Chapter Four

The path filled with hope

Or the path filled with dread;

The riddle of Life

Is solved by the Dead.

.

The Dark Path once trodden

Dominates destiny,

And the path that is chosen

Dominates prophecy.

.

Brenna opened the door using a code she had obtained. It wasn't the only code she had, but it had been the easiest to get and therefore was also the most expendable if anything went wrong. If she needed to explain how she got it, she would simply tell the truth and say she had watched one of Lippa's guards when he punched it in.

She was alone right now. Artoo was in the communications section, using the more valuable code she had in her possession. In fact, that was one reason why she was here now instead of later. She liked to have a contingency plan, and it was more likely that if Artoo were detected, Etan would focus his attention on her transgression than on a slight breach in communications protocol.

This was the section of the ship Etan had forbidden her to enter. It housed the area of most interest to her: the security system servers. Not that she expected to be able to just stand by and watch someone enter the codes for the servers, but she had a nifty little device acquired from one of her fellow students at the Academy. It recorded movement but had such a small electronic profile that it was impervious to scan.

Brenna had acquired the toy immediately after the would-be peeping Tom had planted it in her room back at the Academy, and now it was a game piece, her game piece. It was a recording device only, not a transmitter, small enough not to be noticeable, and with a signature so weak it was undetectable to security scanners. Brenna hadn't noticed it when the student had planted it, and wouldn't have noticed it had it not been for Artoo's vigilance and the attention to details that her father had programmed into it. She'd kept the recording crystal and gotten instructions in its use in exchange for not turning the perpetrator in. She had also recognized the genius behind the gadget and gotten the name of the brilliant student who had invented it, a fellow engineering student two years her senior and previous winner of the scholarship she had received. Brenna was well acquainted with the skills of Jaff Wissain. He was something of a legend. Rumor had it that he was the only one who had ever penetrated Academy security, and Brenna had reason to know it was true. The prank had been harmless enough. Wissain had only wanted to see if he could do it, had only done it for the challenge. But she had the toy now, and she intended to be anything but harmless.

Maybe she was only doing this herself now, playing the game, for the challenge. She didn't really know why she had decided to be a player. At any rate, she had studied the schematics for Star Destroyers long before Etan Lippa had come to the Academy. She opened the door and made her way to the security area, avoiding scrutiny thanks to the uniform she had swiped from the locker room. She waited for the scanning camera to turn away, then positioned the crystal in a crevice on the wall opposite the door, where it could pick up the code pad. Once she got the code to the door, she'd get inside and get the code to the server itself. She figured it would take two days, tops.

The crystal in place, she decided to do a little exploration. The schematics indicated medical facilities and officers' quarters, but there was no telling what Etan actually used those areas for.

She headed towards the medical areas first. Muffled sounds drew her attention to a door. Someone on the other side was in pain. And…Etan was there, too. She could sense his presence.

Brenna suddenly knew what was happening on the other side of the closed door, and she opened it without thinking.

Etan Lippa was furious. "I forbade this sector for a reason. You were not ready for that."

"Torturing helpless old men? I didn't think that was your style, Etan."

"For your information, that 'helpless old man' was the head of Tahl Securities. Perhaps you've heard of them?"

Brenna frowned. "No…"

"Tahl Securities provides and maintains most of the security systems for the independent worlds. Can you imagine how much less bloodshed there would be if I had the security access codes for those systems?"

"Oh," said Brenna, contritely.

"Your intrusion caused me to lose concentration. If I had obtained those codes before he died, countless lives would have been saved."

"Well, it's too bad he died, then. But tell me, the fact that you were having to torture the old man must mean that you weren't able to read his mind?"

Lippa sighed. "My dear, I can't be using my powers all the time. As you have probably discovered with your own abilities, using them causes a drain, and you have to replenish from time to time. But this is beside the point. The point is, I expressly forbade you from entering this sector, and you disobeyed me."

"Oh, puh-leez," Brenna said. "You sound just like my father. What the Hell do you expect of me? You keep me cooped up all day in a tiny corner of the ship and expect me to be happy as a zondark. Well, guess what? It's bor—ring. You're gone all day playing with your soldier—toys, and I've got nothing to do while you're out having all the fun. Well, I don't do that. I was hoping, when I went with you, that at least you'd make life a little interesting."

"If you're bored, my dear, you can practice those exercises I gave you. Or perhaps I can find other ways to make your life…less boring." He traced a finger down her cheek suggestively.

Brenna smiled. "I'm never bored when you're around, Etan, but you're never around."

"If I could be with you every minute of every day, I would. But I can't."

"And that," said Brenna, "is precisely my point. If I had something to do, it wouldn't be so bad. Isn't there something around here I can help you with?"

Etan sat down on a corner of the table where the old man's corpse was strapped, and spread his hands. "I am open to suggestion."

At that moment, the intercom buzzed for attention, and rose again with a sigh to answer it. "Yes, what is it?"

"Sir," said the voice on the other end, "Communications reports a slight systems malfunction. One of the sub-stations apparently went off-line temporarily."

"See?" Brenna said. "There's something I could help you with. I could take care of problems like that for you. It would give me something to do."

"My dear, you don't need to be worrying your pretty little head over that."

Brenna groaned and leaned back against the wall. "Nothing to do, like I said. Well, let me see, I saw an interesting-looking area back the other way from the entry alcove, marked, 'Secure area.' Might be fun to see just how secure it is. Since I have all this time on my hands."

Lippa laughed. "All right, my dear, you may handle this little problem for me. But I will expect a full report."

"Of course," Brenna replied.

"I trust you can find your way out as easily as you found your way in? Even with your help, there are matters that demand my attention."

He kissed Brenna's cheek and whispered in her ear, "Do try to stay out of the restricted areas, will you? I assure you, I will have them monitored."

Brenna closed her eyes when he had gone. She'd been wrong—wrong about Etan Lippa, wrong about her father, and especially wrong about herself. She'd done something that no one else, not even Etan Lippa, knew about, and it would change her forever. She had started down a path from which there could be no turning back, done something which could not be undone.

Tonight she had passed the point of no return. Tonight, she had taken the first step in making the prophecy a reality.

Tonight, she had killed a man.