EVIDENCE REVEALED
by
Winter remained crouched behind a stack of
crates marked with the Imperial
symbol. Her long, pure white hair hung wildly around her beautiful
face as she
watched, and listened intently to all that was going on around her.
Blessed
with the gift of having a holographic and audiographic memory, Winter
vividly
remembered everything that was being said, as well as any actions going
on
around her. The special talent she possessed made her a valuable
assistant to
Princess Leia, whom she accompanied to Senatorial Council meetings.
Being only
eighteen, Leia Organa was now the youngest Senator to ever grace the
Council.
Her youth was not to be taken lightly however. Serving with her father
Bail
Organa, Leia had already proven to be assertive and extremely knowledgeable.
With the abilities Winter possessed, she could readily recall any information
Leia needed.
Winter's talents went far beyond being a simple
recorder, however; she also
had a knack for getting into private Imperial military bases.
Using her beauty
as well as intelligence, Winter had been able to infiltrate a secret
warehouse
located on the far side of an unnamed imperial base, so unnamed that
only the
officers of the imperial fleet knew of its existence. Still,
even within their
own kind, this knowledge was shared with only a chosen few, forcing
Winter to
slice into a military computer and pull the list of names. This
enabled her to
carefully attach herself to the correct people.
Carefully choosing a hidden identy -- one
of many -- Winter served as a
yeoman for several of the officers connected to the base. It
had only been a
matter of time before she was able to slice into a top secret computer,
hack
through the maze of codes and learn of the base location. But
seeing it on a
computer data pad wasn't enough; she felt strongly about seeking out
the base
herself and discover exactly what was being kept hidden. The
white-haired
beauty stowed away on an imperial cruiser bound for the anonymous base.
She had
emerged, wearing a new disguise, and in a matter of days learned enough
to cause
the imperials more trouble than they could possibly imagine.
She had been gone for several months, with
no contact to her dearest,
closest friend Leia Organa. Knowing Leia would be worried, Winter
made quick
notes of all she had discovered. Under the concealment to night,
she escaped
the heavily guarded base hidden in a create bound for Alderaan.
Once she had
arrived, she immediately confided in Senator Bail Organa and Leia about
her
discovery. Senator Organa felt he should talk to the Senate about
the situation
and ask for assistance. Leia and Winter had plans of their own.
With newly concocted disguises, Winter led
Leia onto the base. She used
the same passcodes, took the same hallways and, once close enough to
the
warehouse, snuck in the same way she had done time and again.
Working their way
from the far side of the warehouse, they crept stealthily from one
hiding place
to another. With Winter leading the way, Leia hung back behind
stack after
stack of crates, tightly sealed drums of liquid and equipment parked
closely
together. She knew this was a dangerous game they were playing,
but if they had
to wait for her father to get any type of assistance from the Senate,
then they
might as well give up any hope of finding out what the big secret was.
She held her breath and nervously chewed on
her bottom lip as she watched
Winter quietly slip behind another stack of drums. They were
almost close
enough to view the object of mystery. Just a little closer.
Manuvering to a stack of crates, Winter stuck
her head out from behind the
pile and waved Leia on, inviting the young senator to hastily join
her behind
the concealment. Leia rushed forward, crouching low while keeping
her eyes
locked on the imposing scene they had stumbled upon.
"Okay, Leia, this is it," Winter whispered,
drawing her blaster and taking
the setting off of stun.
"You mean, this is as far as we go?"
"No. What I mean is, this is the area
that is handling the object of
secrecy. Over there," Winter motioned with her head toward
the bustling beyond
their refuge, "we just need to crash the party."
Leia drew her blaster as well and peered between
the crates at the men
packing up large sections of machinery. Winter had learned that
the pieces were
being created on this base, and as they were completed, the crew packed
them up
and shipped them to an area of space called the Outland Regions.
For what
purpose? Leia could only speculate and the answers weren't good.
"How do you plan on crashing this party?"
Leia asked, raising one eyebrow.
Winter produced several tiny thermal detonators
from a pack she had slung
over her neck and shoulder. Unlike a full-sized thermal detonator,
the smaller
version didn't cause as much destruction, just fires and a lot of chaos.
Rolling them loosely in the palm of her hand, Winter stared at Leia
and shot her
a wry grin.
"Don't you think we should find out the exact
location of where these
pieces are being taken too? When put together, what does it form?
What is its
purpose?" Leia questioned, not wanting to destroy evidence before
they had a
chance to unravel all the secrets.
"Leia, I told you, I've tried. They
use a series of hyperjumps, course
changes and back-tracking. It makes it impossible to follow them.
I have no
idea where this Outland Region is located," Winter whispered,
hoping to sway
Leia into seeing things from her point of view. "This all smells
of rotting
Bantha flesh. I mean, look at this...they're secretly making
a device piece by
piece and sneaking it to some destination to put it together.
What ever it is,
it's huge."
"I understand what you're saying, but blowing
up a few pieces of the puzzle
won't stop them from making new ones," Leia knelt on the thermacreate
floor and
rested her blaster in her lap. "I just wanted to find out
who was in charge of
all of this and what they were making...that's all."
Winter looked lovingly at her best friend
and placed a hand on Leia's
shoulder. "Dear Leia, I have hacked as far into their computers
as I possibly
could. The information is so heavily coded it would take an expert
hacker
months to figure it out. You and I know that the imperials are
up to no good,
no matter what Senator Palpatine claims."
"True...well, if we can't get hard evidence,
or a data disk of information,
then I guess the next best option is to mess things up a bit,"
Leia summed up,
releasing a deep sigh and getting back into a crouch position.
