"Michael Stackpole "I, Jedi"" - читать интересную книгу автора

УA truism I once lived by.Ф The shade descended from the ceiling and stood at the foot of my bed. УI was once like you, a mere man filled with ambitions.Ф
I sat up and snorted. УIf you're the ~after' holegraph, I'm not interested.Ф
УQuite droll, Keiran, not as full of anger or fear as the oth-ers.Ф Exar Kun's obsidian gaze bored into me. I tried to armor my mind against him the way I had with Mara Jade, but he was in and out too quickly for me to stop him. УYou have more experience and more maturity. You are a riper fruit.Ф
УBut not to be plucked by you.Ф I drew my knees up and hugged them to my chest. УYou continue to misjudge me if you think there is anything I want from you.Ф
УOh, there is, you just don't realize it.Ф A confident grin twisted his ebon features. He gestured casually with his right hand and a window opened in the air, hanging there in the center of my room. Within its confines I saw an Imperial Star Destroyer and I knew I was looking at the hn'idious. It looked more worn than it had in the image General Cracken had showed me, but battle damage had far from crippled it. Swarms of Tri-figlnters cruised around it on picket duty.
Tlne image zoomed in, closing on the bridge, and exploded in through the forward view' port. There stood Leonia Tavira, a bit older than Cracken's image of her, but all the more beautiful for it. She wore her black hair longer, so it fell to the swell of her breasts. Her figure had become less gangling and more rounded-while still petite, she had developed symmetrically so without other things or people around to judge scale, she ap-peared perfectly normal. Her violet eyes gleamed with a feral cunning tlmt sizzled electrically through the image I was being sinown.
The long-dead Sith Lord laughed lightly. УI can give you the power to destroy the Invids. Wipe them out. Or . . .Ф The im-age of Leonia brightened slightly. УI can give you the power to possess her and rule beside her. I will use the two of you as the focal point for a new Empire that I will spread throughout the galas?
I felt a stirring in my loins, then forced myself to laugh and shake my head. УIt's been a while for me, and she's pretty, but I'm not interested.Ф
УNo, of course, you are not. You are a man of duty. Still here, on the hlvidious, there are things you want.Ф
The image pulled back a bit and slid over to center itself on an armored figure standing well back of Tavira. Two meters tall and apparently male, he wore a grey cloak over steel-grey ar-mor. The armor looked as if it were made of the same plasteel used in stormtrooper armor, but had been shaped differently and layered with another material that provided texture and the grey color. The styling appeared more natural and primi-tive, as if designed to mimic the armored hide of some animal. Tlds remained true of the facemask the figure wore. Serpentine styling and diagonal eye slits gave it a very viperish cast.
As soon as I saw him I knew he was the reason the Invidious could remain hidden. As I watched, his head came up and he stared straight out at me. His head then dipped and the image faded for a moment. Then I saw him striding forward toward Tarira. He gestured and she began shouting orders that started a fiurrv of activity.
Exar Kun yawned. УHe is the true foe you seek. He is respon-sible for her successes. With my power you can defeat him, supplant him, do with her what you wish.Ф
'TI1 get there without your help at all, Exar Kun.Ф
The shade's voice sharpened. УPerhaps, but you will not get here without it.Ф
The image he presented me shifted and my stomach im-ploded. I saw Mirax lying on a bier, very much like Master Skywalker above us. A soft silver light bathed her. Her arms rested at her sides and she looked as if she were just napping. The only anomalous feature in the image was a small grey band resting on her forehead, pulsing with red and green lights. She looked very peaceful, and try as I might, I could sense no dis-tress from her.
And nothing else.
