"Now, wait a second," the man said. "You can't come in here and — "
"Right, right, you're absolutely right. The security drill is coming up. We're supposed to monitor that closely." "We're not scheduled for a security drill."
"You'd better check that," Obi-Wan said. "There was a test system override and a cross-tech flareup with a monitor glitch that fried the subsystem. Let me show you." He leaned over the panel.
"You can't touch that!"
"Wait a second. You didn't set the security drill?" Qui-Gon took out his comlink. "I'd better notify the director.
"Wait, wait."
"I can take over," Obi-Wan said.
"I'll do it!" the man said, roughly pushing Obi-Wan aside. He made several keystrokes, and an alarm sounded.
"Security drill," a voice announced. "Please go to your stations."
"Come on," Qui-Gon said to Obi-Wan. "We'd better monitor the procedure. It's bound to be sloppy."
"But wait!" the burly man called. "What are your names?"
Crowds of beings had spilled out into the hallways. Obviously used to security drills, they continued to chat as they moved slowly down the halls to the exits. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon threaded through the crowd.
Cilia was watching for them anxiously. "I'm assuming you did that,"
she said.
"Yes. We'd better move forward or we'll look suspicious. Has anyone come out of the director's office?" "Not yet."
"There they are," Obi-Wan said quietly.
The door to the director's office opened, and several people filed out and headed for the exit.
"Come on, let's go," Qui-Gon said.
They left the stream of people and quickly slipped into the room.
"I'd guess you have about three minutes or less," Qui-Gon told Stephin.
Stephin didn't take the time to reply, but immediately entered the director's office and accessed his computer. He clicked keys quickly.
"Can you crack it?" Cilia asked.
"Hang on." Stephin's fingers flew. Qui-Gon was fairly adept at cracking computer security, but even he couldn't begin to follow Stephin's code.
"I'm into his personal files," Stephin said. "Nothing out of the ordinary… whoa! Hold that transmission. I found the Annihilator file." He clicked a few keys. "This is strange. You'd think there'd be a number of files, but there's only one." A holofile appeared. "It's subtitled Misinformation," he said. "Odd, don't you think?"
Cilia and Qui-Gon bent in front of Stephin to read the file while Aeran peered over their heads. Obi-Wan stood lookout.
Qui-Gon and Cilia's eyes met. "Do you think it's true?" she whispered.
"I think so," Qui-Gon said. "It's incredible, but it makes sense."
"I don't believe this," Aeran said slowly.
"What?" Stephin asked impatiently. Their heads were blocking the file.
"You know that awesome weapon capable of wiping out our entire civilization?" Cilia asked. "It doesn't exist. There is no Annihilator."
"What? How can that be?" Stephin exclaimed.
"This is a record of correspondence between the director and the ruler of Delaluna," Cilia explained as she scanned the file. "The Ministry Director has tracked a rumor that Delaluna has developed a fearsome weapon. He admits this is untrue, but suggests they take advantage of the rumor."
"Why quash it?" Qui-Gon said. "It will help them with security if planets think they are too strong to attack."
"They know that Junction 5 once looked at them and thought of colonization," Aeran filled in. "So why should they let their enemy know they are vulnerable?"
Cilia jackknifed erect, her dark eyes blazing. "Do you see what this means? If there's no weapon, there's no need for the Guardians to exist! We won't have to fight them, they'll simply disband!"
Qui-Gon was about to speak, but Obi-Wan signaled him.
"Guard droids approaching," he said. "Someone must know we're here."
"We must escape," Qui-Gon told the others. "If we are captured here, the news might never get out."
Cilia reached for her blaster. "We're ready."
Chapter 17
The droids on Delaluna were small, airborne, and quick, equipped with paralyzing darts and blasters. Qui-Gon did not recognize the model, but within seconds he had estimated velocity, path, and blaster range.
He needed to protect the group. Cilia and Aeran were adept and fast, but Stephin was obviously not trained with weapons. Still, Qui-Gon also had to make sure they had proof that the Annihilator didn't exist.
Obi-Wan must have had the same thought. He deflected blaster fire from the droids and leaped in front of Qui-Gon as three droids headed for him. Qui-Gon reached over and hit "copy" on the computer console. FILE COPIED flashed on screen. He reached out to extract the disk just as two droids headed toward him, flanking him on either side.
Obi-Wan moved before Qui-Gon could react. He jumped in the midst of the heavy attack, his lightsaber a constant arc of movement as he deflected the barrage of blaster fire. Qui-Gon grabbed the disk and tucked it into his utility belt, then gave a backhanded sweep with his lightsaber that cut a droid in two and sent it crashing in a battered heap of twisted metal and fused circuits.
Stephin had taken refuge behind a desk and emerged to spray blaster fire in a random pattern that only occasionally hit an airborne droid.
Cilia and Aeran worked back-to-back, covering each other as they moved toward the door, trusting the Jedi to take care of the bulk of the droids.
Obi-Wan launched himself over a desk, striking out at one droid with a carefully aimed kick that sent it crashing against the wall, splitting it into pieces. At the same time he swiped through another. Qui-Gon took out two droids with one swift stroke and moved to get Stephin as Cilia and Aeran took out two new droids buzzing through the doorway.
"There they are!" the security officer shouted, pointing at Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.
"Time to go, Padawan," Qui-Gon said. He pushed Stephin in front of him, turning to deflect a new spray of blaster fire from behind.