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

Wedge shook his head. "No. Time is of the essence."
"But, Wedge, sir, begging your pardon, if we do that, then Isard will know where
we are. The Lusankya and the Virulence could be here just twenty-four hours
after we get back with the convoy." Corran frowned and rubbed a hand over his
wrinkled brow. "I thought Booster determined that someone in Karrde's
organization provided Isard with the data to set up the Alderaan ambush. You're
practically invit-ing Isard here."
Booster smiled. "No practically about it, Corran, we are inviting her here."
"But you can't do that! Even if this station were bristling with missile
launchers, there's no way we could take down a Super Star Destroyer and an
Impstar deuce."
Wedge shook his head. "I understand your protest, Cor-ran, but you're not privy
to the plans Booster, Tycho, and I have put together for dealing with Isard and
her fleet. You do know we've been taking her forces apart bit by bit, which
certainly was part of our overall plan, but we had to make decisions about what
to do if Iceheart forced our hand, and she has."
"Then tell me what the plans are so I don't think you've lost your minds."
"Can't do that, CorSec." Booster flipped his datapad
closed with a click. "You're going to go out and get the con-voy and bring it
here. If Isard decides to act early and take our pilots hostage, she can't
torture out of you information you don't have."
Wedge nodded in agreement. "And I need you to lead the escort flight because
Isard and her agent would not believe we were on the level if you or Tycho or I
did not bring the flight in. I don't want to cut you out like this, but the less
you know, the less you can reveal."
Corran felt his flesh tighten around little goose bumps and a wave of weariness
wash over him. "I hear what you're saying, Wedge, but are you certain this is
going to work?"
Booster roared with laughter. "Certain? Certain? Of course he's not certain. The
man who would only bet on certainty has no guts."
"I have plenty of guts, Booster, but I don't like risking them, or my life, or
the lives of my friends, if I don't have to. Certainty, or as close as I can get
to it, is what I want."
"And you call yourself a Corellian?" The big man snorted derisively as he sat
back in his chair. "No wonder you joined CorSec."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I thought it was obvious, CorSec. If you had the guts for life-if you were even
to imagine yourself worthy of my daughter-you wouldn't have spent your life in
service to the Empire's puppet. You played it safe when men with real cour-age
were out there defying the government."
Corran's fatigue melted as his anger grew. "Oh, you're going to use the
smugglers are really patriots story to excuse your greed? Let me tell you
something, Booster Terrik, you can think of yourself as a noble scoundrel if you
want, but the fact is you were out for money when you were running ship-ments,
nothing more. The fact that you didn't pay taxes on what you imported, the fact
that you broke laws, might mark you as some sort of protester against the
government in the eyes of some, but I know the truth. You were just a
crimi-nal-not as violent or bad as some others, but a criminal just the same.
And those taxes you didn't pay were the kind of taxes that build roads, maintain
spaceports, and educate kids.