparently, they were allowed to govern themselves, possibly similar to Native American reservations in the United States today.

Page 13 reveals that the Nomen have fangs.

Previously in the BSG universe, the Twelve Colonies and Kobol were said to be in the Cyrannus galaxy. Starting with this novel, it is instead stated to be the Cyrannus nebula, implying that the entire saga does take place within our own Milky Way galaxy. Given that the Colonials have different words (or differing meanings) from our anglocentric English ones, it's possible to interpret earlier references to "galaxy" in BSG to mean "nebula".

Near the end of chapter one, the Noman Gar'Tokk vows to be Apollo's bodyguard for life. He's sort of the Chewbacca of Battlestar Galactica!

Page 25 reveals there is a ship in the fleet called the Tantalus, a ship of restaurants for the eating pleasure of the fleet's inhabitants. In our own Greek mythology, Tantalus was a half-god son of Zeus who was sentenced to eternal punishment in Tartarus, part of the underworld, to be always just out of reach of fruit and water to quench his hunger and thirst.

Councilmember Siress Kiera indicates throughout the book that she believes the lies told by Baltar claiming he was making a genuine bid for peace between the Colonies and the Cylons (in "Annihilation"), but the Cylons betrayed him and wiped out the human worlds. Is Kiera ignoring then, the evidence that came to light in "Murder on the Rising Star", that he had worked with his personal pilot and electronics expert, Karybdis, on disabling Caprica's defense computers?

Page 28 reveals that a tracebomb, described as a tracking and termination system, has been implanted in Baltar's chest by the Colonials to prevent his flight or betrayal in his new position as advisor aboard the Galactica on all things Cylon.

Page 30 reveals that President Tigh had a wife and sons that were killed in the Cylon ambush of the Colonies in "Annihilation".

Page 30 mentions a spicy and exotic Aquarian dish called a bova-ranfara hot salad. Past references to "bova" suggest it is a cow-like animal (bovine). "Ranfara" is an unknown term, probably a vegetable, to complete the salad.

Page 32 reveals a fleet ship called the Academia, where cadets are trained. In the real world, "academia" is a Greek word meaning the accumulation of knowledge.

On page 35, Jolly is referred to as still being a lieutenant, but in Armageddon he was a captain. Since he was a lieutenant in the TV series, one would think he is at least a captain by now. But page 189 confirms that he is, indeed, still a lieutenant after all this time, interested only in being a pilot and Warrior, content to follow trusted leaders and not become one himself unless a situation demands it.

It is implied that Jolly is married to a woman named Guinn. Boomer has been married to a woman named Phaedra (with whom he is now expecting a child) for two months, after dating for a little over a yahren. In the Maximum Press comic books, Boomer is married to Dietra instead; since the Maximum Press comics take place only a couple yahrens later and Boomer the Dietra are depicted with a Warrior-age daughter, it might be argued that Phaedra should be considered Dietra in this novels with this "second" pregnancy having resulted in a miscarriage. The Phaedra pregnancy subplot seems to get dropped in the novels that follow this one anyway!

Captain Hecate, leader of Red Squadron, appears in this novel even though she was killed in Armageddon when her Viper collided with a Raider! No explanation of her survival is given. She dies again on page 250 of this novel!

On the planet Cylon, the chair of stone and metal, sitting upon a dais sixteen steps above the floor, used by the Imperious Leader, is referred to as the High Seat. On the Leader's basestar, his throne is referred to as the High Seat of Command.

Page 39 reveals that Troy had recently dated a Sagittarian actress. Might this actress be Peri, the girl he befriended and became part of Dwybolt's acting troupe with when they were both still children in Surrender the Galactica?

Page 43 reveals that the off-duty officers' club has a bar made of rare katsugari wood.

Page 43 also reveals that Starbuck has quit smoking fumarellos several times.

Page 44 reveals that Starbuck and Cassiopeia had a renewed dalliance after the events of Armageddon, but it had ended badly and he had returned to Athena.

Also on page 44, Cassie tells the fumarello-smoking Starbuck at Dalton's novayahren (birthday) party to "take that disgusting weed out of your mouth." This is a callback to her remark way back in "Exodus", when she asks him, "Do you ever take that smoldering weed out of your mouth?"

Page 46 describes the Warriors' uniforms as dark brown, with a jacket of bova leather. In Armageddon, the uniforms were described as crimson and black, instead of the khaki and brown uniforms seen in other BSG stories.

On page 47, Troy gives Dalton a bracelet with green gems that had belonged to his mother, Serina.

On page 49, the alien ships remind Sheba of the kraken, "large, many-tendriled beasts found in the oceans of Sagittarius." This is similar to Earth's own Norse myth of a sea creature also called the kraken.

On page 53, the word "kilon" seems to represent a unit of distance (a kilometer?). Possibly this is a Sky term and not a Colonial one, since the scene described is about the Sky character called Valor. In "The Law of Volahd" Part 2, a kilon is a Colonial unit of velocity through space.

