Star Wars_ Labyrinth of Evil Part 7

"A bleak planet," Obi-Wan said.

Anakin made adjustments to the controls to compensate for strong winds that were buffeting the s.h.i.+p. "I'll take it over Tatooine any day."

Obi-Wan shrugged. "I can think of far worse places to live than Tatooine.

Into view came the landing platform to which they had been directed. Oval in shape and perfectly sized to the cruiser, it looked newly built. "I'm certain that it was constructed specifically for us," TC-16 said. "That's why the Xi Char were unremitting in their requests to know the cruiser's exact dimensions."

Anakin glanced at Obi-Wan. "The Republic could use the Xi Char right about now." He set the cruiser down on its broad disks of landing gear and extended the vessel's starboard boarding ramp. At the top of the ramp, Obi-Wan raised the hood of his cloak against a frigid wind that howled down the slopes. Ahead, a gleaming alloy runner ran from the edge of the landing platform to a cathedral-like structure half a kilometer distant. To both sides of the runner stood hundreds of excited Xi Charrians.

"Guess they don't get many guests," Anakin said as he, Obi-Wan, and TC-16 started down the ramp. As was often the case, the Xi Char's technological creations mirrored their own anatomy and physiology. With their short, chitinous bodies, quartets of pointed legs, scissor-action feet, and teardrop-shaped heads, they might have been living versions of the shapes.h.i.+fting droid fighters they had helped produce for the Trade Federation - - in walk/patrol mode, at any rate. The wild chitterings of the hundreds-strong mob of welcomers was so loud that Anakin had to raise his voice to be heard.

"Celebrity treatment! I think I'm going to enjoy this!"

"Just be sure to follow my lead, Anakin."

"I'll try, Master." The closer the Jedi and the protocol droid drew to the edge of the landing platform, the louder the chitterings became. Obi-Wan didn't know what to make of the sheer eagerness he felt from the aliens. It was as if some sort of footrace were about to begin.

Frequently, an individual Xi Charrian, carried away by enthusiasm, would leap onto the sleek runner, only to be yanked back into the crowd by others.

"TeeCee, are they normally so zealous?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Yes, Master Ken.o.bi. But their zest has nothing to do with us. It's the s.h.i.+p!" The meaning of the remark became clear the instant the three of them stepped from the landing platform. At once the Xi Charrians surged forward and swarmed the cruiser, covering it from flat-faced bow to barrel-thrustered stern. Obi-Wan and Anakin watched in awe as patches of carbon scoring disappeared, dents were straightened, pieces of superstructure were realigned, and transparisteel viewports were polished.

"Let's remember to tip them when we leave," Anakin said. Occasionally a Xi Charrian would leap on TC-16 or make a grab for one of his limbs, but the droid was able to shake his a.s.sailants off.

"In their eagerness to perfect me, I'm afraid they'll wipe my memory!"

the droid said.

"Would that be such a bad thing," Anakin said, "after what you claim to have been through?"

"How can I be expected to learn from my mistakes if I can no longer remember them?"

They were halfway down the runner when a pair of larger Xi Charrians scurried out to meet them. TC-16 exchanged chitterings and stridulations with them, and explained.

"These two will take us to the Prelate."

"No weapons," Anakin said quietly. "That's a good sign."

"The Xi Char are a peaceful species," the droid explained. "They care only about the engineering of a piece of technology, not its intended use. That was why they felt unjustly accused and harshly judged by the Republic for the part their droid fighters played in the Battle of Naboo."

The enormous building TC-16 had called a workshop topped two hundred meters in height and was crowned with latticework spires and towers that evoked strains of eerie music from the steady wind. Arrays of tall skylights lit the vast interior s.p.a.ce, in which thousands of Xi Charrians toiled. Arcades of exquisitely engraved columns supported a vaulted ceiling of exposed roof trusses, among which roosted several thousand more Xi Charrians, suspended by their scissor feet and humming contentedly.

