Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 01_ Jedi Search - Kevin J. Anderson [115]
Artoo’s interface jack whirred as he worked with the hangar bay’s computer, trying to skirt the password controls.
“We need the shield down now, Artoo!” Luke said.
The Falcon’s rear thrusters kicked in and they lurched forward, gaining speed. “Come on,” Lando said to the ship. “You can do it. Do it one last time for Han.”
Artoo bleeped in triumph a moment before they shot through the opening. Luke flinched, but the shield dropped just in time.
Alert lights began to wink on in the big battleships riding in orbit. Weapons systems warmed up, targeting modules locked on to aimpoints.
The Millennium Falcon soared into open space as, behind them, the Kessel forces scrambled in pursuit.
23
Hunched in his dark robes, Tol Sivron came to visit Qwi Xux in her research room. He drew in a long, hissing breath, and his head-tails twitched with uneasiness as he stared at her setup. The Twi’lek administrator gave the impression of never having set foot inside an actual laboratory before—which seemed odd to Qwi, since he was in charge of the entire installation.
Qwi stopped her musical calculation with an atonal squawk. “Director Sivron! What can I do for you?”
Tol Sivron demanded regular written reports, feasibility studies, and progress summaries; he hosted a weekly meeting among the scientists to share their ideas and their work in a frank and stimulating exchange.
But Tol Sivron did not make a habit of visiting.
He shuffled around the room, poking at things, kneading his knuckles, and looking at the standard equipment as if deeply interested. He brushed his clawed fingertips over the calibration gauge of a weld-stress analyzer, muttering, “Mmm hmmm, good work!” as if Qwi herself had invented the common instrument.
“I just came to commend you for your consistently fine efforts, Dr. Xux.” Sivron stroked one of the vermiform head-tails draped around his neck; then his voice grew stern. “But I hope you are about finished with your endless iterations on the Sun Crusher project. We’re past Grand Moff Tarkin’s target date, you know, and we must move soon. I insist you write your final report and get all the documentation in order. Submit it to my office as soon as possible.”
Qwi blinked at him in annoyance. She had submitted five separate “final” reports already, but each time Sivron had asked her to rerun a particular simulation or to retest the structural welds in the Sun Crusher’s quantum armor. He never gave any reasons, and Qwi got the impression that he never read the reports anyway. If it had been up to her, the Sun Crusher would have been ready for deployment two years ago. She was getting bored with it, wanting to move on to a new design she could start from scratch and get back to the enjoyable, imaginative work again.
“You’ll have the report by this evening, Director Sivron!” She would just send a repeat of the last one.
“Good, good,” Sivron said, stroking his head-tail again. “I just wanted to make sure everything is in order.”
For what? Qwi thought. We’re not going anywhere. She hated it when the administrators and the military types kept sticking their noses in her work. Without another word Tol Sivron left.
Qwi stared after him, then activated the rarely used privacy lock on her door. Returning to her imaging terminal, she continued trying to crack the wall of passwords in front of her. She did like challenges, after all.
Qwi could not stop thinking about what Han Solo had told her. At first it was a new puzzle to solve, but then she finally began paying attention. To her all the prototypes she developed were abstract concepts turned into reality through mathematical music and brilliant intuitions. She kept telling herself that she did not know, or care, what her inventions were used for. She could certainly guess, but she tried not to. She didn’t want to know! She blocked those thoughts before they could surface. But Qwi Xux wasn’t stupid.
The Death Star was