Flashback
"You were there." Tarkin said.
"I didn't blow it up." Motti replied.
Tarkin silently counted to ten. Behind him, at a discreet distance, Daala stood, pretending not to hear their conversation. The Undauntable had been destroyed.
"What could have happened?"
"It could have been an accident." Motti said.
"You don't really think that."
"No more than you do, sir. Admiral Helaw was as good as any commander in the Imperial Navy and better than most. I cannot imagine an accident of this magnitude would happen on a ship he ran."
"The Undauntable was an old ship."
"Even so."
Tarkin nodded."I'm afraid I agree." He paused."It would be better if it had been an accident."
Motti said nothing but Tarkin knew the man was no fool. He understood.
"Darth Vader's recent visit was supposed to have eliminated the threat of sabotage." Tarkin continued.
"So I understand. Apparently it did not."
"If that is the case, we would, I expect, depend on another visit from Vader in short order. Not the worst thing that could happen to us but certainly another burden we don't need, with sprawl construction nearly complete."
"One would expect such a visit, yes."
"Whereas if there was an accident, on an old ship, a leaky hypermatter containment valve, perhaps...that would be unfortunate but understandable and there would be no need for the Empreror's representative to come all the way out here again."
Motti frowned deeper."It would be a shame, however, for such an 'accident' to be laid at the feet of Jaim Helaw, whose memory would forever bear that blot on his otherwise perfect record."
"It would be a shame. However, with Jaim dead, that won't really bother him, will it? And he had no family."
"The navy was his family." Motti said.
"Just so. And Jaim was loyal to the bone. He would not wish his 'family' to suffer, would he?"
Motti didn't like it, that was plain, but Motti was also a loyalist. There was no need for Tarkin to remind him of his duty. The admiral nodded, a crisp, military motion."So, then, an unfortunate accident and a single black mark on an otherwise brilliant career."
"Unfortunate, indeed." Tarkin replied."And we all move on."
After Motti was gone, Daala moved over to stand next to Tarkin."Isn't this a bit, risky?"
"Not really. Motti is ambitious and he knows this station is his transport to greatness. He'll be promoted to Moff as soon as the Rebels are vanquished and it would be foolish for him to raise a fuss about this. He liked the old man, I was rather fond of him myself, but nothing we can say or do will bring him back and better that his death serves us rather than gets in our way. So, it was a terrible accident. These things happen."
She nodded."But that doesn't solve the problem entirely, does it?"
He sighed."You are quite right, Admiral. We still have among us a traitor who somehow managed to vaporize a Star-Destroyer. We need to find the ones responsible before the Rebels can claim credit for this heinous action. And by we, I mean-"
"Me." She finished."Do you think that wise? I should be getting back to my duties at the Maw."
"They will keep. I need you here more than they do there."
Daala nodded."Well. I suppose that if it is my duty, what else is to be done?"
She smiled. He returned it.
"I'll start immediately." She said.
Tarkin cleared his throat."Perhaps not immediately. I seem to recall there were some other matters we intended to discuss."
"In the privacy of your quarters?"
He smiled again."Just so."
On the Island
Vanto put down a piece of paper at the dining table."Draw it again. The map to your balloon."
"I was joking. I was making a joke. There's nothing out there besides my balloon. I was just frustrated. It was a stupid thing to say. I'm sorry." Gale said.
"It's too late anyway. She's already long gone, Vanto." Tarkin told him.
Vanto looked at the Grand Moff."So, what's done is done?"
Tarkin nodded."That's right."
"Put him back in the armory." Vanto said before he left.
Once he was gone, Gale looked at Tarkin."Why do you let him talk to you like that?"
Tarkin looked at Gale. He then grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and forced him to the armory.
"Hey, wait, I-"
"Shut up!" Tarkin said, angry. He then threw him into the armory.
"Tarkin, I'm sorry. Tarkin?" Gale said as Tarkin closed the door and locked it.
Zuud and Starstone were in the rain, trying to find the hot air balloon while Tucker was trying to find it on his own.