"The night s.h.i.+ft?" Anakin wondered aloud. Their pair of escorts led them into a kind of chancery, whose tall doors opened on a spotless room that could have pa.s.sed for the captain's cabin of a luxury s.p.a.ce yacht.

Occupying a throne-like chair in the center of the room was the largest Xi Charrian the Jedi had yet seen, being attended to by a dozen smaller ones. Elsewhere, groups of tool-wielding Xi Charrians were going over every square millimeter of the chamber, scrubbing, cleaning, polis.h.i.+ng.

Without ceremony, TC-16 approached the Prelate and tendered a greeting.

The droid had tasked his vocoder to provide Obi-Wan and Anakin with simultaneous translations of his utterances. "May I present Jedi Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi, and Jedi Anakin Skywalker," he began.

Waving away his retinue, the Prelate pivoted his long head to regard Obi-Wan.

"TeeCee," Obi-Wan said, "tell him we're sorry to have disturbed him during his ablutions."

"You're not disturbing him, sir. The Prelate is attended to in similar fas.h.i.+on at all hours of the day."

The Prelate chittered.

"Excellency, I speak your language as a result of my former employment in the court of Viceroy Nute Gunray." The droid listened to the Prelate's response, then said: "Yes, I realize that does not endear me to you. But may I say in defense that my time among the Neimoidians was the most trying of my existence. To which my physical appearance surely attests, and is cause for my great shame." Clearly mollified, the Prelate chittered again. "These Jedi have come to seek permission from you to pose questions to a devotee in Workshop Xcan - - a certain t'laalaks'lalak-t'th'ak." TC-16 supplied the glottal stops and clicking sounds necessary to p.r.o.nounce the name. "A virtuoso engraver, to be sure, Excellency. As to the Jedi's interest in him, it is hoped that a work of art to which he devoted himself will provide a clue as to the current whereabouts of an important Separatist leader." The droid listened, then added: "And may I add that anything that brings joy to the Xi Char brings contentment to the Republic."

The Prelate's eye grooves found the Jedi again. "The lightsabers are not weapons, Excellency," TC-16 said after a brief exchange. "But if permission to speak with t'laalak-s'lalak-t'th'ak rests on their surrendering the lightsabers, then I'm certain they will comply."

Obi-Wan was already reaching for his lightsaber, but Anakin looked dubious. "You did say you would follow my lead."

Anakin opened his cloak. "I said I'd try, Master."

They handed the lightsabers to TC-16, who presented them to the Prelate for inspection. "It hardly surprises me that you see room for improvement, Excellency," the droid said after a moment. "But then, what tool could fail to benefit from the touch of a Xi Charrian?" He listened, then added: "I'm certain that the Jedi know you will honor your pledge to leave the imperfections intact."

"That went better than expected," Obi-Wan said as he, Anakin, and TC-16 were being escorted into the heart of Workshop Xcan.

Anakin wasn't convinced. "You're too trusting, Master. I sense much suspicion."

"We can thank Raith Sienar for some of that."

Almost two decades earlier, the wealthy and influential owner-president of Sienar Design Systems - - a chief supplier of starfighters to the Republic - - had spent time among the Xi Char, mastering ultraprecision engineering techniques he would later incorporate into his own designs.

Revealed to be a "nonbeliever," Sienar had been exiled from Charros IV, and been made the target of bounty hunters, four of whom Sienar had managed to strand at a black hole known only to him and a handful of other hotshot hypers.p.a.ce explorers. Sienar had engaged in similar acts of corporate espionage among the Trade Federation, Baktoid Armor, Corellian Engineering, and Incom Corporations, but the Xi Char had a long memory for what they considered sacrilege.

Six years before the Battle of Naboo, a second attempt on Raith's life had resulted in the death of his father, Narro, at Dantooine. But once again the heretic had escaped. Ten years back, Obi-Wan and Anakin had had their own brush with Sienar at the living world known as Zonama Sekot.

