Maul spent a full day in frigid temperatures and howling winds, waiting for
Bruit and his men to arrive. Armed with blasters and an assortment of more
powerful weapons, they raced from the shuttle that had delivered them from
Dorvallas equator and stormed the underground base. Accompanying them was a
male Falleen and several aliens who answered to him, including the four
saboteurs Maul had deceived in the cantina.
Frustrated to find the base deserted, they began a search for clues as to the
mercenaries whereabouts. For too long Maul was convinced that he would have to
intrude on their sloppy search and rub their noses in the evidence he had so
artfully sown. But ultimately they discovered it on their own.
Maul was inside his ship when Bruit and the rest reboarded the shuttle and
launched, presumably for Riome. The thought of the impending contest invigorated
him. He thrilled at the prospect of being able to participate.
Riome loomed white as death in the blackness of space.
In his smaller and faster craft, Maul arrived ahead of Bruits mixed squad of
would-be avengers. His ship hugged the snow-covered terrain, racing over rolling
foothills and skirting the edge of a turbulent gray sea studded with islands of
craggy ice. Maul had seen no sign of the clans Interdictor ship in orbit, and
assumed that the mercenaries had concealed it in the asteroid field coreward of
Riome.
In establishing a base, the mercenaries had found the warmest spot on the small
world. It was an area of active volcanism, with immense glaciers pocked with
ice-blue light, and patches of coarse grassland, through which bubbled dark
pools of magma-heated water. The base itself was a series of interlinked
semicylindrical bunkers that had once sheltered a team of scientists. Through
the long intervening years, the scientists abandoned droids and equipment had
become outlandish ice sculptures.
Maul landed his ship a kilometer from the base. As on his first visit, he found
no evidence of a radar installation. He watched Bruits shuttle drop from azure
skies, fly over the complex, and set down on a circle of permacrete, alongside a
disk-shaped Corellian freighter and a gunship of equal size.
The Toom clan could not have been unaware of the shuttles arrival, but Bruit
had managed to catch the mercenaries unprepared nevertheless. His force of
twenty emerged from the shuttle aboard a troop carrier equipped with both
repulsorlift engines and weighty tracks for surface-effect locomotion. The clan
rallied a quick defense, loosing blaster bolts from retrofitted firing holes and
a self-contained laser cannon emplacement. The aggressors answered with the
troop carriers top-mounted repeater blasters and rocket launchers, making it
abundantly clear that they were resolved to win the day.
Cyan laser bolts clipped the carriers repulsorl ifts and sent it coiling deeply
into the snow. Clothed in cold-weather gear and helmets fitted with tinted face
bowls, Bruits legion leapt from ranks of bench seats. A direct hit from the
laser cannon blew the carrier to pieces. Molten bits of alloy fountained into
the thin air, sizzling as they showered to the frozen ground.
The forces of the mining companies fanned out and began a methodical advance on
the bunkers, finding shelter behind boulders that had been carried down the
mountainsides by glaciers. What Bruit didnt know, however, was that the base
couldnt be taken by a frontal assaultnot, in any case, by a mere handful of
men wielding twenty-year-old weapons. The lead bunker had been fortified with
blast doors, and the coarse grass apron that fronted it was impregnated with
fragmentation mines and other traps.
Maul decided that he had to show himself.
He appeared briefly on a rise, east of the base, a two-legged stranger dressed
in a long cloak, deep black against the snowfield. The assailants took him for
one of the clan and immediately opened fire. Maul propelled himself over the
rise with leaps and bounds, though scarcely of the sort of which he was capable.
Bruit did the wise thing and split his team, figuring, as Maul predicted he
would, that the lone enemy knew another way into the base.
Maul kept himself in plain sight, dodging the blaster bolts fired by his
pursuers, without using his lightsaber. He couldnt have been a better guide if
he had been one of them. Briefly hidden by a snowdrift, he called on the Force
to twirl himself deeply into the white wave. From the depths of his
self-excavated tomb, he heard Bruits men dash for the relatively undefended
Maul waited until he was certain that the last of them had disappeared through
the entrance. Then he corkscrewed out of the ice cavity and followed them
inside. The sibilant reports of blasters and the acrid smell of fire and
cauterized flesh had brought his blood to a near boil, and he came close to
drawing his lightsaber and rushing headlong into the fray. But slaughter was not
his intent. His Masters plans would be better served if the miners and the
mercenaries killed each otherthough Maul might yet have to dispose of the
ultimate victors.
Judging by the way the assault was progressing, it was Bruits forces that would
be left standing at the end. Despite being outgunned and outnumbered, the
miners assault was invigorated by the wrath of the betrayed. Even with a third
of their group already wounded or dead, Bruit and his InterGalactic analog
persevered, continuing to bring the fight to the Toom clan, which held the rear
of the bunker, behind overturned laboratory counters and assorted pieces of
instrumentation.
