"Michael Stackpole "The Bacta War"" - читать интересную книгу автора

a significant texture in the bumps and recesses the mining process had left
behind. The room's furnishings-characterized by Karrde's desk- were heavy and
blocky, more of an industrial grade than they were elegant. Despite that,
however, the artifacts and items displayed on shelves and atop tables, did
provide an air of sophistication to the surroundings. Mirax noted on the
side-board a cut-crystal decanter full of a pale green liquid and four goblets,
prompting a smile.
Karrde's gaze followed hers and he gave her a slight nod. "Might I offer you
some of the wine I paid so dearly for? The best is a dry green from Aldera."
Mirax nodded. "Please." She glanced at her father.
Booster perched in his chair as if it were a slender pole and he was a bird
topping it, but he nodded. "Thank you."
Karrde poured from the crystalline decanter. It looked to Mirax to be of Quarren
manufacture. She knew from the styling it came from Mon Calamari, but the purple
tint to the glass told her the Quarren had made it, not the Mon Cals.
Quarren crystal rarely makes it off Mon Calamari. Karrde definitely fishes for
items with a very wide and fine net.
She accepted her glass of wine from Karrde, then raised her glass with the
others as Karrde offered a toast. "May the bargaining be as sweet as the profit
and the next deal not long in coming."
In tasting the wine Mirax found it very dry, but surpris-ingly tart without
being truly sour. "Perfect with game."
Karrde sat at his desk and nodded. "I've heard it said this vintage was
originally intended for a banquet featuring krayt dragon."
"Oh? What happened, too much wine and not enough
krayt?"
"No, too much krayt and not enough hunter." Karrde held the glass up and let
light sparkle through the wine's receding legs. "The wine was ordered prior to
the hunt. The dragon got the hunter, and the widow used the vintage at the
memorial service. The wine won praises and since has been a very popular
vintage. This particular year was considered very good, but the wine laid down
the year of Alderaan's demise was supposed to be even better."
Booster cleared his voice. "It's amazing what you know, Karrde. I'm very
impressed. I was wondering if your encyclo-pedic knowledge includes where I can
get some supplies I need."
Karrde's blue eyes narrowed slightly. "You need or things Wedge Antilles needs?"
"They're things that are needed, Karrde." Booster brought his hands together.
"Let's trim some parsecs off the course of this conversation, shall we? You know
I think of you like the son I never had."
Karrde snorted. "Like the son you never had killed."
Mirax suppressed a laugh, and her father smiled. "True, I've not forgotten how
you managed to pick up pieces of my network while I was harvesting spice on
Kessel. That did an-ger me, but it also convinced me that Mirax was right in
wanting me to retire."
"Yet here you are bargaining for Antilles and his band of mercenaries."
Booster frowned. "They're not mercenaries."
"No?"
Mirax shook her head. "Actually, to be mercenaries, they'd have to be paid.
They're doing what they're doing be-cause of obligations they feel to the Vratix
and others."