Darth Maul_ Saboteur Part 2

"Have they agreed to terms?"

"At first contact," Bruit said. "Although I have to say that I sometimes wish I could see both Lommite and InterGal brought down, so that someone with real foresight could build a better organization from the dregs." Several gla.s.ses clinked together.

"So what's our part in this, Chief, if the deal has already been struck?"

Bruit snorted. "We need to prepare ourselves for InterGal's counterpunch."

Maul peeled the recorder from the floorboards and dropped down to the loamy soil below the house. He remained still for a long moment, crouched in the darkness, listening to sounds of distant laughter and the stridulations of profuse insect life. Then he thought back to Coruscant, and the question his Master had put to him regarding his double-bladed lightsaber.

It made sense to me to be able to strike with both ends, Maul had answered. With a note of approval, his Master had said, You must bear that in mind when you go to Dorvalla.

Maul reached within his cloak and unclipped the long cylinder from his belt. One end, then the other, Maul told himself. Both, to effect a single purpose.

Maul waited until the moon was low in the sky before he went to Lommite Limited's headquarters at the base of the escarpment. The incidents of sabotage had caused the complex of buildings to be placed on high alert.

Armed sentries, some accompanied by leashed beasts, patrolled, and powerful illuminators cast circles of brilliant light over the s.p.a.cious grounds. A five-meter-high electrified stun fence encompa.s.sed everything.

Maul spent an hour studying the movements of the sentries, the periodic sweeps of the illuminators, the towering fence, and the motion detector lasers that gridded the broad lawn beyond. He was certain that infrared cams were scanning the grounds, but there was little he could do about those without leaving evidence of his infiltration. A probe droid would have been able to tell him all he needed to know, but there wasn't time and he wanted to do this personally. To test the possibility that pressure detectors had been installed in the ground, he used the Force to propel stones over the fence. As they struck specific places on the lawn, he waited for some response, but the guards stationed at the entry gates simply continued to go about their business.

When he was satisfied that he had committed the results of his reconnaissance to memory, he shrugged out of his cloak and leapt straight up over the fence, landing precisely where some of the rocks he had tossed rested. Then he sprang to a series of other sites that ultimately carried him to the wall of the princ.i.p.al building, moving with such speed the entire time that whatever holorecordings were being made wouldn't show him unless they were played in slow motion.

He reached one of the doors and found it locked, so he began to work his way around the building, testing other doors and windows, all of which were similarly secured.

He tested the building's flat roof for motion and pressure detectors as he had the lawn. Vaulting to the top, he was confronted with an expanse of solar arrays, skylights, and cooling ducts. He moved to the nearest skylight and ignited his lightsaber. He was ready to plunge the blade through the transparisteel panel when he stopped himself, and peered more intently at the panel. Embedded in the transparisteel were monofilament chains, which, when severed, would trip an alarm.

Deactivating the blade, he reclipped his lightsaber and sat down to think. It was unlikely that Lommite Limited's central computer was a stand-alone machine. It would have to be accessible from outside locations. Bruit would have remote access. Maul berated himself for not having recognized that fact earlier. But it wasn't too late to rectify his oversight.

Maul returned to Bruit's dwelling just before sunrise. Unlike the headquarters complex, the stilted house had no security. The chief of field operations either didn't have enemies or didn't care, one way or the other. Perhaps Bruit was that resigned to fate, Maul thought. It scarcely mattered, in any case.

He circled the house, occasionally chinning himself on the windowsills to peer inside. In a rear room Bruit was sprawled atop a knocked-together bed, half in, half out of a net tent that was meant to keep nocturnal insects from feasting on his blood. He was fully clothed, snoring lightly, and dead drunk. A half-emptied bottle of brandy sat on a small table alongside the bed.

Maul gritted his teeth. More carelessness, more lack of discipline.

He couldn't summon any compa.s.sion for the man. The weak needed to be weeded out.

Maul let himself in through the unlocked door and scanned the front room. Bruit was a man of few worldly possessions, and not a particularly orderly one. His dwelling was as chaotic as his life appeared to be. The confined s.p.a.ce smelled of spoiled food, and lommite dust coated every horizontal surface. Water dripped from a sink faucet that could have easily been repaired. Arachnids had woven perfect webs in all four corners of the room. Maul searched for Bruit's personal computer and located it in the bedroom. It was a portable device, not much longer than a human hand. He called the machine to him and activated it. The display screen came to life and a menu presented itself. It took only moments for Maul to find his way to Lommite Limited's central computer, but for the second time that night he found himself locked out.

