He was whisked up to the two hundredth floor, a central lobby for the block of floors where visiting diplomats were housed during their stays in Sath. He stepped out into a luxurious space. Ten different hallways spun out from the center. Ferus paused. He reached out for the Force. He picked up the Living Force around him. After only a moment he turned and sprinted down one of the hallways.
He paused in front of a transparisteel door. Outside was a combination landing platform and meeting room. The meeting room was encased in the same climate-controlled bubble that dotted many of the outdoor spaces in Sath. Bog Divinian sat in an informal grouping with the Roshan delegation. The usual empty smile was on Bog’s face, and Ferus watched as he gestured around toward the city surrounding them.
Nothing had happened … yet.
Bog’s personal aide, a slender young woman named Nancer, stood nearby. Ferus noted that Bog’s airspeeder was outside on the landing platform. Two Imperial airspeeders were parked nearby, each with two stormtroopers inside. Bodyguards for Bog, Ferus imagined.
Ferus accessed the door and slipped into the room. Nancer looked over at him but turned her attention back to Bog. She knew Ferus as a favorite of Palpatine’s and would not interfere with him.
“So you see, even though I oppose the trade agreement, I don’t oppose an alliance with Rosha, should I be elected,” Bog was saying.
“Advisor Divinian, let us be frank,” the senior Roshan diplomat said. Ferus remembered his name Robbyn Sark. “You have spread misinformation about us among the people of Sath. Now they distrust our motives.”
Bog waved his hands in the air as though he were swatting an insect. “Whether or not you had anything to do with sabotage of the Platform-7 computer ”
“No.” Ferus admired Robbyn Sark’s tone. The Roshan did not raise his voice, but the authority it carried had the power to silence even Bog Divinian. “We had nothing to do with the sabotage, and you know it. We are alone here, Advisor Divinian. Let’s speak with honesty.”
“Of course,” Bog said blandly. “I’m a straight shooter. Always have been.”
“You are opposing the trade agreement for your own reasons. They have nothing to do with the wellbeing of the two planets. Let’s discuss how we could work together. You said you wanted to find a compromise.”
“That’s why I’m here,” Bog said. “Let’s find some common ground. I have a proposition for you. My speeder is outside. Come with me for a short trip around Sath. I have some things to show you. We can discuss the current situation in privacy.”
Bog looked around the meeting room and leaned forward. “You can never trust meeting rooms where diplomats stay,” he whispered. “We can speak freely in my speeder.”
Robbyn Sark glanced at the four other Roshans. A signal passed between them. Their delicate antennae, which looked more like tiny hairs, waved softly.
“All right,” Robbyn Sark agreed.
Ferus followed, still unsure of what Bog was up to. He trailed after the others as they walked out onto the landing platform. Like all the platforms on Sath, it was regulated with cool air from the floor and overhang, and a fine mist also served to freshen the air.
Still, before them the buildings of Sath seemed to shiver in the heat, their outlines wavy and indistinct. The sun was low in the sky, at exactly an angle to bounce off the thousands of windows and the thin metallic skins of the buildings. It dazzled the eye and disoriented him. It took Ferus a moment to realize that the glint in the air above was not a reflection, but a moving airspeeder, coming at them at a direct angle and not slowing down to land. At the same time, something else caught his attention at first he thought it was debris in the air. The specks were moving erratically, as if caught by a breeze. But there was no breeze.
Their droids are among the smallest in the galaxy with the most sophisticated systems.
Roshan droids.
Bog didn’t seem to notice any of it. He fiddled with the PD on his shoulder as he gestured grandly at his luxurious airspeeder, saying something to Robbyn Sark that Ferus didn’t hear.
“Watch out!” Ferus shouted, but it was too late. The silver airspeeder came in low and fast. Then to Ferus’s astonishment the engines stopped dead. He saw a slight hooded figure in black lying flat on the hull. A liquid cable line snaked down and wrapped around Bog’s personal droid. It was yanked upward.
Ferus saw Bog’s frightened face as he dropped to the ground. The engines screamed back to maximum. Ferus was already moving, racing to the nearest airspeeder on the platform.
In the meantime, the stormtroopers had finally reacted and were blasting away at the fleeing airspeeder. Bog covered his head. The two Roshan droids turned and gave chase.