"Even if any of the six eventually admit to having been hired by Cohl, they could continue to claim that robbery was their intent. None were carrying documentation, so we don't even know who they are or what worlds they hail from. Eriadu security is running their likenesses and retinal prints, but, assuming Cohl gathered them from distant worlds, it could be weeks before any matches are discovered." "Then we have nothing more to go on," Adi said.
"Only that the rest of Havac's assassins are somewhere in this hall."
"There have been no incidents at the entrances," Tiin said. "No one has been arrested." "That means nothing," Qui-Gon said. "For experts like Cohl and Havac, this hall is as permeable as a Podrace finale. They would have no trouble getting inside." Tiin compressed his thin lips. "The only thing we can do is be prepared to defend the Supreme Chancellor." Qui-Gon glanced in Valorum's direction.
"Will he permit us to get any closer to him?" "No," Adi said. "He gave explicit orders that he doesn't want the proceedings disrupted-notor does he want us by his side. He wants the Jedi to be seen as impartial in this trade dispute." "Nevertheless, we can't stand here, waiting for something to happen, " Tiin growled. "We should divide and look around; locate the trouble before the trouble finds Valorum." Obi-Wan, who had been standing quietly throughout the exchange, noticed a familiar look come into Qui-Gon's eye. It was as if Qui-Gon's gaze was fixed on some invisible presence the living Force had highlighted.
"What is it, Master?" he asked quietly.
"I can feel him, Padawan." "Havac?" "Cohl." The tiny, dingy booth assigned to the Eriadu Free HoloDaily consisted of a couple of rigid chairs, a control console of dust — covered flatscreen displays and holoprojector pads, and a large single-pane window that looked out on the hall.
Havac stood by the window, staring down at the mostly seated crowd while he mounted a holocam in its stand. Behind him, and armed with blasters they had secreted in the summit hall weeks earlier, sat two of his human confederates. One of them wore a wrist comm.
When Havac had trained the holocam on the Trade Federation's arc of seats, he attached a scanner to the cam head. Then he aimed the device, which resembled a directional microphone, toward the trumpeters on the floor of the hall.
"Any word from the spotter team?" he asked over his shoulder.
"Not a chirp," the man with the comlink replied. "And Valorum has been here for over ten minutes.
What do you think happened?" "The likely explanation is that they were discovered." "Why do you say that?" Havac turned to face the pair. "Because I notified the authorities about Cohl's freighter, and left the holoprojector behind to be found." He waited for smiles of revelation, but when none appeared, he added, "It was the only way to ensure that the authorities would be kept occupied while we went about our business here." "Then Cohl has also been found-or his corpse, at any rate," the one with the comlink said.
The other man looked doubtful. "Suppose, as you say, the spotters have been found out, and they decide to cut a deal by telling what they know- credits or no credits." Havac shrugged theatrically. "They know me as Havac, and no "Havac" has been cleared by security to attend the summit. The credit transfers to Cohl's hired hands can't be traced directly to us. The safe house will be empty by the time they lead the authorities to it. We'll be long gone from Eriadu before anyone is able to assemble all the pieces of the puzzle."
Clearly meant to restore confidence, Havac's discourse failed to have the intended effect.
If anything, the two men looked even more skeptical than before.
"Is our shooter in place?" Havac asked impatiently.
"Out on the walkway-just waiting for the music to begin." "What do you want us to do with him afterward?" the one with the comlink asked.
Havac considered it. "He's a misfit with a counterfeit identity badge and a blaster, who has just fired at the delegates. You'll be a public hero if you kill him-or at least see to it that he falls from the walkway." "No loose ends," the same one said.
"As few as possible." Back on his alloy crutches, but still wearing a small flag fastened to the front of his robe that identified him as a veteran of the Stark Hyperspace Conflict, Cohl hobbled from the turbolift that had carried him and Boiny to the hall's main pedestrian level. From here it was possible to ascend to the perimeter walkways that accessed the media and security booths in the upper reaches of the domed building.
They were headed for the array of lifts when a voice called out behind them.
"Captain Cohl." Cohl didn't stop until the stranger repeated the call, then he maneuvered himself through a resigned turn. Ten meters down the corridor stood a tall, long-haired, and bearded Jedi, displaying a green- bladed lightsaber.
"This just isn't our day," Boiny muttered.
Cohl heard the characteristic snap and hiss of another lightsaber and glanced over his shoulder. The second Jedi was a clean-shaven young man, wearing the thin braid of a Padawan.
"We've been looking forward to meeting you since Dor — valla," the older one said.
Cohl and Boiny swapped looks of surprised dismay.
"You were the ones in the diplomatic Lancet," Cohl said.
"You led us a merry chase, Captain." Cohl snorted and shook his head.
"Well, you found us now. And you can put your glow sticks away.
We're unarmed." Qui-Gon merely pointed the lightsaber toward the floor as he approached. "I congratulate you on surviving the destruction of the Revenue." Cohl sagged on his crutches. "A lot of good it did me, Jedi. My partner and I are shot to pieces." Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan regarded them through the Force, and understood that Cohl wasn't lying. Both he and the Rodian were seriously injured.
"How did you find out about the Dorvalla operation, anyway?" Cohl asked.
"A member of the Nebula Front," Qui-Gon said. "Now dead." "So there was an informant. I guess Havac was right to have been secretive about this one."
"We're eager to meet Havac, as well," Obi-Wan said.
Cohl looked at him. "You'd do better to destroy the droid Havac infiltrated into the summit." "Droid?" the Jedi said in unison.
"A battle droid," Cohl elaborated.
"It's right up there with the rest of the directorate's droids. We figure Havac plans to have the droid kill Valorum." "That's impossible," Qui-Gon said. "Battle droids can't act without a cue from a central control computer."
"Havac's is one of Baktoid's new and improved models," Boiny said. "A commander. More of a freethinker. It only needs to be tasked, by voice command or remote signal, and it's capable of swaying the droids around it." Obi-Wan's jaw dropped slightly. "Are you saying that instead of one assassin, there are a potential dozen?" "Thirteen, actually," Boiny replied.