'I've got another idea,' Cohl said, without elaborating.
'You don't think-was 'Who else could it be? The only thing I can't figure is how she found me.' 'Maybe she attached a tracker to some part of you before she left,' Boiny suggested.
They left Lope and the others to get acquainted and climbed the ramp.
'Did I tell you she would miss me?' Cohl asked over his shoulder as soon as he had stepped into the forward hold.
Rella was sitting in Cohl's chair, with her long legs crossed.
'You're right, Cohl,' she said. 'I couldn't stay away-but not for the reasons you think.' Her outfit of tunic, trousers, capelet, and cowl was made of a silvery metallic fiber that shimmered as she moved.
'By the look of you, I'd say you've been dipping too deeply into your retirement fund, and you need the credits.' She scowled at him. 'Is it safe to talk in here?' Cohl nodded to Boiny, who ena4 the cabin's security system.
'I've been hearing rumors that you're putting together a new crew,' Rella said when Cohl sat down.
He shrugged. 'What else could I do after you walked out on me?' She didn't even crack a smile. 'The way I hear it, you're in the market for lookouts and second-rate exterminators-like that brute you just brought in.'
'Tough jobs call for tough personnel.' Rella looked him in the eye. 'What have you gotten yourself into, Cohl? Be straight with me-for old times' sake.'
Cohl considered it, then said, 'It's an execution.' She nodded knowingly.
'Who's the target?' 'Valorum-on Eriadu.' Rella seemed to shrink in the chair, as if her worst fears had been realized. 'You can't do this, Cohl.' He laughed shortly. 'You're welcome to watch.' 'Listen to me,' she started to say.
'What, you bought yourself some scruples to go along with the new outfit- the new you?' 'Scruples? Don't insult me, Cohl.' 'Then what is it about Valorum?' She shook her head. 'It's not about Valorum.
It's about you-your reputation. Without even trying, I found out that you'd been to Belsavis, Malastare, Clak'dor, and Yetoom. How hard do you think it's going to be for anyone else to track you? And I don't mean thugs looking to hire on with you. I'm talking about judicials or Jedi.' 'I appreciate the warning, Rella, but it won't matter now. I've got everyone I need. Unless, of course, you want to sign aboard.' She held his gaze. 'I do.' He blinked.
'No, I'm not kidding you, Cohl,' she said.
All at once Cohl grew serious and reached for her hands. 'Listen, kid, I appreciate your finding me, but this operation isn't something you want to get involved in.' She appraised him. 'I don't get it. A minute ago you were acting like you had the galaxy by the tail.' 'Bluster, Rella, pure and simple.' 'Are you saying you wish you hadn't taken the job on?' 'Maybe I'm just feeling my age, but, yeah, I should have stepped out of the life when I could. I mean, moisture farming can't be all that difficult to learn, right? And there'll still be exciting times…' Rella smiled broadly. 'Of course there'll be exciting times, Cohl. Just drop this thing. You can walk away right now.' He shook his head. 'I gave my word. I have to at least see this through.' Rella studied him for a moment, then forced an exhale. 'All the more reason for me to tag along.
If you can't look out for yourself, then I'll have to do it for you.'
world of rugged landmasses and slender seas, slate-gray Eriadu had long sought to be the Coruscant of the Outer Rim. That goal had been furthered by dint of Eriadu's choice location in the heart of the Seswenna sector, at the intersection of the Rimma Trade Route and the Hydian Way.
But where Coruscant had confined most of its factories and foundries to specific areas, industry held sway over all Eriadu, fouling air, land, and sea with unrelenting outpourings of toxic by-products. Worse, while the planet was prosperous compared to its neighbors, Eriadu's legislators remained more interested in unbridled growth than in investing in the atmosphere scrubbers, aquifer purifiers, and waste disposal systems that made Coruscant livable.
The planet's principal city was in the southern hemisphere. A thriving seaport that had grown up around the mouth of a major river, it spread almost one hundred kilometers inland, sprawling along the shores of a finger- shaped bay to the west, and creeping up and over the once thickly forested hills that rose at its back.
From the rear of the energy-shielded, repulsorlift limousine that had swept him past crowds of demonstrators at Eriadu Spaceport, Valorum surmised that the city must have been a scenic wonder, once upon a time.
Now it was a gloomy warren of tiled domes, narrow alleyways, lofty arches and towers, and open-air marketplaces, thronged with turbaned merchants, veiled women, bearded men drawing on the spouts of bubbling waterpipes, and six-legged beasts of burden, heaped with trade goods, vying for space with rusting landspeeders and aged repulsorsleds.
Valorum couldn't help thinking of Eriadu as a dusty and forlorn flip side of Theed, the capital city of Naboo.
The din of voices and vehicles was nearly enough to overwhelm the tinted, sound-cancellation windows of his limousine, though many of the city's streets had been cleared for his passing. Traffic had been diverted, and security personnel and droids were stationed at nearly every intersection. Citizens were allowed to watch from the narrow sidewalks, but anyone caught peering from an upper-story window or overhead walkway risked being shot by judicial snipers stationed on the rooftops and riding in speeders above the Coruscant delegation hovercade.
Earlier, Valorum had learned that several decoy convoys had been dispatched from the spaceport, and that the route his hover — cade was following through the city had been altered at the last moment, to thwart premeditated attacks.
To the protective force of judicials, Senate Guards, and security droids, he was known in code as 'The Goods.' After the decision to send half the supplemental force of Jedi Knights to Asmeru, to deal with the crisis there, the security detail chiefs had demanded that Valorum submit to wearing a temporary locator implant, so that they would know where he was at all times.
It was ironic that he should find himself in the spotlight, when the whole idea behind the trade summit had