"Maybe he's wrong." Starstone said to Zuud."We should search the other side of the cliff."
"We've been searching for 3 hours. This balloon does not exist." Zuud said."Tucker!" She yelled for him.
"Then why did he draw the map?" Starstone asked.
"You told him you would protect him whether we found this balloon or not. You've given him 2 more days to talk, to figure out how to escape. We're done. Tucker!"
"Over here! This way!" Tucker yelled from the distance.
Zuud and Starstone ran over to him."Zuud!" Tucker shouted.
They ran to him and saw the armored soldier and a burial mound with a cross.
"He said he buried her, right? His wife?" Tucker asked.
Starstone realized something."Why isn't it raining here?"
They then looked up to see the air balloon with a smiley face stuck in the tree above the, blocking the rain.
Stuhlinger was at his shelter, arranging it. Vanto walked over to him.
"Stuhlinger, have you seen Starstone?" He asked him.
Stuhlinger looked at him."She took off into the jungle with Tucker and Zuud yesterday."
"Yesterday. They say anything about where they were going?"
"Well, that would, like, assume that anyone actually tells me anything. Maybe if I were in the loop, I could be more helpful." Stuhlinger said.
"There is no loop, Stuh." Vanto told.
"Whatever you say, man."
Jeela, carrying Daval, walked over to Nurse Redheart on the beach."Excuse me, Redheart. He's been really hot and fussy. Do you mind having a look at him?" She asked.
The mare nodded."Sure."
After checking on Daval, Redheart told Jeela the baby was getting better."So, the fever's completely gone?"
Redheart nodded."Completely."
Tarkin was in the living area of the Hatch. He was riding the exercise bike, listening to music.
Suddenly, Tarkin heard a beep and could hear a voice.
"20 minutes to lockdown."
Tarkin stopped riding the bike. He heard feedback from something. Tarkin turned off the music and checked on the computer. The screen on the computer seemed normal and the timer showed 47 minutes left before he would have to put in the numbers.
Tarkin then saw that the feedback was coming from a speaker in the living area. He tried to fix it.
The volume of the speaker increased.
"17 minutes to lockdown."
"What was that?" Gale asked from the armory."Tarkin, what's the matter?"
Flashback
Daala stepped from the shower, a waft of hot water vapor following her out. Tarkin smiled as she dried herself with a fluffy black towel made of virgin cotton from the Suliana fields and slipped into a matching robe. She stood under the air jets and dried her short hair then came into the bedchamber and sat on the foot of the bed.
"Feel better?" Tarkin asked.
"Much. So much nicer to have hot water than the sonics."
"Yes. Rank has its privileges. You have news for me?"
"I do. You won't like it."
He sat up and looked at her.
She went to the desk, opened a drawer, and removed an info disk. She dialed his computer terminal to life.
"You have my access codes?" Now he slid out of the bed, the silk of his sleepwear causing static electricity as it moved across the sheets. His gown crackled and clung to his body but he ignored it as he walked to where she stood.
She smiled at him."Of course."
"Did I give them to you?"
"You don't remember? Well, if you didn't, I know you meant to."
Tarkin wasn't sure if he should be angered or aroused by this evidence of Daala's boldness. Before he could decide, a hologram blinked on. It showed rows of sealed cargo containers, the white everplast boxes stacked three-deep, with corridors between them to allow access. They looked like standard two-point-five-meter units but it was hard to say just by looking.
"Security cam." She said."Aft cargo hold on the Undauntable."
"A security cam that was not destroyed in the explosion?"
"Oh, it was blown up with the rest of the ship. But it was rigged to feed a signal to a receiver. I obtained the recording."
"How?"
"A moment. Watch."
There was a date/time stamp in the lower right-hand corner of the image, the seconds flashing by...
A figure moved into view. Tarkin frowned. It was still hard to judge size without some kind of scale.
