Darth Sidious raised his right hand, palm outward.

Before Maul could prevent iteven if he had chosen to do sothe long cylinder that was his double-bladed lightsaber flew from its hitch on his belt and went directly to his Master. But instead of grasping it, Sidious stopped the lightsaber in midflight, centimeters from his raised hand, and directed it to spin and rotate before him, leaving Maul to gaze at him in unabashed awe.

Sidious bade the lightsaber to ignite. From each end blazed a meter-long blade of rubicund fire, hypnotic in the intensity of its burning. The free-floating weapon pivoted left, then right, eliciting a thrumming sound that was as menacing as it was rousing.

"An exquisite weapon," Sidious said. "Tell me, my young apprentice, what were you thinking when you fashioned it? Why this and not a single blade, as the Jedi prefer?"

"The single blade has limitations, Master, in offense and defense. It made sense to me to be able to strike with both ends."

Sidious made a sound of approval. "You must bear that in mind when you go to Dorvalla, Darth Maul. But remember this: What is done in secret has great power. A sword master knows that when he flourishes his blade, he reveals his intent. Be watchful. It is too soon to reveal ourselves."

"I understand, Master."

Sidious deactivated the lightsaber and sent it back to Maul, who received it as one might a cherished possession. Then Sidious approached Maul and handed him a data disk. "Study this as you travel. It contains the names and descriptions of the beings you will encounter, and other information you will find useful."

Sidious beckoned Maul to follow him to the far wall of their murky lair. As they approached, a great panel drew open, revealing a lofty view of the planetwide cityscape that was Coruscant.

"You will find Dorvalla to be a much different landscape than Coruscant, Darth Maul." Sidious turned slightly in Maul's direction, appraising him from beneath the cowl. "I suspect that you will savor the experience."

"And you, my Master, where will you be?"

"Here," Sidious said. "Awaiting your return, and the news that your mission was successful."

***

It had taken two days to locate and exhume the guidance droids from the crashed shuttles, and it had rained the entire time. The soup in the shadow of the Castle was three meters thick. Bruit had insisted on overseeing the search-and-recovery operation. He wanted to be on hand when the droids were analyzed.

Few of Lommite Limited's employees had access to the launch zone, and fewer still had access to the mechanized shuttles themselves. Tampering of the sort that had brought down the crafts would have left characteristic signs of the computer slicer who had effected previous acts of terrorism and sabotage. Bruit's sources had already established that the slicer was an agent of InterGalactic Ore, but the saboteur's identity had yet to be ascertained.

The team Bruit had assigned to the retrieval was a mix of beings from the relatively nearby star systems of Clak'dor, Sullust, and Malastarethat was to say, Bith, Sullustans, and transplanted Gran. All were suited up in goggles, respirators, and large-format footwear that kept everyone from sinking too deeply into the gelatinous mess the rain had made of the ore. All except Bruit, who was sporting thigh-high boots in an effort to stay clean.

"No doubt about it, Chief," one of the limpid-eyed Sullustans said, after running a series of tests on one of the R-series guidance droids. "Whoever sliced his way into this little guy is the same one who shut down the conveyors last month. I'll stake my wages on it."

"Don't bother," Bruit said. "You've only corroborated what all of us already knew." He gave his head an angry shake. "I want the launch zones shut down until further noticeoff-limits to everyone. Then I want every member of the launch prep and maintenance crews brought in for questioning."

"What about the ore, Chief?" one of the Bith asked.

"We'll import temporary crews, even if we have to go to Fondor to stock the crews we need. Once we're up and running, we'll have to double the shuttle flights."

Knowing what doubling the flights would entail, everyone groaned.

"What's the boss going to say about this?" the Sullustan asked.

Bruit glanced in the direction of headquarters. Arrant already knew that the guidance droids had been located, and was waiting in his office for Bruit's report.

"I'll tell you when I get back," Bruit said.

He set off for the landspeeder he had left at the control booth, but he hadn't gone ten meters when his left boot became hopelessly cemented in the mucky soup. He grabbed the thigh-high cuff of the boot, hoping he could simply pull it free, but he lost his balance and pitched to one side, sinking up to his right shoulder. He maintained that indecorous pose for some moments, while he daydreamed of what life might be like on Coruscant.

***

"You were right about things getting worse," Arrant said when Bruit entered the office, muddy and in his stocking feet.

"I was also right about InterGalactic. The guidance droids show exactly what we expected to find."

A grim expression marred Arrant's handsome face. "This has gone far enough," he said after a moment. "Bruit, you know that I'm a patient man, and basically a peaceful one. I've tolerated these acts of vandalism and sabotage, but I've reached my limit. The loss of those two shuttles. Look. Corellian Engineering just turned to InterGalactic for a shipment we couldn't provideno doubt, just as InterGalactic anticipated would happen."

"It won't happen again," Bruit interjected. "I've shut down the launch zones, and I'm bringing in replacement crews."

"You have one day," Arrant said.

Bruit gaped at him.

"Eriadu has placed major orders with us and InterGalactic," Arrant explained. "We're expected to deliver by the end of the week, which gives us just enough time to get the barges loaded and jumped to hyperspace. This is a make-or-break contract, Bruit, and Eriadu is going to award it to whichever one of us can deliver on time and without incident. LL needs to get there first, do you understand?"

Bruit nodded. "I'll have the shuttles up and running in one day."

"That's only the beginning," Arrant said carefully. "It's a sure bet you're not going to root out the saboteurs by then, so instead of that I want you to arrange for us to reply in kind to InterGalactic's actions." He waited for Bruit to absorb his intent. "I want to hit them hard, Bruit. But I don't want us to do the hitting directly."

Bruit considered it. "I suppose we could turn to one of the criminal organizations. Black Sun, maybe."