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

"Sure, but remember our main mission." Corran held up a finger. "We're looking
for weapons, munitions, and spare parts. Anything else we get is extra."
The two of them nodded, then turned toward the eastern doors. One-half of them
slid into the wall and Huff Dark-lighter entered the library. His belly preceded
him by a second or two, but therein the resemblance to a Hutt ended. A coro-net
of white hair surrounded a pate the color of tanned leather. Darklighter's arms
and shoulders looked powerful and were somehow complemented by the luxuriously
full moustache he wore. His dark eyes glittered coldly as he in-stantly assessed
his visitors, but then the corners of his mouth rose.
"Gavin, it is a pleasure." The tone of voice didn't seem to quite match the
smile as far as Corran was concerned, but the elder Darklighter pulled Gavin
into a polite hug, so he as-sumed there was no problem between them. Huff
fingered his moustache. "Darken your hair and grow one of these, and you'd be
the spitting image of my Biggs."
Mirax shot Corran a hooded glance. Corran didn't think Gavin and Biggs looked
anything alike, but he realized Huff Darklighter wasn't viewing Gavin through
the same frame of reference. Huff made Biggs into a hero long before the
Rebel-lion ever did.
Huff drew back from his nephew and smiled toward Mirax and Corran. "I just
stepped in here to let you know I'd be a bit yet. Negotiations are delicate."
"I understand, sir." Corran started forward and ex-tended his hand toward Huff,
but the larger man made no move to match his gesture. "I'm Corran . . ."
Huff held his hands up. "Time for introductions later, I'm sure. Really, I hate
to be rude, but . . ."
Corran's emerald eyes shrank into crescents. "Just as I would hate to report to
the New Republic that one in ten of the freighters bearing Darklighter products
from here burns seven percent more fuel than is necessary-if they're actually
carrying the cargo on the manifest. Suspicious minds might think that means
they're carrying seven percent of their weight in illegal or exotic items, and
the trouble you'd have to go to to straighten that mess out would be more than
rude."
What little was left of Huff's smile melted clean away. "Nasty friends you've
got here, Gavin."
"Corran used to be with CorSec, Uncle."
"Out of your jurisdiction, Corran."
"True, but I can still be trouble." Corran turned toward Mirax. "This is Mirax
Terrik."
"Terrik?" Huff's smile struggled to return to his face. "Related to Booster
Terrik?"
"He's my father."
"I see."
"I'm sure you do, sir. Something else you should see is that we're here to
negotiate with you for weapons, munitions, and spare parts you have left over
from the looting of an Imperial weapons cache several years ago."
The smile blossomed in full on Huff's face. "Imagine that. My current visitor
was inquiring about the very same things. This could be amusing."
Corran saw Huff's eyes glaze over just imagining the profit potential. "Hey, no
one is going to make you a better deal for that stuff than we are. No one."
"Oh, how interesting." Huff walked back toward the doorway and rested his left
hand on the door that remained closed. "I have some people here who want what