Val followed Nal down the corridor to the small civilian cabin that had been converted from a two man housing area into a very cramped computer lab that could barely sleep one.
The man who converted it, Geoff Spickolly, was a civilian slicer who largely kept to himself, and was supposed to be one of the best minds that worked for the Republic... for a price. He was also renowned amongst the fleet for being very odd mannered. On the Unity in particular, it was well known that Moklam found him downright annoying. As such, he had reportedly been told to continue to work hard in seclusion, but not to bother to report until he had a solid answer for the Captain.
The Jedi however, had also been told by the other techs that he was the most likely to figure out what was happening, and went to seek out an update of any sort. Until the commander was convinced that whatever was giving the Sith a warning every time they were bearing down on them, the ship would just not make another move for fear of being slowly led to a trap.
The younger Jedi stopped, pointing at the nearest door. "I believe dis is da one." Her Chiss companion nodded, and she touched the control panel. From inside the room, they heard a tired voice call out "Yeah!" and the doors slid open.
They entered, and saw the room was nearly packed with equipment. Actually, that was all they could see until the slicer stood up and peered over the monitor he was working at.
Nal smiled at the blond man. "Hello. Are you da Mista Spickoli? I am Na..."
Spickoli laughed without provocation. "Hahahaha... the pushers! Yeah... hahahah. I knew you'd be coming some time."
Val cocked his head to one side in curiosity. "Did you just call us... 'Pushers'?"
"Hahahaha... yeah... you know... haha... cause you push stuff... and stuff!"
Val nodded in understanding. "Of course. Silly of me to ask." He smiled, showing that he was more amused than upset by the nickname. "I'll get to the point though. We were wondering how your analysis was going. Have you made any progress in discerning the source of these mysterious transmissions?"
The slicer let out another laugh and went on a diatribe that took several minutes, none of which meant anything to either of the Jedi.
"Was dat... a 'no'?" Nal asked, looking very confused.
The slicer shrugged. "Of course not. How can I find it when it's randomly displaced after each use, and I can't get it to reactivate?" After seeing only a slight increase in the amount of comprehension from the Jedi he tried to put into even more normal terms. "It'd be like trying to find a murderer who decided to hide in a completely random spot, leaving no clues as to where... the only way to find him would be if you could find a way to draw him out."
Val's eyes opened slightly as he finally understood. "I see now. You're saying..."
"Hahahaha... Yeah, man... the pusher knows... haha. We have to make another jump if we want to catch it in action."
The Naulatian shook her head no. "Da Captain has already said he would not allow such a ting to happen."
The slicer's smile faded for the first time. "I know that... I was hoping you could maybe convince him. You know. He won't listen to me... but everyone listens to pushers, don't they? Haha."
The Chiss spoke up just as he sensed Nal was about to shoot that idea down as well. "It certainly couldn't hurt if he heard it from another, could it? I'm new here, perhaps my perspective will have a little extra weight for him."
The slicer thanked the Jedi as they left, clearly hopeful that he'd get a real shot at seeing what this invisible program was up to.
As they headed back to the command deck, Nal voiced what was on her mind in the other room. "Da Captain is certain we could be headed to a trap if we move again. You know dis."
Val smiled. "I understand his concern, but we must find the program or we will never be able to move on. I'm certain the Captain will want to find the problem before his secret mission as well."
"Obviously dat would be da case... but what is da risk dough? What CAN we risk?"
"We can only be trapped young Jedi... if we are following the Sith."
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