Enemy Lines II_ Rebel Stand - Aaron Allston [45]
“By whom, and for what purpose?” Face asked.
“By order of the Imperial government, and for the purpose of being able to exert control over this planetary environment in times of crisis.”
Luke raised an eyebrow over that. “Exert control. You mean, in times of revolution, he’d cut off the air?”
“That is correct. Should the Emperor need to regain control or merely cause billions to die, he could threaten to shut off the Complex and strangle Coruscant in its own wastes.”
“Merely cause billions to die.” Luke shook his head over that turn of phrase. “This doesn’t conflict with your medical programming?”
“Oh, no, sir. Implementation of such an operation would be at the Emperor’s sole discretion and by his own hand.”
Face managed a mirthless smile. “No matter what, any time I learn something more about Emperor Palpatine, I wish I hadn’t.”
“So what was the third stage?” Luke asked.
“Installation of the systems and organisms needed to maintain the Subject,” said CPD 1-13 “It was an operation that had no significant relation to our primary purpose, but this location, the substation closest to the Imperial government centers, was convenient.”
Luke tried to wave the excess verbiage away. “What was the Subject?”
“A human male. He and a human female came to occupy this complex thirteen years ago. Later, another male joined them for a time. They had proper authorization, and controlled droids that could activate the turbolift control in the tank above. Months after their arrival, the second male left, and the first male was operated on and installed in the suspended-animation unit.”
“Human males don’t grow to be three meters tall.”
“They do if subjected to specific growth hormones and cybernetic stimulation for years starting in childhood or adolescence.”
“So who is this human male?”
“Unknown, sir. His identity was never provided to us, nor the nature of its armor modifications.” Before Luke could ask, the droid hurried on, “It had hypoallergenic armor plates installed in its torso, head, elbows, and knees. The portions of its brain pertaining to human memory were largely replaced by computer apparatus. We of the maintenance staff concluded that it was to be a war machine of some sort, but beyond that we knew nothing.”
“Do you have any images of this? Either from before, or when it recently emerged?”
1-13 shook its head. “No, sir. We were forbidden by our protocols from recording the Subject in any way. Nor do I know what you mean by ‘emerged.’ ”
Curious, Luke glanced at Bhindi. She said, “It appears that their programming on this point was pretty comprehensive. When the Subject came out of his suspended animation tank, their programming kicked in and they couldn’t even detect him any longer. He cut them to pieces without them knowing what was happening.”
“Wonderful,” Luke said. “So our so-called Lord Nyax is a three-meter human male, possibly a Jedi, certainly a Force user, wandering around in a world where it probably doesn’t understand anything.”
“That seems to be about the size of it,” Bhindi said. “Isn’t the truth liberating?”
SEVEN
Lord Nyax felt the distant hunger. Something wanted him.
That was all right. He wanted it, too. Anything that was so anxious for him deserved to be encountered. If it would serve him, he would command it. If it would not serve him, he would cut it into pieces.
Either solution was just fine with him.
Coruscant
The hunting party moved through the depths of Coruscant’s ruins. Four hard-eyed warriors, the scars, implants, and tattoos on their faces like a starmap of pain, led the procession, and four more brought up the rear.
Behind those in front were two voxyn handlers and the leashed voxyn they theoretically controlled. The massive reptilian beasts, low to the