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“The Sith of Datawork” - From a Certain Point of View

Posted by Bret on 10/11/17 at 10:05 AM Category: Books


"The Sith of Datawork", by Ken Liu, again picks up right where the previous story, "The Bucket", leaves off. Arvira is a logistics officer aboard Darth Vader's flagship. She is approached by Gunnery Captain Bolvan, the man responsible for not firing on the escape pod that jettisoned from the Tantive IV late in the firefight. After initially deciding that the pod had merely malfunctioned, he had realized that it had followed a deliberate trajectory to the surface of Tatooine. Commander Praji, after being ordered by Lord Vader to "tear the ship apart," had yet to find the stolen plans. Bolvan knew he was going to face severe consequences for his actions (or lack thereof), and desperately sought the help of the clever logistics officer, Arvira, to help bury the incident under mounds of tedious datawork. The story has a comedic tone, and explores the incident a bit further than Family Guy, but really, it's not that far off...

Editor's note: It wasn't clear from the first person perspective, but due to the feminine "a" ending of the name, I imagine the main character is a woman.

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WARNING: This is a plot summary of the short story, spoilers ahead:

Bolvan approached Arvira for advice on what to do. Arvira knows the real motivation behind Bolvan's decision to not fire. The rebels have used the Empire's well-known poor marksmanship for effective propaganda. To combat this, the Empire instituted a new program that tied gunnery officers' promotions directly to their shot-to-kill ratio. Having determined that the escape pod had no life forms on board, Bolvan knew that firing upon it would be considered a wasted shot and would negatively impact his kill ratio, and therefore his chances for promotion. Arvira was also aware of Imperial Naval Regulation 132.CAT.ch(22), which required datawork be filed by the gunnery officer who fires upon an escape pod in battle, in order to help head off any war crimes complaints by the senate. Bolvan hated the mundane data work, and avoided it at all costs. Missing the shot would hurt his career, but making the shot would hurt his career. Thus, the decision not to fire, simply to avoid the paperwork.

Bolvan now regretted the decision, and Arvira proceeded to provide him with the necessary strategy to cover his tracks. This included filing reports that the sensors were damaged and malfunctioning. The next step was ordering an audit of all the gun systems on board which, by design, would require Chief Gunnery Officer Haji to get into an EVO suit and personally inspect each gun. This, of course. would occupy the only other person who knew the truth, Chief Gunner Haji, who happened to be the man to whom Bolvan gave the order to hold fire. Arvira advised Bolvan that through an available regulatory initiative, he would then be able to file an officer-to-officer request to have the manifest of the Tantive IV filed by Commander Praji himself, who, also despising datawork, would have no choice but to follow through (lest Vader learn that he cut corners) and determine, on his own, that the plans were likely to be aboard the escape pod. This would trigger Praji's own investigation into the actions of the gunners. Arvira told Bolvan to then also file a request to have droids clean the viewports with a thick foamy substance that would obscure all sightlines, which would finally absolve Bolvan of any obvious culpability. Praji's investigation would lead him to determine that a series of unfortunate and coincidental minor malfunctions and bureaucratic actions contributed to a failure to stop the pod. He himself would have to explain this to Vader, and suffer any potential consequences. Bolvan would live another day, thanks to the datawork wizard, Arvira.




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