Darth Plagueis - James Luceno [146]
“Think twice before you offer any denials,” Magneta told him quietly.
Lago leaned over to add, “My son was present when you tendered the offer.”
“With Padmé Naberrie, if I’m not mistaken,” Palpatine said in like conspiracy. While Lago was trying to puzzle it out, he looked at Veruna. “We discussed the refugee movement.”
The monarch glared at him, then motioned dismissively with his fingertips. “What’s done is done. And I’m afraid that includes you, Senator.” Gesturing broadly in the direction of Palace Plaza, he said, “Do you really believe that that little political upstart can unseat me? The daughter of mountain peasants?”
Palpatine shrugged. “The crowd she has drawn seems to think so.”
“Idealists,” Veruna said, sneering. “Regressives. They dream of the Naboo of fifty years ago, but they’re not about to have their wish.” His finger jabbed the air in front of Palpatine’s face. “My first official act following my reelection will be to recall you as Senator.” He looked at Lago. “Kun will be Naboo’s new representative.”
Palpatine frowned in mock disappointment. “Janus Greejatus would be a better choice.”
Veruna grew flustered. “A recommendation from you is a condemnation! And I suggest strongly that you remain on Coruscant, because you will no longer be welcome on Naboo.” He lowered his voice. “Keep in mind that I have information that can ruin you, Palpatine, in the same way that you, the Naberries, and the rest are attempting to ruin me.”
The table fell silent as a squadron of N-1 starfighters shot past the arched windows to disrupt the rally in the plaza.
Palpatine conjured a smile. “The Naboo will be pleased to see that your space force is good for something, Majesty.”
Veruna’s bloated face flushed. “More than you know. I told you that I meant to end our partnership with the Trade Federation and Hego Damask, and so I shall.”
Palpatine glanced at the Hutt and her Bando Gora minions. “With the help of your new partners. And what will you do—chase the Trade Federation’s freighters out of the Chommel sector? Challenge Damask openly?”
“Damask has betrayed everyone. Ask Gardulla. Ask Alexi Garyn. The Muun should have learned a lesson thirty years ago from the Gran who targeted him.”
Palpatine took secret pleasure in the remark. And you commit the same egregious blunders they did.
“What makes you think he didn’t?”
Veruna started to speak, but bit back what he had in mind to say and began again. “From this point on, Naboo will manage its own resources. Gardulla and Black Sun will supervise the export of plasma and the import of goods, and the Bando Gora will protect our interests in the space lanes. It’s a pity you won’t be a part of it.”
“A pity to be sure,” Palpatine said, rising to his feet. “Until such time as you replace me, Majesty, I will continue to act in Naboo’s best interests, at Eriadu and on Coruscant. Should I see Damask, I’ll be certain to tell him that he underestimated … your ambitions.”
Veruna locked eyes with him. “Don’t concern yourself unduly, Palpatine. You won’t be seeing him again.”
The transpirator affixed to his face, Plagueis moved with agile purpose through the stone-cold rooms that had housed twenty years of experiments. Most of the cages and cells were empty now—the captives they had contained, released. He wondered if Sojourn’s greel forests would become a kind of laboratory, a great scarlet-wood medium for mutant evolution. OneOne-FourDee shuffled past him on the way to the courtyard, alloy storage boxes piled high in its quartet of appendages.
“Be certain that all the data has been permanently deleted,” Plagueis said.
The droid nodded. “I will make certain for the third time, Magister Damask.”
“And FourDee, carry my instructions to the Sun Guards that I will contact them on Thyrsus.”
“I will see to it, Magister.”
Plagueis entered the room that had served as his meditation chamber. Though the high-ceilinged space