Rogue Planet

Chapter 41

Raith Sienar's first foreboding came with a mechanical shiver of his E-5. The battle droid sentinel loomed large in one corner of the commander's cabin, its senses tuned to all the cabin's ports of entry.

He entered the viewing area in a tight-cinched sleep gown, wondering what the subdued whirring and clinking was all about.

"Stand down," he commanded the droid when he saw it was having difficulty. The droid dropped to a position of rest, relieving some tension from its vibrating limbs. Still, the droid remained a sad, shivering hulk.

He returned to his personal effects in their cases in the sleeping quarters and brought out a small holo-analyzer. The device could find nothing wrong with the droid's external mechanisms. Still, whenever the E-5 tried to return to an ac tive posture, it clanked like an old iron wind chime in a stiff breeze.

"Self-analysis," he commanded. "What's wrong?"

The droid returned a series of beeps and whines, too high- pitched and too fast for Sienar's instrument to understand. "Again, reanalyze."

The droid responded and the analyzer once again failed. It was as if the droid were speaking another set of languages entirely-a near impossibility. No one else had tampered with it-and he had programmed this droid himself. Sienar was very knowledgeable about such things and adept at small engineering tasks.

He also had a sixth sense about ships, and the sudden small series of vibrations he felt through the soles of his slippers felt distinctive and wrong. Before he could demand a report from the bridge, Captain Kett's image appeared in the middle of the viewing room, full-sized and tinted alarm red.

"Commander, five battle droids have unexpectedly departed from the weapons bay. Did you order a drill. . without my knowledge?"

"I've ordered no such thing."

Kett seemed to listen to someone. He turned to Sienar- whom he could still not see-Sienar had his room projectors covered for the evening-and said, his voice shaking with anger, "Sir, passive detection reports-we have a visual sighting, actually- that five starfighter droids have exited through the Admiral Korvin's starboard loading hatch and are flying directly toward Zonama Sekot. I have already locked down all other droids and sent my personal ship's engineers into the weapons bay. No more will escape."

Sienar absorbed this as if Kett had just announced there would be a change in tomorrow's meal plan. Without replying, leaving Kett's image to hang and flicker above the floor of the cabin, he slowly turned back to the E-5.

"Did you install my program in all of the starfighters?" Sienar asked the captain.

"I followed your orders to the letter, Commander."

Sienar's lips curled in a brief and silent curse. He had underestimated Tarkin. No doubt Tarkin had customized the droids-all the droids-with hidden subcode blocks containing contingency programs. Sienar had not bothered to look. He had taken some things at face value.

So who was the fool now?

"Destroy the starfighters," he said, trying to keep calm.

"That will reveal our presence, Commander."

"If we do not destroy them, they will reveal our presence for us. I do not want rogue units in action out there."

"Yes, sir." Kett made a slashing motion with one hand. Another vibration came through the ship's hull-turbolasers reaching out with short-range settings.

"We have intercepted one of the five," Kett said. "The others are out of range. I will dispatch-"

"No. Hold. Sweep this entire system with active sensors, Captain Kett. Let me know the results immediately."

"Yes, sir."

Sienar took out his laser pistol and approached the shivering E-5 with some trepidation. He wondered if Tarkin's subcodes included orders to assassinate. In truth, however, he could not be sure such subcodes even existed-and he needed to learn quickly.

"Drop your armor integrity. Deactivate and shut down all energy sources, damp them completely," he ordered, and flashed an authorization code from his analyzer. The droid complied with his instructions-which meant that any subcode

programs did not completely wrest control from the main intelligence.

As the E-5 slumped with a weary little howl, Sienar slipped on a breather mask and applied his laser to the droid's outer shell. In minutes, he had filled the commander's cabin with dense smoke, setting off alarms which he grimly ignored.