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

Corran. "My people are good peo-ple, Horn. Decidedly trustworthy."
Aril Nunb chittered in Sullustan for a second, then trans-lated to Basic.
"Booster, Corran did not mean to suggest your people are untrustworthy-he stated
as much by noting we were not attacked here."
"I know what he was implying, Captain Nunb." Booster's frown deepened. "He's
CorSec, through and through, and a Horn on top of that. He assumes no one who's
ever moved a little contraband can be trusted."
Corran wanted to protest that he hadn't meant what Booster thought he did, but
he had to admit to himself that, deep down, he was suspicious of the smugglers
Booster had working on hauling supplies for them. In the past it would have been
simply because they were smugglers, and anyone who has once crossed the border
between lawful and lawless is likely to do it again and again. Because of that,
they can't be trusted, at least they can't from the point of view of some-one
who is lawful. Now, because I'm an outlaw, I know that isn't exactly true, but I
didn't suspect Erisi until too late, primarily because she was one of us.
Because that fact made me blind to her treachery, I want to avoid falling into
that same trap again.
He looked over at Booster. Of course, he'll never believe that.
Wedge rapped a knuckle on the table. "Enough, Booster. Aril's right, and no
matter what Corran might or might not think about your people, I know it's
nothing you've not al-ready thought a dozen times over about each of them. We're
in a tenuous situation here, and caution is vital for all of us. The fact is
that the leak probably did come through Karrde's people. Booster, I want you to
sort that out with him."
"Consider it done."
"Good. You'll let me know what Karrde says." Wedge looked up at Winter. "Last
topic: the Valiant. Any luck in learning anything about it?"
"A lot of luck, actually." Winter smiled heartily. "The Valiant is an
Alderaanian Thranta-class War Cruiser. All of them were supposed to have been
destroyed when Alderaan disarmed, but it seems as if Valiant and two other War
Cruis-
ers-Courage and Fidelity-were refitted with robotic con-trols and slaved to
accept commands from Another Chance. They were its escorts. One of them would
fly into the system before it, another would fly with it, and the third would
take another course to draw off pursuit. The trio of ships would change off, and
some of the damage on the exterior of the ship suggests it ran off more than one
pirate raid on Another Chance. If Emtrey can talk it into opening up its logs
we'll be able to confirm that idea."
Wedge gave her a big grin. "That's a lot of information tor so little time to
research the ship."
Winter's hair spread out in a white veil across her shoul-ders as she shook her
head. "Most of it is information I re-member from reading histories when I was
younger and by correlating little bits of data I picked up in the Organa
house-hold or when I worked with Princess Leia aiding her father. When the
Another Chance was recovered, it was clear that a massive power surge had fried
circuits, including the con-trollers for the external communication arrays that
allowed ship-to-ship communication. Since Valiant queried Tycho's X-wing when it
broadcast the Another Chance's IFF code, and followed his lead in picking
targets, the Valiant was clearly assigned to protect the Another Chance. Three
War Cruisers and a War Frigate frequently comprised a patrol in the Alderaanian