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

УSo then you take full responsibility for it?Ф I could hear in his voice that he was setting a trap for me. УYou take full re-sponsibility for whatever happens to her?Ф УI do.Ф
Booster hesitated, then smiled coldly. УI think you'll find you don't much care for the consequences of your actions.Ф
Something struck me as odd about Booster at that point. He'd managed to fix blame fully and squarely on me, which meant he should have been venting all of his anger and frustra-tion on me, but he wasn't. He'd identified me as a target and had me dead to rights, and he held back. Why?
Then the answer slammed into me and I leaned forward. УI accept the consequences of my actions, and you want to know why? Because Mirax is my wife. Our vows make her life and happiness and safety my responsibility, and I've done what I could to acquit that responsibility. I would have liked nothing better than to have headed out after her immediately, but there was nowhere to go, nothing to do. General Cracken and his people were stymied, as was I. All I knew was that your daugh-ter lived, and as long as she lived, I could take the necessary steps to save her.Ф
Booster's expression hardened against the challenge in my words. УYou may think of her as your wife, but she's my daugh-ter, my flesh and blood, which makes me just as responsible for her as you are, CorSec. Don't try to steal that part of my life the way your father stole five years from me. If you do, you'll regret it.Ф
УMaybe, but not in the way you think I will.Ф I narrowed my eyes. УAnd as for your responsibility for Mirax, I just remem-bered something. In the past ten weeks, you've never tried to get a message to me asking after Mirax. You never even got a message to Wedge about her.Ф
I stood and leaned forward on his desk. УAll the concern you've showed for her has been from my ship to this office. And that tells me one thing, Booster: you knew! You k~ww all along that she was working for Cracken to track the Invids, didn't you? She probably worked from here, using the Errant Vc, ntttre as her base of operations.Ф
Booster laughed slowly. УI can see the Horn blood runs strong in those veins. Very good.Ф
His casual admission stunned me. He'd grabbed me, slammed me up against a bulkhead and all but accused me of having abandoned his daughter to whatever fate her enemies had in mind for her. Part of me wanted to reach across the desk and throttle him, while yet another part wanted to feed my anger through the Force and slam him up against the wall.
Neither of those parts won in the war for control. УWere you just beating up on me for fun?Ф
Booster shook his head solemnly. УWhen I realized Mirax was missing and heard you were off playing Jedi games, I was mad enough to come here to Yavin and beat you to within a micron of your life. A great chunk of me still is, but I respect your father enough to think you wouldn't abandon Mirax. Just now, in bracing you like this, I gave you a chance to put the blame for your actions on others. You didn't. Got to admire a man who accepts responsibility even when it might hurt.Ф
I straightened up, crossing my arms over my chest. УAnd your reason for this little test?Ф
УI didn't know how much your time down there changed you. I wanted to make sure you could still do what has to be done to save Mirax.Ф УWhat?Ф
УYou don't remember Corellian Jedi Knights, but I do. A bit.
I wasn't sure a Jedi would care for my daughter anymore.Ф
I stared at him in disbelief. УWhat gets taught at the academy doesn't make students less human.Ф
УTell that to the people of Carida.Ф
Echoes of their death agony pounded through me. УYou have a point.Ф
Booster nodded. УHow did you know I was testing you?Ф УAttitude and what I sensed about you. Smug satisfaction.Ф I shrugged. УYou also mentioned General Cracken and you couldn't have known why I'd be talking to him unless you knew Mirax was working with him. Since I didn't know that, and since she'd not confided in Wedge, I assumed she confided in you. You must have blistered Cracken's ears when you found out she was gone.Ф
Booster smiled like wampa scenting tauntaun. УTold him I'd found a cache of guns to put on this monster before I went hunting for Mirax myself.Ф
A fully armed Errant Venture was one of General Cracken's recurring nightmares, especially with Booster at the helm. УGet anything useful from him'?Ф
УNot much.Ф Booster scowled. УI know the galaxy is a big place, but she can't have vanished so completely.Ф УShe hasn't.Ф УWhat do you mean'?Ф
УA woman named Mara Jade . . .Ф
УKarrde's confederate?Ф
I nodded and sat back down. УThe same. She said she had inquiries from a rare properties dealer on Nal Hutta about a deal for an item that he'd been holding for Mirax. Mirax had bought an option on purchasing the item and she was supposed to pick it up within days of when she disappeared. Sounds to me like a legitimate deal she would have set up to bolster her cover when seeking the Invids.Ф
Booster smiled. УA number of the invid crews ship out of Nal Hutta, or used to, anyway. Lots have been moving in the last two months.Ф
УBecause Mirax's presence was proof positive that the New Republic was looking in that area.Ф
The older man stroked his goatee. УIt's as good a place as any to start. We'll be on our way within the hour.Ф УNo.Ф
Booster frowned at me. УNo? We have the first lead that's come up and you don't want to follow it up?Ф
УI want to follow it up, yes, and follow up the more impor-tant clue.Ф I laced my fingers together and pressed the index fingers against my moustache. УMirax is detected on Nal Hutta, captured and the Invid crews there scatter. This firmly estab-lishes a link between her capture and the Invids; and it also suggests she's being held to forestall my doing anything rash.Ф УYou won't be doing it, I will.Ф
I shook my head adamantly. УBooster, we won't find Mirax until we find the Invidious, and you're not going to have any more luck at finding it than the New Republic has. Tavira's got people who can use the Force. They will know when you're coming and they'll leave or, worse yet, they'll use their fully armed Impstar to blast the Ventttre to scrap.Ф
Booster pounded his fist in his open hand. УShe's my daugh-ter, CorSec, I have to do something!Ф
УI know that. She's my wife, and I have to do something, too.
