Star Wars - Firestorm by Kevin J. Anderson

Author:Kevin J. Anderson [Anderson, Kevin J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 1997-11-23T02:59:51+00:00

Small and wiry, Tionne jogged along the metal passageways with a light step. She hurried down the corridors that curved off, vanishing into the distance under the flickering light of intermittently functioning glowpanels. Some of the electronics had been ripped out, scavenged by people such as Fonterrat. She ducked low to avoid a dangling ceiling plate, dodged around the hulk of a broken old-model worker droid.

The air smelled sour, old, dusty. The silence hung like a shroud, interrupted only by distant clunks and groans as the station trembled from Teedio’s fiery onslaught. A background hiss like static crackled against some of the outer wall plates, the rain of high-energy particles showering out from the solar storm.

She kept exploring. Many chambers were barricaded with frozen security systems or piled debris. Several of the locked habitation modules for non-air-breathers had been blasted away into space, leaving only sealed space doors and the ripped connectors from where they had been jettisoned. Tionne knew that each of these modules had been added one at a time during the growth of the station; she supposed that some of the more valuable modules may have been stolen wholesale from the hulk of Exis Station.

The corridors seemed to be leading her toward a central area, and she followed her hunches, absorbing details with her eager eyes. Finally, she came out into an airy promenade and stopped short in astonishment as her last footsteps echoed several times in the enclosed chamber.

The ceiling dome gleamed with triangular and diamond shaped transparasteel windowplates that illuminated the broad open area with glittering colors. Pulsations of electric light sizzled through from the flare star to dapple the deckplates. Faded emblems and family glyphs were etched onto the walls alongside archaic symbols. The enclosed area seemed like a cathedral, a meeting place… possibly the site of a great convocation.

Tionne recognized the inset alcoves right away, repositories for thick crystalline memory plaques, an ancient information-storage device. Unfortunately, few people could read data from such ancient technology anymore, and so the scavengers had not bothered to take the plaques. Leaving them for her!

Tionne studied the Exis archives with absolute delight. She picked up one plaque after another, studying the etched summaries, ancient speeches, the philosophy of ancient Jedi Knights, reminiscences of dying masters who had lived for hundreds upon hundreds of years. She felt breathless, and her hands trembled. A wealth of knowledge! She had been searching all her life for a treasure such as this.

But now Exis Station rumbled beneath her, its deckplates groaning as the furious sun continued to pummel it with intensive flares, doing final damage. Tionne could feel the station barely holding itself together. She had to take these crystalline plaques, as many as she could carry, and rush back to her ship. She would stay until the last moment, but she had to rescue as much as she could. She couldn’t bear for this all to be destroyed.

She gathered plaque after plaque, tucking the thick crystal sheets under her arms, wishing she had brought something more efficient to carry them.

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