Star Wars_ Darksaber - Kevin J. Anderson [21]
Durga’s wide mouth dropped open like a trapdoor. The other Taurill shrieked in sudden panic. The guard gaped down at his blaster rifle in dismay. “I didn’t mean it!” he said.
The hundred Taurill in the reception chamber fled in all directions with an ear-splitting volley of panicked chitters, heading out the door, into the air ducts, hiding behind the chairs and in any shadowy corner.
“Don’t let them escape!” Durga howled. “They are my pets, and I would be most displeased to lose any of them.” The Hutt glared at the poor New Republic guard as if he wanted to feed him to a rancor.
The honor guards instantly broke formation, rushing around to grab the multiarmed pets. The Gamorreans turned in circles, champing their tusks, clearly not understanding what had just happened. Threepio flailed his golden arms and ran after several of the creatures.
Leia sent for more assistance, but she knew the vast echoing corridors of the enormous Imperial palace offered infinite places for the Taurill to hide.
Han lounged back in his chair with a wry, lopsided grin. “Told you we shouldn’t have bothered to dress up,” he said.
* * *
In the confusion, three of the Taurill easily made it to their destination, winding through the air ducts, between walls, and along pipes, descending deep below the former Imperial palace into the shielded secret chambers far down in the bedrock.
The Imperial Information Center.
The Taurill were a hive mind, a single organism with thousands and thousands of bodies sharing one collective consciousness. Each of the individual creatures was merely an extra set of eyes and ears and hands to do the bidding of the Overmind that controlled all of its members.
Durga had discovered the Taurill in the Outer Rim and had paid dearly for information on how to exploit the scattered mass mind. Durga had then quietly executed the one explorer and xenobiologist who had uncovered the secret of the Taurill. Now only Durga knew what the cute, furry creatures were actually capable of.
He had entered into a pact with the Taurill, promising the Overmind great wealth and power—but what the Overmind really wanted was to spread itself out across the reaches of the galaxy, dispersing its members to different star systems so that it could grow. Durga was only too happy to comply.
Now, while dozens of the Taurill remained in the diplomatic reception room, creating a diversion and acting innocently confused and frightened, these three Taurill commandos slipped into the shielded computer database compiled by Emperor Palpatine himself.
The room was cold and sterile, smelling of metal. The doors were guarded by heavily armed assassin droids. Mechanical slicers hunched over the information terminals, jacked in and focused entirely on their work.
The Taurill emerged from tiny access openings, scrunching themselves down to make their bodies small enough to pass through. On nimble feet they pattered across the cold floor plates, swinging their four arms until the three reached separate access terminals.
The Taurill crawled up and began work at different stations, punching through obscure menus, finding the information they needed. Although the system was heavily guarded and passworded, the Taurill entered the special codes and phrases that had been obtained from Jabba’s secret stash of information. Before long, the Taurill had broken through.
One of them inserted a small information cylinder and began downloading the precious plans. Data spilled into the compact new container. After only a few moments, their mission was complete.
The Taurill secreted away their data cylinder, and in unison the three furry commandos scampered back to the access openings.
The Overmind knew exactly what had been accomplished and transmitted that information to Durga through one of the calm and recaptured Taurill bodies up in the reception room.
Durga petted the creature, rumbling with pleasure.
In the reception chamber