"Michael Stackpole "I, Jedi"" - читать интересную книгу автора
УSome sort, yes.Ф She gave me a disgusted look and plucked at her clothes. УWe arrive here and he offers to get me more suitable attire, carting away what little of a wardrobe I already have. The tailor here sent up to my suite a whole rack of gowns and other things Lando wishes I'd wear around him. I retaliated by raiding his clothes closet. He's got good taste in fabric, but the tunics are a bit tight in the shoulders for me.Ф I laughed. УI bet he loves that.Ф
УHe doesn't, which is why I'll keep borrowing his stuff from time to time.Ф The slight hint of a smile on her face slowly died. УHow was Luke when you left the academy?Ф
I shrugged. УPhysically he's recovered from his ordeal.Ф
Mara gave me a sidelong glance. УMentally?Ф
УHe's got questions, some of which he knows he has, some which he doesn't.Ф I folded my arms across my chest. УHe was pleased that you checked to make certain he was going to be all right before you left Yavin 4; but he was confused that you didn't stay until he was up and about again. You actually spent more time with me during my recovery than you did with him.Ф
Her head came up. УHe doesn't think there's something be-tween you and me, does he?Ф
УI saw no indication of that being the case.Ф I smiled and started walking over to the Headhunter. УHe knows the two of us and knows it would never work between us. You and I, we can be comrades in arms and even friends.Ф
УRight, but inside we're coiled springs that are wound in the opposite directions.Ф Her smile struggled back onto her face as she fell into step with me. УIf we got close, it'd be an awful mess.Ф
I nodded. УAnd we'd end up broken.Ф
УAnd then your wife would kill us.Ф
УAnother good point.Ф I shivered. УBack to your question, though: Luke is enthused about the academy and how well the students did in defeating Exar Kun. When I left, though, I did kind of give him a turbolaser critique of the school and, well, everything, I guess.Ф УEverything?Ф
I frowned and leaned against the Headhunter's forward land-ing gear. УLuke suggested that if I left the academy when I did, I'd be making a huge mistake and that I'd fall prey to the dark side. I pretty much let him have it, pointing out that I've been to the dark side and walked away plenty of times before. I think Luke worked so hard to win his father back, and then found himself won back by his sister's love that his perspective on the dark side is skewed.Ф
She watched me very closely. УWhat do you mean?Ф
I opened my arms. УLet's suppose Jedi are like everyone else except in their Force sensitivity. If they are, then there are going to be some folks who pretty much are born to the dark side and that's where they stay. They like it there and they never learn there is another place to go. Let's say this is ten percent of the population. Then there is another ten percent at the other end of the spectrum who start on the good side of things and just never head over toward the bad side.
УThe rest of us fall into the middle. Given the right stimulus, we could go over to the dark side, but the lure is going to have to be more substantial for some than for others. Luke went over to save the galaxy. I can imagine Darth Vader did the same thing. Both of them came back. The fact that Luke paid a high price for going over and coming back means that he feels every-one is as vulnerable as he was; and he worries a lot about that.Ф
I shrugged. УDealing with the dark side has been a big part of his life, especially his life as a Jedi. Of course it concerns him. Even so, to suggest everyone will make a journey to the dark side isn't clear thinking.Ф
УI understand what you're saying.Ф Mara nodded and reached up, tugging one of the monster claws from the Head-hunter's nose. УRemind me never to lend you anything else.Ф
УThe beastie that left that in the ship was thinking of making a snack of Luke.Ф I scratched at my beard. УDo you think he makes too much of the dark side?Ф
УHaving seen the Emperor work, I'm not sure one can over emphasize the dangers of the dark side.Ф Mara ran her thumb along the smooth top of the claw. УI think Luke may be looking for evil to be more profound than it is. You've seen it. Evil can be pretty plain.Ф
УTrue enough. Some may have a talent for it, but you don't have to be talented to wallow in it.Ф I glanced down. УYour thinking along these lines is not that far off my own. That was just part of why I left, however. I also couldn't stay with Kyp being heralded as a Jedi Knight while having avoided, in my mind, punishment for Carida and the other system he de-stroyed. I know that his going after unreconstructed Imperials is popular in some circles, but murder is murder in my memory cache.Ф
Mara's face became impassive. УIs that problem going to be one you can resolve?Ф
I shrugged. УI don't know. Maybe Carida expatriates will set up a judgment tribunal and render a verdict. I don't feel justice has been done here, but to tell the truth, I'm not sure what justice would be in such a case. That's all in the future, how-ever.'?
