STAR WARS: Fugitive

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Lord Subtyr had been summoned by Darth Durus to his personal chamber. He was momentarily surprised to find him waiting at the door the moment he opened it. I can’t get over why he hides himself in the Force so much, thought Subtyr.

“Come, Lord Subtyr,” spoke Durus without hesitating, “walk with me.” He began walking as if he had timed arrival at the door, and meeting Subtyr was mere coincidence. Subtyr fell obediently into step with his master. A secret side of him was dying to know what his master was up to, but he had learned that Durus’ resolve was eternal, and it was best to be patient until he revealed his own mind.

“I have a conference with the Chief Engineer; I want you to attend with me,” he said.

“He’s found the saboteur?” responded Subtyr, a mix of suspicion and eagerness.

“He has new information. The betrayer will soon be no more. Listen, and observe.”

“But, Master, it’s only a matter of time before we divine the information ourselves...”

“This is key, Lord Subtyr. Observe.”

They neared their destination and the dual doors slid apart smoothly with a sound barely above a soft whisper. Inside the conference room, two men, one in pristine uniform, the other wearing coveralls that looked almost administrative, stood from their chairs in unison.

“Be seated, Admiral, and share your knowledge,” said Durus cordially as he took his own seat. Subtyr stood silently behind and to Durus’ right, head slightly bowed, projecting subservience. The two men resumed their seats, and the Admiral spoke first.

“My Lord, this is our Chief Engineer Officer, Commander Hoim’n. He has been able to acquire information that should aid in identifying and tracking down our saboteur.” He gave the nervous engineer a small arm gesture to cue his turn to speak. Lord Durus smiled and projected confidence toward the engineer to help him speak freely. He cleared his throat as he glanced briefly at the Admiral and then focused on Durus, momentarily stunned until he took a quick deep breath, and suddenly felt calm.

“My Lord, I’ve worked with my engineering team to peruse through our recent log data files of the dreadnought systems, and we’ve noticed some distinct trends that coincide with the explosions that have happened, and we have reason to believe that these trends are not natural phenomena, all involving our electrical distribution system.”

“You propose we rule out that our culprit is an explosive ordinance expert or alchemistic.”

“Yes, my Lord. Our analysis suggests that this has been the work of a highly skilled computer analyst with a working knowledge of power distribution.”

“How many personnel meet these criteria?”

Commander Hoim’n looked uneasy as he slowly straightened in his seat and glanced back at the Admiral. The Admiral nodded and continued, “The information has just been passed to the head of Personnel Department personally, and he is discreetly compiling that answer as we speak.”

Durus sensed the gesture of diplomacy, but he also sensed that the Chief Engineer had a good estimate already calculated. With a small gesture of his fingers he willed with the Force for attention to be back on Commander Hoim’n, who suddenly found his own will to continue speaking.

“My Lord, if we assume generically that anyone with these criteria is suspect, then there are five individuals, counting myself, who are able to do this, plus approximately ten more who could similarly carry out these actions if they were not acting entirely alone. The measures taken by our saboteur violate clear safety precautions that each of these individuals live and breathe by.”