Legacy of the Jedi

Chapter 16

They spent the night in Cilia's hiding place, a safe house on the outskirts of the city. Cilia disappeared into an inner room, and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were left to share floor space in a small, bare room painted a surprising pink. They laid out their sleeprolls and settled down on the hard floor.

"Master," Obi-Wan murmured, "should we contact the Council?"

"Why?" Qui-Gon asked.

"Well, we're about to break into another planet's government building and steal state secrets," Obi-Wan said. "Master Windu can get touchy about things like that."

"Precisely why we shouldn't bother him. I'll speak to the Council after the mission is over. Don't worry, Obi-Wan. The Council doesn't have to know every move we make, nor do they want to. You worry too much."

"You don't know what I'm thinking all the time," Obi-Wan growled.

"Not all the time," Qui-Gon said "But at this moment I do."

"What am I thinking, then?"

"You are thinking about that turnover at the cantina and wishing you'd had time to finish it."

Obi-Wan groaned and turned his face into his sleep-roll. "I'm too hungry to argue. I'm going to sleep."

Qui-Gon smiled into the darkness. Obi-Wan's breathing grew steady, and soon he had dropped off into sleep.

Qui-Gon rolled himself tighter in his blanket and stared at the ceiling. Flakes of paint had peeled off the surface, revealing a dark undercoat somewhere between brown and green. He had forged his own path apart from Dooku, but there were some lessons he had kept. A certain independence from the Council made things easier on a mission.

Afterward was another story. Obi-Wan was right. The Council would not be happy they had joined Cilia's raid.

Qui-Gon was impressed by the organization of the resistance. Cilia had arranged transport for the team and had even obtained worker identification tags from the Defense and Offense Ministry of Delaluna.

"You must have been planning this for some time," Qui-Gon said.

Cilia nodded as she climbed into the transport. "I planned it from prison. I was tired of peaceful protest. We need to strike one blow — and win."

"How did you communicate with your group?" Qui-Gon asked. "Your husband said you had no visitors in prison."

"The resistance has many friends," Cilia said, setting the coordinates. "There was a guard at the Guardian prison who smuggled in messages. He had joined the Guardians and became disillusioned. He said there were others like him. That's why I have hope."

The transport lifted off and streaked toward the moon of Delaluna. The journey wasn't long, and soon they had exited the craft at the landing platform outside the capital city of Levan.

Cilia had kept the group small. In addition to the Jedi, there was a security expert named Stephin and a weapons specialist named Aeran.

Their passes worked, which eliminated one of Qui-Gon's worries. The ministry was a bustling workplace, and they didn't attract any attention as they walked through the halls.

Cilia had memorized the layout. She led them onto a turbolift and down a long hallway into a separate wing of the building.

"I got the layout from a friend," she told Qui-Gon. "There are also those on Delaluna who don't like this situation. She passed along the blueprints to Stephin."

They reached the Weapons Development wing. Cilia stopped. She swiped her identification card, but the doors did not open.

"Stephin?"

"It's supposed to be card entry only," Stephin said, stepping forward.

Qui-Gon had taken in the situation in a glance. "It's now retinal and daily code."

"Daily code?" Stephin shook his head. "We're sunk. I can crack it but it would take hours. Plus I don't have a mainframe on me."

Qui-Gon admired Cilia's coolness. She did not show her exasperation.

Her skin seemed to tighten over the sharp cheekbones. "We're here,"

she said. "I'm not leaving without those plans. We have to find another way."

"We don't necessarily have to get into the secure wing ourselves,"

Qui-Gon said. "Not if we can get in through a computer."

Cilia looked at him, interested. "How?"

"We need to go to the only one who has access to all files and documents in the system," Qui-Gon answered.

"The director," Cilia supplied. "Of course. I don't know what kind of security he has, though."

"Let's find out." Qui-Gon indicated that Cilia lead the way.

They returned to the main wing of the Ministry. The director's office was behind a frosted panel. An assistant sat behind a desk. Beyond him was another door.

"No doubt the assistant has a panic button if we try to force our way in," Stephin said. "And we have no way of knowing if the director is in his office or not."

They walked on, anxious to avoid attention. At the end of the hallway, Cilia frowned. "We have to get both of them out of that office. We need a diversion."

"I think we can supply that," Qui-Gon said, beckoning to Obi-Wan.

They turned off from the others. Ahead, down a side hallway, Qui-Gon had already seen what he was looking for — the office for Internal Security.

"What are we doing?" Obi-Wan murmured.

"You are a new employee," Qui-Gon told him. "Just be as confusing as possible and leave the rest to me."

What Qui-Gon had found was that security officers in corporations or government offices were all basically the same in one respect. They were all afraid of being dismissed.