Page 56 introduces the Virgon Star, a ship of the fleet on which the scientist Plutarch conducts his research.

On page 60, Rigel appears for the first time in the Hatch novels. But the formerly female Rigel is now referred to as "he" throughout the book! Is this a different Rigel? Did she have a sex-change operation? (Rigel appears again, briefly, in Paradis without gender identification and, later, in "The Enemy Within" Part 1 as her usual self.)

Page 64 reveals that the fleet is making additional QSE generators after having reversed-engineered the one stolen from the Cylons in Armageddon. They now have five Vipers with QSE technology installed, with more on the way.

Page 66 reveals that Cain is now not only the Commander of the Pegasus, but also the President of the colony on Xerik-5, which has been named Poseidon by its human colonists. The world is mostly ocean, with but a single continent. In Greek mythology, Poseidon is the god of the sea.

Page 68 reveals that Commander Cain's current second-in-command on the Pegasus is Colonel Tacitus. Former executive officer, as last seen in "The Living Legend" Part 2, Tolen, is still around in another capacity as well, as seen on page 123.

Pages 68-69 mention Baltar's previous imprisonment on the prison barge. Tigh tells Cain that the traitor of all humanity was held in solitary confinement, but he managed to coerce one of his wardens into freeing him and granting access to a Viper. This is quite different from the escape seen in "Prison of Souls" Part 3.

Page 74 suggests that the teenaged Troy had had trouble communicating with his step-father, Apollo, but Sheba had been there to help the two of them through the difficulties.

On page 86, Apollo pays a solitary visit to the celestial chamber, first (and last) seen in "The Hand of God". In that episode, he explains to Sheba, Starbuck, and Cassie, that a celestial chamber was used on a battlestar hundreds of yahrens ago for taking navigational readings of the stars. Here, the chamber's function seems to be called into question, suggesting it may have been used for navigation or for divination when such a thing was believed in.

On page 87, Cain is referred to as both a living legend (from the title of his previous appearance, the 2-part "The Living Legend") and as a warhawk (from the title of this novel).

This novel uses the term "cogitator" in place of "IL-series" in describing Cylons of Lucifer's ilk. Cogitators are also described as being rare in Cylon society.

Page 93 mentions that even though Lucifer appears to glide across the floor, he does, in fact, move on legs underneath his cloak.

Baltar's reasoning as to how he does not see himself as a traitor to humanity is given on page 98. It reveals that he had tried for yahrens to be chosen as President of the Quorum back in the Colonies, only to be passed over repeatedly and he thought he was obviously the best suited to lead the Colonies. He had then conspired with the Cylons to end the interminable war by allowing the Colonies to be conquered in an agreement with the Imperious Leader where he, Baltar, would be named regent to rule the surviving humans, allowing the race to continue. But the Imperious Leader had betrayed him.

On page 108, Dalton is wearing a vesper dress, a sheer Gemon fabric.

On page 111, Cain mentions the foundry ship of Apollo's fleet, the Hephaestus. At this point, he doesn't know the ship was sacrificed to destroy a basestar in Armageddon.

On pages 115-117, Cain reveals that about a yahren after the Battle of Gamoray, where the Pegasus destroyed two basestars before disappearing in "The Living Legend" Part 2, they discovered a small fleet of 32 ships that had escaped the Twelve Colonies shortly before the Galactica had arrived on the scene of devastation across the system in "Annihilation". The Pegasus then became their protector and Cain their leader. Then, about 10 yahrens ago, they came across the planet Xerik-5 and chose to settle there, renaming it Poseidon, and building a small colony and factories to produce a small fleet of warships, including two additional battlestars, to take the fight back to the Cylon Empire. The new battlestars are called the Daedelus and the New Bellephon (the New Bellephon is destroyed in battle with the Chitain near the end of the novel).

The name for the New Bellephon may have been derived from a listing of battlestars that are said to have been constructed by the Twelve Colonies in the 1988 publication Colonial Warriors Technical Manual, which lists one of them as the Bellephon.

On page 131, Apollo discovers stone paintings in the ruins of Xerik-5 that show that the former inhabitants had encountered the Ships of Light.

On page 138, Cassie says that Adama once told her, "Study the past, or be destined to repeat it." This is a paraphrasing of our own world's George Santayana (1863-1952) who wrote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

On page 140, Cain compares the Chitain to crawlons. Crawlons are similar to Earth spiders and were previously mentioned in "Into the Void". Presumably the creature whose face is featured on the cover of the book is a Chitain, but it's depicted with three eyes, whereas page 156 describes them as having four.

On page 141, Apollo compares Cain's choice to settle his people within the Chitain's system to making camp in a lupus den. A lupus is a wolf-like predator, as witnessed on the planet Equellus in "The Lost Warrior".

Page 149 names one of the small battle cruisers of Cain's fleet as the Starlight. On gage 235, the Hyapatia is named as another and is destroyed by Chitain fighters.