As if reading his thoughts, Daala moved her hand over a sensor and a grid overlaid the image. The figure was slightly less than two meters tall. That still didn't tell him much. With the cloak and hood concealing it, it could have been any of a hundred species.
The mysterious being walked along the row of containers. It reached one in the middle of the cam's field and tapped the keypad on the door with one gloved finger.
"Why didn't we have bioscanners going as well?" Tarkin asked, annoyed."We'd have data on species, sex, age-"
"Shh." She said."We were lucky to have gotten this much. Now watch."
The door rolled up and the figure entered the container.
Thirty seconds passed. The figure emerged, closed the door behind him, or her, and moved out of cam view.
Daala waved the recording off. She looked at him, waiting.
Tarkin was nobody's fool."The explosive device was in the cargo container and ready to go. All the agent had to do was trigger it."
"Yes. He didn't bring anything with him so it had to be in place already."
"And?"
She turned to the console's controls. Another image appeared, this one a routine manifest.
"The rigged container's ID number is not visible in the recording but the number of the one eight down is so it was a simple matter to figure out the one we want."
True, Tarkin thought. Loading droids were not known for creativity. They stacked cargo containers by the numbers.
"You can see that this container came from the cargo vessel Omega Gaila, itself from the ammunition stores at the Regional Naval Supply Area near Gall. The container carried high explosives so that's what a scan would show. If anybody bothered to do one."
She waited again.
Tarkin thought about it."The RNSA at Gall is a high-security facility. Extremely tight. Nobody on or off the base without top clearance, even the cargo handlers."
"Yes."
He frowned. Shook his head."Not possible."
"Yet somebody got into a container and rigged it with a bomb powerful enough to blast a Star-Destroyer apart. And they weren't shooting in the dark, hoping to hit something, because it took somebody on the other end to arm the device."
"So they knew where it was bound." He finished for her."No way to have agents at every possible destination. Once it got to our storage facility, it could have gone to any of several ships."
"Or to this station." She said."It was the luck of the draw that Undauntable needed ammo before we did."
"So It's being run by somebody higher than a cargo handler. At the very least, there had to be somebody from Routing involved and enough of a conspiracy to be able to place or contact an agent already here. We are talking about a Rebel spy in the Imperial Navy with more than a little reach."
"Just so."
"We can probably determine who loaded the container and who routed it."
"Which is good but also doesn't stop something similar from happening again if the next shipment comes from a different source."
"Correct. We need to find whoever is running the agents here." He said.
"I concur."
He looked at her."How do you plan to do this?"
"I'm assuming that the agent did not choose suicide. We have the day and time the device was activated. He or she would have had to arrive before that time and depart the explosion. Undauntable's operational logs were backed up on the station's computer, the last entry coming just before the ship's destruction. It might take some time but we can access those and narrow down the possibilities."
"Good." Tarkin said."Do so immediately."
She smiled and adjusted the lapels of her robe."Immediately?"
He did not return her smile."Yes. There are times for dalliance and times for action. I want a report by zero five hundred hours."
Daala nodded and began to dress quickly.
On the Island
"Please proceed... protocol... please proceed..." Said the speaker.
"Tarkin? Hey, you out there?" Gale asked."What's that noise? Tarkin? What's going on? Talk to me."
"Will you be quiet?!" Tarkin yelled.
"Tell me what's happening. What the hell is-"
"Will you shut up!"
"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3-"
"Maybe you should get Vanto?"
"I said, shut up!"
"2, 1."
Blast Doors began to suddenly come down. Tarkin quickly slipped a crowbar under the last door to close.
The Grand Moff saw that he was now stuck in the living area.
"What happened?" Gale asked.
At the beach, Valance, Luna, and Stuhlinger were playing a game of Sabacc with some cards that Valance had found on the Arquitens-class command cruiser. Valance had taught Stuhlinger and Luna how to play.
Stuhlinger was trying to figure what he should do.
"Lay 'em down, Stuh. He's got you beat." Vanto said when he saw Stuhlinger's cards as he was walking over to them.
