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

"Thyferra has three stellar-class spaceports-one at what is now being called
Xucphra City. The other two are located on separate continents and are primarily
used for the loading and unloading of bacta. Inbound ships stop at Xucphra City
first for Customs and Immigration inspections, then are sent on to the
spaceports to do business. They leave from those spaceports and head directly
out to the destinations."
Nawara Ven raised a hand. "I presume the metropolis's name change came about
when the Xucphra corporation took over. What was it called before that?"
"Zalxuc City, which really is not much better." Winter directed the computer to
zoom in and supply an aerial view of the city. "As you can see, it's not really
a metropolis at all. The human population of Thyferra was only ten thousand
before Isard took over. Many Zaltin families fled, and their housing is being
used for Imperial Army and Navy officers and enlisted folk on leave from their
ships. The Lusankya alone carries twenty-five times the human population of the
planet, so there is no question about the possibility of occupa-tion when or if
Isard orders it. So far she has refrained and is using Imperial personnel and
equipment to train and supply the Thyferran Home Defense Corps."
Winter nodded to the six-limbed, insectoid alien standing in the back of the
room. "The native population of Thyferra refers to themselves as the Vratix. The
production of bacta- literally the brewing together of alazhi and kavam-appears
to produce an almost mystical amount of satisfaction for the Vratix. Qlaern Hirf
here is a verachen-a master blender- who commands subordinates and creates
bacta. A verachen is
very much equivalent to a brewmaster at any Lomin-ale brewery, though a verachen
also has highly defined rights and responsibilities within the Vratix society.
"I should also note that the Vratix are neither male nor female-those roles are
played at different times in the life cycle, so referring to Qlaern as 'he' or
'she' is inappropriate. Moreover:, since the Vratix do constitute something of a
low-grade hive mind, they are more comfortable with a plural pronoun, so they
and them will have to suffice."
The Vratix in the back clicked its curved mandibles. "Your dissertation honors
us, Lady Winter."
"Think you. Because of their desire-even need-to pro-duce bacta, the Vratix
welcomed the influx of humans who were willing to set up and run businesses that
created a de-mand for more bacta, allowing and even compelling the Vra-tix to do
more of what they enjoyed doing. While individual Vratix are part of the
corporate ownership for both Zaltin and Xucphra, Imperial laws made it necessary
to remove them from active leadership and decision-making roles in the
companies. Zaltin and Xucphra were given Imperial monopo-lies on the production
of bacta, presumably in return for bribes paid to the local Moff and the
Emperor. This has made Thyferra a very rich planet and the humans who live there
very wealthy. The Vratix, on the other hand, live very modest lives in tribal
groups within the rain forests."
She typed a data request into the datapad, which switched the image of the city
for a trio of individuals. "Ysanne Isard was installed as Chief Operating
Officer and Head of State for Thyferra in a coup d'etat approximately two weeks
ago. Preparations had been made well before that, since the revolution was
completed prior to her Super Star Destroyer, Lusankya, arriving in orbit. Not
much is known about her for certain-rumors abound about her having been one of
the Emperor's lovers, for example; but there is no confirmation of that. We do