by James Luceno
device behind hadn't constituted a genuine oversight.
Just now the trio of airspeeders was approximately two kilometers south
of the summit hall.
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were passengers in the lead vehicle, trailed by Ki-
Adi-Mundi and Vergere in the second, and two judicials in the third.
Gazing down over the speeder's starboard gunwale, Qui - Gon thought he
glimpsed movement on one of the rooftops. But when he shielded his eyes with
the edge of his hand and looked again, all he saw was what might have been
heat shimmer at the base of a slender brick tower.
He reached out through the Force.
At the same instant the speeder's terrain-following computer began to
chirp repeatedly, indicating that it had matched the image. The computer's
screen displayed the stored image superimposed on the roofscape directly
below. Pivoting in his seat, Qui-Gon saw Ki-Adi-Mundi wave a sign of
acknowledgment that the computer of the second airspeeder has also discovered
the match.
The Eriadu security officer at the controls banked the airspeeder through
a sweeping turn and was headed back toward the stretch of roofs when the
craft's threat assessor suddenly added its voice to the steady chirping of the
terrain-following computer.
"Missile lock!" the pilot said in astonishment.
Obi-Wan leaned over the side of the craft and pointed to something below.
"There, Master!" Qui-Gon caught sight of the small rocket and realized at once
that it had been launched from the base of the tower, just where he had
detected movement moments earlier.
The pilot dropped the airspeeder into an abrupt dive, prepared to execute
another maneuver should the missile home in on them, but the rocket stayed
true to its original course. Narrowly missing the rear of the craft, it
exploded high overhead, raining shrapnel on the airspeeder, which came about
and shot for the source of the fire.
"Movement below," the pilot said, glancing at one of the scanner
displays. "I count six figures." Obi-Wan raised himself out of his seat. "I
don't see anyone." "Mimetic suits," Qui-Gon said. He swung to the pilot. "Find
a place to set us down." Another rocket streaked into the sky, detonating
between the second and third airspeeders.
"Targets are headed south," the pilot said.
Qui-Gon let his eyes roam over the varied domes and high roofs. Emerging
from a narrow cleft between two domes, three humans came briefly into view,
only to disappear against a background of roof tiles.
The pilot steered the airspeeder for the top of a long barrel vault and
let the craft settle down.
Blaster bolts began to whiz past the fuselage and ricochet erratically
from the vault's arched walls.
Lightsabers ignited, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan leapt over the gunwales. Hitting
the vault, they somersaulted through the air for the flat area below. Some
distance behind, KiAdiMundi, Vergere, and the two judicials hit the roof
running.
In a blur of motion, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan bolted to the end of the flat
roof, wound between several domes, and covered a length of sheer ledge without
a moment's hesitation. Side by side, and with blaster bolts darting beneath
them, they hopped across an interior courtyard and continued the chase without
breaking stride.
The terrorists were retreating deeper into the sinuous topography. Qui-
Gon pursued a pair of fleetingly visible figures, ultimately bounding far
ahead of them. With lightsaber raised, he waited for them to rush directly
into his path.
Is bar bar His green blade hissed and thrummed as it sliced through the
air, deflecting a dozen blaster bolts--along with a hurled blaster to top it
off. Perceiving the direction of the pair's revised retreat, Qui-Gon dropped
both of them with a Force push.
The two judicials arrived in time to pounce on the terrorists, before
their mimetic suits had a chance to reenergize.
Sensing something behind him, Qui-Gon whirled, but not quickly enough. A
meter-long vibroblade secured to the fist of a nearly indiscernible assailant
pierced the right side of his brown cloak, just missing his ribs. Qui-Gon spun
through a full turn, slashing diagonally with his lightsaber and halving the
vibroblade.
The terrorist scampered to the center of the roof, where the brick wall
of a small dwelling afforded him better camouflage, and drew a blaster.
Qui-Gon rushed forward, evading blaster bolts, then moving in to grapple
hand to hand with a human of similar size.
A hail of bolts tore past Qui-Gon's left ear as he threw his quarry to
the roof. Two more bolts singed his long hair in their passing. He leapt to
the right and rolled for cover. Drawing on the Force, he coaxed a slate tile
loose from the dwelling's peaked roof. The tile slipped from the grasp of its
fasteners, shot spinning through space, and clipped the terrorist in the side
of the head, felling him instantly.
Qui-Gon rushed in, grabbing a handful of the mimetic suit and tearing it
from the man's prone body. Its circuitry interrupted, the suit failed and the
wearer became visibl e.
Qui-Gon determined that the terrorist would be unconscious long enough
for the judicials to find him.
Off to his left, he spied Vergere leaping from dome to dome, as if she
were wearing a rocket pack. Following after her, he saw that the Fosh and Ki-
Adi-Mundi were closing on a Gotal, whose mimetic suit couldn't camouflage the
trail of shed fur he was leaving.
