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

prevented what hap-pened. He wouldn't have been a traitor."
"Whoa, wait, Iella, that is not your fault. There was nothing, absolutely
nothing, you could have detected or done to help him." Corran shivered and felt
his flesh pucker. "I know what Isard did to those she wanted to warp and
con-vert into her puppets. I resisted, I don't know how. It could have been
personality or genetics or training or anything.
Tycho and I both proved unsuitable for her-as did a few others, but I think she
would have had an easy time of break-ing Diric down."
"What?" lella's hissed question carried with it undercur-rents of betrayal. She
tried to pull away from him, but he held on.
"That's not a strike against Diric, honestly it isn't. Diric was a victim, and
you have to know that he resisted her mightily because even after his capture
Imperial Intelligence didn't find you. I think he built a mental reserve around
you and was willing to sacrifice everything to protect you. Even altering her
orders at the end was designed to protect you, and in his mind, sacrificing
himself to do so was not too much to pay."
Corran frowned. "The one thing about Diric that charac-terized him was his
curiosity. We both saw it in the way he'd ask us about cases and push us to look
at other explanations. He was thoughtful and thorough-espionage was a natural
place for him. You said yourself that Isard first placed him in Derricote's lab
to spy on the General. She probably suggested to him that his success in that
role determined whether or not she'd let you live. She undoubtedly told him that
lie concern-ing any actions he took after he rejoined you."
lella's defiance melted into despair. "Great, now you're. telling me that he'd
not have been in that position except for me."
"No! You had nothing to do with where he ended up- that was entirely due to
Isard and no one else." Corran sighed. "Look, think about the good Diric did.
Aril Nunb pointed out that he was the only person in Derricote's lab that was
kind to her and who helped her through her recov-ery from the Krytos virus. And
after he came back, he was a great comfort to Tycho through the trial. He even
pushed you to look for evidence to break the frame Isard had settled around
Tycho. And, like it or not, he did kill Loor, and I can't fault him for that."
"He thought he was shooting Derricote but knew it wasn't him. He was happy he'd
gotten Loor."
"Well, I did kill Derricote and I'd have been more happy
to kill Loor myself." Corran brushed a hand along her cheek and wiped tears away
with his thumb. "Diric wasn't happy existing the way he did, but he regained
himself in defying Isard and doing all the little things that sabotaged her
plans. In the end he won. He'd often complained his life had no meaning . . ."
"But it did."
"Agreed, and at the very last he finally got to see how much it meant. He'd
saved you, he saved Aril, he saved Tycho. He's at peace, and he'd want you to be
at peace with his death, too."
"I know, but it's just not going to be that easy, Corran. I was there, I held
him as he died from wounds I'd inflicted." Iella sniffed, then swallowed with
difficulty. "Your father died in your arms. How did you get through it?"
Corran felt his own throat thicken. "I won't kid you, it wasn't, isn't, easy.
There are things you expect, like seeing him again in the morning or at night or
being able to call him to tell him about your day or to ask a question, and then
he's not there. You know you feel hollow inside, but you don't know just how