Part 2 (2/2)

Regardless, Gunray had resisted offers to throw his full support to the Separatists - - not when there were still profits to be made in countless Republic star systems. Playing a game of his own, teasing Dooku along, he had informed Dooku that a precondition to their entering into any exclusive arrangement was the death of former Naboo Queen Padme Amidala, who had foiled Gunray on two occasions, and had been the loudest opposition voice at his trials. Dooku had hired a bounty hunter to oversee the business, but two attempts at a.s.sa.s.sinating Senator Amidala had failed. Then came Geonosis. But just when Gunray finally had Amidala in his grasp - - on trial, no less, for espionage - - Dooku had equivocated, refusing to have Amidala killed outright, and not lifting a hand against the Jedi until some two hundred of them had showed up with a clone army the Republic had grown in secret!

That day had provided Gunray with the first in what would be a series of narrow escapes. Hurrying to the catacombs with Dooku at their side, Gunray and Haako had barely managed to flee the embattled surface and recall what core s.h.i.+ps and droid carriers remained. By then, though, it was too late for anyone to resign from Dooku's Confederacy. The war was begun, and it was Dooku's turn for revelations: he, too, was Sith, and his Master was none other than Sidious! Whether a replacement for the fearsome Darth Maul, or a Sith even during his years in the Jedi Order, Gunray didn't care to know. What mattered was simply that Nute Gunray was right back where he had been so many years earlier: in service to forces over which he had no control whatsoever. When the war had been going well, the issue of whom he served had been scarcely a problem. Trade had continued, and the Trade Federation had continued in the black. For a time it appeared that Sidious and Dooku's dreams of toppling the Republic might succeed after all. But they found themselves facing a worthy opponent in the person of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine - - also from Naboo - - who had never much impressed Gunray, but who had managed through a combination of charm and artfulness not only to remain in power long past his term of office, but also, in conjunction with the Jedi, to conduct the war.

Slowly, the wheel began to turn, as one Separatist world after another was retaken by the Republic, and now Viceroy Nute Gunray himself had been driven from the Core. A tragedy for the Trade Federation; a tragedy, he feared, for the entire Neimoidian species. He gazed at the few possessions he had been able to gather: his costly robes and miters, resplendent jewelry, priceless works of art...

A sudden chill laddered up his spine. His bulging forehead and lower jaw tingled in dread. Eyes protruding from his mottled gray face, he swung to Rune Haako.

”The chair! Where is the chair?” Haako stared at him.

”The mechno-chair!” Gunray said. ”It's not here anywhere!” Now Haako's eyes widened in apprehension. ”Surely we couldn't have overlooked it.”

Gunray paced worriedly, trying to recall when and where he had last seen the device. ”I'm certain that I had it moved to the launching bay. Yes, yes, I remember seeing it there! But in the rush to launch - - ”

”But you armed it to self-destruct,” Haako said. ”Tell me you armed it!”

Gunray stared at him. ”I thought you had armed it.”

Haako gestured to himself. ”I don't even know the sequence codes!”

Gunray fell silent for a moment. ”Haako, what if they should decide to tamper with it?”

Haako's broad slash of mouth twitched with worry. ”Without the codes, what could they possibly gain from it?”

”You're right. Of course, you're right.” Gunray tried to convince himself. It was just a mechno-chair, after all; finely wrought, but just a walking chair. A walking chair equipped with a hyperwave transceiver. A hyperwave transceiver given to him fourteen years ago by...

”What if he should learn that we left it behind?” Gunray rasped.

”Sidious,” Haako said softly.

”Not Sidious!”

”Count Dooku, you mean.”

”Are you brain-dead?” Gunray fairly screeched. ”Grievous! What if Grievous should find out?”

Supreme Commander of the droid armies, General Grievous had been San Hill and Poggle the Lesser's gift to Dooku. Once merely a barbaric living being; now a cyborg monstrosity, devoted to death and destruction.

Already the butcher of entire populations; the devastator of countless worlds...

”It's not too late,” Haako said suddenly. ”We can communicate with the chair from here.”

”Can we arm it to self-destruct?” Haako shook his head negatively. ”But we might be able to instruct it to arm itself.”

A technician intercepted them while they were hurrying toward a communications console. ”Viceroy, we are prepared to make the jump to lightspeed.”

”You will do no such thing!” Gunray cried. ”Not until I give the order!”

”But, Viceroy, our vessel can only withstand so much bombardment.”

”Bombardment is the least of our concerns!”

”Hurry,” Haako insisted, ”we haven't much time!” Gunray rushed to join him at the console. ”Say nothing of this to anyone,” he warned.

9.

Sickle-footed, humpbacked, incised with intricate designs, the mechnochair sat in the launching bay of the now seized fortress, amid a heap of equally exquisite belongings left by the fleeing Neimoidians. Obi-Wan was circling it, right hand caressing his bearded chin. ”I think I've seen this chair before.”

Squatting alongside it, Anakin looked up at him. ”Where?”

Obi-Wan stopped. ”On Naboo. Shortly after Viceroy Gunray and his entourage were taken into custody in Theed.”

Anakin shook his head. ”I don't remember seeing it.”

Obi-Wan snorted. ”I suspect you were too excited about having blown up the Droid Control s.h.i.+p to take much notice of anything. What's more, I saw it only for a moment. But I do remember being struck by the design of the holoprojector plate. I'd never seen one quite like it - - or since, for that matter.”

On the far side of the s.p.a.cious bay, up on its hardstand, sat Anakin's sleek yellow starfighter. R2-D2 stood nearby, communing with TC-16.

Commander Cody and the rest of Squad Seven were elsewhere in the palace, ”mopping up,” as the clones liked to say. Anakin examined the chair's holoprojector without touching it. An oval of ribbed alloy, it was equipped with a pair of dorsal sockets sized to accept data cells of some sort.

”It is unusual. You know, Master, these cells could contain valuable messages in storage.”

”All the more reason to leave it be until someone from Intelligence can have a look at it.”

Anakin frowned. ”That could take forever.”

Obi-Wan folded his arms and regarded him. ”Are you in a rush, Anakin?”

”For all we know, the cells could be programmed to erase themselves.”

”Do you see any evidence of that?”

”No, but - - ”

”Then we're better off waiting until we can run a proper diagnostic.”

Anakin grimaced. ”What do you know about running diagnostics? Master.”

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