Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 01_ Outcast - Aaron Allston [86]
“Oh, good,” Han muttered. “There's more.”
Tendra keyed in another command, and more wire-frame data superimposed itself on the schematic of Kessel. Red tracings, complicated but small, appeared in several spots on the planet's surface, and a series of thick orange lines, jagged and wandering, seemed to meander their way through the center of the planet from pole to pole.
“Red is mineworks,” Lando explained, and he tapped the one closest to where Tendra had indicated a moment earlier. “You are here. The orange thing is an enormous fault system. The seismologists made us aware of it as they've been investigating the ground quake phenomena. We had them run some numbers, and it's pretty clear that if enough of these caverns blow up at the same time, it'll cause the fault to crack, basically shaking Kessel to pieces.”
Nien Nunb offered a comment in his own language, and Lando translated: “He says for Han not even to talk about just evacuating. We want to save this planet.”
Han grimaced. “I hate it when I'm the only sensible one—it's a bad precedent for me—but it's even worse when no one gets to be the only sensible one.”
Leia waved away his objection and turned back to Lando and Tendra. “So how do we visit, investigate, analyze, and then defuse all those detonation devices in the time we have available?”
Lando looked unhappy. “That's where I'm stumped. We're already losing drones to the bogeys. They get too close, the bogeys come out to investigate, there's contact, and the bogeys go down the way your speeder did that first time. We've had six of the ten drones go down like that already, and only two have recovered sufficiently to continue their missions. I'm not sure how to get a crew of demolition experts and scientists down there, keep them safe, give them enough time to figure out how to defuse the explosives … It sounds pretty close to impossible.”
Han opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again.
Leia glanced his way. “I felt that.”
“No, you didn't.”
“You had an idea.”
“I was just yawning.”
She grinned at him. “I know you think the galaxy would be a better place without Kessel in it. But not everyone agrees.”
“Come on, old buddy.” There was a genuine plea in Lando's tone. “If you've got an idea, let's hear it.”
Han sighed. “All right. My idea is this. You don't even try to defuse those things. Instead, you set them off.”
Lando's brows rose. “We're not even waiting for them to blow up my world? We're doing it ourselves?”
“No.” Han pointed at the yellow patches on the monitor screen. “It's not just that they're blowing up. It's that they're blowing up all at once. Right? But if you set them off in some sort of random order, some sequence that will keep the strain from cracking that big fault …”
Lando's face cleared. “Han, you just earned yourself some shares in Calrissian-Nunb.”
“Thanks, but I'd rather have shares in a firm that makes space-station trash compactors.”
“I can arrange that.” Lando turned back to the map. “We get one of the big tunnel grinders, one that's not cracking minerals anymore, and dig a shaft straight down to the tunnel nearest the surface. That'll give us a straight in-and-out big enough for small transports. We'll need teams of demolition experts who can figure out how to set off those explosives mounds reliably.”
“The Jedi can help,” Leia said. “I'll—”
“Noooo,” Han said, and the others echoed his sentiment.
“Why not?”
“The Jedi have government watchers now, remember?” Han said. “This world represents big, scary technology like Centerpoint Station did. Things the government could study. As soon as the government hears about what's here—”
Leia nodded ruefully. “That's true. They'll put a halt on all proceedings until they've sorted out what they think should be done,