УSo the real reason you left the academy was to go after M irax?Ф
I nodded. УI had things to figure out and directions to travel to get me closer to her. On the way I visited CoreIlia, and I've got some data for you on that Jorj Car'das guy you asked about during my Bacta dip. It's all of CorSec's old files on him, if that will help.Ф
УI know, but at least I have a place to start.Ф I gave her as confident a smile as I could muster. УI may still be looking for a quark in a mole of deuterium, but I'm narrowing the area I have to search in and right now that's solid progress. I'll get there; I'll find her. No try, just do.Ф
The positively jubilant expres-sion on Booster's face reminded me of previously painful situa-tions where he'd managed to find a way to embarrass me in front of my wife. Since there were no other witnesses in his office, however, I suspected that look of malevolent glee was reserved for someone else. He waved me in toward his desk. УCome on, I have something here.Ф
As I approached, he hit a button on the small datapad on which he worked, and a holoprojector popped up the image of a Corellian Corvette. УThis image comes from the data you pulled in when taking the Tinta Blue Seven out of the ambush. The Identify Friend/Foe transponder tagged this ship Captain's Ladder.Ф
I nodded. УI'm with you so far, but I have to note, that partic-ular IFF signal was undoubtedly used for that run alone.Ф
УWhy don't you just tell a Hutt how to smuggle spice?Ф Booster looked up at me through the hologram, his real eye rolling toward the ceiling. УSon, I was swapping out IFF tran-sponders on ships before your father even thought about hav-ing kids. As you know, IFF isn't the only way to identify a ship. The readings you got here were good enough that my people managed a spectral analysis of the ship's sublight ion exhaust. If you get a good reading, and these were very good, you can get a fairly unique analysis for the ship, and that can be matched against other ships' data to pick out a match.Ф
УAnd you found one?Ф
Booster nodded and hit another button on his datapad. An-other image of the corvette appeared beside the first, with both of them slowly rotating to show off every detail. УIt's the Back-stab.Ф
I closed my eyes for a second. УThe name's familiar but I can't place it.Ф
УThe Eyttyrmin Batiiv pirates operating out of the Khuiumin system owned her. They got busted up in an Imperial opera-tion-fewer than three hundred out of the eight thousand pi-rates in the gang survived the Imp strike. Jacob Nive, the Backstab's captain, became the leader by default. The Survi-vors, as they call themselves, went merc for a bit, striking at Imps, but with the death of the Emperor they've reverted to their pirate ways and the discipline Nive instituted has slack-ened. They are part of the Invids and have provided Tavira with some of her best clutch pilots.Ф
I stroked my goatee. УAnyone surviving the band's slaughter had to be a hot hand. I can see why Tavira is happy to have allied with them. Any idea where they are?Ф
УI have a very good one. The Khuiumin system was too dan-gerous for them after the Imps hit them, so they were basing themselves near their employers. Now, with Nal Hutta proving to be a place where some Invids are known to ship from, Nive and his people have gone back to Khuiumin, basing themselves on the fourth planet again. A number of other ships and crews have gone there, too, which leads me to believe it is the new Invid base.Ф
I leaned on the back of the chair by Booster's desk. УMost people deserted the world after the Imps broke the pirates, right?Ф
УSure, all except those who couldn't afford passage or couldn't afford to be spotted on a more civilized world. With the pirates' return, the folks required to supply goods and ser-vices are flowing back there.Ф Booster smiled. УI figure we cruise in, threaten to vape a city, and get them to produce Mirax.Ф
I frowned. УYou aren't serious?Ф
УCorran, the Eyttyrmin Batiiv pirate company died when two Imp Victop;-class Destroyers hammered them. This is an Imp-star Deuce. The Survivors'11 cave.Ф
УI don't think that's the plan we want to use, Booster.Ф I shook my head slowly. УI don't think they know where Mirax is, but I do think they're a spacelane for getting there.Ф
Booster sat back, putting his big booted feet up on his desk. УSo, you think you'll just meander on in there, ask some ques-tions, get some answers and leave again? I don't believe it-no way your father could have had a kid who is so dumb.Ф
I suppressed a growl. УFirst off, I'm not and he didn't. Sec-ond, I don't lecture you on IFF transponders, you don't lecture me on infiltrating a criminal organization.Ф
Booster held his hands up. 'Tll grant you that you've got experience in hutting your way in where you aren't wanted, but these pirates aren't dewback-drivers. They're hard and nasty and have all their bytes in the right place and locked down tight. I don't know if they can outfly you, but most of them probably have as many combat hours as you do. They're close to the top of the Invid food chain, so walking in there will be tough.Ф
УThen I'll just have to be tougher.Ф I straightened up and gave him a wink. УDon't worry, Booster, I know how to soften them up. I'll just bring Jacob Nive a big welcoming present and he should be happy to see me.Ф
The fourth planet in the Khuiumin system was called Courkrus for reasons known only to those who had settled it a long time ago. The largest city, Vlarnya, toward which I flew, looked like the morning after of a party that had been interrupted by a sandstorm. The world itself was not entirely arid, though the section where Vlarnya had been located really was. Irrigation and modern agricultural techniques had allowed farms to spring up in the area, but once the pirates left and the economy collapsed, the area had largely reverted to being a dustbowl.
Still, it was the dustbowl that had spaceport facilities, so that was where I headed. I didn't bother to comm down for landing permits or berthing rights; I just did a flyby, picked a docking bay and settled down into it. This seemed to alarm some indi-viduals, but since that was the purpose of the exercise, I was pleased with the effect. I shut the Tinta Blue's main drive down, opened the gangway, then wandered out of the cockpit and settled into the Premier cabin. I helped myself to a lomin-ale, sat back and watched the local holochannels on the entertain-ment monitor.
Booster and I had discussed how the theft of the shuttle should be handled. I felt bad about taking it, but sending a message to Siolle to explain could have resulted in the search for it being called off. If the Survivors learned that the shuttle hadn't been stolen, my cover would collapse. We settled on Booster getting word to my grandfather about what had hap-pened, then my grandfather would decide how to proceed from there.
It didn't take that long for several of the Survivors to storm the ship with blasters drawn. I gave them a smile, raised my ale toward them, then drained my glass. They didn't seem to find this as amusing as I did, so they hauled me out of the shuttle and through the streets to a building that, despite the collapse of the east wing, looked impressive enough to have once been very important. They took me up some stairs and around to a grand office, where I was unceremoniously plunked down in a chair and my identification card was tossed onto a big desk.
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