Because Sienar had been partly responsible for Zonama Sekot's disappearance, he was also the reason that the Xi Char no longer accepted human apprentices. Workshop Xcan was a marvel to behold. Xi Char artisans worked individually or in groups of three to three hundred, on devices ranging from high-end home appliances to starfighters, adding enhancements or adornments, tweaking, personalizing, customizing in a thousand different ways. Here were all the priceless devices Obi-Wan and Anakin had found crammed into storage rooms in Gunray's Cato Neimoidia citadel. The environment was the ant.i.thesis of the deafening freneticism that characterized a Baktoid Armor foundry, such as the one the Republic had commandeered on Geonosis. Xi Charrians rarely conversed with one another while working, preferring instead to amplify their concentration through the repet.i.tion of high-pitched stridulations, a.n.a.logous to chants.

The few who did take notice of the three visitors in their midst showed more interest in TC-16 than in the Jedi. And yet, for all the fine work that was performed in Workshop Xcan, the cathedral-factory was little more than a stepping-stone for many Xi Charrians, who aspired to work for the Haor Chall Engineering conglomerate which had abandoned Charros IV for other worlds in the Outer Rim. The same pair of outsized aliens who had escorted Obi-Wan and Anakin to the Prelate's chancery guided them to t'laalak-s'lalak-t'th'ak's altar, which was located in the workshop's western colonnade, the piers of which were decorated with mosaics of engraved tiles. High overhead, resting Xi Charrians hung inverted from the great curving rafters that supported the roof, like configurable droid fighters arrayed inside a Trade Federation carrier.

Obi-Wan could see how the sound of their ceaseless humming could be slightly unnerving. t'laalak-s'lalak-t'th'ak was engrossed in engraving a corporate logo into a piece of stars.h.i.+p console. Dozens of yet-to-be completed pieces walled him in on one side; completed pieces were on the other. On hearing his name called, he glanced up from his work. The escorts chittered to him briefly before TC-16 took over. "t'laalaks'lalak-t'th'ak, first allow me to say that your work is of such exceptional quality that the deities themselves must be covetous."

The Xi Charrian accepted the compliment in humility, and chittered a response.

"We appreciate the offer to watch you at work. But in fact, we are not unacquainted with some of your finer pieces, and it is because of one piece in particular that we have journeyed so far to speak with you. An example that recently came to light on Cato Neimoidia." The Xi Charrian took a long moment to respond. "A mechno-chair you adorned for Trade Federation viceroy, Nute Gunray, some fourteen standard years ago." TC-16 listened, then added: "But surely it was yours, for the inner portion of the rear leg bears your devotional symbol." Again he listened. "A Baktoid forgery? Are you suggesting that your work could so easily be imitated?"

Anakin nudged Obi-Wan in the upper arm: Xi Charrians working nearby were beginning to take a keen interest in the conversation.

"We understand your reluctance to discuss such matters," TC-16 was saying quietly. "Why, the very fact that you autographed a piece could be interpreted by the Prelate as a statement of pride." t'laalak-s'lalak-t'th'ak's anger was apparent. "Well, of course, you should be proud. But should the Prelate learn that the piece has for all these years resided with a personage such as Viceroy Gunray - - "

Without another chitter, the Xi Charrian let go his tools and launched himself from his work pallet - - not at TC-16 or either of the Jedi, but straight up into the web of overhead girders. Ignoring indignant squeals from rudely awakened Xi Charrians, he began to leap from one girder to the next, clearly determined to reach one of the tall skylights that perforated the roof.

Obi-Wan watched him for a moment, then turned to Anakin. "I don't think he wants to speak with us."

Anakin kept his eyes on t'laalak-s'lalak-t'th'ak. "Well, he has to." And with that, he leapt in pursuit.

"Anakin, wait!" Obi-Wan said, then added, more to himself, "Oh, what's the use," and sprang up toward the ceiling. Hurling himself from truss to truss like some circus performer, Anakin arrived quickly at the intricate tracery surrounding the partially opened roof window through which t'laalak-s'lalak-t'th'ak was desperately trying to squirm.

