Star Wars_ X-Wing 08_ Isard's Revenge - Michael A. Stackpole [76]
Booster’s face remained a hard mask for a moment and Mirax knew she’d hurt him. Her heart ached and her stomach collapsed in on itself, but another part of her felt buoyed and free. The only problem with growing up in someone’s shadow is that when you grow beyond it, everyone but the person casting the shadow can see how much you have changed. She reached a hand out toward her father and fought to control its trembling.
Booster cleared his throat, but kept his hands at the small of his back. “I can think a little bit faster than you probably imagine possible, Mirax, and I do know how to listen. I could tell you what billions of parents have told their kids: You’ll always be my child, and I’ll always worry about you. Thing is, you know that. How I deal with it may not always be right, from your point of view. But, in this case, you are right, I could have gotten you and Baz and Iella in trouble by asking him to do what I did. That won’t happen again.”
He reached out with his right hand and took hers into it. “You have grown up, and I know that. I’m proud of you. You can’t know how it pleases me when people come here and identify me as ‘Mirax Terrik’s father.’ It hurts a little, sure, and too much of it can be irritating, but I’ll get used to it. And it will make me work harder to earn back my infamy.
“Thing of it is, Mirax, the five years I spent on Kessel were years I can’t get back. You went from being my little girl to the woman you are now, and I never got a chance to get used to that idea. Don’t know if I ever will. Don’t know if I would ever want to. I figured I’d delay trying until I had no choice. Delay’s over.”
Mirax let Booster draw her into a hug, and she clung to him tightly. She said nothing and took refuge in his warmth and familiar scent, then let the vibrations of his low chuckle run through her. She rubbed her hands along his back, then slipped from his arms and looked up at him. “What’s so funny?”
“I was just thinking that I knew a heck of a lot less about parenting than I did smuggling, but did better at parenting than I would have ever imagined.”
Mirax smiled. “Just like you to take credit for the quality of the cargo when all you did was haul it around.”
Booster withdrew, a mock look of shock on his face. “Surly children are never pleasant.”
“That’s all well and good, Booster, but we have other problems to deal with.” Iella held up a datacard. “Before we got taken we copied an encrypted file onto this datacard. I need to slice it open and run it down, now. In addition, we have the identification cards for all the men Baz burned down. We need to check them to see if we can determine who they were and who they worked for.”
Booster nodded. “Not a problem, we can get started after I treat all of you to dinner here on the Diamond level. After all you’ve been through, you must want something to eat.”
“We’re hungry, yes, Father.” Mirax nodded, then moved over beside Iella and headed toward her father’s office. “We also have work to do, important work. That datacard will confirm for us whether or not someone is setting a big trap for Rogue Squadron. No matter how good the meal, I’m not interested in delaying our work.”
Booster turned, flung his arms wide, and settled around the shoulders of both women. “No, no indeed, no delay will be acceptable. Come, ladies, the resources of the Errant Venture are at your disposal, and I am at your service. Whatever you want or need you shall have, and anyone looking to ambush Wedge and his friends will have more trouble than they could ever expect.”
Mirax stared at the data readout hovering in the air above the desk Iella had been given. Her father had provided them a suite of rooms on the level above the Diamond level. It was not as opulent as the