"Ann Crispin "Han Solo. The Hutt Gambit"" - читать интересную книгу автора

Hah could kill, had done it coolly and without flinching, against armed opponents. But shooting unarmed prisoners? Han shook his head. No. Never. He was better off as a civilian, as a smuggler or thief.
He began dressing. First his dark blue military-style trousers, with the broken red Corellian bloodstripe running down the outside seams. When he'd been discharged from the service, Han had half expected them to deprive him of his bloodstripe, as they'd done with his other decorations and insignia, but they'd left it. Han guessed that was be-cause the bloodstripe wasn't an Imperial award. It was usu-‘ally earned through military service, and was a mark of unusual heroism, but it was awarded by the Corellian gov-ernment to a Corellian.
That had been a tough few days, all right, Han thought, remembering exactly how he'd earned the decoration. ttis right thumb rubbed the bloodstripe as he pulled his right boot on. The bloodstripe was designed so it could be re-moved and reaffixed to each new pair of trousers. Hah had discovered that most non-Corellians had no idea what a mark of distinction it was-many just thought it was pure decoration.
Which suited Han just fine. He wore it, since it was his only remaining military decoration, but he never discussed where and how he'd earned it.
Some things it was better not to dwell on. He finished getting dressed, pulling on a pale gray shirt and a darker gray vest. He hurried, knowing they must be approaching Nar Shaddaa by now.
His small travel knapsack slung over his shoulder, Han went out into the corridor and moved toward file observa-tion lounge. This transport hauled both passengers and cargo, so it had few amenities, but it did have a large viewport. Watching the stars was something that amused and soothed most beings, and almost every transport ship had one.
When Hah reached the lounge, he discovered Chew-bacca was there ‘already, staring out at the stars. Han went over to the viewport and stood beside him, looking at their destination.
They were racing toward a large planet, bigger than CoreIlia, that boasted brown deserts, sickly green vegeta-tion, and slate-blue oceans. Han recognized it at once. He'd been there before, five years ago. He nudged Chewie. "Nal Hutta," he told his companion. "Means ‘Glorious Jewel' in Huttese, but trust me, pal, it ain't pretty. Bunch of swamps and bogs, and the whole place stinks like a sewer in the middle of a garbage dump." The Corellian wrinkled his nose at the memory.
As the partners watched, the Stellar Princess swung past the Hutt homeworld, using the planet's gravity to cut veloc-ity. Chewie whined a question. "Nope, I've never been to Nar Shaddaa," Hah replied. "When I was here five years ago, I never even got a close look at it." They could see the edge of the big moon now, as it crept over the horizon. Chewie made an inquiring sound. "Ye'ah, the planet and its moon are tidally locked, so they ‘always keep the same hemispheres facing each other," Han replied. "Synchro-nous orbit."
As tile Princess glided around the big world, Han saw that space on this side of the planet was studded with float-ing debris. As they drew closer, the debris proved to be derelict spaceships of .all shapes and sizes. Han's Imperial training ‘allowed him to ID many of them, but there were some that even he'd never seen.
The Smuggler's Moon was a big moon, one of the big-gest Han had ever encountered. It was surrounded by the derelict spaceships, and they were numerous enough that the Princess had to change course several times to avoid them. Many of them were burned-out hulks, or shells with great holes blasted in their hulls.
From the amount of space-scarring on their sides, it was plain to Han that many of theln had been there for de-cades, even centuries. Han wondered why there were so many, but then he caught a faint glimmer of planet-light off an ephemeral field that enclosed the waiting moon. A mo-ment later a piece of space junk blazed up in a bright explo-sion.
"Hey, Chewie... that explains these hulks," Han said, pointing. "See that glimmer surrounding Nar Shad-daa? The place is shielded. These ships came calling, and if they- didn't want to let ‘em land, they just refilsed to drop shields, then used ion guns to blast ‘era. Guess they must've had their share of pirates and raiders, huh?"
Chewbacca made a low noise that sounded like "Hrrrrrnnnn . . ." and meant "Right."
The faint haze caused by the moon's shield made it diffi-cult to see specifics about their approaching destination. But Hah could tell that the landscape was ‘almost com-pletely covered with structures. Communication spires stuck up in spikes from the welter of buildings. Like a run-down version ofCoruscant, Han thought, remembering the wodd that was one vast city-a world so encased in layers upon layers of buildings that the natural landscape was al-most completely covered except at the poles.
As Han stared out at the fabled Smuggler's Moon, he found himself remembering his dream again. In the dream he'd been looking up at another, very different moon. He frowned. Funny thing-that stuff about the mascot moon, that had actually happened. Han had stood in ranks with the other cadets and watched the little moon explode vio-lently in Carida's nighttime sky.
Perhaps his subconscious had sent him that dream to remind him of something important that he'd forgotten. Hah hoisted his knapsack higher on his shoulder. "Mako," he mumbled.
Chewbacca gave him an inquiring glance. Hah shrugged. "I was just thinkin' that maybe we should look up Mako."
Chewie cocked his head and mhrrrrnnnnned a question. "Mako Spince. I knew him when he was an upperclass-man cadet. Mako and me go back a long ways," Han ex-plained.
Mako Spince was an old friend, and last Hah had heard, he'd had ties to Nar Shaddaa. They said he even lived here at times. It wouldn't hurt to look up Mako, see if he could help his old buddy Han find work . . .
