"Steve Perry - Battle Surgeons" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Steven)

hotter. That explained Drongar's current near-tropical climatic zonation. But the lack of a large moon to
stabi-lize its obliquity meant that, in a few hundred million years, Drongar would probably become a
"snowball" world as cold as, or colder than, Hoth.
Bleyd gestured again, and the holo faded. He thought about Saki, his homeworld. True, it was mostly
tropical as well, with large stretches of jungle and marshesтАФbut not like Drongar. Neimoidia and Saki
together couldn't match Drongar for sheer fetid, noisome area.
Saki also had forests, and savannas, and lakes ... and, unlike Drongar, a stable axis, anchored by the
gravity of a single, large moon. Thus, seasonal varia-tions on Saki were mild, the air was sweet, and the
hunting was good. Saki Prime was an older star, its spectrum shifting more toward the red. From the
planet's surface it looked like a swollen crimson jewel hanging in the azure sky.
Bleyd had heard it said on occasion that Sakiyan were too insular, that they tended to stay on their own
world rather than venture out into the galaxy and play with the big kids. He never responded to these
charges. He knew that, if most of the other sentients voicing the complaint could spend even one day on
Saki, they would under-stand why few of its children ever wanted to leave.
True, he had leftтАФbut only because circumstances had forced him to seek his fortune offworld. His
pride-father, Tarnese Lyanne, had invested heavily in various black-market and smuggling operationsтАФfar
 too heav-ily. Shiltu the Hutt, a Black Sun vigo, had double-crossed
Lyanne. Clan Tarnese had been ruinedтАФand Bleyd had left to find employment in the Republic military.
But one day he would return. That was never in doubt. And he would return in style.
The Sakiyans were a proud and predatory raceтАФ Bleyd's ancestors had been legendary hunters. It was
his monthrael to be no less of a legend than they.
Bleyd stopped reminiscing. He could not afford to lose his focus now. A decison had to be made, a
decision that could determine the rest of his life's course.
But there really was only one choice. If the Republic was unable or unwilling to recognize his abilities,
then it was the Republic's loss, not his. He had known all along, after all, that it was up to him to make
certain that he came out of this war wiserтАФand richer.
Much richer.
With sufficient credits Bleyd could reclaim his clan's holdings. It was too late to wreak any sort of
delayed re-venge on ShiltuтАФthe old reprobate had died a decade before from sudden massive cellular
hemorrhage, a sort of full-body stroke that had ended the Hutt's life far too quickly and painlessly, in
Bleyd's opinion.
But it was just as well that he not be tempted. Re-venge, he knew, was an expensive and dangerous
lux-ury. Retiring from the war a rich man would be his best vengeance upon a military too foolish to know
what they had in him,
If Filba continued to come through . ..
Bleyd was certainly not blind to the irony that re-quired him to trust another Hutt in dealing with Black
Sun again. It was riskyтАФvery risky. Allying with Black Sun was like gambling with a Wookiee: even when
you know he's cheating, sometimes it's best to let him win. But the stakes were too high to walk away
from. With
the credits they stood to make, he could become a landed person, perhaps even enter politics. He closed his
eyes, picturing it: the wealthy Senator from Saki, with his own palatial spire on Coruscant, affecting the
lives of trillions with his every command ... he could certainly get used to such a lifestyle.
Yes, it was risky. Going after the big game always was. But he'd hunted razor-tailed tigers in the Dust
Pits of Yurb; he'd fought lyniks that had tasted his blood and therefore knew every move he would make;
he had even trapped a nexu, one of the most ferocious beasts in the galaxy.
He was more than capable of outwitting even a many-headed beast such as Black Sun.
His secretary droid appeared in the doorway. "Admi-ral, you asked to be reminded of the time."
Bleyd glared at the droid, annoyed at being pulled back from his visions of glory. "Yes, yes. All right, you
have reminded me. Go on about your business."
The droid, a standard protocol unit, quickly shuffled away. It knew better than to hesitate when Bleyd