"Michael Stackpole "The Bacta War"" - читать интересную книгу автораcompensate you with five mil-lion credits."
"Ha! This is an Imperial Star Destroyer Mark II we're talking about. It doesn't have a scratch on it. It is worth billions and billions of credits. I'll settle for a billion credits, payable in two hours, or I'm flying it out of here." "Ah, Booster, you're dreaming that if you think that ship is going anywhere." Cracken smiled confidently. "As you know, Thyferra has voted to join the New Republic. Because of this, all ships in the system are subject to New Republic law. In accord with said laws, your navigation and engineer-ing section crews have been taken planetside for debriefing." "That's piracy." "No, it's actually a security concern. As Lieutenant Horn can attest, a number of prisoners who were on this ship are missing. We want to question anyone who might have been used to move them to other locations, and your astronav crews could have been employed in that capacity. Right now, your ship is going nowhere." Booster frowned. "Okay, I'll come down to five hundred million credits." The sum seemed to stagger Cracken for a moment, then Karrde spoke. "Booster, be reasonable. Try twenty percent of that." Booster stared at him. "You're being very generous with my money, Karrde." "Twenty percent of something, Booster, is better than one hundred percent of nothing." "True, but if they can't deliver, why not dunk big?" Corran raised a hand. "It just struck me that we might be arguing about the wrong thing here. Booster, how serious are you about making the Virulence into a hyperspace-capable smuggler's den?" hauling cargo from one point to an-other. It would be nice to own a place where the cargo came to me and I just brokered deals for it. The Virulence would do nicely in that regard." Corran smiled. "So would the Freedom." "No!" Booster and Cracken dismissed the idea at the same time. They exchanged surprised glances, then shook their heads. "I don't want the Freedom. Refitting it will take a life-time. I'd have to get it to Sluis Van, and General Cracken here would guarantee my work was never scheduled. Stick to fly-ing, Horn, because that idea was really dumb." Mirax slapped her father on the arm. "Don't speak to my fiance like that." "What?!" Booster's jaw dropped. "No, that's impossi-ble." Corran raised an eyebrow. "Mirax, I'm not sure this was the best time to mention that." Booster pointed at Cracken and then Corran. "He wants to take away my ship, and he wants to take away my daugh-ter." He turned to Karrde. "I suppose you want something of mine, too." "Perhaps, Booster." Karrde smiled in a very genial man-ner. "I think I want you to reconsider what Lieutenant Horn suggested. It strikes me that General Cracken is primarily concerned with your being in command of a ship with enough firepower to slag an inhabited world." "Succinctly put, Karrde." "Thank you, General." Karrde looked at Booster. "Now you're concerned that your ship would fall prey to all sorts of pirates if they take its weaponry away. |
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