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

What you did was deny them their due, and provide the con-traband that allowed
organizations like Black Sun and Hutt bands to thrive on our world."
Corran thrust a finger directly at Booster. "And as for being worthy of your
daughter, I'm the worthiest man you ever met. Every gram of character you think
you have, she does have. And brains, too, and courage. And even you, Booster
Terrik, don't want to see her hooking up with a man who has your morals and
standards."
Booster rose from behind his desk, his hands balled into fists. "And if you were
the man you think you are, Corran Horn, you'd not have abandoned her on
Thyferra."
"Abandoned her?" Corran's mind flashed back to his mad dash into the refresher
station and his fight with the stormtroopers. I didn't abandon her. "You want to
talk aban-donment? I left for five seconds to save her life. You left her for
five years, Booster, or have you forgotten your vacation on Kessel?"
"A 'vacation' your father got for me, Horn."
Wedge stood abruptly and posted a hand in the middle of each man's chest. "All
right, stop it. Right now." He gave each of them a little shove and Corran let
himself be pro-pelled back toward the doorway. Wedge turned to Booster, shifted
both hands to the larger man's shoulders, and forced him down into his chair.
"Listen to me, Booster-and you'll listen because you don't want to find yourself
in the situation of having Mirax say this to you: Corran Horn here is one of the
smartest, skilled, and courageous men it's been my privilege to know. He escaped
from a prison that makes Kessel look like a resort world with hourly shuttles in
and out. He's gone and done things on missions that put him at risk because
those things save the lives of others. If not for him, Coruscant would still be
in Imperial hands and I, as well as your daughter, would be dead or Isard's
slaves.
"When you arrived on this station, you said you thought I would have protected
Mirax from the likes of Corran." Wedge shook his head. "The real story is that I
was overjoyed when they became friends. Mirax needed someone as stable
as Corran because she's never really sure where you are or what's happened to
you. And Corran, he needed someone with Mirax's curiosity and fervor for life
because he'd been cut off from everyone he knew and trusted. Both of them were
gyros that needed to be spin balanced, and they did that for each other."
Before Corran could begin to grin triumphantly, Wedge whirled and stabbed a
finger into his chest. "And you, my friend, need to get some perspective here.
You're seeing Booster as your father's old enemy, and your father isn't here to
put him in his place. Well, you aren't your father. Their fight isn't your
fight, and you can't stand in for your father in it. And you should be smart
enough to know Booster doesn't have a problem with you because you were Hal
Horn's son- he's got the same problem with you that every father ever had with
any man romancing his daughter. She's the best thing that ever happened to him."
Corran nodded. "She's the best thing that ever happened to me, too."
"Right, which means the two of you have more in com-mon than either one of you
would admit. Now the both of you better think on this: Mirax loves both of you,
so unless you think she's got no taste or character judgment at all, you better
figure you both are worthy of each other's respect." Wedge folded his arms and
positioned himself so he could see both of them easily. "I don't expect you'll
ever get to the point where you actually like each other, but, when you're both
acting like adults, you'll be above this sort of bickering."