Explosions from the front bunker indicated that Bruits teammates had blundered
their way into the minefield. Shortly, the survivors were turning their weapons
loose against the blast doors in an attempt to burn their way through.
Maul scampered along the long wall of the central bunker and found a place from
which he could observe the fighting. To contain his eagerness, he gave himself
over to evaluating the combat techniques of one contestant or another, making
something of a game of anticipating who would be killed by whom, and at just
what moment. His predictions grew more and more accurate as the opposing sides
drew closer together.
A powerful detonation rocked the front bunker. The blast doors slid open with a
prolonged grating sound, and five assailants stormed through a swirling cloud of
dense smoke. Two were cut down before they had gone ten meters. The rest angled
for the sides of the bunker and began to work their way forward.
The ferocity of the fighting made it apparent that neither side would tolerate
surrender. It was a battle to the deathas Maul preferred it, in any case. His
attention was drawn time and again to Patch Bruit. For all the disorder in his
life, Bruits displays of daring made him deserving of the lofty position he
held in Lommite Limited. Maul was impressed. He didnt want to see Bruit fall to
the mercenaries, who were nothing more than the blasters they cowered behind.
Bruit and the Falleen led the final charge, their combined forces going hand to
h
and with Weequay and Aqualish members of the clan, whose weapons were
exhausted. The miners showed them no mercy, and in moments the battle was over,
with Bruit, the Falleen, and five others left standing amid the carnage.
Maul wondered briefly if he could leave things as they stood. Bruit would report
back to Lommite Limiteds executive officer that the Toom clan had
double-crossed both companies, and that they had paid with their lives for their
betrayal. But it was unlikely that Bruit would let it rest at that. He would
want to know who had assembled the adulterated recording, and he might even
learn that the information about LLs shipping route to Eriadu had been accessed
through his personal computer. Then he would begin to think again about the
cantina bug, and perhaps he would scrutinize whatever surveillance recordings
were available. For all Maul knew, images of an Iridonian with a face full of
red and black tattoos might appear in one them.
Of course, there was no danger of his being traced to Coruscant, much less to
his Masters lair. But the last thing he wanted was for Darth Sidious to see his
apprentices face turn up on some HoloNet most-wanted list.
Maul had to finish what he had begun.
He drew his lightsaber, ignited it at both ends, and leapt down to the floor of
the prefab bunker.
Bruit, the Falleen, and the others spun around when they heard the resonant
thrumming of his weapon, which Maul whirled over his head and around his
shoulders. But no one fired. They stood staring at him, as if he were some
hallucination born of bloodlust or snow blindness.
Maul realized that he would have to goad them into doing what he needed them to
do. He began to march forward, glowering at them with his yellow eyes and
showing his teeth, and at last someone firedthe Rodian from the cantina. Maul
deflected the bolt straight back at him with the lower of his blades and kept
coming.
We have no fight with you, Jedi, the Falleen yelled.
The remark brought Maul up short.
This is our business, the humanoid went on. It doesnt concern Coruscant.
Maul growled and advanced.
Crouching suddenly, a Twilek fired, and Maul twirled, deflecting the bolts with
his twin crimson blades. The Twilek and another security man dropped.
Then the rest opened fire at once. Maul leapt and jinked, spun and rolled, an
acrobatic wonder, impossible to target. He stopped once to raise his hand and
pepper his opponents with a flurry of Force-hurled glassware and sharp
instruments. He turned blasters against each other and wrenched one fighter down
onto a table with enough force to snap the mans spine.
His hand weapon depleted, the Falleen rushed him. Maul spun through a fleet
kick, breaking the Falleens arm. Then, without lowering his leg, he broke the
security chiefs neck.
Only Bruit remained. Gaping at Maul in disbelief, he let his blaster drop from
his rigid hand. Maul continued to approach, the lightsaber held off to one side,
its blades horizontal to the floor.
I dont know how, and I dont know why, Bruit began, but I know that you must
be responsible for everything thats happened.
Maul decided to hear him out.
You recorded my conversations. Then you altered the recordings to trick the
saboteurs you had identified in the cantina. You probably arranged for us to
find this place. Bruit gestured broadly. Can I at least know why before you
kill me?
It is something that had to be donefor a larger purpose.
Bruit cocked his head, as if he hadnt heard Maul correctly.
Maul gazed at him. You neednt dwell on it.
He raised his energy blade, preparing to thrust it into Bruits chest, then
restrained himself. A lightsaber wound wouldnt do, not at all. Deactivating the
blade, he raised his right hand and made a vise of his gloved fingers. Bruits
hands flew to his windpipe, and he began to gasp for breath.
Jurnel Arrant was in his office when he received the details of Bruits death on
Riome. The messenger was a judicial agent, who had been dispatched from
Coruscant at Arrants request.