"He does?" Stuhlinger asked.
Vanto nodded."Well, I've got to head back to the Hatch."
"The Hatch isn't going nowhere, Vanto." Valance said."You want to join in?"
Vanto thought about it."I guess I could play a hand or two."
The lights in the Hatch started to flicker.
"Hey, what's going on?" Gale asked from the armory.
Tarkin ignored him and tried to lift the blast door using the crowbar. He could barely move the metal door.
"Are you still out there? Tarkin? Tarkin?"
"I'm here." Tarkin said.
"What were those noises?! What's wrong?! Did something-"
"Nothing is wrong!" Tarkin yelled.
Flashback
Tarkin looked at the data running up the screen, pleased. The station was nearly operation, at least enough so that they could begin basic maneuvers. The superlaser was only partially functional, true, but it was hot enough to test and he had some ideas about how to do that.
All in all, things were going very well indeed.
There had been a few glitches. Daala had not been able to find those responsible for the destruction of the Undauntable. She had returned to the Maw but would be back again soon. Tarkin looked forward to her next visit.
An intelligence report had just come to his attention. There had been some kind of break-in and theft at an out-of-the-way military base on Danuta. While normally this would have been of little interest to Tarkin, the investigating agents had heard some intel, no more than rumor, really, that one of the files stolen was a set of plans for this battle station. Tarkin frowned. On the face of it, that seemed unlikely. How would the plans have gotten to that backrocket planet in the first place?
Then again, military secrets were notoriously hard to keep and a file could be transmitted across the entire Galaxy, given enough power in the generating signal. Some low-level functionary might have, at some point, come across the plans and decided to copy a set. There could be many reasons for doing so. Knowledge was power. How much would the plans be worth to the Rebel Alliance? A fortune, certainly. Well worth the small risk of being found out.
And if there was even a remote chance that such a thing had come to pass, if those plans had fallen into the clutches of the Rebels, that could be bad. The station, when fully operational, would be invulnerable from without, of course, but a saboteur who knew exactly where to do the most damage from within could be a real threat.
This needed to be addressed and Tarkin knew who was best suited for the task. It was galling to have to ask the man for help but the station's safety was paramount.
He moved to the holoplate and activated it. It was a priority-one communication and the connection was made almost immediately.
The shimmering image of Darth Vader appeared before Tarkin, life-sized, as if he were standing in the same room.
"Grand Moff Tarkin. Why have you called?"
"I understand there is a remote possibility that a set of plans for this battle station may have been stolen by Alliance agents."
"Yes."
Tarkin clamped his teeth tight enough to make his jaw muscles ache."You knew this?"
"I have my own agents."
The black helmet had no way to change expression, of course, but Tarkin could hear the amusement in the Dark Lord's voice."I see." He said, his tone carefully neutral. Now was not the time to be at odds with the Emperor's lackey.
"I will find out if it is true, and if so, I will deal with it." The black helmet inclined questioningly."That is why you called me, isn't it?"
Tarkin nodded. Vader might be many things but fainthearted he was not. Once he began a task, he seldom swerved from finishing it. Odds were that the story was no more than a baseless rumor, but if not, no one was better equipped to determine the facts and eliminate the problem than Darth Vader. A useful, if dangerous, tool, no matter how Tarkin might feel about him personally.
"Keep me advised." He said.
"Of course." The image of Vader vanished.
On the Island
"We're locked in." Tarkin said to Gale. He had given up trying to get out.
"What?" Gale said, confused.
"These blast doors came down. The whole living area is sealed off. I can't get out."
"Did you try to pry-"
"Yes, but I couldn't. Perhaps-perhaps if the 2 of us-"
"You want me to help you?"
"Yes."
"And if I do help you get these doors up then you're just going to lock me back in here, aren't you?" Gale said.
"That is correct."
"Then I'm going to need your word, Tarkin. I'm going to need your word that you won't let your people do anything to me."
"Well, if you're who you say you are then what are you worried about?"
