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

"One he's going to worry like a hungry nek." Corran
Mirax's left hand to his mouth and kissed it. "Not too steep a price to pay,
though."
"Ha," Mirax snickered, "serves him right for betting against us."
Even Booster joined the resulting laughter. To Wedge the
sound was a tonic. In all the time I've been with Rogue Squadron, there has been
too little laughter and too many tears. Again his throat thickened, but he
smiled and swal-lowed to loosen it.
"Again, I want these remarks to be brief. It was about a year and a half ago
that I first met most of you. You were bright-eyed and enthusiastic, ready to
launch into one grand adventure after another. I had seen that before with other
pilots in Rogue Squadron. I remember the days before Yavin when we were all
young, armored with the invincibility of youth and fired by the belief that the
Emperor's evil Empire could not win. It didn't, but the cost was more horrible
than any of us could have imagined. You've all seen the roll of those who died
with Rogue Squadron. Had we known at the start of things how few of us would
survive, I think many of us would not have answered the call to fight."
Wedge caught his lower lip between his teeth for a sec-ond, then continued. "You
all came to Rogue Squadron knowing how few of us had survived. Your decision to
join us was an informed decision. Yes, the Emperor was dead, Darth Vader was
gone, but the Empire's ability to grind up our warriors was not significantly
diminished. On both sides of the battle the weak and incompetent had been
killed, leaving only the most lethal of each force to stalk each other.
"Nothing we've done-including the conquest of Corus-cant-will be compared
favorably with the destruction of the Death Stars and Palpatine's death, yet as
I look back on what we've done, I feel a greater sense of accomplishment now
than I ever have before. Yavin and Endor were battles we had to fight and had to
win because if we did not our movement would be exterminated. We fought with the
abandon of peo-ple who knew, either way, they were dead; and desperation, while
not pretty, can often be very potent and deadly."
He glanced down for a second, then looked back up.
"Our missions have been no less critical in the destruction of the Empire than
those that went before, but they were differ-ent. We took the war to the Empire.
We made plans and successfully improvised when those plans fell apart. We did
things that no one-not even the seemingly prescient Talon Karrde-could have
expected us to do.
"And we did things no one could have ordered us to do. We accepted the burden of
responsibility thrust upon us and overcame the obstacles in our way. That has
always been the Rogue Squadron tradition, but you've added a new layer to it:
You survived those missions. For that I'm most thankful, because I did not join
Rogue Squadron to lose friends."
He reached down, accepted a tumbler of Corellian whisky from a serving droid,
then raised it on high in his left hand. "I would ask all of you to lift your
glasses and join me in a toast. To Rogue Squadron-past, present, and future.
Those who oppose freedom and liberty oppose us. Let that fact give them pause to
think and encouragement to travel the path of peace."