Im to blame for this entire business, Arrant said in a tone of anguished
confession. Im guilty of ordering Bruit to bring in outsiders to do the dirty
work. I escalated this conflict.
The lommite ore could still be mined, but LL no longer had enough barges to
transport it. Replacing them would cost more than the company was currently
worth. From what Arrant had learned, InterGalactic was in the same fix.
Anger gripped him. Im convinced that the Neimoidians with the Trade Federation
got to the Toom clan and paid them to sabotage our ships, along with
InterGalactics.
That will be difficult to prove, the judicial said. The Toom clan has been
effectively wiped out, and unless you can produce evidence to support your
theory, we cant show good cause for interrogating the Neimoidians. He was
about to add something when Arrant cut him off.
Bruit was a good man. He shouldnt have died as he did.
The judicial frowned, then prized a wafer-thin audio device from the pocket of
his tunic and placed it on Arrants desk. Before you beat yourself to a pulp,
you might want to listen to this.
Arrant picked up the device. What is it?
A recording found at the Toom clans base, here on Dorvalla. Its incomplete,
but theres enough to warrant your attention.
Arrant activated the wafers play function.
I wish to see both Lommite and InterGal brought down, a m ale voice said, so
that someone with real foresight could build a better organization from the
dregs.
Arrants eyes widened in nervous astonishment. Thats Bruit!
I understand, a second male voice was saying. I want some of the action.
Arrant paused the playback. Whos
CabaZan, the judicial supplied. Former head of security for InterGalactic
Ore.
Reluctantly, Arrant reactivated the device.
We need to team up to accomplish this, Bruit said. No one will suspect us,
and Arrant doesnt need to know any more than he has to.
Hes not that clever.
The Tooms have the means to get the job done. Were going to make a move
against everyone at Eriadu
Arrant silenced the device and pushed it away from him. I dont know what to
say.
The judicial agent nodded, tight-lipped.
Arrant got to his feet and spent a long moment gazing out the window. When he
turned, his expression was bleak. He touched a key on the intercom pad, and
seconds later his protocol droid secretary entered the office.
How may I be of service, sir?
Arrant glanced up at the droid. I need to make two holocalls. The first will be
to the chief executive of InterGalactic Ore, to discuss terms of a possible
merger.
And the second, sir?
Arrant took a moment to reply. The second call will be to Viceroy Nute Gunray,
to discuss terms of granting the Trade Federation exclusive rights to the
shipping and distribution of Dorvallas lommite ore.
In a dank, fungus-encrusted grotto on the Neimoidian homeworld, Hath Monchar and
Viceroy Nute Gunray received a
startlingly sudden holovisit from Darth Sidious.
First to reach the holoprojector and the cloaked apparition that was the Dark
Lord of the Sith, Monchar inclined his lumpish head in a servile bow and spread
his thick-fingered hands.
Welcome, Lord Sidious, he said.
Though his eyes remained concealed by the cloaks raised hood, Sidious seemed to
be gazing through Monchar at Gunray, who was perched atop his claw-footed
mechno-chair a few meters away.
Viceroy, Sidious rasped. Dismiss your underling, so that we may speak in
private about recent events on Dorvalla.
Monchar stared openly at Sidious, then whirled on Gunray. But, Viceroy, I was
the one who made contact with Lommite Limited. I deserve at least some of the
credit for what has occurred.
Viceroy, Sidious said, with a bit more menace, advise your underling that his
contributions in this matter were inconsequential.
Gunray glanced nervously at Monchar. You had better leave.
But
Nowbefore he gets angry.
Monchars gut sack made a sickening growl as he hurried from the grotto.
Gunray slid off the mechno-chair and approached the holoprojector. He had a
jutting lower jaw, and his thick lower lip was uncompanioned. A deep fissure
separated his bulging forehead into two lateral lobes. His skin was kept a
healthy gray-blue by means of frequent meals of the finest fungus. Red and
orange robes of exquisite hand fell from his narrow shoulders, along with a
round-collared brown surplice that reached his knees.
I apologize for the indiscretion of my deputy, he said. He is high-strung
from too many rich foods.
Sidiouss face betrayed nothing. Apology accepted, Viceroy.
Hath Monchar regards me much as I regard you, Lord Sidious with a mix of awe
and fear.
You need fear me only if you fail me, Viceroy.
Gunray seemed to take the remark under advisement. I have been anticipating
your visit, Lord Sidious. Though I confess that I had no idea you were aware of
events on Dorvallamuch less that the Trade Federation had an interest in the
planet.
You will find that there are few matters of which I am unaware, Viceroy. Whats
more, we have not seen the last of Dorvalla. There is something we will need to
attend to in due course.
But, Lord Sidious, the matter has been resolved. Lommite Limited and