Star Wars_ X-Wing 07_ Solo Command - Aaron Allston [24]
“The most promising,” Zsinj said.
“Yes. The most promising. He deliberately brought them together so they would die with him.”
“You said most of the test subjects …”
“There was one exception. A Gamorrean. It had been through the intelligence series but not the aggression series.”
“Its name?”
She shrugged. “I never met it. It was officially logged as Subject Gamma-Nine-One-Oh-Four.”
“And this subject was supposed to have died in the explosion.”
“Yes,” she said. “But the only cellular material we found of it was blood plasma.”
“Which your uncle could have extracted from the creature and distributed prior to the explosion.”
“Yes.”
“Was there only blood plasma found of your uncle?”
She shook her head. “We found his head and several other parts.”
“How about Ewoks?”
“Two of the test subjects theoretically destroyed in the blast were Ewoks. They’d both been through intelligence and aggression treatments. We found body parts of two different Ewoks, so we had reason to believe both had perished.”
Zsinj took a long breath. “Well. There’s little doubt that Voort saBinring, a Rebel pilot of Wraith Squadron, is your uncle’s pet Gamorrean. There is also reason to believe that Lieutenant Kettch, a pilot with a pirate group called the Hawkbats, is a similarly enhanced Ewok from the program. Tell me, why would both of them become pilots?”
Gast said, “We found fragmentary records indicating that my uncle had tested the Gamorrean on flight simulators as one way to measure his temperament and intelligence. He could have done so with an Ewok, too. I just don’t see how an Ewok could have escaped … unless it was a test subject that he had never entered into the records.”
He fixed her with an angry stare. “You could have told me all this back when I circulated my first query. It would have saved me a lot of difficulty.”
“No, I couldn’t.” She returned his stare calmly, unapologetically. “I never saw your query. I have done my job satisfactorily.”
“That’s for me to decide.”
“With apologies, warlord, but you’re not qualified to evaluate my performance.”
Zsinj stared at her a moment, then barked out a laugh. “Very good last words, Doctor Gast. But, now, it’s time for a reckoning. Your division has failed me and blood must be shed if I’m to feel better.”
He held out both hands and the guards leaned in to place a blaster pistol in each hand. These Zsinj set before the two doctors. “I’d be happy for you two to accomplish the task yourselves. That would save me some mental anguish, I assure you.”
Bress looked with genuine fright at the weapons. “Sir, everything you’ve asked me I’ve done—”
“Yes. And now I’m asking you to do one final thing.”
Gast picked up her pistol and checked its settings to make sure it was charged. Zsinj watched her with real interest. She was very cool and might decide to remove him from the universe to avenge her own death.
Bress, his voice climbing into a wail, said, “Please, sir, so much of the project’s success is my doing, my mistakes have been so few—”
Gast set the barrel of her pistol against Bress’s ribs and pulled the trigger. The sound of the blast filled the room, followed by the smell of seared flesh. Bress staggered sideways and fell against the office wall.
Gast held up her pistol and allowed Melvar to take it from her. “Now,” she said, “will someone be killing me?”
Zsinj looked at her, forcing his expression into one of reasonability. “Shouldn’t we? You’ve been part of a team that has covered up critical errors in judgment. Coming before me as a penitent, you’ve been insubordinate, even arrogant. You couldn’t even carry out a simple request to kill yourself.”
She