Isard's Revenge: Star Wars Legends (X-Wing) (Star Wars: X-Wing - Legends Book 8) by Michael A. Stackpole

Author:Michael A. Stackpole [Stackpole, Michael A.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780307796523
Publisher: Random House Worlds
Published: 2011-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

27

Corran Horn wiped the sweat from his face and let his torso sag forward over the padded bar of the abdominal muscle weight machine. Though only driving sixty-five kilos on one gravity per repetition, the weight added up, and his sore stomach muscles were beginning to burn. Something about the dull pain felt good, as if it were reminding him he was alive.

“Flat abdominals? I suppose your wife likes them?”

Corran’s head snapped around. Ysanne Isard, clad in a skintight workout uniform that covered her from knees to elbow and throat, stood in the doorway. Black stripes running down the sides of the arms, flanks, and legs of the red bodystocking matched the fingerless black gloves she wore. She clung to each end of the black towel she had looped around her neck, making her appear almost casual, as if their meeting in the base weight room had been by accident.

Nothing she does is by accident. The pilot narrowed his eyes. “You want something?”

Isard shrugged and moved into the room to seat herself at a leg-curl machine. “I thought I would tell you that your latest attempt to get a message out to your wife has failed. Using her designator code as the origin code for a message destined to be rejected by our system was an interesting idea, but an old one. Our systems here are quite secure.”

“So far, you mean.” Corran gritted his teeth and curled his body forward, hoisting the machine’s weight with his stomach muscles. He forced himself to breathe with each repetition, focusing on the burning sensation in his muscles and using it to drive Isard from his mind.

She waited until he finished. “Your persistence is admirable, as is the passion you express for your wife in the messages.”

“Enjoyed them, did you?” He shook his head, spraying sweat around the room. “I’ll continue to send them.”

“Why? You know I’ll intercept them all.”

“Nice to know you’ll have something to do with your time.” Corran unwrapped his body from the machine and slowly stood. “As for why, it’s because I love her and I know she’ll be hurt thinking I’m dead.”

Isard raised an eyebrow. “You’ll be reunited with her once you’ve destroyed Krennel.”

“So that’s what, another month of pain? No good.” Corran frowned at her. “Haven’t you ever loved anyone?”

The question seemed to catch her off-guard and Corran felt a wave of surprise roll off her. Once again Corran regretted not having gone with Luke Skywalker to train himself to be a Jedi, because he could have used that moment of vulnerability to open her up. I could find out what she’s really planning and prevent her from accomplishing it.

Isard brushed her hands down the tops of her thighs. “I have loved, yes, but I trusted that he would know if I lived or died.”

“That’s asking a lot. No one can possibly know …” He stopped in mid-sentence as he recalled a rumor about her. “The Emperor? You loved the Emperor?”

“Captain Horn, the surprise in your voice is hardly appropriate.

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