The computer was demanding to see Bruit's fingerprints.

Maul might have been able to slice his way inside the central computer, but not without leaving an easily followed trail. What is done in secret has great power, his Master had said.

Maul gazed at Bruit. With a scant motion of his left hand, he caused the man to roll over onto his back. Born of some uneasy dream, a prolonged groan escaped the human. Maul gestured for Bruit's right arm to rise, wrist bent, with the palm of his hand facing outward. Then he stealthily carried the computer to Bruit's hand, easing the display screen into gentle contact with the outstretched fingers. When the machine had toodled an acknowledgment, Maul dropped Bruit's arm and rolled him back onto his side.

By the time Maul left the bedroom, the directories for the database were scrolling onscreen. Maul pinpointed the files relating to the imminent Eriadu delivery and opened them.

The cantina was doing a brisk lunchtime business when Darth Maul stole through the entrance and took a seat at a corner table in the smaller room. Outside, a gloomy downpour was inundating the town. He kept the dripping hood of his cloak raised, and he angled himself away from the crowd, ignoring the few second glances he received.

Two of Lommite Limited's security men occupied their usual booth, feeding their faces with fatty foods and talking with their mouths full.

Not far from where Maul was seated, the Rodian and the two Twi'leks he had identified the previous evening as agents of InterGalactic Ore were gathered around a card table. Shortly the three were joined by a dark-haired human female, who placed a stack of company credits on the table and joined the sabacc game in progress. Maul recognized the piece of cuff jewelry that adorned the woman's left ear as a receiver.

He waited to act until the four of them were engaged in monitoring the security agents' conversation. Then, with a slight motion of his hand, he Force-summoned the listening device to peel itself from the wall above the booth, zip into the small room, and alight at the center of the card table.

The Rodian sat back, startled, clearly failing to recognize the artificial bug as their own device. "A new player joins the game." One of the Twi'leks raised his open hand to shoulder level. "Not for long."

The Twi'lek's long-nailed hand was halfway toward smas.h.i.+ng the flitter when the human female grabbed hold of his wrist and managed to deflect the downward strike.

"Hold on," she whispered urgently. "I heard your voice."

"That's because I said something," the Twi'lek said.

"In my earpiece," the woman said, gesturing discreetly. "And now I'm hearing my voice." "I'm hearing your voice," the Rodian said, confused.

"What in the name of . . . ."

The Twi'lek allowed his voice to trail off, and all four of the agents sat back in their stiff wooden chairs, gazing in astonishment at the listening device.

"It's ours," the woman said finally.

The Rodian glanced at her. "What's it doing here?" Maul called on the Force to move the bug.

"It's crawling around, is what it's doing," one of the Twi'leks said, with a measure of distress. He glanced over his shoulder at the preoccupied security men, then at his comrades.

Maul activated the remote control he had tuned to the frequency of the insect transmitter.

"This comes straight from the Toom clan," the bug sent to the earpieces and dermal audio patches worn by the conspirators, all of whom traded wide-eyed looks.

"Here's the long and short of it. Arrant has decided to move against InterGalactic Ore s.h.i.+pments. No pet.i.tioning the senate. He's letting loose a shooting war. That much has already been decided."

Absorbed in what she was hearing, the woman used her right forefinger to tilt the ear cuff for clearer reception.

"The Toom clan has a way of settling thisa cure for the disease.

InterGal can level the playing field by employing us to strike at Eriadu.

We of the Toom clan wish to see LL brought down. Someone with real foresight could build a better organization from the dregs.

"We've been able to learn the hypers.p.a.ce route Lommite Limited's s.h.i.+ps are going to take to Eriadu, and the precise reentry coordinates.

They'll arrive by way of Rimma 18, and are scheduled to decant from hypers.p.a.ce at 1300 hours, Eriadu local time.

"We've been in the trenches. This is our livelihood. We can intervene and execute the strike. The Tooms have the means to get the job done. No one will suspect us. We have no scruples about what happens.

