Star Wars_ Darth Maul 02_ Shadow Hunter - Michael Reaves [125]
“I don’t know how, and I don’t know why,” Bruit began, “but I know that you must be responsible for everything that’s 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 done—for a larger purpose.”
Bruit cocked his head, as if he hadn’t heard Maul correctly.
Maul gazed at him. “You needn’t dwell on it.”
He raised his energy blade, preparing to thrust it into Bruit’s chest, then restrained himself. A lightsaber wound wouldn’t do, not at all. Deactivating the blade, he raised his right hand and made a vise of his gloved fingers. Bruit’s hands flew to his windpipe, and he began to gasp for breath.
Jurnel Arrant was in his office when he received the details of Bruit’s death on Riome. The messenger was a judicial agent, who had been dispatched from Coruscant at Arrant’s request.
“I’m to blame for this entire business,” Arrant said in a tone of anguished confession. “I’m 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, Inter-Galactic was in the same fix.
Anger gripped him. “I’m convinced that the Neimoidians with the Trade Federation got to the Toom clan and paid them to sabotage our ships, along with InterGalactic’s.”
“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 can’t show good cause for interrogating the Neimoidians.” He was about to add something when Arrant cut him off.
“Bruit was a good man. He shouldn’t 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 Arrant’s 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 clan’s base, here on Dorvalla. It’s incomplete, but there’s enough to warrant your attention.”
Arrant activated the wafer’s play function.
“I wish to see both Lommite and InterGal brought down,” a male voice said, “so that someone with real foresight could build a better organization from the dregs.”
Arrant’s eyes widened in nervous astonishment. “That’s Bruit!”
“I understand,” a second male voice was saying. “I want some of the action.”
Arrant paused the playback. “Who’s—”
“Caba’Zan,” 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 doesn’t need to know any more than he has to.”
“He’s not that clever.”
“The Tooms have the means to get the job done. We’re going to make a move against everyone at Eriadu—”
Arrant silenced the device and pushed it away from him. “I don’t 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 Dorvalla’s lommite ore.”
In a dank, fungus-encrusted grotto on the Neimoidian