He strode in and scanned the room. Security screens lined two walls, and the tech equipment panel was as big as the room. Just as he'd hoped, there was only one technician there. A burly man rose from where he was idly playing a one-handed game of sabaac.

"Thought I'd walk him over," Qui-Gon said, indicating Obi-Wan. "Your new employee. Clearance from the top."

"Whoa, hang on, slick," the burly man said. "Just who do you think you are?"

"Security consultant from Constant Industries," Qui-Gon said. "I guess the director didn't tell you I was hired."

The burly man looked a little uncertain. "Credentials?"

Qui-Gon flashed his identification badge. "Look it up on the computer.

Or call the director's office."

"I'm a secured weapons surveillance expert," Obi-Wan explained.

"Trained at the tech institute? I'm supposed to monitor the in-house systems and coordinate the armed-response team."

"Wait a second. I'm the head of in-house systems," the burly man said.

Obi-Wan shrugged and looked at Qui-Gon.

"Not anymore, I guess," Qui-Gon said. "Let's take a look at what you've got here."

"Now, wait a second," the man said. "You can't come in here and — "

"Right, right, you're absolutely right. The security drill is coming up. We're supposed to monitor that closely." "We're not scheduled for a security drill."

"You'd better check that," Obi-Wan said. "There was a test system override and a cross-tech flareup with a monitor glitch that fried the subsystem. Let me show you." He leaned over the panel.

"You can't touch that!"

"Wait a second. You didn't set the security drill?" Qui-Gon took out his comlink. "I'd better notify the director.

"Wait, wait."

"I can take over," Obi-Wan said.

"I'll do it!" the man said, roughly pushing Obi-Wan aside. He made several keystrokes, and an alarm sounded.

"Security drill," a voice announced. "Please go to your stations."

"Come on," Qui-Gon said to Obi-Wan. "We'd better monitor the procedure. It's bound to be sloppy."

"But wait!" the burly man called. "What are your names?"

Crowds of beings had spilled out into the hallways. Obviously used to security drills, they continued to chat as they moved slowly down the halls to the exits. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon threaded through the crowd.

Cilia was watching for them anxiously. "I'm assuming you did that,"

she said.

"Yes. We'd better move forward or we'll look suspicious. Has anyone come out of the director's office?" "Not yet."

"There they are," Obi-Wan said quietly.

The door to the director's office opened, and several people filed out and headed for the exit.

"Come on, let's go," Qui-Gon said.

They left the stream of people and quickly slipped into the room.

"I'd guess you have about three minutes or less," Qui-Gon told Stephin.

Stephin didn't take the time to reply, but immediately entered the director's office and accessed his computer. He clicked keys quickly.

"Can you crack it?" Cilia asked.

"Hang on." Stephin's fingers flew. Qui-Gon was fairly adept at cracking computer security, but even he couldn't begin to follow Stephin's code.

"I'm into his personal files," Stephin said. "Nothing out of the ordinary… whoa! Hold that transmission. I found the Annihilator file." He clicked a few keys. "This is strange. You'd think there'd be a number of files, but there's only one." A holofile appeared. "It's subtitled Misinformation," he said. "Odd, don't you think?"

Cilia and Qui-Gon bent in front of Stephin to read the file while Aeran peered over their heads. Obi-Wan stood lookout.

Qui-Gon and Cilia's eyes met. "Do you think it's true?" she whispered.

"I think so," Qui-Gon said. "It's incredible, but it makes sense."

"I don't believe this," Aeran said slowly.

"What?" Stephin asked impatiently. Their heads were blocking the file.

"You know that awesome weapon capable of wiping out our entire civilization?" Cilia asked. "It doesn't exist. There is no Annihilator."

"What? How can that be?" Stephin exclaimed.

"This is a record of correspondence between the director and the ruler of Delaluna," Cilia explained as she scanned the file. "The Ministry Director has tracked a rumor that Delaluna has developed a fearsome weapon. He admits this is untrue, but suggests they take advantage of the rumor."

"Why quash it?" Qui-Gon said. "It will help them with security if planets think they are too strong to attack."

"They know that Junction 5 once looked at them and thought of colonization," Aeran filled in. "So why should they let their enemy know they are vulnerable?"

Cilia jackknifed erect, her dark eyes blazing. "Do you see what this means? If there's no weapon, there's no need for the Guardians to exist! We won't have to fight them, they'll simply disband!"

Qui-Gon was about to speak, but Obi-Wan signaled him.

"Guard droids approaching," he said. "Someone must know we're here."

"We must escape," Qui-Gon told the others. "If we are captured here, the news might never get out."

Cilia reached for her blaster. "We're ready."