"Aaron Allston "Iron Fist" (STARWARS. X-Wing #6)" - читать интересную книгу автора

"He would enjoy playing the hero. Hero of the Empire."
"Certainly. Why else make all these very public assaults on New Republic colonies and outposts? It's not all for their strategic value. They're not all valuable, and he could do more damage by being sneaky. It's to show somebody that he's a warrior. His audience, whoever that is." She bent over, press-ing her head to her knees, then straightened, arms high in the air, and began repeating the motion.
Tyria sighed. "She's exercising. We have a compulsive exerciser."
Shalla didn't look up. "Just stretching. I get leg cramps when I'm in the cockpit too long."
Kell said, "Her sister is like that, too. Always in motion. Want to drive her completely insane? Tie her to a chair for an hour."



Shalla straightened and gave him her most wicked smile.
"Try it, Lieutenant."
"No, thanks."
Wedge stood so fast that his chair slammed back into his office wall. "You promised her what?"
Phanan and Face were already standing. Face said, "We promised her nothing-except that we'd look into it."
"Gentlemen, this is a matter for New Republic Intelli-gence. Hand it off to General Cracken's people."
Face looked uneasy. "With all due respect, sir, Cracken's
people haven't noticed this man yet. That means he might have
a friend, a fellow officer, in Intelligence, covering for him. If
he's stolen spacecraft before, and we have no reason to suspect
he hasn't-"
"Or any knowledge that he has."
"True. But if he's stolen spacecraft before, having a friend
in Cracken's group would account for the failure of any inves-tigation to turn up evidence against him. If we turn this over to Intelligence, we may just be giving him advance warning so he can cover his tracks, play the good little officer for a couple of years... and then go back to stealing things and luring young, struggling officer candidates into his employ."
Wedge considered that. "If you carry out this little opera-tion, Cracken's people may decide they don't care for us very much. For intruding on their territory."
Phanan nodded. "That's a possibility. But another possi-
bility is that we can do this without even alerting anyone it is
an 'operation.' Let's say Lara Notsil gets into flight school on
the recommendation of a dashing, preposterously attractive pi-
lot she met in the hospital on Borleias-"
"One of Blue Squadron's pilots, I assume."
"Thank you for that vote of confidence, sir. Anyway, she
goes through training, Repness starts his shenanigans. Lara calls in her old friend from the hospital, they expose Repness immediately. That's the story, and it'll hold up to most scrutiny."
"To casual scrutiny, maybe." Scowling, Wedge finally re-
sumed his seat. Phanan and Face looked a little more relieved and sat as well.
Wedge continued, "But the likelihood is that we'll be on assignment elsewhere when her troubles with Repness begin. Are you planning on resigning from Wraith Squadron to stay here near her?"
"No. But Face here is going to deposit some credits in an
account for her to use for HoloNet access. Whenever it hap-
pens, she can get in touch with us almost immediately-"
"Assuming we're not undercover."
"Assuming that, yes. I'll leave instructions for her for
what to do if she can't reach us. But if she can, we'll find out who's on Coruscant, someone we trust that she can depend on. There's bound to be somebody. There's always somebody."
Phanan gave his commander a diffident little shrug. "You
might even be able to call on Princess Leia Organa-"
"Absolutely not. She's a busy, busy woman. Besides, she's gone on some diplomatic mission nobody will talk about."
"Just a thought. Anyway, if we're not here to help Lara through the endgame, we'll put her in the hands of a friend who is. And that will be the end of it." "Except for her career."
Both of the other pilots nodded.
Wedge leaned back, away from them. "All right, you two.
I'll give you this. If she carries out this operation, I'll consider her for transfer to one of my squadrons. And I'll base my ac-ceptance or refusal of her completely on my own evaluation of her skills and her character. Not on her academy records, not on her participation in your operation. She has to be fit to fly as a Rogue or a Wraith... but if she is, the next time I have a slot available I'll take her. That's the best I can do."
They took that as a signal and rose. "That's the best we could hope for," Phanan said. "Thank you, sir."
"Dismissed."
When they'd gone, Wedge said to the empty air, "Wes,