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

though there is some space for repairs if a ship needs it."
"Fair enough." Wedge watched a small yacht make an approach on the station. Its
sleek lines and down-curving wings reminded him of a native Corellian fish.
"Looks like the Pulsar Skate is coming in. Have you had any word from them?"
"No, but there was a funds transfer to the account of Huff Darklighter, so I
assume things went well."
"Good." Wedge pointed back at the lift. "Let's go down, greet them, and see
exactly what our money bought us."
9
Wedge wondered if he weren't really still trapped in a dream as the turbolift
door opened and he stepped into the squadron hangar. A dozen X-wings occupied
the deck, and techs swarmed over them. That wasn't what had struck him as
unrealistic, however, since the hustle and bustle of a hangar was something he'd
witnessed countless times before. He glanced over at Tycho. "What's going on
here?" Tycho gave him a grin. "Well, since we're no longer part of the New
Republic's Armed Forces, we can't have ships bearing its insignia or colors, can
we? Now, Corran's ship has always been green with that black and white trim,
like his droid, so I thought we might just go ahead and repaint our X-wings to
look like whatever we want them to be."
He pointed very specifically at an X-wing that was bloodred except for where
white had been splashed at a diag-onal down across the nose and the tips of the
S-foils. A broad black stripe parted the white from the red. "That one's mine. I
did some checking, and before Alderaan disarmed, that was the color scheme the
Alderaan Guard unit near my home used to sport. I've also had Zraii switch my
Identify Friend/Foe beacon over to an old Alderaanian code-the one from the
Another Chance, in fact. Individualizing the paint and switch-ing our IFF codes
to those of our home planets provides fur-ther evidence that we're not a New
Republic unit."
Wedge chewed his lower lip for a moment. Makes sense, all of it. And the
fighters do look a bit more, ah, ferocious with the new paint jobs. "I like it,
Tycho, but I don't know what to do with mine. Corran's got the CorSec green, but
he's earned it."
"How about a dark blue, with red stripes up the sides?"
"Corellian Bloodstripes?" Wedge chuckled. "I never was in the Corellian
Military, so I never earned Bloodstripes. Han Solo wears them on his trousers
because he went to the Impe-rial Academy and won them through his bravery."
"Oh, and you've not been equally brave?"
"That's open to debate, but the fact is I've never been sufficiently military to
earn them." He smiled slowly. "Make everything from the cockpit back black,
including the S-foils, and give me a green-and-gold check pattern on the front
fuse-lage."
Tycho's eyes narrowed. "I don't recognize the color scheme."
"No reason you should." Wedge hesitated for a second. "Back when my parents
operated a fueling station at Gus Treta, my father was saving up to buy the
station and start his own chain. The green, gold, and black were going to be the
colors he used for the logo and the uniforms. Your colors tie you back to your
home, Corran's do the same thing for him, and I imagine the same is true for
everyone else. Mine will tie me to the home I should have had."
"I'll put the order in immediately." Tycho started walk-ing over toward where
the Pulsar Skate had come through the hangar's magnetic containment bubble and