Star Wars_ X-Wing 07_ Solo Command - Aaron Allston [118]
“That’s right.”
“Does Fleet Command have one available for you?”
“No,” Solo said. He turned to Face. “That’s where you come in.”
“Uh-oh,” Face said.
“I’m going to set up an appointment between you and your Imperial admiral buddy. I want you to go ask him for an Interdictor.”
Face said, “Begging your pardon, sir, but you’re crazy enough to be a Wraith.”
Solo grinned. “Until you’ve crewed with me for a few years, kid, you have no idea what ‘crazy’ means.”
14
Tonin decided that it might be a good thing to be the King of the Droids.
He was now a mighty leader, in command of hundreds of utility droids aboard Iron Fist.
He had modified many of them, with magnetic treads replacing their wheels, so that they might maneuver on the outer hull of the vessel. They clustered at the engines and the hyper-comm antennae, using their internal tools to chew and splice their way into external system ports and accesses.
More moved within Iron Fist at Tonin’s commands. Some were in the engine compartments. Others had spliced into the computer data cables. One was now in the security system that monitored Lara’s quarters; it fed modified recordings of her to the observers, so she could do whatever she pleased in her quarters while they saw only footage of her sleeping. Others dragged cables and dataports through the walls, giving Lara access to more and more secure portions of the ship and the computer archives.
Even so, half of the utility droids Tonin commanded confined themselves to ordinary ship’s functions … for Tonin had to make sure the ship’s central computer didn’t notice a sudden drop in the utility droid population. If droid MSE-6-P303K spent its day doing Tonin’s bidding, droid MSE-6-E629L would spend half its day doing the duties assigned by the ship’s computer, then would visit one of the special interfaces Tonin had had installed at points in the ship, assume the identity of MSE-6-P303K, and spend the other half of its day doing that droid’s duties.
So far, the ship’s main computer hadn’t noticed. This was, Tonin reflected, because Tonin was so much better at this task than the ship’s computer was. Perhaps the ship’s computer considered maintenance of a fleet of MSE-6 droids beneath its dignity.
The droid-guard in the corridor transmitted a warning to Tonin; it indicated someone was approaching Lara’s door. Tonin decoupled himself from Lara’s terminal and rolled hastily into her closet. But when the door opened, it was Lara herself who entered, looking tired and even dazed—but not hurt or unhappy, so far as Tonin could read human emotions. “Good morning, Tonin.”
He beeped a greeting at her, then returned to his post at the terminal and extended his scomp-link once more into its data port. To the terminal’s screen, he transmitted, YOU WERE GONE FOR A LONG TIME.
“I’m sorry. I had to go on a mission. I think I got a communication through to Mon Remonda, though.” She sat on her bed, pulled her boots off, and lay down. “I also gave myself a mild concussion and got personally congratulated by General Melvar for ‘tenacity and courage in pursuit of the enemy.’ ”
THE CONCUSSION WAS PROBABLY A BAD IDEA.
“Don’t be so sure.” She gave him a little smile. “What have you been up to?”
WE HAVE HOLOCOMM ACCESS WHENEVER YOU NEED IT, BUT IF YOU USE IT, THEY WILL DETECT IT VERY QUICKLY. AND MY DROIDS FOUND AN UNMAPPED SECTION OF THE SHIP.
“Show me.”
Tonin accessed this morning’s most interesting recording and transmitted it to the terminal’s screen.
It was a very low view, as was to be expected due to the MSE-6’s tiny size, of a bank of rectangular viewports seen from an adjoining corridor. Beyond the viewports were chambers that were obviously medical wards. One was an operating theater. Another held cages filled with sapient and near-sapient life-forms: Ewoks, rodentlike Ranats, Bilars with their stuffed-doll features but lacking the carefree expressions of most of their kind, a pink Ortolan with its trunklike nose pressed against the front bars of its cage, meter-long