Star Wars: Heir to the Sith (Part 3)

Chapter 12: "Those gifted with the Force see farther and clearer than others."

"Observe, Commodore Sarn," Director Dacher said, pointing to the right neutron star. "The first pulse will fall upon the ring any second now."

Pina starred in anticipation at the rapidly spinning body. The brilliant beam of energy that radiated out into space from the pole swung across the side of the ring and shone directly through its centre, missing the ring itself.

"Any unshielded ship caught in the blast would see all its occupants fatally contaminated," Dacher said. "I do hope, Captain Pina, that the Reaver docked in the safe zone, in the shadow of the ring?"

Polite laughter broke out from the gathering.

A technician's voice came on over the speaker, from the control room.

"Second pulse is coming into place now, Director."

"Ah. Now it begins."

The second neutron star shifted and its beam and also sliced across the ring before pausing in the empty centre.

"Are they even touching the ring itself?" Bauhaus asked.

"Not yet, Commander," Dacher answered. "But you must know what happens when two complimentary waves combine? Even the planet-bound physicists of the dark ages realised that."

As they watched the two beams fell into an alignment some distance before the ring and immediately blossomed in an intensity that became so bright Pina made ready to shield his eyes, only to find that the viewport countered such a burst and darkened appropriately.

As the intensity grew, so did the beam itself, widening out to cover the face of the ring.

"Frequencies are within activation parameters," the technician's voice informed them. "Threshold energy shall be reached in eight seconds."

"Your team have computed the coordinates Assayer Mahon gave them?" Sarn asked.

"They have Commodore. But the tunnel that Lord Vader has requested is further away than any we've tried to force open before. If Lord Vader had given us the orders as soon as you had arrived we might already have achieved a stable conduit. As it is we've wasted opportunities–"

"Assayer Mahon only received the order just after the Reaver arrived, from a time lock on his communicator," Sarn said coldly. "No doubt Lord Vader will have more important things to do, hunting down the architects of this attempt on the Emperor's life and bringing rogue Imperial elements to justice."

Dacher looked chastised. He nodded. "You are quite correct, Commodore. I didn't mean to question your actions. There is much we don't know about the current situation."

"Threshold energy reached," the technician's voice informed them. "Secondary radiation has entered cascade on the shadow side. All readings are normal. Preparing for S-Thread activation."

"Anyone in that car will be dead by now," Bauhaus whispered to Pina with a knowing look.

And if Neerada is dead, if she was in the car, then just where does that leave us? Pina swallowed and continued to watch.

"How long until we know if the tunnel is successful?" an officer of Sarn's crew asked the director.

"Opening the tunnel will be very quick," Dacher said. "But that is not the hard part. That comes in making sure the hyperspace lane is stable and won't collapse on itself. With the number of S-Thread projectors in this facility, we can sometimes achieve that on a single boring, but like I said, Lord Vader's destination is far away deep in the galactic core, and we have no knowledge of what is at the other end. In all our tests, we have surveyed the destination in great detail before any tunnelling attempt has been made." He turned to Sarn. "I have to be frank, Commodore. Opening a tunnel for Lord Vader in these circumstances in all probability will not work. To get a stable hyperspace route in place will take several weeks of testing and refining. It would be quicker to fly there normally."