Hey, guys! This is my first fanfiction ever. Any comments and feedback are appreciated. WARNING: Contains spoilers for Rogue One and Catalyst.

Did anyone notice that in the message scene from Rogue One, Galen mentions the unstable reactor, but not the exhaust port? This is my take on the reason for that. Enjoy!

I don't own Star Wars.

Entropy

By Fourier's Lawyer

Chapter I: The Vision

Several stories atop the ground floor, walking through wide, spacious hallways, and observing the hushed, unhassled, though however quick work of the occupants, a visitor to the establishment was unlikely to guess that it was, in fact, an imperial research facility.

Unlike the facility's many counterparts, no armored stormtroopers patrolled its entrances. No uniformed officers stood stationed or commanding their ranks. Galen Erso had seen to this.

He had requested that the Coruscant facility, built two or three decades prior, be devoid of military occupation, and to his surprise, the Empire had obliged. He had taken this uncharacteristic lenience to mean that the facility's surveillance was extensive. Under no circumstances, he knew, would the Empire leave any research center for weapons development so open.

Erso himself currently occupied his twentieth story office, gazing nonchalantly into the evening sky out a tiny window in the corner. He considered this a vacation; a break from the strictly patrolled facility on Eadu. It was a base of operations for the project. It was heavily armed and far more secretive, nested at the edge of the galaxy, on an obscure and rarely travelled planet.

How ironic it was, Galen thought, that the least secure of the Empire's properties was located on Coruscant: the greatest, densest ecumenopolis in all the galaxy.

This facility had been his family's home years prior. Galen's apartment was still located a few stories below, but he dared not go there. Jyn and Lyra had once walked those very hallways and occupied those very rooms. Most days, Galen simply slept in his office, falling to sleep with his face buried in his calculations. Such a lifestyle, though not preferable to most, kept Galen at peace. It was precisely the sort of monotony he required to remain focused on his work and little else.

To some degree, he regretted his decision. He'd hoped to escape from the stresses of life on Eadu – to find some semblance of quietude, but he had found only conflict. A page of unfinished calculations lay before him, but he could not find solace in the numbers.

Jyn Erso. The name brought him only pain, for Galen knew that his beloved daughter was either dead, or permanently abandoned. Oh, why had he left her? Would she have lived had he come to her following Lyra's death? No. Surely, the troopers would have fired upon Jyn… even before the eyes of her own father.

Lyra's absence pained him, still, but with less guilt; less conscience. Jyn's loss weighed as heavily on his soul as it had the very day he had left Lah'mu. He could bear the wrenching silence no longer. A tear traced itself down the side of his face, and he did nothing to prevent it. Perhaps, he thought, the room was under real time surveillance. Good, he thought, Let Krennic see my tears. To him, I am no more than a beaten, broken, coward, and what coward would dare entertain revolt?

A brisk knock on the door brought Erso out of his thoughts. Hastily drying his face and reaching the door, he pushed a button controller, allowing it to open. His guest, a human female of roughly average height stood before the doorway. She was simply but tastefully dressed. She wore thin, black pants, a white, collared shirt, and a completely enclosed black leather vest with a hem that ended well above her waist. Her metallic belt housed two full pockets.

Galen mustered the courage to acknowledge her smilingly. "Dr. Quintes," he rose from his seat, "A welcome surprise." Quintes ran her fingers through shortly cropped, slightly greying black hair and sighed with a slight undertone of sarcasm.

"A surprise, you say?" she said, "Dr. Erso, I messaged you a few days prior. You very specifically stated that I was to meet you in this precise room, on this precise day, at this precise time, if I'm not mistaken." She tilted her head to the left, smiling lightly.

Galen sighed and shook his head. "Then it's a welcome reunion. It's been far too long, my friend." Galen extended his hand and she shook it briskly.

"I come with matters to discuss," Quintes said, "that could not be very well detailed in a message exchange between you and I." She went straight to business, as usual, Galen realized. He was grateful for it. "My concerns have regard to the imperial station's main reactor module."

Galen forced himself not to react. It was so simple, he knew, for him to lie through a written message. If he was forced to discuss the reactor in person, however, his plans could come completely undone.

"I see," Galen responded. He nodded towards Quintes, prompting her to continue. "My team has been informed that the module is unstable, and I am fully aware that you've found no definitive way for us to solve the problem in the near future." She paused. "I understand the reasons for this, Galen, but the reactor seems to be causing other issues. I must ask, what further research can your group conduct?"

Galen forced himself into composition. This was a question for which he was at least relatively prepared. "We are unable to fully channel the energy output of the kyber. Months ago, we released a report detailing the reasons for this." "I've read it," Quintes responded. "I assure you, Rovana, this is a problem I have personally been studying for nearly thirty years," Galen continued, "I hate to say this with such conviction, but there is no further research my group can conduct that will be completed within our timeframe. To what other issues were you referring, exactly?"

Galen cursed himself. He had completely evaded the question. Rovana had wished to be informed of additional options, and he had given her no new information. She would surely notice his blatant equivocation.

"The reactor's thermal output is tremendous," Rovana explained, "and despite using heat sinks to control it, it seems that any fluid we use for circulation has too little thermal gain capacity to handle the load. We've used virtually every option imaginable, and still, nothing seems to yield desirable results."

Galen could not allow himself to relax. She knows, he thought, she knows, and she is testing me. Suggest nothing, he prompted himself. He had two main options: he could provide a possible solution, and risk unintentionally eliminating the major flaw, or he could provide a solution that would exacerbate the issue further, potentially revealing himself. Perhaps, he thought, he could simply act at a loss for ideas. He formulated his response with extreme caution.

"Has this information been released?"

"Yes," Rovana replied, "I've created reports detailing every one of my team's experiments, designs, and trials. They've already been sent to Eadu's data archive." Galen nodded, slowly. "There is one potential solution," Rovana continued, "We could eliminate the factor of thermal resistance altogether. A thermal exhaust port would allow the excess heat to be released into the station's surrounding environment. The lack of air in space would make this release more efficient." She slowed her speech, noticeably, "The exhaust port would, of course have to lead directly from the reactor module to the exterior shell."

Galen acknowledged this in disbelief. A structural flaw would provide the perfect circumstance for the staged destruction of the battle station. She wants you to agree, he noted, She wants you to reveal your plans.

Quintes noted Galen's speechlessness. "I dislike this solution," she explained, "no less than you do, but it seems to be the only way for the reactor to perform effectively. Intense heat would cause extreme system degradation over time. It's something that we simply can't afford."

"Then I suppose," Galen imparted, "that it is the only remaining course of action. Have you contacted Director Krennic on this matter?" "Not yet," she replied, "I hoped to discuss it with you, first, seeing as it may impact your remaining work."

"Be sure to make contact as soon as possible," Galen advised her.

"Duly noted."

Something about the entire conversation caused Galen some suspicion. Why was Rovana so readily proposing a system that would impede the battle station's security? It could have been to catch him in a lie. There could be troops waiting outside his door, ready to arrest him for treason. Somehow, he suspected something different.

"Rovana," he addressed her. She gave him her attention. "I recall we have not gotten together in quite a while. Are you free for dinner?" She smiled. "Yes, I'm free. What did you have in mind?"