"Survivors Quest (Timothy Zahn)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

"Thank you," Talon Karrde said, turning back toward the crew pits and
trying hard not to blame Booster for the state his equipment was in. An
Imperial Star Destroyer was a huge amount of ship to take care of, and Booster
never had nearly enough personnel to do the job right. "H'sishi?" he called.
"Go."
[Yes, Chieftain,] the Togorian called back from the comm board, her fur
fluffing slightly as her clawed fingers touched the keys. [Transmission
complete. Shall I begin alerting the rest of the network now?]
"Yes," Karrde said. "Thank you."
H'sishi nodded and returned her attention to the board.
With that, Karrde knew, he'd done all he could for the moment. Turning
again to face the stars, he folded his arms across his chest and tried hard to
cultivate his patience. "It'll be all right," Booster murmured from beside
him. "We'll be around this star in half an hour and be able to jump to
lightspeed. We can be in the Domgrin system in two standard days, tops."
"Assuming the hyperdrive doesn't break down again." Karrde waved a hand.
"Sorry. I'm just?you understand."
"Sure," Booster said. "But relax, all right? This is Luke and Mara we're
talking about, not some fresh-hatched Neimoidian grubs. Whatever's going on,
they're not going to be caught flat-footed."
"Maybe," Karrde said. "Though even Jedi can be surprised." He shook his
head. "But that's not the point, is it? The point is that I messed up. I don't
like it when that happens."
Booster shrugged his massive shoulders. "Like any of the rest of us do?"
he asked pointedly. "You have to face the facts, Karrde, and Fact Number One
is that you simply can't know everyone who works for you anymore."
Karrde glared out at the mockingly cheerful red ship stretched out in
front of him. But Booster was right. This whole thing had gotten completely
out of hand.
He'd started out modestly enough, merely offering to provide timely
information to the leaders of the New Republic and Empire so that both sides
could be assured that the other wasn't plotting against them. And for the
first couple of years everything had gone just fine.
The trouble had come when the various planetary and sector governments
within the New Republic had woken up to the benefits of this handy service and
decided they wanted aboard, too. After the near civil war that had broken out
over the Caamas Document, Karrde hadn't really felt like turning them down,
and with permission from his clients on Coruscant and Bastion he'd gone ahead
and expanded his operations.
Which naturally meant expanding his personnel as well. In retrospect, he
supposed, it had only been a matter of time before something like this
happened. He just wished it hadn't happened to Luke and Mara. "Maybe not," he
told Booster. "But even if I can't handle everything personally, it's still my
responsibility."
"Ah," Booster said knowingly. "So it's your pride that's hurt, is it?"
Karrde eyed his old friend. "Tell me, Booster. Has anyone ever told you
you're truly irritating when you try to be sympathetic?"
"Yeah, the subject's come up once or twice," Booster said, grinning. He
slapped Karrde's back. "Come on. Let's go down to the Transis Corridor and
I'll buy you a drink."