"Ann Crispin "Han Solo. Rebel Dawn"" - читать интересную книгу автора

But she sure had a funny way of showing it ....
Now Chewie was raising Malla% veil, and clutching her to him. They rubbed their cheeks together tenderly. Then, with a huge, triumphant roar, Chewie picked her up and swung her around as though she were child-sized instead of a grown Wookiee only a little shorter than he was.
The crowd of Wookiees broke into a chorus of hoots, roars and howls of appreciation.
"Well," said Hah to Jarik, "guess that's it!"
But the wedding celebration was far from over. The honored couple was escorted to tables in the treetops that groaned with every kind of Wookiee delicacy. Hah and Jarik moved among the tables, sampling cautiously, for Wookiees tended to serve most meats raw. Some were cooked, but even there humans had to be cau-tious. Wookiees enjoyed highly seasoned foods-and some were spicy and hot enough to damage a human gullet.
Han examined the tables and introduced Jarik to many "safe" WooBee delicacies: Xachibik broth, a thick meat, herb and spice combination... Vrortik "cocktail," a layered dish that combined various meats and layers of wroshyr leaves that had been soaked in potent grakkyn nectar for weeks . . . Factryn meat pie, frozen Gorrnar, chyntuck rings, and fried Klak ....
There were ‘also salads and flatbreads, plus forest-honey cakes and assorted chilled fruit delicacies.
Han advised Jarik against partaking of the various types of spirits being passed around. The Corellian knew from painful experience how potent Wookiee liquor could be. There were many kinds: accarragm, cortyg, garrmorl, grakkyn and Thikkiian brandy, to name a few.
"Take my advice, kid," Han said. "Wookiees know how to make homebrew that will put a human on the floor in minutes. I'm sticking to gorimn wine and Gralinyn juice."
"But the children drink Gralinyn juice," Jarik protested. "And this other stuff..."
"Jaar," Han said. "Sweetened alcoari milk and vineberry extract. Itb too sweet for my taste, but you might like it."
Jarik was looking longingly at a huge flask of Thikki-Jan brandy. Hah shook his head warningly. "Kid . . . don't. I ain't takin' care of you if you wind up sick as a poisoned mulack-pup."
The youth made a face, but then picked up a cup of the gorimn wine. "Okay, I guess you know what you're talkin' about."
Han smiled and they clinked their glasses. "Trust me." A few minutes later, as Han stood off by himself, holding a plate of barbecued trakkrrrn ribs and a spicy salad garnished with rilllrrnnn seeds, a dark-brown Wookiee who seemed vaguely familiar-though the Corellian was sure he'd never met him before-walked up to him. The Wookiee stood there, studying Han, and then introduced himself.
Han nearly dropped his plate. "You're Dewlan-namapiab son?" he cried. "Hey? Putting his plate and cup down hastily, he grabbed the Wookiee male in an excited hug. "Hey, guy, I'm so glad to meet you! Whatb your name?"
The Wookiee returned ttanb embrace, replying that he was called Utchakkaloeh. Hah stood back, looking at him, and found that his eyes were stinging. Chakk (or so he asked to be called), seemed equally moved, as he told Hah that he had hoped to meet him, partly because he hoped the human could tell him how his mother had died.
Hah swallowed. "Chakk, your morn died a hero," he said. "I wouldn't be a'sve today it if wasn't for her. She was one brave Wookiee. She died a warrior's death, fighting. A guy named Garris Shrike shot and killed her, but... he's dead, too."
Chakk wanted to know whether Hah had killed Shrike in order to avenge his motherb death. "Not ex-actly," Hah said. "Someone else got him first. But I put a good hurtin' on him, before he bought it."
Chakk rumbled his approval. He told Han that he felt Han was an adopted brother, since they had shared the same mother. All of his motherb communications during her days aboard Trader} Luck had been full of anecdotes about the little human boy who loved her wastril bread, and who wanted so much to become a pilot.
"Well, Chakk," Hah said, "Dewlanna never lived to see it, but I am a pilot today. And my best friend in all the universe is a Wookiee .... "
Chakk guffawed, and then told Han that he and Chewbacca were distantly related through a second cousin three times removed who had emigrated to Rwookrrorro and married Chewbacca's great-auntb niece. Han blinked. "Distant... uh, yeah. Well, thatg great. Just one big happy family."
Hah led Chakk over to the bridegroom and intro-duced him to Chewie, explaining the situation. Chew-bacca roared his welcome of Hang "adopted brother" and thumped Chakk soundly on the back.
The celebration continued far into the night. Wook-ices danced, sang, and played wooden instruments that had been handed down in their families for generations. Hah and Jarik celebrated with them, until the humans were so exhausted, and so tipsy, that they wound up curling up beneath one of the massive tables and falling asleep.
When Hah awoke in the morning, the celebration was over, and Chewie and Malla, he was informed, had gone off into the woods for that time of privacy that was the Wookiee equiv',dent of a honeymoon. Hah was sorry . . . in a couple of days his negotiations with Katarra would be concluded, the Falcon would be re-loaded with her new cargo, and he'd be leaving Kashyyyk. He wouldn't get to tell Chewie goodbye.
But you couldn't expect a guy to remember his best friend on his wedding night, Hah mused, with a hint of regret. Besides, he fully intended to come back to Kashyyyk again, so it wasn't as though he'd said good-bye to Chewie forever....
