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

happened, and then, a short time later, an explosion occurred in the Senate
Hall on the opening day of the new session. If the events weren't related,
then that was a startling coincidence.
And the older he got, the less Luke believed in coincidence.
"Come on," he said when the children started squirming. "Let's go see
your mother." The children slid off the bench, and he let them lead him to a
large room. Leave it to Leia to insist that she was not given any special
treatment. Five other senators filled beds in the room, with curtains between
them. Leia's was at the far end. Her curtain was open. Han sat beside her,
while Chewbacca stood at the foot, holding his paws together, as if this were
a state function and he didn't know how to dress. A medical droid placed
medication on Leia's bedside table, then disappeared through the pulled
curtain beside her.
Winter was sitting in a chair beside the wall. When she saw Luke, she
smiled. Sometimes he wondered if she had special powers besides her fantastic
recall. She rarely let the children out of her sight, and yet they had found
him at exactly the right moment.
"Luke," Han said as he stood. "Leia's been asking about you." She turned
her head then on its pillow. Her face was a mass of bruises and cuts. Even
though she had clearly been in the bacta tank, she still wore bandages on her
hands indicating serious injuries that needed several more tendings.
"Oh, Luke." Her voice was unusually loud. "I'm glad you're here." Luke
sat beside the bed. "Me, too." She frowned slightly.
"I don't think she understood you," Han said. "She can't hear." Luke
glanced at Han. He seemed remarkably calm.
"They say her hearing will come back in a few days. It was the strength
of the explosion." Han smiled tightly. "It's been rather humorous, actually,
watching the medical staff deal with a hundred deaf patients. No one is
following instructions." His tone implied there was no humor in it. In any of
it. Luke had already gotten the statistics when he landed. Twenty-five
senators dead, a hundred more wounded seriously, and another hundred bruised.
That didn't count the support personnel or all the destroyed droids.
"Any idea what happened?" Winter stood. "I think, children," she said,
"we've been here long enough today." "Daaaad," Jaina wailed. She took his arm.
"They always make us leave when the conversation gets interesting." "I'm not
going," Anakin said.
Chewie growled at him. Anakin ran to his sister's side.
"That's telling 'em, Chewie," Han said, but it sounded more like a reflex
response. "Go with Winter, kids. I'll be back to tuck you in." They hugged
their mother good-bye, and left without further protest, which made Luke
wonder if they wanted to stay as much as they pretended. The last day or two
had been very stressful for them. He would have to talk with Han about their
fears before he left.
"Leia believes the new Imperials in the Senate caused this," Han said.
"I'm not so sure." "I am," Leia said. She had obviously become adept at
lipread-ing since the explosion. Some of her abilities probably were Force-
enhanced. Luke would have to test that theory later.
"What do you think happened?" Luke asked.
"An old buddy of mine surfaced at a convenient time," Han said. "I was
with Jarril in the Crystal Jewel when the explosion happened." "A decoy to