"Why do you disturb me with technical matters? You have your orders, Engineer-Commander."
"Forgive me, your Imperial Majesty. They...there is a design matter."
"Take this up with the design committee. You waste my master's time with trivialities. You delay the completion of our greatest technological achievement. Do you wish a ... rebuke?"
"My sincerest apologies, Lord Vader, but this aspect of the design ... it has your personal command approval, and the seal of the chancel...of the Emperor on its final specifications. When I brought the matter before Governor Tarkin, he gave his conditional approval for the changes, but he said ... he said both you, and His Majesty must approve such an alteration, and that he was ordering the assembly to go ahead according to the original design unless he received orders from yourself and the Emperor. "
"Tarkin is our most trusted servant. He holds the rank he does, because he carries out our commands. When Lord Vader or Governor Tarkin give a command, it as if I give that command. Is this not clear?"
"Your Majesty, I am the foremost expert in the Galaxy on mega-structure reactors! I am a loyal and faithful subject of the Empire, and in my expert opinion, there is an extraordinary danger in this design, with a potentially cataclysmic outcome, that my loyalty will not allow me to ignore or dismiss! With all due respect, you must hear me out!"
"The Emperor is guided by the Dark Side of the Force, Engineer-Commander. You are a blind child, beside his knowledge of all that passes in the galaxy. You are dismissed."
"A moment, Lord Vader. I did not seize my Empire by ignoring good advice. Continue, Engineer-Lieutenant."
"Lieut..lieu..err...?"
"Rank is the Emperor's to bestow...or revoke. The longer you impose on his time, the greater the change in your rank might be."
"Forgive me, Your Majesty, I merely meant...this is...I mean, it's the reactor shaft!"
"Is it?"
"It vents right out from the main reactor, in a perfectly straight shaft, directly to the surface of the station!"
"That is the purpose of such shafts, is it not?"
"Ideally, they should be better protected than a ray-shield, Your Majesty. Solid state munitions will not be impeded in the least by ray shields. A high-velocity or self-propelled projectile could penetrate all the way to the main reactor. An explosive projectile, with the charge of a proton torpedo or greater, could set off a chain reaction that would destroy the entire station."
"Well, Lord Vader, it seems he is truly an expert. That was marvelously insightful, Engineer-Captain."
"Indeed."
"Thank you, Your-"
"Be silent. The Emperor had that shaft designed with the greatest care. You have told us nothing we do not already know."
"As you say, Lord Vader. in that case, Your Majesty, may I have the privilege of informing the design committee that you were about to order the changes?"
"Why would I wish to give such an order, my young servant?"
"To...to prevent the destruction of the battle station! The rebels would surely..."
"The destruction of the station is beyond their meager capabilities. No droid, no pilot, no computer could successfully target the opening of the shaft from a moving platform. "
"Lord Vader, I will not dispute your piloting expertise, but from an engineering standpoint, the standard procedures of movable covers, and switchbacks in the shaft would absolutely eliminate even the most remote chance..."
"We do not wish that chance removed, my faithful engineer."
"My master, are you certain of this course?"
"Yes, yes, my friend. I see that the good officer will not be satisfied. He is curious. As both direct commands, and indirect suggestions have failed to dissuade him in his loyalty, he shall be given an answer. It may be that he will assist us in arriving at other answers as well."
"I am honored, Yo-"
"You are. Do you believe in the Force, Engineer?"
"Um, well, of course, the Jedi...before they betrayed the Rep...um, the Empire, they used the Force...? And Lord Vader, he said something before, about the Dark Force or ...?"
"You see? You hear, you learn facts, but you do not know the Force. The Force is all about us. We, my apprentice, Lord Vader and I, control it, we master it. It does our bidding, and that is why I rule this galaxy, with Lord Vader at my side. Second only to the Force, in power itself, will be this battle station when completed. Tell me, engineer, what could be destroyed with a laser blast powered by that main reactor you know so well?"
"Of a certainty, any vessel or structure known to exist, or theoretically possible to build, Sire! Perhaps even a planet, though geological stresses are not my..."
"Even a planet. Of that, we are quite certain."
"And...and, forgive me, Your Majesty, but second to the Force? Why not just...I mean, if you are master of the Force...?"
"The Force is not for everyone. It serves only those with the strength and the will to penetrate its secrets, and to mold the galaxy to their will. Even those who are strong in it are seldom worthy, such as the Jedi. Their weakness and failure is what necessitated the rise of the Empire. To prevent more fools from following up the delusional path of the Jedi, knowledge of the Force must fade from the minds of the unworthy."
"So, you built this battle station for the lesser beings, your servants, to wield in your name?"
"What a clever pupil you are! Tell me, Master Engineer, do you see a flaw in this plan?"
"Well, if we forget about the Force, as you say we must, people will think the station is the greatest power..."
"They will come to believe that technicians and bureaucrats who operate the vessels of my fleet will hold the true power in the universe."
"But, should that happen..."
"They will be in for a surprise."
"Err... my Lord?"
"Lord Vader is the finest pilot in the Empire, Engineer. Maneuvering down the trench to the reactor shaft would be child's play for a man of his talents. For a Dark Lord of the Sith, precisely targeting the shaft with a proton torpedo is no more difficult.
"I have foreseen all possible threats. Should day arise when those entrusted with our newest weapon believe they no longer need my direction, or that they can threaten my worlds with destruction, they will never see another."
"But if the Jedi rise again, if any have missed the purges...Your Majesty said yourself that the Force is greater than any known weapons. What if they make use of this fl...this feature, your ingenuity has devised?"
"The destruction of the greatest weapon of the galaxy would then demonstrate the need for the Emperor and myself to protect our Empire from such threats as the Jedi remnants. It would prove the faith the Senate has place in the Emperor to be well-founded."
"But the losses, so much materiel, so much labor. Even the lives...all gone to waste to prove a point?"
"It is quite a large galaxy, Engineer. There are many more planets from which we could staff as many battle stations as we wished. Belief and trust, faith and fear...these are not so easily obtained or replaced."
"Well spoken, my young apprentice. It is on these things as well that the Dark Side feeds, from which it gains power!"
"So, logically speaking then, my Lords, a threat is better than a solution? You would rather the galaxy fear a ... a phantom menace, than have certain protection from...have I said something funny, Majesty?"
"Ah, if only you knew, engineer. Oh, I am not at all adverse to using a vague threat of a hidden enemy to stir my subjects and servants, both willing and unwitting, to action.
Of course, that does not mean I wish the knowledge of my true purposes to be disseminated so early in the unfolding of my design."
"Your Majesty may be assured of my complete discretion! I will never reveal what you have told me here!"
"I know."
"Ghhckk, grk, uhk."
"I have every confidence in your silence, Engineer. You have the most remarkably insightful mind."
"Grrgh..."
"Lord Vader, have Tarkin complete a more thorough purge of the design & oversight staff. No doubt there are any number of similarly insightful minds. I wish the secret of our station's weakness to be revealed only when by doing so, we may obtain a greater secret.
"And send in the guards to remove the engineer. Discreetly. I would prefer if our more noisily observant subjects were not dissuaded from alerting us to their awareness of our secrets..."
"As you wish, my master."