Star Wars_ Darksaber - Kevin J. Anderson [43]
The Emperor’s reptilian eyes bored into him. Lemelisk turned back to the projected plans and brushed his hands over the surface layers.
“The Death Star will have planetary shielding, surface-to-air turbolasers, three-hundred-sixty-degree sensor capability, powerful multidirectional tractor beams, and heavy ion cannons.”
“Impressive,” the Emperor said in a frigid voice, “but only if our enemies fall right in our laps! How is this thing supposed to move?”
“All!” Lemelisk held up a finger and pointed along the equator. “The Death Star is equipped with enormous engines for propulsion in normal space as well as hyper-space. This station can go anywhere we wish.” His eyes lit up, and he lowered his voice to a childlike whisper. “The superlaser is powerful enough to crack entire worlds. One blast can turn a planet into a cloud of rubble.”
Grand Moff Tarkin bowed and cleared his throat. “The Death Star will be a self-contained garrison whose only purpose is to enforce your New Order. It is exactly the doomsday weapon you asked me to create, my Emperor.
“It will be crewed by close to a million officers, support personnel, and stormtroopers. It may be enormously expensive to build,” Tarkin continued, “but this single Death Star alone will be worth a thousand Star Destroyers. The mere threat of this battle station will make any populace quiver in terror, for they can have no defenses against it. None.”
The Emperor leaned forward to stare at the plans again. Bevel Lemelisk had never actually seen someone gloat before … but Emperor Palpatine did.
And so did Durga the Hutt and General Sulamar.
Sulamar held a personal data slate and punched up a summary, which he studied intently. “Lord Durga,” he said, “I’m pleased to announce that the second pair of Automated Mineral Exploiters, models Gamma and Delta, are now functional and reprogrammed”—he shot a wicked glare at Bevel Lemelisk—“to remove the fatal flaws suffered by the original pair. The processors have begun exploiting the asteroid field and are smelting materials at this moment.”
Durga nodded his large head, blinking froglike eyes. Around him small windows mounted at regular intervals around the observation blister showed streaming lights from chunks in the asteroid field as they wandered about their pell-mell courses, flashing as they rotated irregular surfaces, reflecting Hoth’s distant sunlight.
“We can afford no further delays,” Durga said, jabbing a stubby finger at Bevel Lemelisk. He yanked the data cylinder from the reader, and the glowing plans faded into the curling narcotic smoke. “You, Lemelisk, get to your redesign work—and take care that you don’t make foolish mistakes as you did with the Mineral Exploiters.” The Hutt chuckled with a chilling deadly mirth. “I’d hate to have to execute you if you disappoint me.”
Lemelisk shuddered out of all proportion to the threat. He took the data cylinder from the Hutt’s slimy hand and held the files close to his chest. “Yes, Lord Durga.”
He bowed and scuttled backward out of Durga’s private chambers. He rushed to his own quarters already grinning, eager to begin work.
CHAPTER 14
Bevel Lemelisk demanded absolute silence as he worked. He had sealed his quarters, hoping the Gamorrean guards wouldn’t bumble in or pound on his door without realizing they had the wrong cabin number.
He settled into a wobbly metal seat; he had knocked it over in anger when he had been unable to complete his three-dimensional crystal puzzle. Getting the right solution meant a great deal to Bevel Lemelisk, and he disliked failure immensely … though it was much better to fail in private than when other people were watching.
Realizing that he hadn’t eaten in nearly a day, Lemelisk had fixed himself a fast, high-protein meal and set the steaming plate of bright