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“After the surprise raid, they were stashed in the corridor, so they can’t provide much in the way of additional information. But the woman, there, is chief officer of the customs ship the terrorists commandeered. She identified the dead female in the back room as captain of the Corellian freighter she boarded. She’s still a bit dazed from a knockout injection, but she says she also saw a Rodian, and she thinks she remembers seeing a Gotal and a couple of human males.

“Everyone appears to have left the warehouse through a rear door that opens onto the spaceport service road. We’re assuming that they’re piloting skimmers or landspeeders.”

The commander stepped toward the center of the room and gestured broadly. “Everything here is just as we found it, except that little piece of hardware, which we discovered beneath one of the sleds.”

Qui-Gon and the other Jedi followed his finger to a portable holoprojector, sitting atop a cargo crate.

“Whatever else he is, Cohl is not careless,” Qui-Gon said.

“Deliberate is the way we’re reading it, too. But even professionals have been known to make mistakes.”

The commander walked over to the holoprojector. He was about to activate it, when one of his assistants intruded.

“Commander, the Verpine say that there are signs of well over a dozen men, several of whom arrived inside these tall containers. At some point, most of them gathered around what must have been a crate, just over here, perhaps to observe whatever images the holoprojector contains. Among them was a Gotal, who also arrived inside one of the containers. Bits of fur were found inside the second-to-last container, and also on the floor there, in large amounts.”

“A tussle?” the commander asked.

“Could be, sir. Gotals have a tendency to shed when they’re taken by surprise or frightened.”

“What would have frightened him?”

“No telling, sir.”

The commander glanced up from his datapad. “Anything else?”

“The prints leading down the corridor and back. One pair is certainly Rodian. The blood in the rear room explains why the Rodian was walking unsteadily when he returned to this room. The one who accompanied him back here wasn’t doing very well either, judging by the fact that he was supporting the left side of himself on a crutch, improvised from a length of pipe. Footprints of the two walking wounded are all over this room. The Rodian retrieved something from underneath one of the hoversleds, but we can’t be sure what that was—unless it was the holoprojector. Evidence suggests that the pair left by the rear door, same as the others, but they were on foot, at least until they reached the pubtrans booth on the corner.”

The commander finished his note taking and looked at Qui-Gon. “All this give you any insights?”

“Captain Cohl, the Rodian, and the woman must have been ambushed in the rear room.”

“Ambushed? By Havac?”

Qui-Gon nodded.

“Havac thought all three were dead?”

“No, he expected us to find Cohl and the Rodian alive.”

“Why would he risk that?” the commander asked.

Qui-Gon looked at him. “Because he wants to throw us off the scent.”

The commander scratched his head in thought.

Obi-Wan slid the holoprojector toward him. “Let’s see what we find in here.”

Lope peered through the small doorway that led to the roof of the Nebula Front’s safe house in the southern part of the city. A security craft made a low pass from the south, continuing on in the direction of the summit hall.

“Right on schedule,” he told the five human and alien terrorists crouching on the stairs below him. “We have ten minutes.”

The Gotal squeezed by him and scampered out onto the roof, his ringed horns twitching as they monitored the hazy air for portents.

Five meters from the doorway, the Gotal flashed Lope an all-clear sign and disappeared behind the first of the many domed rooftops they would need to traverse before attaining a clear view of the summit hall.

Lope and the rest hurried outside, rounding the same dome that now concealed the Gotal. On his hip, Lope wore a sheathed vibroblade, and on his wrist, a rocket launcher.