Part 22 (2/2)
”Where's the technician I asked for?”
”Specialist Pedisic is on her way, my lord. ”
”Not good enough. I asked for one to be here when I arrived. What about Darth Chratis? Is he on his way, too?”
”No, my lord. He wishes you to attend him immediately. ”
”Again, not good enough. ” She wrapped the Force around the man's throat and squeezed until he gasped. ”Tell him that I have important work to oversee, and I will not be distracted. ”
”Yes... sir!” the red-faced soldier managed.
She let him go and he scurried off to obey her orders.
Behind her, the pilot and another grunt carried a sealed metal case down the ramp with exaggerated care. She had impressed upon them the importance of its contents. If anything happened to the remains of the hex, she was sunk along with the mission.
”I need somewhere secure to open this box, ” she told the next soldier in line. ”Show me to the nearest quarantine bay. ”
”Yes, my lord. ” He snap-turned neatly on his heel and led her to a gla.s.s-windowed room set into one wall of the hangar deck. The box promptly followed.
The quarantine bay was small but well equipped. The box went onto the floor next to a gleaming metal table. A heavy-breathing droid tech finally arrived, and Ax sent everyone else packing.
”Inside that box is a droid, ” she told the technician. ”And inside the droid is information of the greatest possible importance. It's your job to get it out. ”
”I understand, my lord. ”
”Good. Well, open it!”
Specialist Pedisic unsealed the clasps, stared for a moment at what lay within, then reached in to scoop out the remains. The dead hex had collapsed in on itself and was now reduced to the size of a small human child. Its legs curled protectively around its midriff. Dark brown fluid stained everything.
”I've never seen anything like this before, ” Pedisic told her, wiping her hands on a cloth she produced from inside her uniform.
”What you've seen or done before doesn't concern me, ” Ax said. ”It's what happens now that matters. If I said this was a matter of life and death, I wouldn't be exaggerating. For you, it certainly is. ”
Pedisic swallowed. ”Let me send for some more equipment, and I'll get started right away. ”
Ax nodded. ”You have one hour. ”
She swept out of the quarantine bay, past the double guard stationed at the door, and went to find her Master.
The blow came so fast she couldn't avoid it, even though she'd expected it from the moment she boarded the Paramount. She felt herself swept up and thrust with crus.h.i.+ng force into the nearest bulkhead, and held there, unable to move.
”You were sent to Hutta to claim one thing. ”
The deadly hiss of her Master's voice slid like a red-hot needle into her right ear. She could feel him next to her, even though the room was in absolute darkness. His presence was like a foul-burning fire in the fabric of s.p.a.ce itself.
”One thing only, ” he repeated, ”yet you return without it, you stand by while the Emperor's official envoy is killed, and you delay before reporting to me. What am I to do with you, Eldon Ax? What punishment would be most fitting?”
”The envoy was a puppet, ” she managed in her own defense.
”They always are, but they remain the public face of the Emperor. To slight one of them is to slight him. Would you be party to such a thing? Should he be informed that you have allowed his authority to be disrespected?”
”No, Master. That was not my intent. ”
”Perhaps it was not. It is hard to be certain. Your confusion is exposed to me. You are weakened by attachment, by the existence of a mother... ”
She flinched away from him as though physically struck. ”You lie!” she cried, even though part of her worried that it might be the truth.
The lights burst on, blindingly bright. She fell to the floor, released, and blinked away bright afterimages. The room was square, black, and empty apart from her Master's meditation sarcophagus mounted securely in the center. He was inside it, his withered face hidden safely behind the lid.
He had never been standing beside her at all.
”Allow me to explain, Master. ”
”If you cannot, I will crush your mind to dust. ”
She began with her attempt to infiltrate the vault and moved quickly on to her confrontation first with the Jedi Padawan, then with Dao Stryver. Darth Chratis was displeased at her inability to slay either of her enemies, and she felt his feverish will coiling about her again, but she plowed on without hesitation. Her fate rested on convincing him of the worth of the hexes.
”Droids, ” he breathed. ”Lema Xandret was a droid maker. ”
”This surely confirms beyond all possible doubt that the Cinzia was connected to her. Doesn't it, Master?”
”Do you have any other evidence?”
She pushed aside a memory of the hexes' relentless screeching. ”They consistently attacked me first, as though they possessed an embedded resentment of the Sith. Otherwise, they lashed out only when either attacked themselves or their way was impeded. ”
”Suggestive indeed. You say the Mandalorian had the measure of them, as though he had seen their kind before?”
”He held back until it was clear the hexes were going to escape. ”
”I find that very interesting, too. ”
”The Hutts clearly had no idea what they had found, Master. They might have sold it for the material value alone, had it not been activated. ”
”Do you think your presence triggered some kind of awakening?”
”No, Master. It was a matter of expediency. The seed-factory remained relatively quiescent until circ.u.mstances ruled that tactic unworkable. Then it moved to another tactic. If the auction had been held a week later, I believe the hexes would have escaped unchecked into the Hutta biosphere, and from there made their journey home. ”
”To report, I presume. ”
”Yes, Master. ”
”Can you recover their route from the remains you brought here?”
”I intend to, Master. ”
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