Her ardent pursuers were a trio of slender-bodied vessels, Coruscant red from stem to stern, with blunt bows, a trio of large, drum-shaped sublight thrusters, and multiple pairs of turbolaser batteries.
In the gunship's cramped bridge, Boiny studied the console's authenticator displays.
'Corellian space cruisers, Captain!
Gaining fast! Estimated time before they overtake us is-was 'I don't want to know,' Cohl said from the captain's chair, as an explosion pitched the ship roughly to port. 'Blasted Judicial Department!
Don't they have better things to do?' 'Apparently not, Captain,' Boiny rejoined.
Cohl swiveled away from the forward viewports to regard Rella, who had the controls. 'How soon before we can make the jump to lightspeed?' She shot him an angry look. 'The navicomputer is holding out on us.' Cohl glanced at Boiny. 'Persuade it.' The Rodian staggered across the cockpit and slammed his hand against the navicomputer.
'That'll do it,' Rella said, relieved.
Another bolt rocked the ship.
'Route power to the rear deflectors,' Cohl ordered.
'I'm on it, Captain,' Boiny said, as he strapped back into his chair.
Rella turned slightly to Cohl. 'You know, not everyone thrives on close calls.' He laughed theatrically. 'This from someone who claims that an escape isn't worthwhile unless it's narrow?' 'That was the old me. The new me has different ideas about what's fun and what isn't.' 'Then you'd better stow the new you until we hit clear space.' Stung in the tail, the Hawk-Bat shuddered as she rolled to one side.
'Where are those jump coordinates?' Cohl snapped.
'Coming up now,' Rella assured him. 'It's time we put this sector behind us, Cohl. Every one of our hideouts is under surveillance.' 'And just where are we supposed to go?' 'I don't care if we go live with the Hutts. I just know it's gotten too hot for us here.' Cohl grimaced. 'Don't tell me you'd work for those bloated worms.' 'Who said anything about working?' 'What about our retiring in high style?' 'Right about now, I'll settle for retiring, plain and simple.' Cohl shook his head. 'That's not the way I planned it. Besides, I don't like the idea of getting chased out of my own hunting ground.' 'Even when it's clear you've become the prey?' Cohl watched Rella for a long moment.
'You're serious, aren't you? You're thinking of quitting this tour.' She bit her lip and nodded. 'Unless you decide to come to your senses, Cohl. We're too old for this. I want to make good on some of the promises we made ourselves, before it's too late.' He thought about it, then laughed. 'You won't walk.
You know you'd miss me and come looking for me.' Rella showed him a sad look. 'You're still thinking of the old me, Cohl.' He glanced at Boiny. 'Am I right or wrong about her looking for me?' The Rodian ducked his crested head.
'Don't get me in the middle of this. I'm only good at following orders.' Cohl shook his head at Rella. 'Our first fight.' 'Wrong, Cohl. Our last.' She reached for the throttle. 'Making the jump to hyperspace.' With laser bolts still nipping at her, the Hawk-Bat surged forward. The stars elongated, and the gunship blinked from view.
In the greeting room of his office in the Galactic Senate, Valorum slipped into his veda cloth robe and regarded his image in an elaborately framed mirror. His right arm was almost healed, and instead of the cumbersome tube, a soft case was in place, concealed within the ample sleeve of his overcloak.
A pair of Senate Guards flanked the door, facing into the room, but Valorum ignored them as he prepared for the imminent arrival of Jedi Masters Mace Windu and Yoda.
The Valorum dynasty had long hoped that one of its offspring might be strong in the Force, but, by all accounts, it appeared that the Force just wasn't in Valorum blood. That regrettable absence, however, hadn't stopped Finis Valorum from revering the Jedi. As an entitled youth on Coruscant and on other Core worlds, he had passed countless hours with the family chronicles, devouring accounts of his ancestors' dealings with the order- — often with Jedi Knights and Masters of legendary status. The tales had only firmed a belief developed early on that, even if he couldn't be a Jedi, he could at least model his life after them, behaving as if the Force were his ally, and devoting himself to upholding peace and justice at all times.
But the Republic Valorum had inherited had afforded him few opportunities to foster peace or justice. Weakened by greed and corruption, the senate had become a tool for widening the rift between rich and poor, and bolstering the ambitions of the privileged and influential. Try as he might to remain faithful to his ideals, Valorum had found himself foiled by delegates fattened on bribes or enslaved to self-interest. Why serve the common good when it was more profitable to serve the Commerce Guild, the Techno Union, the Corporate Alliance, or the Trade Federation?
Whether for personal reasons or in exchange for trade favors for their home systems, more than half the senate's delegates answered to the powerful corporations, which, in return, asked only that certain motions be quashed, or others be supported.
Time and again Valorum was made to appear weak by being overruled, and that perceived weakness had made those who should have known better consider him to be ineffectual.
Ineptitude, of course, was the unexpressed goal of the corruptors themselves. Where a weak leader would have been replaced, and a strong one counterproductive, one who had simply given up the fight was seen as the best of all possible solutions.
The rueful middle ground had been Valorum's domain for too many years, until recently, when senators like Bail Antilles, Horox Ryyder, Palpatine, and a few others had begun to rally round, pledging their support to help end corruption-or, at the very least, to keep it in check. Many thought that the current crisis involving the Trade Federation would be a testing ground for what lay ahead. Valorum hoped only that he could spend the fi-nal years of his term in office doing right by everyone, in true service to peace and justice.
That was why the Nebula Front had to be contained.
Normally the Jedi were not asked to intervene in trade disputes, but the attempt on Valorum's life had had less to do with trade than with preserving law and order. Because the Jedi answered to the Supreme Chancellor and the Judicial Department, their assistance could now be solicited, and in that sense, the assassination attempt had been a blessing in disguise.
