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

we shipped with a dozen Death-seeds and pilots. We would be honored to join your
battle against Iceheart."
Which is what you wanted the instant you heard we were fighting her, but you
could never have asked. You wanted to be invited. Wedge sat back. "I know you
are aware of how serious this is, but there really are fairly grand problems
here. If you join us, Iceheart could cut the bacta supply to Ryloth."
"Ryll may not be bacta, but it suffices for many of our needs." Tal'dira
shrugged. "Twi'leks pride themselves on be-ing hearty, and bacta is seen in some
quarters as a means for the weak to survive. If we are deprived of it we will
lose people, but if we do not oppose Iceheart and take our place in the galaxy,
what is the reason for living?"
"And you know Iceheart isn't going to forgive you if we lose."
The Twi'lek smiled easily. "The implacable foe is the only one worth facing. If
we know we have lost everything we will fight that much harder. Such are the
battles worth winning and worth taking pride in."
Wedge raised his tumbler again and clinked it against Tal'dira's. "Welcome to
the Bacta War, Tal'dira. Here's hop-ing Iceheart and her people choke on your
Deathseeds."
15
The thing Corran hated the most about floating in the bacta tank was that he
could see blurred figures outside the tank, but he couldn't communicate with
them. Even when one or more got close enough to press a hand to the
transparisteel window into the tank, he couldn't make out who was at the far end
of the arm. He could guess, but since the room out-side the tank was kept dim
and lit mostly by a yellow-green glow from within the tank itself, confirming
his guesses was impossible.
He had no way of knowing how long he'd been in the tank, but he found the
duration of his stay both too long and too short. Pain in his back and guts had
been overwhelming at first, but it subsided after a while. In its wake came a
tingling in his legs, which was good since he'd not felt any-thing in them at
first. Only after feeling returned to them did Corran allow himself to think
about how badly he had been hurt and how close he'd come to death.
/ probably broke my pelvis in the fall, then when the stormtroopers landed on me
I broke my back and probably ruptured internal organs. Had bacta not been
available, those injuries would have been fatal.
That realization sobered Corran and gave him a clarity of mind that allowed him
to go back over what he had done at the spaceport. His two mistakes were very
clear and gnawed at him. / should have known better. I am not a Jedi. Trying to
use Jedi methods without proper training is stupid, as I found out. I'm as bad
as wannabe police-a Jedi vigi-lante. If Jedi techniques were just parlor tricks
and illusions, the Emperor wouldn't have hunted all the Jedi down and had them
destroyed. If these abilities are that dangerous, they shouldn't be used without
proper training.
While that line of thought made certain he'd never again try to warp the brain
of a stormtrooper, Corran was not as harsh in his self-judgment concerning the
fight on the cat-walk. Lacking a blaster and pinned down by crossfire, to do
nothing would have meant both he and Mirax would be dead. Escaping that trap
required action and he'd taken ac-tion. His mistake in the fight had been the
result of inexperi-ence with the weapon he'd used. / swung wildly, using more
power than I needed. If I moderated things, kept the blade more under control, I