He glanced around for Obi-Wan and found him standing at the base of a
large dome, atop a wall that enclosed a deep courtyard. Qui-Gon was headed
toward him, when he spied an indistinct shape sliding down the steep curve of
the dome. The shape collided with Obi-Wan and sent him flailing over the edge
of the building.
Qui-Gon dashed forward, holding his lightsaber at hip level, then
flicking the blade upward when he reached the spot where he predicted the
terrorist would land.
A pained cry rang out, and a right arm flashed into visibility and went
sailing over the edge of the roof. Disa4, the mimetic suit phased out,
revealing a howling human female, down on her knees, her left hand gripped on
what remained of her severed right arm.
Qui-Gon rushed to the wall, hoping to find that Obi-Wan had found a soft
spot to land. Instead, an airspeeder rose out of the courtyard, with Obi-Wan
clinging by one hand to the craft's aft starboard stabilizer.
The airspeeder gently deposited Obi-Wan on the roof next to Qui-Gon.
Nearby, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Vergere, the two judicials, and a couple of Eriadu
security officers were securing the six terrorists that had been captured.
Neither Havac nor Cohl were among them.
"That was quite a stunt, Padawan," Qui-Gon said.
"I guess you would rather have found me dangling by my teeth, Master."
Qui-Gon showed him a perplexed look.
"The thought-puzzle Master Anoon Bondara put to his students on the day
we spoke with Luminara," Obi-Wan explained. "About the man dangling by his
teeth from the strut of a
skimmer over a treacherous pit." "I remember now,"
Qui-Gon said, with sudden interest.
Obi-Wan blew out his breath. "After much though, I decided that the
skimmer is meant to be the Force, and that the pit represents the dangers that
await any of us who stray from the path." "And what of the lost travelers who
asked for help?" "Well, on the one hand, travelers--even when they've lost
their way--should know better than to ask questions of a man dangling by his
teeth over a treacherous pit. But, more important, the travelers were merely
distractions that the man should ignore, if he is to remain in the Force."
"Distractions," Qui-Gon murmured.
He thought back to the attempt on Valorum's life, the events on Asmeru,
and the evidence that had been discovered in the customs warehouse.
Qui-Gon clapped Obi-Wan on both shoulders. "You've helped me see
something that has been eluding me." He glanced at the half-dozen terrorists.
"There's little more we can do here. Hurry now, Padawan, Havac's scheme is
afoot." "Where are we going, Master?" "Where we were meant to go from the
beginning." The scene outside the south entrance to the summit hall was
chaotic, with mobs of onlookers and security personnel milling about, and
media reporters jostling for close-ups with their holocams and recorders.
Cordons of body-armored police fought to keep the masses from pressing too
close, as vehicles ranging from the most primitive to the most luxurious
conveyed delegates to the porte cochere that hooded the entrance. Judicials
circulated through the crowd, trying not to be obvious, despite the
communicator beads in their ears and the sophisticated comlinks on their
wrists, while Jedi Knights, with their brown cloaks and belt-mounted
lightsabers, made themselves all too obvious.
"I don't see a hope of getting inside," Boiny said to Cohl, at the
leading edge of the crowd.
"Even if we managed to reach the door, we'd never be able to slip any
hardware past the weapons scanners." The two of them were wearing loose-
fitting robes, sandals, and turbans that concealed their head wounds.
Cohl had found himself an actual crutch made of a lightweight alloy, but
he was weaker than when he and the Rodian had made their hasty departure from
the customs warehouse. Both were surviving on bacta patches and periodic
injections of pain blockers.
Cohl gazed up at the summit hall. In addition to the security guards
posted at the entrance, there were sharpshooters in the towers that stood at
the corners of the enormous building.
"Let's have a look at some of the other entrances," he said, quietly and
short of breath.
They began a circular zigzag around the grounds.
The west and north entrances were no less crowded or confused, but the
east entrance wasn't nearly as mobbed, or as well guarded.
Waiting to be admitted were administrative aides and freelance
translators, protocol and service droids, an ensemble of drummers and
trumpeters sporting tall helmets and garish uniforms, and mixed-species groups
representing the Rights of Sentience League and the Association of Free Trade
Worlds, among others.
"Strictly second-tier attendees," Boiny remarked.
"Our kind of folks." Cohl nodded with his chin, indicating that they
should saunter down the long line.
Part way along, announcing themselves with a colorful banner, waited a
hundred or so veterans of the Stark Hyperspace Conflict. A brief though bloody
conflict that had erupted twelve years earlier, it had been fought largely on
worlds where bacta was scarce or too expensive.
Consequently, many of the veterans, human and alien alike, still showed
gruesome scars, patches of horribly puckered or wrinkled flesh, and missing
limbs or tails. Paralyzed as a result of disrupter fire or electromagnetic
detonations, a few were confined to repulsorlift chairs and sleds.
It was the latter group that caught Cohl's attention.
"I think we've found our way inside," he told Boiny.