I have to act, but not before I'm ready.Ф I leaned forward. УMeet me halfway, Booster. If you don't, she'll die, and neither one of us will be happy for the rest of our lives. In your case that won't be long because I'll kill you.Ф
Booster scoffed. УYou'll try.Ф
УThere is no try, Booster.Ф I let the edge bleed out of my voice. УI need you to do two things. First, use your network and get me as much data as you can about the Invid crews. I want to know who is shipping on what and out of where. If it gets to a point where we have to hit, I want to make sure we hit hard and hurt them badly.Ф
УDone.Ф Booster smiled. УKarrde may think he's the data-lord of the New Republic, but I've flipped bits he's not even aware exist.Ф УGood.Ф
My father-in-law picked up the holocube and froze a recent shot of Mirax so she smiled at both of us. УWhat's the other thing?Ф
I tried to sound nonchalant. УGet me into CoreIlia and out again.Ф
Booster lost his grip on the holocube, dropping it to the desk. УGet you in past the Diktat's watchmen? And out again? Have you lost what little mind you have?Ф
УI hope not, because if I have, neither one of us will see your daughter again.Ф I stood and held my lightsaber aloft. УIt's go-ing to be a Corellian Jedi that saves your daughter, and unless I get home and back out again, there just flat out aren't going to be any Corellian Jedi around to do the job.Ф
My perspective as a member of the Corellian Security Force had never really led me to a proper appreciation for how well Booster Terrik operated. Our animosity had shielded me from his professionalism. Now, with his being galvanized by his effort to find and save his daughter, Booster pushed himself into overdrive with truly remarkable results.
Securing for me false identification documents took less time than I would have imagined. Booster's people accessed a data-base of pre-existing dataphantoms and merely attached my ho-lographs to them. Using the Destroyer's own Imperial-issue document fabrication machinery, I had three sets of documents in no time. One for getting me onto CoreIlia, one for walking around on CoreIlia and a third for getting me back out.
I smiled. The Rebellion's insertion of Rogue Squadron onto Coruscant hadn't provided documentation this good.
After that Booster sent me to the middle of the three Уlux-uryФ deck levels on board. These decks were each fitted out with a variety of establishments suited to the clientele allowed access to them. The lowest of the decks made pestholes like Mos Eisley look luxurious. On Black Level the denizens con-sisted mostly of out-of-work crews, poor folks looking for cheap transit, criminals, petty thieves, swindlers and con men. I'm not exactly certain why Booster allowed them on his ship, but even they might have information he could sell elsewhere.
Blue Level, where he sent me, was a bit more respectable than Treasure Ship Row down in Coronet City on CoreIlia. I saw just enough unsavory characters-Boba Fett wannabes, Han Solo wannabes and, albeit too few, Princess Leia wan-nabes. Mostly I saw traders and dealers and adventurous sorts who seemed to find shipping aboard a fearsome Star Destroyer thrilling. And Traders' Alley-the cash-only bazaar-meant one could always find something thrilling here.
Of major import on this level was the central courtyard area. It actually linked up with Diamond Level above it through a massive refitting effort that cored through three decks in the heart of the ship. In this airy well each day was displayed a brilliant holographic presentation of the Thyferra campaign. I noticed that Booster's role, and that of the Errant Venture, were expanded, and that my role was all but eliminated. That niggled a little bit, but I decided the presentation was theatrical not historical, so hyperbole was bound to creep in.
On Blue Level I visited a tailor who scanned me and started fabricating clothes that would fit my identities. I had him double-check the measurement on my collar. It would have been just like Booster to have him trim three or six centimeters off so I'd choke my way through my trip. The tailor, a Sullustan, cheebled at me that he'd never do such a thing-proper fit was his stock in trade, after all.
Booster's final effort to get me onto Corellia was a master-work. He wouldn't even let me up on Diamond Level-he said just having someone from CorSec on Blue Level was dampen-ing the hedonistic abandon of luxury passengers-but he found me help up there. He convinced a Corellian couple that the only real way to feel the illicit thrill of being a smuggler was trying to smuggle something onto CoreIlia. He went so far as to say that even though they were Corellians, he didn't think they could pull it off. They demanded he let them try. He demurred. They pressed. He relented, after they bribed him, and even thanked him for finding them replacement crew members for two of their yacht crew who had run into trouble in a Black Level entertainment establishment.
I had no idea what the couple was smuggling, aside from me, but watching them pretend to be smugglers was rather amusing. When we arrived at the Coronet City spaceport, they decided to brazen out their effort by dumping a hefty bribe on the Customs inspector who greeted them. The inspector, taken aback by the bribe, began to question them closely. His col-leagues in Immigration were intrigued with what was going on, and undoubtedly wanted their share of his bribe, so they passed the crew through without more than cursory glances at our identification, then zeroed in on the couple.