[Last Of The Jedi] - 06(24)

“Whoa. Maybe you’d better rethink this approach,” Trever whispered, peeking out of the cargo compartment.

“Stay down! It’s all right — they think I’m one of them, remember?”

As Ferus brought the vehicle down, he saw that Bog had retreated into the meeting room again. The Roshan delegation was gone. Bog was speaking to a short Sathan that Ferus recognized as the lead communications officer. A few other Sathans were in the room. Ferus tried to glimpse them through the glare of transparisteel. They looked like … reporters?

He got out, holding the droid. Bog saw him from inside. He said a few quick words to the others and came out, hurrying toward Ferus.

Ferus handed him the droid.

“You got it back.” Bog’s eyes narrowed. “Who took it?”

“Just a common street thief, looking for something to sell on the black market.”

“Is the womp rat in custody? I’d like to fry him up for breakfast.”

A squeak came from the speeder. Luckily, Bog didn’t hear it.

“No,” Ferus said. “He dropped the droid, I caught it, and came back here. I guess he realized it was a stupid idea.”

“Did you have any trouble … getting back here?”

“No.”

Was that a flash of relief on Bog’s face? He perched the droid back on his shoulder. “I thought coming here to speak to the delegation would make a difference. Bridge the gap.” He shook his head. “I never expected they’d have the nerve to try to assassinate me.”

“What?”

Bog leaned in. “Those droids … in the air? We ran a security check on them during the attack. They were Roshan. There was blasterfire coming from them, straight at me. Luckily, I have good reflexes.”

“The droids didn’t shoot at you. That blasterfire was from the stormtroopers. They were aiming at the thief!”

Bog frowned at him. “You couldn’t know that.”

“I was standing only a few meters away,” Ferus said. “The shots came from the stormtroopers. They were shooting at the speeder.”

He had the Roshan droids in his pocket. But they would prove nothing. Handing them over now would just confirm their existence and give more credibility to Bog’s lie.

But now Ferus understood. This was all a ploy for Bog to gain sympathy. Bog had done this himself. He had set up the situation. The Roshan droids had been programmed to fire at his droid. It was Trever’s bad luck that he happened to steal Bog’s droid at the same time. But Bog had turned the incident to his advantage. He would claim the thief was part of the Roshan plot.

Ferus was trapped. He couldn’t expose Bog without exposing Trever.

Bog leaned in toward him, his eyes like slits. Ferus found himself looking into a gaze empty of intelligence but full of menace. Ferus wasn’t intimidated, but he did see that if he interfered with what Bog was planning, the politician would not take it lightly.

“Since there is no way for you to have really seen it, I hope you keep your mistaken impressions to yourself,” he said. “You think that because the Emperor has given you amnesty that he can’t revoke that order at any time? The Emperor came to my planet, to my ceremony. Who do you think he’s going to believe?”

“Your planet?” Ferus said. “Since when?”

“Just don’t get in my way,” Bog warned.

Ferus watched as Bog turned away, the droid still on his shoulder. He walked back into the meeting room while the reporters scrambled to get close.

He was about to spin the story for all of Samaria.

Ferus had a bad feeling. A very bad feeling.

Bog overestimated his own importance. He was just a tool to the Emperor.

So was Ferus.

Trapped.

This time, Ferus signed out the airspeeder, which was registered to the Residence Tower. Trever hid in the back until they were safely away. Ferns pulled up at the Twilight Fountains.

Trever hopped out, a disgruntled look on his face. “I can’t believe you took the droid back. I went to a lot of trouble to steal it.”

“It was a stupid idea. If you want to help the resistance, you don’t just bumble your way in. You contact them first!”

“Flame thought they wouldn’t take her seriously if she didn’t pull of some kind of mission first —”

“Who’s Flame?” Ferus interrupted.

“I told you, a contact of Toma’s.” The boy looked sulky now. “She had gravsleds full of wealth on Acherin — factories and businesses and all that —but she had one problem. She said no to the Empire, so they kicked her off the planet. But she was able to get most of her wealth out before that. She put it all into this group she’s forming called Moonstrike. She has this idea to fund all the resistance groups on planets in the Core. And she’s putting her own wealth and her own safety on the line. Plus she’s one awesome pilot. She’s galactic.”