The Xi Charrian's insectile forelegs were already outside the window when Anakin leapt again, clutching on to him in an effort to return him to the floor. But the alien was stronger than he looked. Chittering madly, he leapt for a higher window, this time taking Anakin with him. Ten meters away, Obi-Wan paralleled the Xi Charrian's flight into the upper reaches of the vaulted ceiling, where the chase had now roused scores of roosting Xi Charrians, inciting more than a few to join in. Anakin was still trying to drag his quarry down, but his weight was insufficient to the task. Fearing what might result should Anakin call too strongly on the Force - - Obi-Wan had visions of the entire workshop crumbing to pieces!

- - he fairly flew after them, barely managing at the apex of his ascent to grab hold of t'laalak-s'lalak-t'th'ak's rear legs.

And down they came. All three, entwined, and bringing with them more than thirty inverted Xi Charrians. Cascading onto the floor, Obi-Wan and Anakin lost their hold on t'laalak-s'lalak-t'th'ak, and suddenly couldn't tell one Xi Charrian from the next. Losing t'laalak-s'lalak-t'th'ak had ceased to be an immediate concern, in any case, because Xi Charrians throughout the workshop were rus.h.i.+ng to the aid of those the two Jedi had caused to plummet from the rafters. Some were already attempting to zap the Jedi into submission by brandis.h.i.+ng a.s.sorted soldering and engraving tools, while others were busy constructing a plasteel hemisphere under which the violence might be contained.

"No mayhem!" Obi-Wan shouted. Anakin showed him a wide-eyed glance from beneath a three-meter-tall heap of irate Xi Charrians.

"Who exactly are you talking to?"

Obi-Wan glanced around the workshop. "Topple something - - quickly!

Before they complete the mound!" With a shoving motion of his free hand, Obi-Wan overturned a small table twenty meters away, spilling several stacks of freshly engraved comlinks and droid summoners. Chittering in panic, half the Xi Charrians who were holding him to the floor - - and most of the ones rus.h.i.+ng toward him - - scampered off to repair the damaged devices.

"Quickly, Anakin!" Even with his hands pinned under him, Anakin managed to upend a pallet of kitchen appliances, then knock over a carefully arranged collection of toys, then tear from the wall more than half a dozen sconces. Chittering in dismay, more Xi Charrians raced off.

"Stop making it look like fun!" Obi-Wan cautioned. Eyes riveted on a bin filled with musical instruments, he was about to rid himself of his remaining tormenters when blasterfire erupted in the workshop, and into the midst of the throng of infuriated Xi Char appeared the Prelate himself, seated on a litter carried by six bearers and grasping a weapon in each foot. Twenty Xi Charrians flattened themselves to the floor as the Prelate brought the blasters to bear on Obi-Wan and Anakin. But before a bolt could be fired TC-16 emerged from a side gallery, his body realigned and polished to a dazzling l.u.s.ter, shouting: "Look what they've done to me!"

The droid's tone of voice combined anguish and wonder, but the change in him was so unexpected and remarkable that the Prelate and his bearers could only gape, as if a miracle had occurred in their midst. A babble of chitterings was exchanged, before the Prelate swung back to Obi-Wan and Anakin, raising the blasters once more.

"But they meant no harm, Excellency!" the droid intervened. "t'laalaks'lalak-t'th'ak fled in response to their questions! Master Obi-Wan and Jedi Skywalker sought merely to ascertain the reason!"

The Prelate's gaze singled out t'laalak-s'lalak-t'th'ak. TC-16 translated. "Master Ken.o.bi, the Prelate advises you to pose your questions, and to leave Charros Four before he has a change of heart."

Obi-Wan looked at t'laalak-s'lalak-t'th'ak, then at TC-16. "Ask him if he remembers the chair."

The droid relayed the question. "He remembers it now."

"Was the engraving done here?"

