"Michael Stackpole "I, Jedi"" - читать интересную книгу автора

Han's face brightened. “Booster? Hard to forget him. He was a legend among smugglers before Corellia cooled into a ball. Didn't your father send Booster to Kessel?” I nodded. “Five years.” Hah winced. “That's a long time in the mines.”
Wedge nodded. “Corran married Booster's daughter, Mirax.”
“Really! Someone who finally has in-laws that are as interest-ing as mine.” Hah looked at me. “What did you want Wedge to speak to Leia about?”
“Mirax is missing. I want to go after her, but Airen Cracken won't tell me where she was when she vanished.” I shrugged. “I was hoping the Council could order him to give me that infor-mation.”
“Leia might be able to convince them to do that, but I'd not be betting a lot on it, kid.” The smuggler's brown eyes hard-ened. “As sympathetic as Leia might be to your cause, the fact is that your request would be pretty low on the New Republic's list of priorities. And, if you think about it the way you would have thought about it when with CorSec, there's no way you'd have turned that sort of information over to the spouse of an tindercover officer.”
I glanced down at the floor. “I know.”
“However,” he said, letting a lighter tone bleed into his words, “New Republic Intelligence isn't the only place you can get information about Mirax. She still flying the Pulsar Skate?” My head came up. “Yes, sir.”
“Before I head out for KesselILeia has me working as a liaison to the inmates since I've been in the area before I'll put out some feelers and see if the Skate has been spotted in any of the usual places. Might pop up a lead for you.” Han's eyes narrowed in my direction. “But that's only if you get over this sir thing.”
I smiled in spite of myself. “Thank you, Han. And I'm Cor-ran, despite having been in CorSec.”
Han smiled. “The galaxy is a big place, so your search won't be easy, but I don't expect that matters much to you.” “It doesn't.”
“May the Force be with you, then.” He glanced at Wedge.
“You certain you don't want to come along to Kessel?”
“Next time, Han, but not right now.” Wedge gave him a smile. “The last time I was there-Rogue Squadron was there-Moruth Doole didn't really take a fancy to me. Do yourself a favor and don't mention me to him.”
“I copy. When I get back, I'll let you know if I've learned anything, Corran.” The pirate tossed us both an easy salute. “Good flying to both of you.”
Wedge and I stared after him as he spun and disappeared through the doorway. I laughed. “He has something of a pres-ence, doesn't he?”
Wedge nodded. “Kind of hard to forget.”
“Explains the bounties on his head.” I felt my smile slowly receding. “Wedge, one thing, I, ah, don't know if you're plan-ning to see Iella now that you're dirtdown, but if you do, don't ask her about Mirax. She's working for Cracken still, and might have information, but I don't want her to get into trouble giving it to me.”
“I'11 bear that in mind.” Wedge frowned slightly. “I really should link up with her, shouldn't I?”
I smiled. “You two seemed to get along famously. I pretty much thought you'd have gotten fairly serious by this time.”
“I would have, too.” He shrugged uneasily. “I had intended to start dating her before her husband showed up, then after his death and Thyferra and Wraith Squadron and Thrawn . . .”
“I know, a lot of things have happened to make things tough. Can't beat a homeworld girl, though, for having someone who can share the universe with you.”
“You and Mirax are certainly proving that.” Wedge looked away a little wistfully. “I really should call her and give things another chance. Maybe once I get this reconstruction going well I can take the time.”
“As Han said, it's a pretty big galaxy, but I don't think you'll find anyone in it better for you than she is.” I forced an awk-ward laugh. “Big galaxy and I'm having to look for my wife, while the perfect match for you is so close. Life is never easy, is it'?”
“No, that's true.” Wedge's eyes brightened and a smile began to blossom on his face. “However, we might have an edge in helping you solve your problem.” “What do you mean.'?”
“Luke's here, on Coruscant. You should talk to him.” Wedge nodded solemnly. “Finding Mirax may be akin to finding a quark in a mole of deuterium, but if that's your task, having a Jedi help you do it is not a bad way to go at all.”
Despite the early hour, Wedge made a call to Luke Skywalker, and we were invited to his chambers in the Imperial Palace. Wedge obtained an air-speeder and flew us over. He wove an aggressive course through the tall towers and thick ribbons of traffic choking the airways of the palace district. Jacking the speeder up on its left side, he slid us between two heavily laden lifttrucks, then came around in a big arc that brought us in for an approach at one of the palace's many landing bays.
I glanced over at him and the look of pure pleasure on his face. “You may not believe it, but you're missing the squadron a whole bunch.”
He winked at me. “I'm missing flying, certainly, but dealing with you fighter jocks and your egos was wearing thin.”
“Yeah, that's all space-dust and plasma balls. Now you deal with politicians and their egos.” I laughed aloud. “You just moved up to really hard targets.”
Wedge frowned for a second. “More truth to that than I want to think about, my friend.”
We both fell silent as the Imperial Palace came into view. An upwelling of towers and massive edifices, it appeared to be the ultimate monument to power. Even so, the various parts had been sculpted with such exquisite attention to detail that taken in isolation, portions of it appeared positively delicate. What looked like thin membranes and gossamer tracery from far off became far more solid upon approach, but proximity revealed vet more levels of detail, complete with winking lights and i, right colors splashed about. Complex seemed to be the only word that could fully encompass the palace.
