"Michael Stackpole "The Bacta War"" - читать интересную книгу автораHe 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 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." |
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