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

Lando sputtered with laughter until he nearly fell off his barstool.
"I ain't losing my freedom," Han said grimly. "Salla will get over this. Yeah, she'll be mad. Yeah, she'll probably never speak to me again. I'm sorry about that, but not sorry enough to stick around. I'd sooner micro-jump through the Maw."
Lando shrugged, offered his hand. "Going to miss you, pal."
"C'mon along," Han suggested, shaking it. "Chewie and I could use a hand." "What about Jarik?"
Han made a dismissive gesture. "The kid won't be coming, I'm almost certain. Shug's payin' him more than I can afford to, and he's so hung up on that girl he can't see straight. No way he'd be up for a long trip." "True," Lando said. "First love... isn't it sweet?"
Han rolled his eyes, then the two of them laughed.
"So.,. you comin'?" Hah prodded.
"Not me," Lando said. "I've got to put in some time on the spaceship lot. Since Roa left, I've been through one manager after another, and I caught the last one skimming."
"Great," Hah shook his head. "Well, I'll miss you, Lando. You watch your back, now, pal."
"You too."
Han spent one last night with Salla, but she was so wrapped up in her plans that she didn't even notice how grimly silent he was.
Just before they turned in, Han looked at her and said, "Salla. ] . I wish you'd asked me before planning all this. I ain't the marrying kind of guy."
She laughed. "All men think that, Hah... until they get married. Remember Roa? He said ‘all along he'd never do it, then he did, and you never saw anyone hap-pier. That's the way men are."
"Not this guy,,' Han said, but Salla only laughed. The next morning, Hah went by his place and had ZeeZee pack up his clothes (it didn't take long, Han never had many clothes) into an old backpack. Then he and Chewie went out to the Millennium Falcon's land-ing pad atop one of the tall buildings of Nar Shaddaa.
Jarik turned up to see them off. Hah hadn't told any-one but Lando and the youth that he was going. Jarik held out his hand, and when Hah shook it, blurted, "Now I wish I was going! Come back rich, Han! Chewie, you take care of him, okay?"
Han slung an arm around the young man's shoulders, shook him playfull's Chewie gave him a Wookiee head-rub that made the kid yelp. "You take care (ff yourself, Jarik," Hah said. "Don't let ZeeZee drive you crazy. And... take my advice, kid. Have fun, but remember: IfDn too young to get married, y'sm are definitely too young!" Jarik laughed. "I'll remember than, Han!"
"So long, kid. Take it easy."
Mirlutes later, with Nar Shaddaa behind them, Han keyed his corem system for a holo message. Quickly he gave Salla's name and codes, then instructed Message Central to "hold" the message for two hours. By that time he'd be long gone.
When the message sign'tied it was ready to "record" Hah cleared his throat self-consciously. "Hi, Salla," he said. ‘Tin sorry it had to be like this, but by the time you get this, Chewie and me will be gono. I tried to talk to you, but you just wouldn't listen."
He hesitated, took a deep breath. "Salla, you're a great lady, but I'm just not ready to get married'sto anyone. So try not to take it personally, okay? I think we need a break from each other. I'll be back someday. Try not to be too mad, Salla. I'm just doing what I have to. You take care of yourself, Salla, and say goodbye to Shug and Mako for me."
Chewbacca grunted insistently, and Han said, "Oh, and Chewie says goodbye, too. Stay well, Salla. Be happy."
Reaching out, he hit the "transmit" button, and then slumped back in Iris seat. "Whew! That was worse than a dozen Runs, pal."
Chewbacca agreed that things of that nature were never easy.
Han nodded. "Okay, pal. And, speakin' of marriage, I think before we light out for the Corporate Sector, you and Mallatobuck deserve a little second honeymoon. So set course for Kashyyyk."
Chewbacca gazed at Hah, his blue eyes lighting up. Han grinned at the Wookiee. "Besides, I laid in another cargo of those explosive quarrels that Katarra liked so much. I figure a nice load of Thikkiian brandy might fetch a good price in the Corporate Sector. So is the Corporate Sector by way of Kashyyyk okay by you?"
Chewbacca roared his approval of Han's suggestion so loudly that Han's ears rang.
Minutes later, the Falcon was nothing but a rectan-gular streak traveling through hyperspace on the first leg of her long journey.
u 0unt," said Jabba, staring at the screen of his data-'spad, "at this rate Desilijic will be bankrupt in forty-I Ifour years."
Jabba and Jiliac were in Jiliac's office in her island palace on Nal Hutta. The Desilijic leader had been dan-gling bright streamers of Askajian silk for her baby to focus on and lurch toward. Of course the baby Hutt could not reach for the vivid streamers-it still did not have arms, though over the past three months, its stubs had grown longer. These days it could spend two or three hours at a time outside its mother's pouch-much to Jabba's irritation. The only time he could gain Jiliac's full attention was while her baby was sleeping in her pouch.
