Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 01_ Jedi Search - Kevin J. Anderson [116]
And the new Sun Crusher was—“What?” Han had said, raising his voice so that it hurt her fragile ears. “What in all the galaxy could the Sun Crusher be used for other than to completely wipe out all life in systems the Imperials don’t like? You don’t even have a bogus excuse like rubble mining. The Sun Crusher has one purpose only: to bring death to countless innocent people. Nothing more.”
But Qwi could not possibly have the responsibility for lives on her hands. That wasn’t part of her job. She just drew up blueprints, toyed with designs, solved equations. It exhilarated her to discover something previously considered impossible.
On the other hand, she was perfectly aware of what she was doing … though feigned naïveté provided such a nice excuse, such a perfect shield against her own conscience.
In the Maw databanks Qwi had discovered the complete “debriefing” of Han Solo—protected by a password she had easily broken—full video instead of just a transcription. Sivron and Daala had indeed kept much of it from her—but why?
As Qwi watched the entire torture session, she could not believe her eyes. She had never suspected the information had been taken from him in that manner! The words on paper seemed so cool and cooperative.
But on a deeper, professional level she was outraged at Admiral Daala. Access to data was supposedly open to all Maw scientists. She had never been denied a single information request in twelve years inside the black hole cluster! But this was even worse. She hadn’t just been denied access to the full report—she had been deceived into thinking Han’s debriefing held no more data.
But information is meant to be shared! Qwi thought. How can I do my work if I don’t have the pertinent data?
Qwi had little trouble breaking through the various passwords. Apparently, no one had expected her to bother looking. She read the full report with sickened astonishment: the destruction of Alderaan, the attack on Yavin 4, the ambush of the Rebel fleet over Endor, the huge hospital ship and personnel carriers blown into micrometeoroids by the second Death Star’s superlaser.
“What did you think they were going to be used for?” Han had said. Qwi closed her eyes to the thought.
Focus on the problem. It had been a mantra of her childhood. Be distracted by nothing else. Solving the problem was the only important thing. Solving the problem meant survival itself.…
As a child she remembered spending two years in the sterile, silent environment of the orbital education sphere above her homeworld of Omwat. Qwi had been ten standard years old, the same age as her other nine companions, each selected from different Omwati honeycomb settlements. From orbit the orange and green continents looked surreal, blurred by clouds and dimpled with canyons, blemished by upthrust mountains—nothing like the clean maps she had seen before.
But beside Qwi’s educational sphere orbited Moff Tarkin’s personal Star Destroyer. It had been a mere Victory class ship, but powerful enough to rain death and ruin down on Omwat if the students should fail.
For two years life for Qwi had been an endless succession of training, testing, training, testing, with no other purpose than to cram the total knowledge of engineering disciplines into pliable young Omwati minds—or to burst their brains in the process. Tarkin’s research had shown that Omwati children were capable of amazing mental feats, if pushed properly and sufficiently. Most of the young minds would collapse under the pressure, but some emerged like precious jewels, brilliant and creative. Moff Tarkin had wanted to test that possibility.
The gaunt, steel-hard man