Safe in the privacy of his office on Nal Hutta, Durga the Hutt wriggled closer to Myk Bidlorg holo-image as it solidified. His bulbous, slit-pupiled eyes protruded even further in his eagerness as he demanded, "You have news about the autopsy results? You have identi-fied the substance?"
"Your Excellency, this substance was so rare that we could not at first identify it, or be certain as to its ef-fects," the senior forensic specialist looked tired and harried-as though he really had been working night and day, as he claimed. "But our tests on that substance, and our tracing of it, is now conclusive. Yes, the sub-stance is a poison. We have traced its origin to the planet Malkii."
"The Malkite poisoners!" Durga exclaimed. "Of course! Secret assassins who specialize in exotic and al-most undetectable poisons... who else could come up with a substance that would prove fatal to a Hutt? My people are very difficult to poison .... "
"I am aware of that, Your Excellency," Myk Bidlor said. "And this substance-so rare that we have been unable to find a name for it-is one of their crowning achievements in toxins. We call it X-1 for want of a bet-ter name."
"And X-1 does not occur in nature anywhere on Nal Hutta," Durga said, wanting to make absolutely sure. "This could not possibly have been an accident."
"No, Your Excellency. X-1 must have been deliber-ately administered to Lord Aruk." "Administered? How?"
"We cannot be certain, but ingestion seems the most likely method."
"Someone fed my parent a fatal dose of poison," Durga said, his voice going cold and deadly with rage. "Someone is going to pay... and pay... and pay."
"Uh... not exactly, Your Excellency." The special-ist licked his lips nervously. "The scheme was not nearly so... obvious . . . as that. It was actually... rather ingenious."
If it was that clever, it must certainly have been a Hutt, Durga thought. He glared at the scientist. "What, then?"
"The substance is deadly in large quantities, Lord Durga. But in small quantities, it would not kill. Instead, it would concentrate in the brain tissues, causing the victim to experience a progressive deterioration of the thought processes. And the substance is ‘also highly addictive. Once the victim grew accustomed to ingesting it in high enough doses, the abrupt withdrawal of the substance would cause the symptoms you described wracking pain, convulsions, and death." He took a breath. "And that, Lord Durga, is why your parent died. Not from the X-1 in his 'sstem... but from its abrupt withdrawal."
"How long," Durga said, gritting the words out, "would this substance have to have been given to my parent for him to become addicted to it?"
"I would suspect a period of a few months, Lord Durga, but I cannot say for certain. Weeks, at mini-mum. It would take time to build up the dosage until the withdrawal would prove quickly fatal." The special-ist hesitated. "Lord Durga, our investigations also re-vealed that X-1 is very expensive. It is produced from the stamens of a type of plant that grows only on one world in the galaxy-and the location of that world is a sworn secret held by the Malkite Poisoners. So only a person or persons of great wealth could have purchased enough of it to kill your parent."
"I see," Durga said, after a moment. "Continue with any tests that may shed further light on the subject, Bidlor. And send me all of your data. I intend to find out just where that X-1 came from."
Bidlor bobbed in a nervous bow. "Certainly, Your Excellency. But . . . sir . . . these investigations are not... inexpensive."
"Price is no object!" Durga snarled. "I must know, and I will pay what it takes to find the truth! I will find the source of that X-l, and I will trace it to whomever fed it to my parent! Besadiig resources are my re-sources! Do you understand, Bidlor?"
The scientist bowed again, more deeply. "Yes, Your Excellency. We will continue to investigate." "See that you do."
Durga broke the connection and then undutated back and forth across his office, fuming. Aruk was mur-dered! I knew it all along! Wealth enough to buy X-1. It has be Desilijic-Jiliac . . . or perhaps Jabba. I will find the one respor'ssible fi;r this, and I will kill him or her with my own hands! I swear it to my dead parent-I will have vengeance ....
Over the next ten days, Durga had all the servants in the palace interrogated ruthlessly-especially the cooks. Though several died during questioning, there was no evidence to indicate that any of them had been tampering with Aruk's meals.
The young Hutt Lord neglected his other duties ms he attended each interrogation session. His rival, Zier, came to visit him toward the end of the sessions, and arrived just as droids were bearing away the limp corpse of a t'landa Til female who had served as a minor ad-ministrative clerk for Besadii.
The elder Hurt looked disdainfully at the huge, four-legged body as it was borne out by the droids. "How many does that make?" he asked, with more than a touch of sarcasm.
Durga glared at Zier. He'd have loved to have linked the other Besadii to Arukg death, but Zier had been on Nar Hekka overseeing Besadii interests until a few months ago, when he'd been recalled home after Arukg death. When he'd first turned up, Durga had had Zier investigated thoroughly, but there was not even the smallest hint of a link between him and Arukg murder. For one thing, Zier, though well-off, did not possess nearly the financial resources to purchase large quanti-ties of X-1. And there had been no unusual withdrawals from his accounts.
"Four," the young Hutt snapped. "They do not have our strength, cousin. It is no wonder the lesser races bow to us... they arefar inferior physically, as well as mentally."
Zier sighed. "I must say I will miss that Twi'lek chef of yours," he said. "He prepared filets of mulblatt larvae in fregon-blood sauce superbly." He sighed again.
Durga's huge mouth turned down. "Chefs can be re-placed," he said shortly.