Mako Spince was ten years older than Han, and they couldn't have had more opposite childhoods. Han had been a child of the streets until the cruel, sadistic Garris Shrike had taken him in and introduced him to a life of crime. Mako was the son of an important Imperial Senator. He'd been brought up with every advantage---but he'd lacked Han's determination. Mako's main interest while at the Im-perial Academy had been in having fun.
Mako had been an upperclassman, two years ‘ahead of Han. Despite their disparate backgrounds, the two had be-come good friends, racing swoops, hosting clandestine wild parties, playing practical jokes on stodgy instructors. Mako' was ‘always the instigator in their mischief. Han had been the cautious one, never forgetting how hard he'd had to work to get into the Academy. The younger cadet was care-ful never to get caught but Mako, confident that his fa-ther's connections would protect him from consequences, had dared anything and everything in his pursuit of the perfect joke, the most daring escapade.
Destroying the Academy's mascot moon had been his biggest-and last-prank as an Imperial cadet.
Han had known at the time that something was up, something big. Mako had tried to induce him to come along when he'd planned the break-in to the physics lab. But Han had had a test to study for, so he'd refused. If he'd known what Mako was planning, he'd have tried to talk his friend out of it.
That night, while Han plotted orbits and worked on his "Economics of Hyperspace Troop Movement" presenta-tion, Mako broke into Professor Cal-Meg's physics lab. He stole a gram of antimatter, then a small, one-man shutfie and a spacesuit from the Academy shuttle hangar, and took off.
Landing on the small planetoid that was Carida's nearest of three satellites, Mako planted the antimatter capsule in the middle of the huge Academy Seal that had been laser-carved into the satellite decades ago, back when Carida was still a training planet for the troops of the now-vanished Republic. Mako triggered the antimatter explosion from a safe distance in space, intending to blast the seal right off the face of the little moon.
But Mako had underestimated the power of the antimat-ter he'd stolen. The entire satellite blew up in a cataclysmic display that Hah and the other cadets witnessed from the planet's surface.
Mako was immediately one of the prime suspects. He'd pulled so many pranks in his time, caused so much may-hem, that the officers began checking on him ‘almost before the debris from the shattered satellite had either plunged planetward or drifted into alignment, forming a disjointed ring around Carida.
Han was ‘also a suspect, but fortunately for him, a friend had come over to see him for some astrophysics coaching right at the time of the break-in. Han's ‘alibi was airtight.
But Mako's wasn't.
At the hearing, the prosecution had ‘alleged that Mako
was a terrorist who'd infiltrated the Academy. Hah himself had volunteered to give testimony under truth drugs in order to clear his friend of that charge-and they'd had to accept his word that Mako had acted ‘alone, intending only to play a prank. So Mako was spared the charge of terror-ism. In the end, they'd just expelled the senior cadet.
Mako's father had come through one last time, and
given Mako the credits to set himself up in business. Little
did the Senator suspect that his only son would spend the
money on a ship, and contraband to stock it with. Then
Mako had disappeared, but Han knew that Mako Spince ъ wasn't the sort to just quietly fade into the background. Not Mako. Where there was excitement to be had, and credits to be accrued, that's where you'd find Mako Spince.
Hah was betting that someone on Nar Shaddaa would know where his friend was.
Han watched as the Princess drifted closer and closer to the large moon. Nar Shadd~ was actually the size of a small planet, ‘almost a third the size of Nal Hutta. It was hard to make out details through the shield, but he could see lights flashing.
As the Princess neared the Smuggler's Moon, a section of the h~e that marked the shield suddenly disappeared, and Hah knew they'd dropped a shield to admit their ship. The transport went past the shield, and moments later they entered atmosphere.
Now Hah could see the source of the flashing lights- huge holosigns that advertised goods and services. As they came closer, he was able to read one. "Sentients-Get It Here! Anything goes! If you have the credits, we have who-or what-you want!"
Just a real classy place, Han thought sarcastically. He'd seen signs for pleasure-houses before, but never anything fl~is blatant.
As the Princess dropped "down" tow~',rd -~ Icarge clear space atop a massive pile of permacrete, 1I,~: ~',~alized this must be their intended landing site. Hc ~,~, ~ ,', about for a seat to strap himself in, but realized that ,,- :;~ of the other passengers seemed concerned. They just :d:'abbed a hand-hold affixed to the inside hull and hung on. Han shrugged, glanced at Chewbacca, and they did likewise. The Corellian discovered that it was much more dittqeult enduring a tricky landing as a passenger than it was as a pilot. When you were piloting, you were too busy to think about the possible danger.
A moment later there was a slight jar, and they were now-n.
Hah and Chewbacca followed the other passengers toward the airlock, and found a line ‘ahead of them, waiting to disembark. Hah couldn't help noticing how hardened and seedy the other passengers appeared. Tough, space-scarred males, with a scattering of even tougher-appearing females. Sapients of assorted species, but no families, and no one was old.
That Barabel would fit right in, he thought, conscious of the comforting weight of his blaster against his thigh.
The airlock door slid open, and the passengers began filing down the ramp, onto the landing pad. Han took a deep breath of the local air, then wrinkled his nose in dis-gust. Beside him, Chewie whined softly.
"I know it stinks," Hah said, out of the side of his mouth.
"Get used to it, pal. We're gonna be here awhile." Chewbacca's sigh was eloquent, and required no transla-tion.
Han didn't want to seem like too much of a newcomer, so he tried hard not to stare as they walked down the ramp. Finally, he was able to get a good look at his surroundings.