УI can give her to you. I can tell you exactly where she is.Ф Exar Kun shaped his face into what he thought was a compas-sionate expression. У5bu know the Force allows me to show you the past, the present, the future. This is where she is, your wife, right now. Hidden away, where you will never find her without my help.Ф
УAnd what would you have me do for your help?Ф
УKill Skywalker.Ф
I smiled. УMirax's life for his'? No deal.Ф
УYou want more?Ф The Dark Lord laughed defiantly. УI can give you more, I will give you more. I will give you your wife and Tarira. You can have her ship and destroy her fleet. You can destroy your father-in-law's ship. You can return to Corellia and destroy those who hate you there!Ф
I shook my head. УNo.Ф
УNo?Ф
УNo.Ф I sighed. УYou don't get it, do you? You've already lost and you're continuing down that losing path. Haven't the last four thousand years taught you anything?Ф
УI know more than you could ever hope to learn in four thousand years or forty thousand years.Ф
УThat may be. but I know the one thing you don't.Ф I rose from my bed and pointed a finger at him. УYou're never going to win. You destroy those who oppose you, and what does that leave you'?Ф
УThe faithful.Ф
УFrom among whom arises a rival. You halve a schism.Ф
УAnd I destroy the heretics.Ф
УYes, you do.Ф I nodded carefully. УAnd again and again that cycle repeats itself and you let it go on because you've forgotten the most fundamental truth of reality: Life creates the Force. When Kyp destroyed Carida, he diminished your power. When you destroyed Gantoris, you diminished your power. You're a predator over-grazing your prey, but you can't stop because the dark side fills you with this aching hunger that will never be satisfied.Ф
УHa!Ф Exar Kun's laughter slashed at me, but sounded just a bit too shrill. УYou cannot speak of the dark side until you have experienced it. Join me and learn that you are wrong.Ф
УI don't think so. A ]~,vo-Onebee droid doesn't need to con-tract a disease to diagnose and treat it.Ф I folded my arms across my chest and laughed at him. УI'm not fodder for your fantasies, go away.Ф
Exar Kun lifted his head. УI came to you, now, inviting you to join me. I would have given you much. When next you come to me, and you will, I shall not be so generous.Ф
As he spoke the image of Mirax began to fade, but it did so in a most horrible way. I watched her lying there, aging years for every passing second. Her dark hair became grey and brit-tle, then fell out in clumps. Her flesh became ashen, her eyes sunken. Her body puddled out through the seams of her cloth-ing, then they split, letting me see bare bones. A gust of wind came up, scattering them, spinning her skull around like a child's toy. Finally it came to rest, gap-toothed, staring at me with empty sockets.
I blinked the image away and found myself alone again. I sat back down on my bed and discovered I was trembling. It surprised me, so I made myself laugh. I had to push at first, but it came more easily. The warm sound filled my small room and I swore I could hear the echoes of laughter that Biggs, Wedge and Porkins had shared in here. They had laughed because they knew they had the secret of destroying the Death Star.
I laughed along with them. Exar Kun had come to me to entice me to join him. What he didn't know, what fueled my laughter even more, was that in doing so, he gave me the secret of destroying him.
I hoped for a moment alone with Leia Organa Solo to tell her what I'd discovered about Exar Kun, but between her caring for her children and the unexpected arrival of a B-wing fighter, I had no chance to speak with her. I wanted to talk to her alone because I was operating on the assumption that the dark man might have gotten to other of the students. She'd not been on Yavin long enough to fall under his sway, and I had no doubt that she'd be able to resist him. Letting everyone know that I had a way to hurt Kun was a good way to let him know that, too, and that would rob us of our weapon.
The pilot of the B-wing turned out to be a Mon Calamari named Terpfen, who blubbered out a confession about having been an agent under Imperial control who had betrayed to the Imps the location of the world Anoth, where Winter and the youngest Organa Solo child, Anakin, had been sent for safe keeping. He urged Leia to head immediately for Anoth, but she said she didn't know its coordinates. Only Winter, Master Skywalker and Admiral Ackbar did. She determined to head immediately for Mon Calamari to find Ackbar, and then off to rescue her youngest child.
While the other students took charge of the twins and helped Terpfen recover from his journey, I caught up with her in the Great Temple. УCouncilor Organa Solo, I need to speak with you.Ф
УMake it brief. I'm heading out as soon as I can get my stuff together.Ф
I hit the button for the turbolift. УYou can't go with Terpfen.
He's a known traitor.Ф
She preceded me into the lift. УI can handle myself on that count.Ф
УDespite the assurances that Ambassador Cilghal gave you that we can protect your twins, you can't leave them here.Ф
Her brown eyes sparked dangerously. УSo, what, I load them into a fighter with a known traitor and take them off to a world where Imperial assassins are going to be trying to kill them?Ф
УNo, but leaving them here, where a four-thousand-year-old Dark Lord of the Sith is turning apprentices into puppets isn't much of a choice, either.Ф I shook my head. УYou don't know any of us. How can you trust all of us with your kids'?Ф
УI can't trust all of you.Ф She poked a finger square in my chest. УI'm trusting you.Ф УWhat?Ф
Her expression sharpened as the lift doors opened and she started down the hall to her room. УWhen my husband left here, he said I could trust you. Not an easy man to earn trust from, my husband. That got me wondering and you'd be sur-prised what the president of the New Republic can learn when she's curious and has got a HoloNet connection. The fact that my brother picked you to be here counts a lot in your favor, but the rest of your record doesn't hurt at all. I think my children are safe with Corran Horn.Ф
УLook, since you know who I am, let me fly you to Mon Calamari. I'm a hot hand with a fighter. I can help when you oct to Anoth.Ф
She shook her head. УCan't do it-and that's because I do know who you are. I know that if you wanted to be my chauf-feur, you'd not have come to me privately. You want something else, and I'm willing to bet that something else means you're going to be staying here. Let me have it.Ф