"Things have happened to them. Things that I have nothing to do with. But they've got no one to blame except for me. So I'm going to need your word that you'll protect me, no matter what."
Tarkin opened the door to the armory and looked at Gale.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Henry Gale. I'm from Minnesota. And I crashed on this Island."
"Alright. You have my word."
Vanto, Valance, Luna, and Stuhlinger were still playing Sabacc.
"You got me." Said Stuhlinger.
"I'm out." Said Luna.
Vanto and Valance kept playing when Vanto showed him his winning cards. Luna laughed a little while Valance was surprised by this.
"Looks like I win." Vanto said."Well, I guess that's it."
"What do you mean, "it"?" Valance said.
"Valance, you're busted. I got it all. It wouldn't really be fair for you to go pick more mangoes." Vanto said to the cyborg.
"Oh, I've got a lot more than mangoes. You want to play real stakes, name them?"
Vanto laughed."It's a pile of fruit, man."
"And I want it back." Valance looked at Stuhlinger."Get out of here, Stuh."
"But I want to-"
"Come on, Stuhlinger." Luna said to him. Princess Luna and Stuhlinger walked away.
"One more game, Vanto. What's it going to take?" Valance asked.
"The medicine you stole from the armory, all of it. I know you took it with all the guns too, Valance." Vanto said."But I want the medicine."
Tarkin took off the weights of a metal bar so he could put it under the blast door. He then put it under there.
The Grand Moff and Gale lifted up the door using the metal bar.
"Let's go. Harder." Tarkin said. The lights flickered a little.
"I'm losing it." Gale said, struggling.
"The toolbox. Get the toolbox. That'll hold it." Tarkin said to him.
"You sure?" Gale asked.
"Get it!" Tarkin yelled.
Gale grabbed the toolbox.
"Come on, put it under." Tarkin said.
Gale put it under and the blast door closed. It was able to hold it. Tarkin started to slide under the door.
"Tarkin, Tarkin, wait, don't just-" Gale said.
The toolbox broke and the blast doors fell on Tarkin legs. Tarkin screamed in pain. Gale tried to lift the door.
"You have to stop the door. Put something else under the door. Come on, come on." Tarkin said, in pain.
Gale started putting weights under the door.
"Stack 'em, stack 'em. You have to stop the pressure. Come on, come on, come on." Tarkin said.
Gale was able to put enough weights under the door to make it stop.
"Alright. Alright, let's get you out. Come on." Gale said. He started pulling Tarkin out.
"No, no, stop, stop, stop!" Tarkin said. He couldn't be pulled out.
"Alright, we'll wait 'til somebody comes down. Alright? It's only a matter of time, yeah?" Gale said.
"No, we don't have time." Tarkin said. He would have to press the button soon.
Flashback
"Our first wave of TIE fighters will arrive on zone station momentarily, sir. We have scrambled an additional thousand craft from the station." Admiral Motti didn't seem disturbed but then he didn't have the primary responsibility. Tarkin did and he was most aware of that as he looked at the hologram shimmering over the operations theater projection. He wasn't really surprised, however. He had halfway expected something like this for weeks, ever since they had lost the Undauntable to sabotage. The Rebels, some faction of them, at least, knew they were here, else they would not have been able to blow the ship up. Strategically, it made sense to attack the station now, before it was fully finished and operational. Tactically, a carrier was the smartest way. It would cost much, if not most, of the entire Rebel fleet to get past the Star-Destroyers posted here in order to engage the battle station directly. But out of a thousand fighters or more, some might get by the TIE squads and inflict damage, even if the mother ship was taken out. Maybe not enough to destroy it, but if they could slow construction, that would be a victory of sorts.
"Sir, the first wave of enemy fighters has left the carrier. Two hundred and fifty X-wings." Said the lieutenant running the sensor array.
Tarkin nodded.
"Sir, I have a coded message incoming on your personal channel." Said the comm tech.
Tarkin blinked. Who could that be?
"Put it on my personal screen." Tarkin said.
