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

Kueller had to remember that Brakiss was strong in the Force as well.
Kueller turned, his cape swirling around him. He almost appeared to fly.
The skull-like mask that adhered to his face shone with its own internal
light. "I suppose you want to return to your paltry job." "It's warm on Telti.
" "It could be warm here," Kueller said.
Brakiss shook his head almost involuntarily. He hated Almania.
"Your problem is that you do not understand the power of hate," Kueller
said, his voice soft.
"I thought you said my problem is that I serve two masters." Kueller
smiled, the thin lips on his mask moving with his mouth. "Is it only two?" The
words hung between them. Brakiss's entire body felt as if it were made of ice.
"It worked," he said again.
"I suppose you expect to be rewarded." "You promised." "I never promise,"
Kueller said. "I imply." Brakiss crossed his arms over his chest. He would not
get angry. Kueller wanted him to be angry. "You implied great wealth." "So I
did," Kueller said. "Do you deserve great wealth, Brakiss?" Brakiss said
nothing. Kueller had put him together after Yavin 4, after the disastrous
debriefing that had nearly cost Brakiss the rest of his sanity. But Brakiss
had long since repaid his debt. He only stayed because he had nowhere else to
go.
He pushed off the wall and started down the stairs. "I'm going back to
Telti," he said, feeling defiant.
"Good," Kueller said. "But you will give me the remote first." Brakiss
stopped and looked at Kueller over his shoulder. Kueller had grown taller in
the last hour. Taller and broader.
Or perhaps that was a trick of the darkness.
If Brakiss had faced any other mortal, he would have asked how Kueller
knew about the remote. But Kueller was not any other mortal.
Brakiss held out the remote. "It's slower than the controls I built you."
"Fine." "You have to set the security codes. You have to instruct it which
serial numbers to follow." "I'm sure I can do that." "You have to link it to
you." "Brakiss, I can operate remotes." "All right," Brakiss said. He braced
himself as he moved inside the stone hut. It was warmer in there, out of the
wind.
He didn't believe Kueller was letting him leave so easily.
"What do you want from me, when I return to Telti?" Brakiss asked.
"Skywalker," Kueller said, his voice thrumming with the depth of his
hatred. "The great Jedi Master, Luke the invincible Skywalker." The chill had
reached Brakiss's heart. "What do you plan to do with him?" "Destroy him,"
Kueller said. "Just as he tried to destroy us."


TWO

Luke Skywalker was balanced on one hand, his fingers deep in the
moist jungle earth. Sweat dripped down his naked back, onto his face, and off
his nose and chin. His feet were bare, but he wore an old pair of tight pants
that clung to his damp skin. R2-D2 floated in the air above him, along with
several boulders and a half-rotted tree. Some of Luke's students were gathered
around him, half a dozen members of his youngest and most powerful class.