Star Wars_ Cloak of Deception - James Luceno [45]
“Valorum is audacious,” Havac said angrily, as soon as they were seated at a table in the club’s hardwood-paneled dining room. “He has the gall to announce a summit in the Outer Rim—on Eriadu, no less—without asking the Nebula Front to participate.”
“Unlike the Trade Federation,” Palpatine said, “the Nebula Front does not enjoy representation in the senate.”
“Yes, but the Front has many friends on Eriadu, Senator.”
“Then all the better for you, I should think.”
Havac had come alone, as had Palpatine, though both Sate Pestage and Kinman Doriana were seated nearby. Palpatine had accepted from the start that “Havac” was an alias, and Pestage had subsequently confirmed the fact. Pestage had also learned that Havac was native to Eriadu, where his impassioned holo-documentaries had established him to a few as an enemy of the Trade Federation, a proponent of nonhuman rights, a malcontent and idealist. He wanted desperately to change the galaxy, but his visual tirades against injustice had largely gone unnoticed.
He was a relative newcomer to the Nebula Front, but the Front’s militant faction had recruited him to serve a special agenda. Exasperated by Senate indifference and the Trade Federation’s continued violation of the trade agreements, the militants had decided to up the stakes from mere interference in Federation business to terrorism. Havac and the Front’s new radicals were determined to hit the Trade Federation where the Neimoidians and the rest would feel it the most—in their distended purses.
Palpatine had encouraged Havac, without actually advocating violence. Rather, he had maintained that the surest way to effect lasting change was to work through the senate.
“We’re fed up with Valorum,” Havac was saying. “He treads docilely when and wherever the Trade Federation is concerned. His threat to tax the trade routes is pure rhetoric. It’s time that someone convince him that the Nebula Front can be a more dangerous foe than the Trade Federation.”
Palpatine made an offhand gesture, as if in dismissal. “It’s true that the Supreme Chancellor has little understanding of the Nebula Front’s objectives, but he is not your primary obstacle.”
Havac held Palpatine’s heavy-lidded gaze. “We need a stronger chancellor. Someone who wasn’t born into wealth.”
Palpatine gestured again. “Look elsewhere for your enemies. Look to the members of the Trade Federation Directorate.”
Havac mulled it over for a moment. “Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps we do need to look elsewhere.” He grinned faintly and lowered his voice to add, “We have made a powerful new ally, who has suggested several courses of action.”
“Indeed?”
“It was he who provided the data we needed to destroy a Trade Federation freighter at Dorvalla.”
“The Federation has thousands of freighters,” Palpatine said. “If you expect to be victorious by destroying their ships, you’re deluding yourselves. You must get to the principals. Just as I have been doing in the senate.”
“Do we have any friends there?”
“A meager few. Whereas the Trade Federation has the support of many important delegates—Toonbuck Toora, Tessek, Passel Argente … They are enriched for their loyalty.”
Havac shook his head in outrage. “It’s pathetic that the Front needs to buy senatorial support, in the same deplorable fashion that it is compelled to employ mercenaries.”
“There is no other way,” Palpatine said, with a purposeful sigh. “The courts are useless and biased. But corruption has its advantages when you can simply purchase the votes of unscrupulous delegates instead of having to convince them of the virtues of your position.”
Havac rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward.