Star Wars - Cloak Of Deception Page 26

  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