The New Republic government had tried to abandon the name Imperial Palace, and various campaigns to call it things like Republic House or simply the Capitol had been launched down through the years. None of them succeeded because none of them seemed appropriate. It was as if the building had grown up to fill every nuance suggested by the title Imperial Palace and to call it anything less just felt wrong.
Wedge gave the proper codes for us to land at the palace, then led me off through a maze of corridors to the Jedi Mas-ter's home. I would have been utterly lost in the tangle of hall-ways, and only had a vague sense of our moving across the tower and up, but never really knew how far we had gone. Part of this was because the ornate designs and vibrant colors used to decorate this palace tower almost overwhelmed me. The use of Imperial Scarlet predominated, with gold, silver, blue and green accenting various features. Just when the clash of color would become too much, we'd walk past an alcove or a wall panel that housed artwork from one of the myriad planets in the galaxy. I found the alcoves to be a sanctuary of sorts and greatly anticipated them, moving from one to the next as I might move from system to system on a long flight.
What struck me as odd about my reaction was that this was not my first trip to the Imperial Palace. I couldn't be certain I'd not been in this very tower before, but the fact was that quite a bit of the palace was garishly decorated. Part of me speculated that the reason for the violent use of color and ornamentation was because when the Emperor lived here, he so sucked life out of everyone, that if something was not made brutally and abun-dantly clear to them, they would not notice it.
The palace had not changed since my previous visits, but I had always come here before with my wife. Mirax's apprecia-tion for art, her knowledge of the various pieces, their styles, likely origins and even market value, had provided me with a context in which to place everything. I focused upon those things that interested her and built upon a foundation my mother had given me on our visits to the museums on CoreIlia. Through Mirax I had been able to filter out all the irritating things, but without her the colors assaulted me.
Master Skywalker's chambers saved me. The door opened before we got to it and Wedge did not hesitate in plunging into the dimly lit room. The low lights quelled the riot of color. While the chambers still had the Imperial styling, there was no excess of furnishing to clog them with angles, plush fabrics and dangling fringes. The shelves that had been built into the walls of every chamber were all but devoid of datacard boxes and curios. Aside from a few mementos-a gaffi stick, his X-wing helmet and a couple of items I remembered from the Em-peror's Jedi mausoleum-the shelves remained bare.
The Jedi's chambers reminded me of the very spare condi-tion of the safehouse in which Mirax and I had come to live. The freedom from distractions made the rooms feel peaceful. Time seemed to slow here and for the first moment since I'd discovered Mirax was gone, I didn't feel as if a sandstorm was scourging my brain.
Luke looked over at us from the small kitchenette and gave us a smile. “Wedge, good to see you again. And you as well, Captain Horn. Can I offer you something to drink?”
“Caf, if you have it.” Wedge hid a yawn with the back of his right hand. “You keep it dark enough in here for me to drop off right now.”
“Caf it shall be, then.” The Jedi Master looked at me and I felt electricity run through his blue-eyed gaze. When we had met before I had felt power in him, but now, after his experi-ences with the Emperor Reborn, his power had been redou-bled. Physically he looked a bit haggard and worn, with the flesh around his eyes having tightened and wrinkles appearing at their corners. I knew we were the same age chronologically, but in experience he far surpassed me.
“And for you, Captain? I keep some of that Gizer Pale Blue ale here for Han. I'm having hot chocolate.”
I thought for a moment, then shook my head. “Too early to start drinking, and I'm not sure I'd want to stop. And I certainly don't need to be more awake.”
“Your agitation is easy to sense.” Luke gestured toward the simple chairs and low table opposite the food prep station. “Why don't you explain what the problem is.”
The soothing calmness of his voice helped quell the riot of emotions in me as I took a seat. Wedge sat at my right hand and Luke across from him. I leaned forward in my seat, resting my elbows on my knees. I took in a deep breath, held it for a moment and slowly exhaled.
“My wife, Mirax, is missing. She was off on a mission for General Cracken, a mission to see if she could discover the location of the Invidious so we could put an end to Leonia Tavira's raids.” I hesitated, chewing my lower lip for a second. “She'd not have gone except for the fact that I said once the Invids were dealt with, we could make a decision about having kids. If I hadn't put that condition on making the decision, she wouldn't have gone to Cracken and wouldn't have been taken away.”
Luke reached out and laid a hand on my left arm. “Take a moment. Calm yourself. You are building on a foundation that is not sound.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You are taking responsibility for Mirax's actions-responsi-bility that is not yours to take.” Luke kept his voice low and even, forcing me to focus so I could hear his words. “She may have gone to Cracken to help end the Invid raids for a whole host of reasons. Clearly she wanted to help you and Rogue Squadron deal with them quickly. You think what she did was dictated by your postponement of a decision. She was probably more interested in keeping you and your friends alive.”
Wedge nodded. “You have to admit, Corran, that what Luke's just described is exactly the sort of thing she would do.”
I shut my eyes for a moment, then nodded slowly. “Good point. You're right, but that doesn't mean part of her disap-pearance is not my fault.”