"He answers, 'yes,' sir."

"Was the chair brought to Charros Four by the Neimoidians or by another?"

"He says, sir: 'By another.'"

Obi-Wan and Anakin traded eager looks. "Was the hyperwave transceiver already affixed to it?" Anakin asked.

TC-16 listened. "Both the tranceiver and the holoprojector itself were already affixed to the chair. He says that he did little but inscribe the legs of the chair and tweak some of its motion systems." Lowering his voice, the droid added: "May I say, sirs, that t'laalak-s'lalak-t'th'ak's voice is... quavering. I suspect that he is hiding something."

"He's afraid," Anakin said. "And not of Nute Gunray."

Obi-Wan looked at TC-16. "Ask him who made the transceiver. Ask him where it s.h.i.+pped from."

????? t'laalak-s'lalak-t'th'ak's chitterings sounded contrite.

TC-16 said: "The transceiver unit arrived from a facility known as Escarte. He believes that the device's maker is still there."

"Escarte?" Anakin said.

"An asteroid mining facility," TC-16 explained, "belonging to the Commerce Guild."

17.

"Ten years ago it would have had all the makings of a full-blown diplomatic incident," Intelligence officer Dyne was explaining to Yoda and Mace Windu in the data room of the Jedi Temple. Filled with computers, holoprojector tables, and communications apparatus, the windowless chamber also housed an emergency beacon that transmitted on a frequency known only to the Jedi, allowing the Temple to send and receive encrypted messages without having to rely on the more public HoloNet.

"Since when are the Xi Char so forgiving?" Mace asked. Dressed in a brown belted tunic and beige trousers, he was poised on the edge of a desk, one booted foot planted on the s.h.i.+ny floor.

"Since they've been forced to make do with subcontracting work," Dyne said. "What they want is to get back in the game by landing a nice fat Republic contract for starfighters or combat droids. It has to be driving them mad, knowing that Sienar is getting even richer on techniques he basically stole from them."

Mace glanced at Yoda, who was standing off to one side, both hands resting on the k.n.o.b of his gimer stick. "Then the Xi Char Prelate isn't likely to report the incident to the Senate."

Dyne shook his head. "Not a chance. No real harm was done, anyway."

"Reach the ears of the Supreme Chancellor, it won't," Yoda said. "But surprised I was by Obi-Wan's report. Losing some of his better judgment, Obi-Wan is."

"We both know why," Mace said. "He's become Anakin's partisan."

"If the Chosen One Skywalker is, then a hundred such diplomatic incidents we should suffer without concern." Yoda shut his eyes for a moment, then looked at the Intelligence a.n.a.lyst. "But come to tell us of these things, Captain Dyne hasn't."

Dyne grinned. "We've succeeded in deciphering the code Dooku - - and, we have to a.s.sume, Sidious - - has been using to communicate with the Council of Separatists. Using the code, we were able to intercept a message sent to Viceroy Gunray, through the mechno-chair."

Mace came to his feet. "Your people have been working on cracking that code for years."

"The chair's hyperwave transceiver provided us with our first solid lead.

We saw right away that the code embedded in the transceiver's memory was a variant on codes used by the InterGalactic Banking Clan. So we decided to offer a deal to one of the Muuns arrested after the Battle of Muunilinst. It took some convincing, but the Muun finally confirmed that the Confederacy code comes closest to a code used on Aargau, for transferring bank funds and such." Dyne paused, then added: "Remember the missing credits that became the basis for accusations leveled against Chancellor Valorum back in the day?"

Yoda nodded. "Remember the incident well, we do."

"The credits that allegedly disappeared into the pockets of Valorum's family members on Eriadu were routed through Aargau."

"Interesting, this is." Dyne opened an alloy briefcase and removed a ribbed data cell. Moving to one of the holoprojector tables, he inserted the cell into a socket. A meter-high holoimage appeared in the table's cone of blue light.

"General Grievous," Yoda said, narrowing his eyes.