He waited to act until the four of them were engaged in monitoring the security agents' conversation. Then, with a slight motion of his hand, he Force-summoned the listening device to peel itself from the wall above the booth, zip into the small room, and alight at the center of the card table.

The Rodian sat back, startled, clearly failing to recognize the artificial bug as their own device. "A new player joins the game."

One of the Twi'leks raised his open hand to shoulder level. "Not for long."

The Twi'lek's long-nailed hand was halfway toward smashing the flitter when the human female grabbed hold of his wrist and managed to deflect the downward strike.

"Hold on," she whispered urgently. "I heard your voice."

"That's because I said something," the Twi'lek said.

"In my earpiece," the woman said, gesturing discreetly. "And now I'm hearing my voice."

"I'm hearing your voice," the Rodian said, confused.

"What in the name of. "

The Twi'lek allowed his voice to trail off, and all four of the agents sat back in their stiff wooden chairs, gazing in astonishment at the listening device.

"It's ours," the woman said finally.

The Rodian glanced at her. "What's it doing here?"

Maul called on the Force to move the bug.

"It's crawling around, is what it's doing," one of the Twi'leks said, with a measure of distress. He glanced over his shoulder at the preoccupied security men, then at his comrades.

Maul activated the remote control he had tuned to the frequency of the insect transmitter.

"This comes straight from the Toom clan," the bug sent to the earpieces and dermal audio patches worn by the conspirators, all of whom traded wide-eyed looks.

"Here's the long and short of it. Arrant has decided to move against InterGalactic Ore shipments. No petitioning the senate. He's letting loose a shooting war. That much has already been decided."

Absorbed in what she was hearing, the woman used her right forefinger to tilt the ear cuff for clearer reception.

"The Toom clan has a way of settling thisa cure for the disease. InterGal can level the playing field by employing us to strike at Eriadu. We of the Toom clan wish to see LL brought down. Someone with real foresight could build a better organization from the dregs.

"We've been able to learn the hyperspace route Lommite Limited's ships are going to take to Eriadu, and the precise reentry coordinates. They'll arrive by way of Rimma 18, and are scheduled to decant from hyperspace at 1300 hours, Eriadu local time.

"We've been in the trenches. This is our livelihood. We can intervene and execute the strike. The Tooms have the means to get the job done. No one will suspect us. We have no scruples about what happens.

"To team up to accomplish this, be willing to spend the credits necessary. Contact us."

Maul had spent all morning adulterating the recording he had made during the meeting at Bruit's dwelling, and modifying the resequenced phrases to sound as if they had been uttered by a single individual. The result appeared to be having the desired effect. The four agents were continuing to stare at the bug they themselves had installed. The woman's mouth was slightly ajar, and the Twi'leks' head-tails were twitching.

Maul was pleased to hear the Rodian say, "This has to go directly to the topand I mean now."

***

The Toom clan had a motto: "Pay us enough and we'll make worlds collide."

They had started out as legitimate rescue workers and salvagers, using a powerful Interdictor ship to retrieve ships stranded in hyperspace. By mimicking the effects of a mass shadow, the Interdictor had the ability to pull endangered ships back into realspace. While the rewards for such work were substantial, they were never substantial enough to satisfy the desires of the clan, and over the course of several years, the group had launched a second career as pirates, employing their Interdictor against passenger and supply ships, or hiring themselves out to criminal organizations to interfere with shipments of spice and other proscribed goods.

However, unlike the Hutts and Black Sun, both of which could usually be relied upon to honor the terms of any agreement, the Toom clan was motivated solely by profit. A small outfit, they couldn't afford the luxury of turning down jobs out of respect for some hazy criminal ethica stance that had made them outcasts even among their own kind.

Headquartered in an underground base deep in Dorvalla's unpopulated northern wastes, the clan received routine payoffs from both Lommite Limited and InterGalactic Ore, to ensure the safety of their shuttles and ore barges. The Tooms used much of the funds to bribe the commanders of Dorvalla's volunteer space corps to ensure the clan's own safetywith the understanding that the clan would refrain from operating within the Videnda sector.

Because Eriadu was outside the sectorand notwithstanding the fact that they were already receiving payoffs from InterGalacticthe clan had accepted Lommite Limited's generous offer of Republic credits to perform a bit of sabotage work. InterGalactic would simply have to understand that the nature of their arrangement with the Toom clan had changed. More important, the contract with LL didn't preclude the possibility of the clan's entering into a similar contract with InterGalas certainly might be the case after the Eriadu operation. In fact, the clan had every intention of contacting InterGal to suggest as much.

No one in the clan had expected InterGalactic to contact them before Eriadu.

A leather-faced Weequay, Nort Toom himself accepted the holotransmission from Caba'Zan, head of security for InterGalactic Ore. The clan was mostly made up of far-from-home Weequay and Nikto humanoids, but Aqualish, Abyssin, Barabels, and Gamorreans also numbered among the mix.

"I want to discuss the most recent offer you tendered," Caba'Zan's holopresence began. He was a near-human Falleen, burly and green complexioned.

"Our most recent offer," Nort Toom said carefully.

"About destroying Lommite Limited's ships at Eriadu."

Toom's deep-set eyes darted between the holoprojector and one of his Weequay confederates, who was standing nearby. "Oh, that offer. We have so many operations in the works, it's sometimes hard to keep track."

"I'm glad to hear that business is good," Caba'Zan said disingenuously.

"I've a feeling it's about to get even better."

The Falleen came directly to the point. "We're willing to pay one hundred thousand Republic credits."