Their TIE fighters were holding at a thousand klicks out and it would take a few minutes for the X-wings to get that close to the station. The Star-Destroyers were en route. There was nothing more to be done at the moment. Tarkin activated the message.
Daala's face appeared on his screen.
He tried not to let his surprise show."Admiral?"
"Grand Moff Tarkin. We're en route to the station and it seems there is some interesting activity out there."
"Nothing we can't handle." He said."Though you might want to circle around and avoid it."
"By it, you mean that enemy carrier and all those X-wings pouring out of it?"
"Yes. That area is about to become inhospitable."
"You're sending in Star-Destroyers?"
"I was, but as of this moment, I have a better idea."
"Ah."
"Precisely."
"Well, I'll move away from-blast!"
"Daala?"
"We have company. Disconnect."
She broke the connection and Tarkin frowned. Daala was an excellent commander and her ship was fast and well armed. She could deal with a few X-wings. Still...
"Sir, the enemy has disgorged a second wave. That makes five hundred fighters." Said the sensor technician.
"We'll put a stop to that." Tarkin looked at Motti."Admiral, have the Star Destroyers stand down. Break off their intercept."
"Sir?" Motti looked at him as if he had just turned into a purple-dyed Wookiee. Tarkin smiled. He moved his hand over his comm.
"Superlaser Control." Came the response.
Motti's expression changed. Now he smiled too.
"Commander," Tarkin said to the comm."I have a target for you."
On the Island
"Who taught you how to play Sabacc?" Vanto asked, curious.
"A guy I knew at the Naval Academy on Carida." Valance said, thinking of Han Solo.
"So, you're a former Imperial, right?" Valance asked as they continued playing Sabacc.
"That's right. I left the Empire and joined the Chiss Ascendancy."
"The Chiss? I've heard of them before. Wasn't there a Grand Admiral who was a Chiss?"
Vanto slowly nodded."His name was Thrawn."
"Right. He was at Batonn. I heard he went missing after something happened on Lothal."
"Yeah...me too."
Tarkin had explained to Gale about the computer.
"What does it do?" Gale asked.
"We're not exactly sure."
"And you push it..."
"Every 108 minutes." Tarkin told him.
"How soon does this alarm go off?" Gale asked.
"Very. Which is why I need you to go up through the grate and into the vents."
"Grate's bolted shut. I tried it." Gale said.
"There's another grate in the pantry. You can get up through there. Take the vent into the dome."
"Maybe we should wait."
"We can't wait. It's going to go off any minute." Tarkin said."I trusted you, Henry. Now you've got to trust me. That button has to be pushed."
Gale nodded."Okay, what do I do?"
"Once you're inside, you'll hear the alarm beeping, and you just have to enter the Numbers: 115935 and then you press execute. It has to be exactly those numbers in exactly that order. Now, do you-"
"115935. I got it."
Gale went into the pantry.
"Can you reach it?!" Tarkin shouted.
"I think so."
Gale climbed up the shelf. Once he got to the grate, he tried to open it.
"Be careful!" Tarkin said.
Gale fell down and became unconscious.
"Henry?!" Tarkin yelled.
Tarkin heard the timer beep.
"Henry?!"
Flashback
"Well," Motti said."It appears that the superlaser works."
They had just destroyed the carrier with the Death Star.
Tarkin smiled."So it does. But there are still five hundred enemy fighters out there and they have no place to go so they have nothing to lose."
"And we already have them outnumbered more than two to one with TIE pilots itching to shoot them down and plenty more where they came from." Motti said."It's a cleanup operation now, Governor. They can't run and they can't hide."
Tarkin nodded."Give the order." He said."Tell our fighters to hit them hard and fast while they're still reeling from what they just saw."
"Sir? Your private channel again."
Tarkin nodded and took the call.
The man who appeared before him seemed upset. After a moment, Tarkin recognized the man as Daala's ship runner.
"Yes, Captain Kameda?"
