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

He smiled. "So, when do we break the news to your father?"
Mirax paled slightly. "The when comes after the how I think. Give me some time
to figure that out. We can tell Wedge, though, and some of the others, but that
can wait until tomorrow. We have other things to do tonight."
"Such as?"
"You, Corran Horn, have asked me to marry you, I have accepted and I intend us
to do everything right in our mar-riage." She stood up from the table and
dragged him up after her. "Toward that end, there are certain things I think we
should practice until we perform them perfectly."
Fliry Vorru found it easy to read the emotions running through the two ship
captains. The briefing Ysanne Isard was giving them clearly frightened Captain
Lakwii Varrscha. Though the woman stood taller and was more muscled than Ysanne
Isard, she lacked the vitality that gave Isard her com-manding presence. That
the woman had risen so high in Im-
perial service marked her as competent, but Vorru felt her rise had much to do
with the fact that she had hitched her career to that of Joak Drysso and his
rising star had dragged her along to the limits of her abilities.
Joak Drysso, in contrast to Varrscha, was small and blocky, with prematurely
gray hair that was matched by the color of his goatee. Despite his diminutive
stature, he had an air of menace about him. Were it not for the perspective
sup-plied by his surroundings, Vorru could have imagined him being a
stormtrooper standing a hundred meters distant- lethal and not given to
surrender.
Isard had chosen to wear her red Admiral's uniform for the briefing, despite the
heat and humidity. "There it is, then. You will be attacking an Empress-class
space station. The armaments and shielding are minimal, though the chance that
some upgrades are in place cannot be overlooked. The Yag'Dhul system is
twenty-four hours from here. I expect the station to be destroyed and you to
return here within sixty hours from now. Are there any questions?"
Drysso nodded sharply. "I have to wonder, Madam Di-rector, at why you are
sending both the Lusankya and the Virulence on this mission. The Lusankya, as
well you know, has more than enough firepower to obliterate the station. In
addition I have twelve squadrons of TIE fighters at my dis-posal, which is more
than enough to overwhelm Antilles's paltry forces. Even Minister Vorru's most
generous estimates of the Rogue strength gives us a two to one advantage in
fighters, and as good as the Rogues might be, they cannot hope to prevail
against us."
Vorru cleared his throat. "You have forgotten the Alder-aanian War Cruiser?"
"Its firepower is negligible. A Super Star Destroyer can absorb all the damage
it can do and still destroy it at leisure. I will designate two squadrons of
TIEs to keep it off me. There is no need for the Virulence to come with me on
this mission. Moreover, its departure from Thyferra puts this world at risk."
Isard blinked. "At risk? From whom?"
"Antilles and his people. Recall, his X-wings are hyper-
space capable. If they bolt when we arrive, they will be able to come here and
have twelve hours to fly missions against positions here before we could
possibly return."
Vorru frowned. "Toward what end? Antilles can't take this planet without
troops."
"But he has them, Minister Vorru, in the Ashern rebels."