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

Asyr's voice pounded into Wedge's ears. "Wedge, what about . . ."
There's nothing left of Gavin. "Go, Asyr, go now. Wait-ing around is just going
to get you killed." Wedge hauled back on his stick and punched his throttle up
to full. He glanced over to his left and saw Asyr's X-wing hanging off his
S-foil. "Three seconds to lightspeed." "I copy, Wedge."
Wedge hit a button on his console and made the jump to lightspeed. The stars
elongated, then sucked him into a tunnel of white light, but he felt as if he
left his guts back in the system with the Corrupter. It had always been the plan
to scatter and flee if Corrupter showed up, but to do that after taking losses
made him feel horrible. Four more are dead because of me.
Part of him immediately rebelled at that thought, seeking to place blame
elsewhere. If the Alazhi's captain had not hesi-
tated, then everyone would have been out of the system be-fore Corrupter
arrived. If Isard had not threatened the crews with the safety of their
families, everything would have gone well. If Senator Palpatine hadn't been
greedy, this situation never would have existed.
Wedge closed his eyes against the omnipresent light of hyperspace. "What
happened back there is my responsibility. The operation had risks, but all
operations have risks. Blam-ing myself for what happened isn't going to do me
any good. What I need to do is learn from the situation because Conva-rion is
very good."
He punched up a data request and got Mynock to break down the entry and exit
vectors of the various ships, then had them overlaid on the system diagram. As
the astromech did so, Wedge got his first glimmer of understanding. Corrupter's
entry vector appeared very fortuitous because it angled in on Alazhi's exit
vector, but it really was the same entry vector the freighters used to arrive in
the system.
Wedge whistled slowly. What that bit of data told him was that Convarion had
waited at the previous transit point, had tracked the exit vectors of all the
ships in his convoy, then had his people do an analysis of them. The three ships
that deviated from the planned course were discovered, their course plotted, and
the Corrupter came after them. Whether the freighters were hijacked or just had
a poor navigator, Convarion came after them, intent on destroying them. His ship
arrived in-system and shot immediately.
A chill crept into Wedge's body and puckered his flesh. "Iceheart has never been
one for compassion, and now she has a ship's captain who shares her contempt for
it. We're lucky we only lost four of our pilots. I had hoped this war would be
quick-I knew it would be dirty. We're going to have to be quicker and dirtier,
and with Convarion and Iceheart opposing us, that's not going to be an easy
task."
17
The sound of a thousand individuals stamping their heels and coming to attention
echoed through the Corrupter's hold as Fliry Vorru followed Ysanne Isard from
the belly of the shut-tle. Vorru looked out over the straight ranks of sailors
and stormtroopers and allowed himself a smile. Such a display of Imperial might
I've not seen since before I was sentenced to Kessel. The Rebels may own
Imperial Center and may have proclaimed themselves a New Republic, but they will
never know Imperial splendor like this.
At the base of the gangway, Isard paused and offered her hand to a small, lean
man in a black uniform. The rank insig-nia he wore on his jacket's left breast