Cloak Of Deception

The bypass code did the job, and the door pocketed itself into the wall.

Soft lighting came up as Pestage moved into the elegant front room.

Furniture and artwork attesting to the senator's refined taste were everywhere in evidence. Pestage went directly to the terrace doors and stepped outside.

Traffic hummed below the tiled enclosure, and the lights of still-higher buildings shone down on him. The air was ten degrees cooler than at midlevel, and nowhere near as grimy. From the chest-high wall at the edge of the terrace, Pestage could see clear to the Jedi Temple in one direction and the Galactic Senate in the other.

But those weren't the views that interested him; only the view directly across the cityscape canyon, into a mostly darkened penthouse of similar size.

Pestage set the two pieces of luggage on the floor and opened them. The square one contained a computer, with a built-in display and keypad. The second was a surveillance droid, black and round, with three ante

The two devices conversed for a long moment, in a dialogue of beeps and warbles. Then the surveillance droid levitated of its own accord and began to float out into the canyon.

Pestage repositioned the computer so that he could monitor the flight of the surveillance droid while he entered commands on the keyboard.

By then the black sphere had crossed the abyss and was hovering just outside one of the penthouse's lighted rooms, and relaying color images back to the computer's display screen. The small screen showed five Twi'lek females, lounging together on comfortable furniture. One of the females was Senator Orn Free Taa's red-ski

Pestage was pleased. The females were so absorbed in debauched merriment that they were unlikely to interfere with his business.

He instructed the surveillance droid to move to an unlighted window, three rooms away, and go to infrared mode. A moment later the screen displayed a close-up of Taa's computer terminal, which, while it was capable of interfacing with distant systems, could not be accessed remotely.

Pestage did rapid input at the keyboard.

Pressing close to the window, the droid activated a laser and burned a small hole in the sound-silencing and blasterproof pane-just large enough to accommodate the computer interface arm that telescoped from its spherical body. At the end of the arm's extensible rod was a magnetic lock, which the droid inserted into the access port of Taa's system.

The computer booted up and asked for a passcode, which Pestage provided.

A novice operative might have thought to ask Senator Palpatine how he had secured the passcode. But part of what made Pestage a true professional was knowing when not to ask questions.

Taa's computer welcomed him inside.

Now it was simply a matter of slicing into the relevant files and planting the bits of coded information Pestage had been given. Even so, the infiltration was hardly routine. First of all, the data had to be untraceable, and it had to be implanted in such a way that the computer would be convinced that it had, in fact, discovered the data. Then the computer had to be instructed to reveal the data-to flag it-only in response to specific requests from Taa.

Most important, Taa himself would have to be persuaded that he had uncovered data of such resounding import that he was compelled to shout it from the rooftops.

At the center of the Jedi Temple's High Council spire was an enormous holographic representation of the galaxy, which highlighted trouble spots and locations of Jedi activity. The spherical projection changed in accordance with signals received by a multifeed assembly located in the tower's summit chamber, while a collimating disk located beneath the projection focused the signal beams and sustained them through power fluctuations.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan stood on the circular walkway that surrounded the holomap, waiting to be called before the members of the High Council.

Several other Jedi were about, studying the map or headed for one of the three exterior contemplation balconies that overlooked the vast plain of cityscape below the Temple. It was from the dawn-facing balcony that Qui-Gon had had his first real look at Coruscant.

"This is the first time I've ever seen Coruscant singled out," Obi-Wan remarked as he gazed up at the sphere, his elbows resting on the walkway railing.

Qui-Gon glanced at the flashing spheroid that was Corus-cant, then allowed his eyes to roam midway to the holomap's perimeter, where a second spheroid was aglow.

Dorvalla.

"Coruscant should remain illuminated at all times," he started to say, when yet another spheroid, at even greater remove than Dorvalla, began to flash.

"Eriadu," Obi-Wan said, reading the graphic attached to it. He looked questioningly at Qui-Gon.

"The site of the upcoming trade summit." "Whose idea was that, Master?"

Obi-Wan asked.

"Senator Palpatine," a baritone human voice said from behind them.

They turned to find Jorus C'baoth watching them.

An elder human Jedi Master, C'baoth had a chiseled face, white hair as long as Qui-Gon's, and a beard three times as long.

"Palpatine represents Naboo," C'baoth added.

"Just the world for Qui-Gon," another human Jedi said from farther along the walkway.

C'baoth nodded. "More indigenous species in one square kilometer than you normally encounter on a hundred worlds." He smiled faintly. "I could easily see Master Qui-Gon losing himself there." Before either Qui-Gon or Obi-Wan could respond, Adi Gal — lia entered the holomap room. "We're ready for you, Qui-Gon," she a

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan folded their arms, so that each hand disappeared into the opposite sleeve of their cloaks, and followed Gallia to the turbolift that accessed the summit chamber.

"Don't say anything, Padawan," Qui-Gon said quietly when they reached the circular chamber.

"Simply listen and learn." Obi-Wan nodded. "Yes, Master." Arch-topped panes of transparisteel afforded unobstructed views in all directions. The ceiling was also arched, and the lustrous floor was designed as a series of concentric circles, inlaid with floral motifs.

Leaving Obi-Wan to wait by the turbolift, Qui-Gon advanced to the center of the room and stood with his hands crossed in front of him.