"I'm just
worried how we're going to get out of here after the fun begins."
"Don't worry. I have it all figured
out," Winter soothed. She set the
timer on one of the detonators and just as she was about to throw it....
"Be careful with that!" It was a man's
voice, commanding and precise.
Leia put her hand on Winter's arm, signaling
to halt all action for the
moment. She leaned closer to Winter and gently pulled her lower
to the ground.
"I know that voice," she whispered,
"But I need to make sure of who I
think it is." Leia raised up and peered over the stack of crates,
seconds
later, Winter squeezed her head next to Leia's, recording all she saw
and heard.
The two young women stared in complete amazement at the assemblage
of military
leaderage that suddenly appeared; apparently they were here to oversee
the
operation.
"Oh, my....," Leia gasped, "Do you know
who that is?" Her question was
more of a statement as she watched the men carefully.
"Yes. Grand Moff Tarkin," Winter
answered, not that Leia didn't already
know, it was more for the sake of reassuring each other, that who they
were both
seeing was correct.
For the Grand Moff to be involved in this
secrecy was far more than either
of them could comprehend. Known for his ruthlessness, the Moff
had stopped at
nothing to ensure his place among the higher-ups within the Empire.
Somehow he
had continuously brought forth some of the most deadly weapons the
Republic had
ever seen; huge walking tanks, turbolazer cannons of fierce strength
and new
high-tech blasters. No one could figure out how he was able to
concoct such
items and no one dared oppose him. Grand Moff Tarkin enjoyed
it immensely when
people cowered before him; it gave him a sense of power and it showed
within the
way he carried himself and spoke to others.
Accompanying Tarkin was a man Leia and Winter
had never seen before. He
was middle-aged, slim and somewhat shorter than the Moff with thinning,
dark
hair. Leia shot Winter a questioning glance as they listened
closely to what
was being said.
"Chief Lemelisk," Tarkin ordered, more
so than requested, "inspect each
piece for proficiency. Make sure they are being prepared correctly."
As
Tarkin strutted himself haughtily around a chunk of machinery, he waved
for the
workers to remove the protective tarp that covered it. Which
they did without
hesitation.
Revealed to them was a massive piece of apparatus,
black in color and in
the shape of a half circle. It was as wide as it was broad.
Leia couldn't
quite place the correct size, possibly one hundred fifty meters.
"Look at it, Winter," Leia whispered,
"it's huge! And look how thick it
is."
"Just keep in mind, this is only one very
small piece to an even bigger
puzzle."
The man called Chief Lemelisk, inspected many
of the connectors and areas
that were used to join other pieces of the device to itself, Leia reasoned.
As
she watched, Leia began experiencing a sickening feeling in the pit
of her
stomach. Her breath began to quicken and she was overcome with
a feeling of
death and despair as another of the massive pieces were unveiled and
brought
together with the first. With the two together, she could make
out a sunken
dish area in the center; though there were two other pieces missing,
she was
pretty sure this was a central part of the mysterious creation.
"Now, Moff Tarkin," Chief Lemelisk said,
holding a thick rod to the edge
of the dish area, "this is only to give you an idea, mind you.
The four
conductor rods will go about the center of this area here, thus connecting
to
the central output device, where all the energy will flow."
"Excellent," Tarkin spoke proudly, "After
my installation is complete, we
will be able to furnish all of our own materials and create anything
we want
without worrying about prying eyes." His smile broadened as he
spread his arms
wide, taking in the gigantic pieces, "This will be my greatest accomplishment
for the Empire."
"I agree, Grand Moff," Chief Lemelisk
folded his hands and made himself
humble.
"I don't like this," Leia said, slinking
down behind the crates and
turning to her friend, "You're absolutely right Winter, we need to
try and
demolish these pieces. They may build replacement ones...later,
but that will
be later...hopefully much later. I don't know...I just have this
feeling lots
of people are going to die if we don't do something."
"At least we can slow them down," Winter
said, lightly fingering the
detonator she had already set.
Leia quickly looked over their concealment
once more. The workers were
opening a huge door, so they could move the pieces outside to waiting
turbolifts, with the Moff and his chief engineer following closely.
She shook
her head and gave Winter the go ahead. Without hesitation, Winter
set the timer
to ten seconds and threw it.
All eyes turned toward the pinging sound.
Comments of suspicion were
quickly replaced with cries of anguish as the tiny bomb went off.
Leia could
hear some of the men screaming in pain as their flesh was quickly burned
from
their bodies. Others were hurt, while still others fought to
put out the
flames. One by one, detonators went off all over the warehouse,
igniting fuel
tanks and making it impossible for anyone to put out the flames.
Winter grabbed Leia by the arm, pulling her
along as they dashed through
the burning building. Even though they were wearing common coveralls
donned by
all the base workers, the two infiltrators were spotted in all the
confusion.
"Get them!" Moff Tarkin shouted.
"The Rebel scum! It'll take more fire
power to destroy these fragments than mere detonators!" He called
after them,
watching the two spies escape certain death as laser blast after laser
blast
barely missed them.
"Did anyone get a good look at them?"
A lieutenant questioned several of
his men that had pursued the rebels.
"No Sir," a young man returned, "it's
possible they were moles or
informants."
"Don't let them get away!" Chief Lemelisk
shouted.
"Don't worry," Tarkin soothed, "They
didn't see, or hear, much. Besides,
once we get our super weapon completed, the Rebel Alliance base will
be the
first place we test it's strength."