"To team up to accomplish this, be willing to spend the credits necessary. Contact us." Maul had spent all morning adulterating the recording he had made during the meeting at Bruit's dwelling, and modifying the resequenced phrases to sound as if they had been uttered by a single individual. The result appeared to be having the desired effect.

The four agents were continuing to stare at the bug they themselves had installed. The woman's mouth was slightly ajar, and the Twi'leks' head-tails were twitching.

Maul was pleased to hear the Rodian say, "This has to go directly to the topand I mean now."

The Toom clan had a motto: "Pay us enough and we'll make worlds collide."

They had started out as legitimate rescue workers and salvagers, using a powerful Interdictor s.h.i.+p to retrieve s.h.i.+ps stranded in hypers.p.a.ce. By mimicking the effects of a ma.s.s shadow, the Interdictor had the ability to pull endangered s.h.i.+ps back into reals.p.a.ce. While the rewards for such work were substantial, they were never substantial enough to satisfy the desires of the clan, and over the course of several years, the group had launched a second career as pirates, employing their Interdictor against pa.s.senger and supply s.h.i.+ps, or hiring themselves out to criminal organizations to interfere with s.h.i.+pments of spice and other proscribed goods. However, unlike the Hutts and Black Sun, both of which could usually be relied upon to honor the terms of any agreement, the Toom clan was motivated solely by profit. A small outfit, they couldn't afford the luxury of turning down jobs out of respect for some hazy criminal ethica stance that had made them outcasts even among their own kind.

Headquartered in an underground base deep in Dorvalla's unpopulated northern wastes, the clan received routine payoffs from both Lommite Limited and InterGalactic Ore, to ensure the safety of their shuttles and ore barges. The Tooms used much of the funds to bribe the commanders of Dorvalla's volunteer s.p.a.ce corps to ensure the clan's own safetywith the understanding that the clan would refrain from operating within the Videnda sector.

Because Eriadu was outside the sectorand notwithstanding the fact that they were already receiving payoffs from InterGalacticthe clan had accepted Lommite Limited's generous offer of Republic credits to perform a bit of sabotage work. InterGalactic would simply have to understand that the nature of their arrangement with the Toom clan had changed. More important, the contract with LL didn't preclude the possibility of the clan's entering into a similar contract with InterGalas certainly might be the case after the Eriadu operation. In fact, the clan had every intention of contacting InterGal to suggest as much.

No one in the clan had expected InterGalactic to contact them before Eriadu.

A leather-faced Weequay, Nort Toom himself accepted the holotransmission from Caba'Zan, head of security for InterGalactic Ore.

The clan was mostly made up of far-from-home Weequay and Nikto humanoids, but Aqualish, Abyssin, Barabels, and Gamorreans also numbered among the mix. "I want to discuss the most recent offer you tendered," Caba'Zan's holopresence began. He was a near-human Falleen, burly and green complexioned.

"Our most recent offer," Nort Toom said carefully.

"About destroying Lommite Limited's s.h.i.+ps at Eriadu."

Toom's deep-set eyes darted between the holoprojector and one of his Weequay confederates, who was standing nearby. "Oh, that offer. We have so many operations in the works, it's sometimes hard to keep track."

"I'm glad to hear that business is good," Caba'Zan said disingenuously. "I've a feeling it's about to get even better."

The Falleen came directly to the point. "We're willing to pay one hundred thousand Republic credits."

Toom tried to keep from celebrating. The offer was twice what Patch Bruit had paid. "You'll have to go to two hundred thousand."

Caba'Zan shook his hairless head. "We can go as high as one fiftyif you can guarantee results."

"Done," Toom said. "When we see that the credits have been transferred, we'll make the necessary arrangements." Caba'Zan looked dubious. "You're certain about the reentry coordinates for LL's s.h.i.+ps, and the time of their decanting at Eriadu?"

"Maybe we should go over that one more time," Toom said.

"You said Rimma 18, at 1300 Eriadu localunless something has changed."

"Only for the better," Toom said rea.s.suringly. "Only for the better."

"And you'll make it look like an accident." "That's probably the best way of handling it, don't you think?"

"We don't want InterGalactic implicated." "We'll make certain."

Toom deactivated the holoprojector and sat back, clamping his huge hands behind his head.

"Do you think they know about LL's hiring us?" his confederate asked in obvious incredulity. "It didn't sound that way to me."

