Evidence Revealed

by
TJ Perkins

 
 Disclaimer: Star Wars and it's characters and situations are property of Lucasfilm, LTD.
 

     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 identity -- 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 he 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.
     Maneuvering to a stack of crates, Winter stuck her head out from 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."
 

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