"We were attacked by a squadron of X-wings fighters, sir. We destroyed them but we took damaging fire."
"Why isn't Admiral Daala telling me this herself?"
"Sir, we lost shielding on the bridge. There was an explosion. Admiral Daala was injured."
Tarkin felt his belly clutch tightly."How bad?"
"Not life-threatening, sir. The medics have stabilized her."
Tarkin let out the breath he was holding.
"But she sustained a head wound and is...disoriented. There is a piece of shrapnel in her skull. We need a surgeon."
Tarkin nodded."Get her to the station immediately."
"We're on our way, sir. Should be arriving in a few minutes."
Tarkin broke the call, then activated the station intercom.
Captain Hotise answered."N-One MedCenter."
"Admiral Daala has been injured in the attack and is on the way in with a head wound. Have your best team of surgeons standing by."
"Yes, sir."
Tarkin sundered the connection. This was not good news. It mitigated his triumph at the success of the superlaser's first firing. He did not want to lose Daala. That would sour the taste of victory.
And of course, he did care for her...
On the Island
Vanto won the game of Sabacc.
"I'll come get the meds later." Vanto said as he started to leave.
"Hey, when I asked you what you wanted for stakes, why didn't you ask for the guns?" Valance asked.
"When I need the guns, I'll get the guns." Vanto said before he left.
"Henry, get up, damn it. Henry!" Tarkin yelled.
Henry started to wake up.
"Henry, are you alright?" Tarkin asked him.
"What happened?" Gale asked.
"Listen to me. You have to get up into the vents and enter the numbers in the computer."
"How long was I-"
"Please, you have to go right now. We're running out of time!"
"Okay, yeah." Gale said.
"Be careful!" Tarkin yelled as he climbed the shelf.
Gale went into the vent.
"Henry?!" Tarkin yelled.
Suddenly, Tarkin heard the 1-minute alarm.
"Henry, can you hear me?"
Tarkin tried to lift the blast doors but he couldn't.
"Henry? Henry?" Tarkin called for him.
Flashback
As he headed back to the Command Center, Tarkin was both relieved and worried. He felt great affection for Daala, to be sure, and he was most pleased that she would survive. That she might not recall her most recent visits here and their enjoyable time together was regrettable, but considering the possibility that her injury could well have killed her, not so bad.
It was not so good, though, that whatever she had learned during her investigation of the spies in their midst would also likely be gone. Since she had never been here, officially, there would not be any files tucked away where the data might be found. She was too smart for that.
And it was not the least bit good that she was here and injured since she was supposed to be at the Maw. That would have to be addressed.
As he walked, Tarkin considered his options. He needed to manage this in a way that would not come back to haunt him. He had not gotten to where he was by pretending politics did not exist. He had enemies and they would glory in anything that might present him in a bad light to the Emperor.
Daala would recover swiftly. She was young and strong. As soon as she was sufficiently well to travel, he would have her transferred back to the Maw. A story would be put in place. An accident there had caused her some injury. She would go along with that since her coming to see him would look as bad for her as it did for him. Travel logs could adjusted, and there wouldn't be any official record that she had ever been here, much less wounded in an action against the Rebels.
And if she didn't remember it, well, not to be hard-hearted, but perhaps that was for the best. Even a truth-scan couldn't find a contradiction if the person undergoing it didn't know it had happened. Regrettable, yes, but one had to make the best of bad situations and, by doing so, keep them from getting worse. He could fill her in later, once the war was over and things had settled down. For now, he did not need anybody looking at him askance. Not this close to having the station completed and about to begin its mission. That simply would not do.
His decision made, he felt better. Daala would not blame him in the least. She would do as much, were she in his place. Tarkin was sure of that.
On the Island
"Henry! Henry!" Tarkin yelled.
Suddenly, the alarm stopped and Tarkin heard the timer numbers flipping. He then heard something powering up.
The lights then went out. It was dark.
"Please say something." Tarkin said.
Black lights then came on. Tarkin saw something on the blast door that was on his legs. He saw that it was a map all leading to a question mark.
