"Michael Stackpole "The Krytos Trap"" - читать интересную книгу автора

throughout the galaxy. He watched Borsk Fey'lya and
Wedge Antilles as they met in close conversation, then split
apart and wandered away. Everyone appeared more like toys
to him than they did real people. He found it easy to imagine
himself a titanic--no, Imperial--presence who had deigned
to be distracted by the actions of bugs.
He picked up the remote device from the table and
flicked it on. A couple of small lights flashed on the black
rectangle in his left palm, then a red button in the center of it
glowed almost benignly. His thumb hovered over it for a
second. He smiled, but killed the impulse to stab his thumb
down and gently returned the device to the table.




A year before he would have punch6d that button, deto-
nating the explosives his people had secreted around the me-
morial. With one casual caress he could have unleashed fire
and pain, wiping out a cadre of traitorous planetary officials
and eliminating Rogue Squadron. He knew, given a chance,
any of the SI operatives under his command would have
triggered the nergon 14 charges--as would the majority of
the military command staff still serving the Empire.
Loor did not. lsard had pointed out on numerous occa-
sions that before the Empire could be reestablished, the Re-
bellion had to die. She had pointed out that the Emperor's
obsession with destroying the Jedi Knights had caused him to
regard the rest of the Rebellion as a lesser threat, yet it had
outlived the Jedi and the Emperor. Only by destroying the
Rebellion would it be possible to reassert the Empire's au-
thority over the galaxy. Destroying the Rebellion required
methods more subtle than exploding grandstands and plan-
ets, accomplishing with a vibroblade what could not be done
with a Death Star.
Rogue Squadron could not be allowed to die, because
they were required for the public spectacle of Tycho Celchu's
trial. General Cracken had uncovered ample evidence that
pointed toward Celchu's guilt, and Loor had delighted in
clearing the way for Cracken's investigators to find yet more
of it. The evidence would be condemning, yet so obviously
questionable that the members of Rogue Squadron--all of
whom had indicated a belief in Tycho's innocence at one
level or another--would decry it as false. That would in-
crease the tension between the conquerors of Imperial Center
and the politicians who slunk in after the pilots had risked
their lives to secure the world. If the heroes of the Rebellion
could doubt and resent the government of the New Republic,
how would the citizenry build confidence in their leaders?
The Krytos virus further complicated things. Created by