"InterGalactic is offering three times as much as Lommite. Are we going to return Bruit's money?"

Toom sat forward with determination. "I don't see any reason for that. We just have to make sure we can execute both contracts." He grinned broadly. "I have to admit that this appeals to my sense of unfair play."

"You mean"

"Exactly. We sabotage everyone's s.h.i.+ps."

Eriadu was an up-and-coming world in the outlying star systems. Situated close to the intersection of the Rimma Trade Route and the Hydian Way, Eriadu demonstrated a fierce devotion to industry, in the hope of achieving its goal of becoming the most important planet in the sector.

To that end Eriadu had even developed a small s.h.i.+pbuilding enterprise, owned and operated by distant cousins of Supreme Chancellor Valorum, who chaired the Galactic Senate on Coruscant.

Eriadu's...o...b..tal facilities paled in comparison to similar ones at Corellia and Kuat, but among the smaller s.h.i.+pyards, Eriadu's were second only to those at Sluis Van, rimward and just off the princ.i.p.al trade routes.

Eriadu's lieutenant governor had done much to facilitate the burgeoning partners.h.i.+p between Eriadu and Dorvalla, emphasizing the senselessness of Eriadu's importing lommite from the Inner Rim when Dorvalla was practically a celestial neighbor. The quant.i.ties of ore required by Eriadu Manufacturing and Valorum s.h.i.+pping were such that neither LL nor InterGal could have filled the orders on their own, but Lieutenant Governor Tarkin saw no dilemma in that. He insisted that he hadn't set things up as a contest, but there was no denying that it was anything but. Tarkin was even on record as saying that the company awarded the lucrative contract would probably be able to effect a financial takeover of the loser.

Tarkin had arranged for one of Eriadu's...o...b..tal habitats to host a ceremony to endorse the potential partners.h.i.+p, with all the cardinal players present: Jurnel Arrant and his counterpart at InterGalactic, the executive officers of Eriadu Manufacturing and Valorum s.h.i.+pping, a plethora of business personnel who stood to gain from the new partners.h.i.+p, and, of course, Tarkin himself, representing Eriadu's political interests. Sporting the finest in robes and tunics, everyone was gathered on the esplanade level of the orbital facility, awaiting the arrival of the ore barges LL and InterGal had dispatched. The separate flotillas were scheduled to arrive within an hour of each other, local time.

"I'm certain that this will be an auspicious day for all of us,"

the lieutenant governor was telling Arrant and the head of Eriadu Manufacturing. Tarkin was a slight man, with a quick mind and an even quicker temper. He stood as rigidly as a military commander, and his blue eyes held neither humor nor empathy.

"Tell me, Arrant," the manufacturing executive said, "do you foresee a time when Lommite Limited, on its own, could supply enough ore to meet the demands we're projecting for the near future?"

"Of course," Arrant answered confidently. "It's simply a matter of expanding our operations." He turned and tugged Patch Bruit into the conversation. "Bruit, here, is our field supervisor, among other things.

He has just notified me of a rich find, not a hundred kilometers from our present headquarters."

Bruit nodded. "Our survey teams" he started to say, when one of LL's security agents cut him off. "Chief, I'm sorry to bust in, but we need to talk in private."

Arrant watched worriedly as Bruit allowed himself to be led away.

"What's going on?" Bruit demanded when he and the security man were just out of earshot.

"Something has yanked the barges out of hypers.p.a.ce short of their reentry coordinates. We don't know the cause. It might be a problem with the hypers.p.a.ce generators, or maybe an uncharted ma.s.s shadow."

Bruit heard people gasp behind him. When he turned, everyone's attention was fixed on the huge monitor screens that displayed views of the orbital s.h.i.+pyards. Some distance from the s.h.i.+pyards, and way off course, several lackl.u.s.ter s.p.a.ce barges were reverting to reals.p.a.ce.

"Bruit, are those our vessels?" Arrant asked in mounting concern.

"Yes, but there has to be a good reason for their decanting early."

"This is most unexpected," Tarkin remarked. "Most unexpected."

The well-bedecked crowd gasped again. Bruit watched in shock as a second group of s.h.i.+ps began to emerge from hypers.p.a.ce.

"InterGalactic," his security man said in disbelief. "They're going to collide!" someone said.

"Bruit!" Arrant screamed, as the color drained from his face. "Do something!"