Tarkin was also able to see some words.
The Force...what is it? Who are the Jedi?
Where is Richtofen?
We bear the mark. We are all cursed.
The lights came back on and the blast doors went up.
"Henry!" Tarkin yelled.
The Grand Moff crawled to the computer room."Henry? Is anybody here?"
Tarkin saw that the timer was at 107.
"Is anybody here? Henry!"
Tarkin then saw Gale."You came back."
"What, did you think I was going to leave you here?" Gale said."Come on, can you stand?"
"I don't-I think so." Tarkin said. Gale helped Tarkin get up and Tarkin leaned on a wall."Thank you, Henry. Thank you for not leaving me."
Gale nodded."You're welcome, Tarkin."
It was night as Vanto was walking through the jungle. He was going to the Hatch.
"Vanto." Said a voice.
The former Imperial turned to see Luna.
"Are you going to the Hatch?" She asked.
Vanto nodded."Yeah."
"Do you mind if I join? It has been a while since I had a shower and I was just hoping that-"
"Actually, the plumbing's busted."
"Busted?"
"Yeah, water's been running muddy. I guess we've got a cracked pipe but it's going to take some time to find it." Vanto said.
"Oh. Well, I guess I have wasted a trip, then."
"Well, I'll let you know as soon as we get things worked out down there."
"Right." She nodded. She was about to leave but turned to look at Vanto."I'm glad you beat Valance."
Vanto smiled a little."You know what? The Hatch can wait until morning if you'd like me to walk you back to the beach."
Luna smiled when she noticed a light in the dark jungle."Do you see that?" She pointed at the light.
Vanto saw it."Yeah."
They walked to where the light was and saw a pallet of boxes that said DHARMA on them.
"It's a parachute." Vanto said when he saw a parachute connected to the pallet, meaning it must have come from the sky.
Luna opened one of the boxes and saw what was in them."It's food." She said, seeing food in the box.
They then heard rustling near them. They turned to see Zuud, Starstone, and Tucker.
"What the hell is that?" Tucker said, seeing the pallet.
Vanto looked at Zuud."What did you find?"
Gale helped Tarkin get to the couch in the living area.
"I've got you. Easy, easy." Gale said to him.
Gale lifted Tarkin's leg onto the coffee table. Tarkin winced in pain.
"Sorry." Gale said.
"What did you do? what did you do to end it, to make the doors go up?" Tarkin asked.
"I did what you told me to. I punched in the code and pressed the execute button but nothing happened other than that clock flipping back. I was climbing back into the vent when the lights went out. 10 seconds later the doors went up. I didn't do anything." Gale told him.
"Do you think it was all just random?"
"Don't look at me. It's your hatch." Gale said.
"Get away from him." Vanto said as he, Luna, Zuud, Starstone, and Tucker entered the living area.
"Wait, you don't-" Gale said.
Zuud aimed her blaster pistol at Gale."Step back, right now."
"Zuud, It's okay." Tarkin said.
Vanto grabbed Gale and shoved him up against a wall.
"I said get away!" Vanto yelled.
"I let him out. Some kind of lockdown or something happened. He was helping me." Tarkin told them.
"Couldn't you find my balloon?" Gale asked.
"Yeah, we found it." Said Starstone.
"We did find your balloon, Henry Gale, exactly how you described it." Zuud said to him. We also found the grave you described. Your wife's grave. The grave you said you dug with your own bare hands. It was all there. Your whole story, your alibi, it was true. But I still did not believe it to be true. So I dug up that grave and found that there was not a woman inside. There was a man."
Zuud showed him a driver's license of different man with the name of Henry Gale.
"A man named Henry Gale."
"But I still don't understand something." Said Tarkin."Who was flickering the lights?"
The lights started to flicker again. Everybody turned to see it was Nosferatu flicking the light switch.
"Nosferatu." Everybody, even Gale, said in unison with a smile.
Nosferatu smiled. He then turned off the lights.