Centered in the 180-457ree arc of tiered seats that separated the
Coruscant delegation from the Trade Federation Directorate, Senator Palpatine
sat with Sate Pestage, Kinman Doriana, and others, in the section designated
for the Naboo system.
Palpatine had angled himself to the left, in order to watch the seven
members of the directorate assume their seats. Flanking the four humans, the
Sullustan, the Gran, and the Neimoidian, contingents of security droids stood
with blaster rifles affixed to their squarish backpacks, like skeletal
sentinels of death.
Palpatine was so engrossed that he failed to observe the approach of
Senator Orn Free Taa, despite the fact that the bloated Rutian Twi'lek had
arrived by means of a repulsorlift chair, with his retinue of attaches and
aides trailing behind him like servants.
"An impressive showing," Taa said to Palpatine, glancing around the
resplendent hall as he lowered his chair to the floor. "Delegates from
Sullust, Clak'dor, the Senex sector, Malastare, Falleen, Bothawui... Why even
some of the Hutt worlds are represented." Taa paused to track Palpatine's gaze
to the Trade Federation section. "Ah, the objects of everyone's fascination."
"Assuredly," Palpatine said in a distracted way.
"How like the directorate to bring droids--though I suppose it makes
little difference whether one chooses Jedi Knights or droids. I have heard,
however, that the directorate also insisted on a shield projector." "Yes, I
heard the same." Taa regarded Palpatine for a long moment.
"Senator, permit me to say that you seem somewhat preoccupied." Palpatine
finally swiveled in his chair to face Taa. "In point of fact, I have just
received some rather distressing news from my home system. It seems that
Naboo's King Veruna has abdicated the throne." Taa's massive head-tails
twitched. "I...
I must confess, Senator, that I don't know whether to feel sorry or glad
for you. But where exactly does this leave you, in any case? Is there some
danger of your being recalled?" "That remains to be seen," Palpatine said.
"Naboo will have an acting regent until elections are held." "Who is in
the running to replace Veruna?" "That, too, remains to be seen." "Dare I
inquire as to your hope?" Palpatine shrugged lightly. "Only for someone
enthusiastic about opening Naboo to the galaxy.
Someone less--how shall I put it? - - traditional than Veruna." A glint
came into Taa's eyes. "Or more easily persuaded perhaps?" Before Palpatine
could respond, a swell of agitation began to sweep through the hall. To all
sides, heads were turning toward the south entrance.
Shortly, Supreme Chancellor Valorum and the rest of the Coruscant
delegation appeared.
The hall responded with extended if merely cordial applause.
"He arrives," Taa said, as Valorum was being escorted to his seat. "But
who is that with him? I recognize the sector governor, but not the lean and
hungry-looking one beside him." "Lieutenant Governor Tarkin," Palpatine
replied, while clapping his hands.
"Ah, yes--Tarkin. A bit of a throwb
ack, isn't he? Very militant and
authoritarian." "Power can turn even the meekest of bureaucrats into a raging
manka cat." "Just so, just so. And speaking of that, Senator," Taa added in a
conspiratorial tone, "do you recall the information I brought to your
attention a while back, regarding Valorum family holdings here on Eriadu?"
"Vaguely. Something about a shipping company, wasn't it?" Taa nodded. "As you
know, many small concerns are poised to see their market status considerably
advanced as a result of Valorum's taxation proposal, and also as a consequence
of investments from Core worlds, like Ralltiir and Kuat, who are ever on the
alert for opportunities." "What does all that have to do with Valorum's
holdings?" Palpatine asked mildly.
was It appears that said shipping company has recently received a
significant inflow of capital, and yet the Supreme Chancellor failed to inform
appropriate parties in the senate. Naturally, I began to wonder if he was even
aware that someone had invested so heavily in the family business, and just
who it was that had invested." "It wouldn't be like Supreme Chancellor Valorum
to conceal something of that nature." "Initially, I believed the same. My
assumption was that if it could be determined that the funds had indeed come
from investment speculators who had no direct ties to Valorum, then--despite
all outward appearances--noto breach of protocol or propriety had occurred.
But when I endeavored to establish as much, I kept finding myself beset with
obstacles, dead ends, and ambiguous leads. As you yourself suggested, I
resorted to turning the matter over to Senator Antilles, who has the necessary
leverage to pry into ^th areas to which I was denied." "Has Senator Antilles
made any progress?" Taa lowered his voice another notch. "What I have to tell
you is hardly equivalent to your revelation about King Veruna, but, in fact, I
have just learned that Antilles was successful in tracing the origin of the
funds to what he at first thought was a venture capital consortium, but which,
in fact, appears to be a fraudulent bank account, set up expressly for
channeling illicitly gained funds to areas of special interest." Palpatine
stared at him. "By special interests, I assume you refer to those senators who
are receiving kickbacks from various organizations, criminal and otherwise."
"Precisely." "But you have yet to learn where the funds originated." "We are