Hearing Jabba's pronouncement, the leader of Desili-jic turned from playing with her infant to regard her nephew with mild surprise. "Really?" Jiliac said, and her great forehead furrowed, "that soon? I would not have thought it possible. Still... forty-four years, Jabba. We should be able to reverse this trend long before then. What reports are you looking at?"
"All of them, .Aunt. I have spent much of the past week doing a complete financial portrait of Desilijic finances."
"Where are the credits going, then?"
"Among other things, I have here the invoice from Shug Ninx's spacebarn," Jabba said, touching a key on the datapad and bringing up the document. "Upgrading all of the sublight and hyperdrive engines on our ships has set us back fifty-five thousand credits."
"That seems a bit excessive," Jiliac said. "Was up-grading ‘all our ships really necessary?"
Jabba sighed so loudly and exasperatedty that flecks of green drool spattered on the floor before him. "Shug Ninx is a rarity among Nar Shaddaa denizens, aunt. The price is fair. And, if you'll recall, we lost three smuggling ships to Imperial patrols over the last six months, and another to privateers. Our ships sublight engines were old and outmoded, and they couldn't elude Imperial tariff ships or pirates. And their hyper-drives were so slow that we were getting complaints from customers about their deliveries being delayed! So, yes, the upgrades were completely necessary, to avoid losing more ships."
"Oh, yes, I do recall that now," Jiliac said, vaguely. "Well, if it is necessary, nephew, it is necessary. I trust your judgment."
My judgment is that I sh'smld be running things around here in name &s well as fact, Jabba thought, grumpily. Aloud he said, "At least the job is done. With any luck, our ships can now haul more spice, faster, and we can begin making back some of our investment. If only Besadii will hold the line this time on its new an-nounced prices for processed spice. This is their third increase in three months."
Jiliac began to laugh, a great, booming sound that echoed in the huge, nearly deserted office. (Ever since she'd had her baby, the leader of Desilijic had dismissed many of her former hangers-on and sycophants, for fear one of them would seek profit by kidnapping her baby and holding it for ransom. These days her opulent throne room held only her most trusted minions, com-pared to the way it used to be, when Jiliac was a male, childless Hutt. Jabha, of course, still enjoyed being sur-rounded by raucous crowds, music and dancing girls in his palaces on Nal Hutta and Tatooine.)
When Jiliac stopped laughing she exclaimed, "Nephew, of course Besadii will not hold their line! Their strategy lately has been to reduce the amount of spice on the black market, to drive prices up. Simple economics. Highly effective, also."
"I know," Jabba agreed, morosely. "But they have to slither a fine line, Aunt. If they charge much more, they'll be competing with the Imperial spice market. And that might bring them to the unwelcome attention of the Emperor."
By Imperial decree, all spice, especially the ultra-valuable glitterstim, belonged to the Empire. But the prices for the spice sold through legal, Imperial chan-nels was so preposterously high that no one except the fabulously wealthy could afford it. Enter the smugglers and their side deals on Kessel and the other spice-producing worlds.
"We had little choice but to upgrade our ships, Aunt," Jabba added. "Our markets were making threats that they were going to begin dealing directly with Besadii."
"Besadii does not have a smuggling fleet that can match ours," Jiliac pointed out, truthfully.
"Not at the moment," Jabba said. "But my sources indicate that Durga has already bought a few ships, and is bargaining for others. He has announced his inten-tion of creating a fleet that will outclass ours. I believe he intends to take over the whole spice trade. We must not allow this, Aunt."
"I agree, Nephew," Jiliac said, waving an aqua streamer. "What shall we do about it?"
"I believe we must redouble our efforts to get more pilots to run our spice, Aunt," Jabba said. "There must be pilots out there who are as good as Solo."
"Is he gone?" she asked, vaguely, stroking her baby's head.
Jabba rolled his bulbous eyes and reached into a bowl for a Carnovian eel-pup, and popped the squirm-ing, squeaking morsel into his mouth. The baby Hutt looked over at him and drooled greenish-brown goo. ]abba hastily averted his gaze and swallowed noisily. "Solo has been gone for several months, Aunt. By all re-port, he went to the Corporate Sector. His loss is being felt," he waved his datapad. "Solo was the best. I even find myself missing the fellow."
Jiliac turned to regard her nephew in surprise. "Jabba, you are talking about a human. And a human male at that. Have your tastes changed? I thought you had a penchant for those tiresome scantily clad dancers you fancy. It is hard for me to picture Solo in a dancing costume, cavorting with that great hairy brute of a Wookiee before your throne."
Jabba chuckled at the image. "Ho-ho, Aunt! No, my fondness for Solo comes only from the fact that he Inakes us money, in an expeditious fashion. He would never ‘allow himself to be boarded and his cargo and ship impounded for smuggling. Solo is quite clever and resourceful... for a human."