YJK11: The Emperor's Plague Part 1?

 I'm only just started on this, and it's the end of the arc, so I might two part it. For tonight, I want to whine about something that pops up twice early in the book. It's a common mistake I see with new writers, but Anderson can't really use that excuse (Moesta, as far as I can tell, has zero credits besides these novels, so maybe she gets a pass). Basically, you realize your plot/characters are dumb. Someone has to go somewhere they have no business being, to do something they have no business doing, in a way that doesn't make sense. How do you handle it? The bad/Anderson way is to let the characters ramble on about it for half a page or so before not actually resolving it.

Aryn’s shoulders drooped. “That sounds like your father-but why didn’t he simply destroy the module, or bring the information here to Coruscant?”

Why indeed? Raynar explains the fear that he might not be able to successfully get the information to New Republic. A traitor/disguised Diversity Alliance trooper almost killed his centaur girlfriend in the last book. It doesn't really deal with the destroying the computer thing, besides the fact that Nolaa Tarkana (the Twi'lek leading the DA) will keep looking for the plague warehouse anyway.

You could still destroy it to at least make it harder...

There's a similar exchange between Jaina and Zekk later when he doesn't want her to come. Obviously the real reason is that he's in wuv with her (I don't blame Anderson for how bad the romances are in these, I suspect someone in 90s YA land told him he had to keep it weird/awkward). But he can't say that, so he gives a monologue about how he feels bad about being a dark Jedi for a couple books and she gives up.

More on how to fix this (and the rest of this book) another night.