Page 163 informs us that, besides Athena, Starbuck and Boomer are aware of Apollo's telepathic abilities.

This novel introduces a new Viper model designed by Cain's engineers. Called a Viper Duet, it is sort of a meld of two Vipers, allowing two pilots to work in tandem to pilot and use weapons in battle. Although the exterior design is decidedly different, the new fighter craft seems very similar to the SuperViper developed by engineers in the Galactica's fleet in Surrender the Galactica.

Page 167 introduces a flight officer on the Pegasus named Major Belarius. Possibly this is a play on the name of the production company Belisarius Productions owned by Donald Bellisario, co-producer of the original TV series.

Page 172 reveals that Boomer attended the Academy at the same time as Apollo and Starbuck and the three were friends even then.

Page 173 reveals there are no female Nomen in the fleet, so their race is doomed to extinction.

During the discussion on pages 176-179, Cain and Baltar reveal to us that the mostly-mechanical Cylon centurions seen during the TV series were drones that had only been used starting a few decades before the destruction of the Colonies, due to the inability of the Cylon breeding program to keep up with the number of biological Cylons needed. The drones had only a portion of a cloned Cylon brain and the rest of the body was robotic. Since the destruction of the human Colonies, the Cylons have been able to get their biological numbers up again and Baltar doubts that the drones are even being made any more.

During the above conversation, Baltar reveals that according to the cogitators (IL-series) with whom he had spoken, Count Iblis, the alleged founder of the Cylon Empire thousands of yahrens ago, was widely considered to be a myth.

According to Baltar, all Imperious Leader and cogitator type Cylons are manufactured on the planet Cylon itself.

On page 193, Lucifer witnesses Imperious Leader conversing with a swirling black mass hovering in the air of the Leader's chamber. We are led to believe the black mass is a manifestation of Count Iblis, however the last page of the novel has the black mass referring to the Imperious Leader himself as Iblis.

Boomer keeps saying he and Phaedra haven't told anyone except their closest friends about her pregnancy yet, but on page 212, Phaedra is thinking about how many of the Warriors' husbands and wives have been asking her if they've picked a name yet!

Page 213 seems to indicate that another term used among the survivors for the annihilation of the Colonies at the hands of the Cylons is the "Great Betrayal".

On page 219, Starbuck remarks that sand is a good sound conductor. This is true of many types and conditions of sand.

On page 221, the Adena is described as manufacturing additional QSE generators for installation on all fleet ships. The Adena had previously been a socialator ship, but was converted into a new forge ship in Armageddon after the loss of the Hephaestus.

On page 227, the text describes Dalton answering her own question, when it's obviously supposed to be Troy speaking.

Page 228 describes the force field created over the face of a Viper pilot's helmet as also being capable of spontaneously adjusting itself to provide protection against the glare of explosions in battle. Yet in "Chess-Players of Space", the Cylons use a strategy of trailing an actinic mine behind their Raiders, blowing it to cause temporary blindness in the human pilots they battle, and the tactic works, at least initially, suggesting the helmets at that time did not have such capabilities.

On page 191, Hecate and Jolly had taken only three Academy cadets for temporary active duty in the upcoming battle against the Chitain forces: Cadets Marcellus, Cato, and Freyja. Another cadet, Byron, remarks that they're all ready when needed before the two Warriors and three cadets leave. But later, on page 237, Byron is described as having been lost in the battle. Apollo's thoughts on page 285 confirm that only three cadets were brought in for the battle, so it doesn't seem that the Galactica was forced to bring in more cadets during the fight. Perhaps there was simply a full-fledged pilot also named Byron who was killed?

On page 249, Jolly comes up with the nickname "silverwings" for the Sky in their space battle armor.

On page 258, Starbuck takes a brief refuge behind the landing gear of a Black Raider. Presumably a Black Raider is a term meant to describe one of the new QSE-equipped Raiders being produced by the Cylons.

Pages 258-259 suggest that even the true Cylons have had most of their organic perspective bred out of them, having a machine's view of mathematically derived curves and lines.

On page 279, Sheba says "years" instead of "yahrens".

On page 280, Sheba uses the phrase "bova-headedly stubborn" to describe her father, the way we would use "pig-headedly stubborn". The glossary of the novel describes a bova as "a large livestock animal kept in herds", the word probably inspired by the Latin bovine, referring to such animals as cattle, buffalo, and bison.

At the end of the novel, Apollo has directed the fleet to the next planet on the ancient holo-map, a planet called Kirasolia. Is there any relation between the planet's name and the name of kirasolis candy, a treat mentioned both here and in Armageddon?

Page 296 reveals that the fleet lost 37 ships during the battle against the Chitain, including the Scorpius Ascendent, the Valkyrior, and Agro-2. The Scorpius Ascendent previously appeared in Armageddon. By adding the ships of Cain's fleet, the newly-combined fleet is said to be down only 19 ships from where it was before the battle. This brings the fleet to 159 ships from the previous count of 178 in Armageddon.