"The Cestus Deception (Steven Barnes)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Barnes Steven)

The red-and-white disk of a two-passenger Limulus-class transport
sliced through Coruscant's cloud-mantle. In the morning sun it glittered
like a sliver of silvered ice. Spiral-dancing to inaudible music, it had
detached its hyperdrive ring in orbit, slipping through wispy clouds to
land with a shush as gentle as a kiss. Its smooth, glassy side rippled. A
rectangular outline appeared and then slid up. A tall, bearded man wrapped
in a brown robe stepped into the doorway and hopped down, followed by a
second, clean-shaven passenger.

The bearded man's name was Obi-Wan Kenobi. For more years than he
cared to count, Obi-Wan had been one of the most renowned Jedi Knights in
the entire Republic. The second, a startlingly intense younger man with
fine brown hair, was named Anakin Sky-walker. Although not yet a full Jedi
Knight, he was already famed as one of the galaxy's most powerful warriors.

For thirty-six hours the two had juggled flying and navigational
duties, using their Jedi skills to hold their needs for sleep and
sustenance to a minimum. Obi-Wan was tired, irritable, famished, and felt
as if someone had poured sand into his joints. Anakin, he noticed, seemed
fresh and ready for action.

The recuperative powers of youth, Obi-Wan thought ruefully.

Only an emergency directive from Supreme Chancellor Palpatine himself
could have summoned the two from their assignment on Forscan VI.

"Well, Master," Anakin said. "I suppose this is where we part
company."

"I'm not certain what this is about," the older man replied, "but your
time will be well spent studying at the Temple."
Obi-Wan and Anakin continued down the skywalk. Far beneath
them the city streets buzzed with traffic, the walkways and ground-level
construction occasionally interrupted by wisps of cloud or stray
thrantcills. The web of streets and bridges behind and below them was
dazzling, but Obi-Wan noticed the beauty little more than he had the
height, the fatigue, or the hunger. At the moment, his mind was occupied by
other, more urgent concerns.

As if his Padawan could read his thoughts, Anakin spoke. "I hope
you're not still annoyed with me, Master."

There it was, another reference to Anakin's rash actions on Forscan
VI. Forscan VI was a colony planet at the edge of the Cron drift, currently
unaffiliated with either Republic or Confederacy. Elite Separatist
infiltration agents had set up a training camp on Forscan, their
"exercises" playing havoc with the settlers. The most delicate aspect of
the counteroperation was repelling those agents without ever letting the
colonists know that outsiders had assisted them. Tricky. Dangerous.