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

Isard's right eyebrow arched. "This would also save us on shipping costs,
increasing our profits yet again."
"True. It also allows us to prepare an ambush for the Rogues at a time and place
of our choosing. Mind you, this
will be later as opposed to sooner because we need time to let Antilles's
actions utterly destroy his reputation. We want him to be cut off, with nowhere
to hide, when we move to elimi-nate him."
Isard pursed her lips as she considered what he said, giv-ing him more of a
visual indicator of her mood than he had ever seen before. "The steps you are
taking have merit, though the delay they necessitate annoys me. Finding myself
impatient is also annoying. Antilles has managed to survive and even prosper
during the time I should have dealt with him. Horn escaped from the Lusankya.
Both of them, and their companions, have chosen to oppose me directly and
openly, which has robbed me of the detachment I had when dealing with the Rebel
opposition to the Emperor."
Vorru inclined his head slightly, impressed by her self-analysis. She is loath
to entertain fantasies about herself or her situation, no matter how inviting
they might, in fact, seem. She has not lost her mind . . . yet. Whether or not
she will is another thing.
Isard stared off over Vorru's head. "The flaw Rogue Squadron has, a flaw the
Rebellion has, is the fact that they have been able to overcome all the
challenges thrown at them. Not since the days of Derra IV and Hoth have they
known defeat. They are accustomed to winning, and this self-pride can be used
against them." She nodded once, then fo-cused on him. "Carry on, Vorru, continue
your scheming. I will let them become accustomed to dealing with you and your
methods, so when I strike, the surprise alone will be enough to kill them."
Wedge stood up behind his desk as Booster Terrik's bulky form filled the doorway
to the station manager's office. "I appreciate your coming here so quickly,
Booster. I know you wanted to spend some time with Mirax before she heads out."
The older man shrugged. "She's helping prep this Horn for his part in the
mission. There's only so much of him I can
take." Booster plopped himself down in a steel-frame canvas chair. "I think she
took up with him to annoy me."
Wedge laughed and sat back down. "I'm sure it does seem like that, but I think
there's a lot more there."
"CorSec has always wanted to steal our women."
Wedge arched an eyebrow in Booster's direction. "You can impart whatever motives
you want to Corran, but you know your daughter better than that, my friend."
Booster frowned. "He's using those Jedi sorceries to ad-dle her mind."
"The only person confused about his Jedi heritage is Cor-ran." Wedge shook his
head. "Luke Skywalker has been transmitting material about the Jedi to him to
keep alive the possibility that Corran will train to become a Jedi, but
Cor-ran's a bit focused right now on getting at Isard and freeing her prisoners.
He's almost obsessive about it-a trait you know something about."
Booster planted his massive hands on the arms of the chair. "If you want to
scold me about disapproving of the man my daughter is seeing, the message is
received. Anything else?"
"That wasn't my intention-that would be like teaching a rancor to dance. It
probably won't work, you will get your head bitten off, and even if you do
succeed, the result won't be very pretty." Wedge shivered. "Actually, I wanted