Crosscurrent: Star Wars Legends (Star Wars - Legends) by Paul Kemp

Author:Paul Kemp [Kemp, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780307796011
Publisher: Random House Worlds
Published: 2011-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

When Jaden and Khedryn found the central computer room, it had been ransacked. All of the comp stations appeared to be destroyed, some obviously slashed by lightsabers, others simply smashed with something heavy. Ruined display screens, servers, and CPUs dotted the floor. Pieces of shattered data crystals crunched underfoot like caltrops.

“Someone did not like computers,” Khedryn said.

Jaden had hoped to find an answer in the core computing room. Instead he’d found the same ruin that characterized the rest of the complex. He felt pressure building in his chest, at the base of his skull.

For the first time, he began to worry that the complex had nothing to show him.

But how could that be?

He went from table to table, sorting through the debris.

“Anything usable, Khedryn. There has to be something here. Look! Look!”

Khedryn joined him, the two of them sifting the strata of destruction like archaeologists.

Khedryn pulled a water-stained hard-copy schematic from the debris, holding it gently by one corner. “Looks like the layout of this facility.” He studied it for a moment, turned it over, slowly unfolding it.

“Careful,” Jaden said.

Khedryn got it unfolded in one piece and studied it. “It mentions a lower level in the key but does not show it.”

“Good find. Keep looking.”

Jaden needed something more solid, something that would show him where the Force wanted him to go. He could not consult his feelings. They were too clouded with doubt. He wanted facts. He wanted—needed—to understand the facility’s purpose, the reason for all the mystery.

Reaching under a desk against the wall, he found some stray data crystals, frayed power cords, and a single computer that was not obviously damaged. The batteries would be long dead.

“I need a power cord,” he said over his shoulder.

“Here,” Khedryn said, grabbing one from the floor near his feet and tossing it to Jaden.

Jaden held his breath as he plugged one end into the computer, the other into an outlet, and turned on the power.

He blew out a relieved breath when it hummed to life. He thought Khedryn must surely have heard his heartbeat.

“There are data crystals under that desk. Grab them. Any that are intact.”

Khedryn did. There were dozens.

They tried one after another, quickly finding all of them encrypted or unusable. Jaden’s elation faded. The facility seemed intent on keeping its secrets.

“Second to last,” Khedryn said. “Holocrystal.”

He tossed it to Jaden. Jaden snatched it out of the air and shot him a glare for being so careless. Khedryn responded by making bug eyes.

Jaden inserted the crystal into the functioning computer and tried to extract usable data. As he had with all the others, he moved through a series of files and found most of them corrupted. He executed two or three and the computer’s holoplayer projected only a scrambled image and indecipherable audio.

Khedryn shook his head and walked away in frustration.

Toward the end of the file string, Jaden hit on a log of files that appeared less damaged than the others.

“Here,” he said to Khedryn, and ran the files.

“What do you have?”

“Let’s see.

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