"The New Rebellion (Kristine Rusch)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

a bloody hand along his torn cheeks.
"M'yet," she said, the word rumbling in her throat. He didn't deserve to
die like this. She hated his politics, but he was a good friend, a decent
friend, and one of the best politicians she had ever met. She had hoped to
convert him to her ways. She had hoped he would work with the Republic in a
leadership position one day, outside the Senate, where he would be a strong
voice for change.
The doors opened. Blinding light filled the Hall. Leia braced herself and
propped her blaster on a nearby rock. Then she saw her own security people
hurrying in. She got up and ran to them, struggling on stairs and debris,
trying not to trip.
"Hurry!" she said as she reached the top. "We have wounded below!" One of
the guards spoke back to her, but she couldn't hear him. Instead, she surveyed
the damage from above. Each seat was covered with debris. Most of the senators
were moving, but many weren't.
The tone had truly been set for this Senatorial term.
And for that, the Empire would pay.


FIVE

The boom made the glow panels dim in the Crystal Jewel. Then the
ground shivered. Droid dealers all over the casino wailed as they shook on
their moorings. Han's precariously tilted chair fell. He slipped off it and
caught it with one hand. Jarril toppled against the table, spilling the
remaining drinks.
"What the-?" "Groundquake?" someone asked.
"... falling..." "... Look out!" The screams and shouts drowned out any
attempt at conversation, not that Han was going to try. He'd lived through
enough over the years to know that that was no groundquake. That was an
explosion.
He tapped Jarril on the shoulder. "Let's get out of here." "What is it?"
Jarril yelled.
Han didn't answer him, at least not directly. "We're underground, pal. If
we don't get out now, we might not get out at all." Jarril probably hadn't
thought that through. These dives never felt as if they were six feet under,
although they were. His scream joined the others as he stood. Han was already
shoving his way to the door, his blaster in the face of anyone who tried to
stop him. Along the way, he helped a Cemas to its feet, dodged the teeth of a
freed nek battle dog, and pulled a winged Agee off a crumbling section of
ceiling.
The crowd at the door was huge, all scrambling on top of one another, all
trying to get free. Then Han realized some idiot had pulled the door shut.
"Let us out of here!" he shouted.
"You don't know what's out there!" "I know that whatever it is, it's a
lot better than dying in here." Voices rose with his, all agreeing with his
protests. He managed to shove his way to the front. An Oodoc, a species known
for its size and strength but not its intelligence, stood before the door, its
spiked arms crossed in front of its massive chest.
"It's safer in here," it said.