Darth Plagueis Read Online Free PDF Page B

its assets is going to accept the Woebegone as collateral.”
    Maa Kaap and Blir’ traded quick glances before the Zabrak said, “Excuse me for saying so, Captain, but you didn’t seem particularly concerned about credits last night—”
    “Watch what you say,” Lah told her first mate, barely restraining a smile.
    “I thought you were ready to give that young thing the ship,” PePe said, joining the tease.
    Lah waved a hand in dismissal. “I was just toying with him.”
    “ Toy being the operative word,” Maa Kaap said. “Since he was young enough to still play with them.”
    The captain planted her hands on her hips. “I can be convincing when I want to be.”
    “Oh, that you were,” Zuto said, reigniting a chorus of laughter that accompanied them into the Woebegone ’s main cabin space, where 11-4D was waiting.
    “Everything in order?” Lah asked the droid.
    The droid raised three of its appendages in an approximation of a salute. “Shipshape, Captain.”
    “All the cargo is aboard and accounted for?”
    “Aboard and accounted for, Captain.”
    “You checked the thermo readouts?”
    “In each bay, Captain.”
    She returned a satisfied nod. “Well, all right then.”
    The shipmates split up, each with duties to perform. Blir’ and Semasalli to the cockpit; Zuto, Wandau, and PePe to check that the cargo had been properly stowed; Maa Kaap and 11-4D to seal the ship; and Captain Lah to get clearance from Bal’demnic spaceport control.
    Without fanfare the ship left the warm world behind and jumped from cold ether into the netherworld of hyperspace. Lah was still seated at the communications console when Blir’ radioed her from the cockpit.
    “We need your input on something.”
    “Since when?” she said.
    “Seriously.”
    She headed forward, and had no sooner ducked into the cockpit than Semasalli indicated a flashing telltale on the ship’s status display suite. A small metal plate below the telltale read: CARGO BAY 4 AMBIENT .
    “Too hot or too cold?” Lah asked the Dresselian.
    “Too cold.”
    Lah flicked her forefinger against the telltale, but it continued to flash. “Funny, that usually works.” She studied Semasalli’s frown. “What do you think?”
    He sniffed and ran a hand over a hairless, deeply fissured head that mirrored the appearance of the convoluted brain it contained. “Well, it could be the bay thermostat.”
    “Or?”
    “Or one of the shipping containers could have opened?”
    “By itself?”
    “Maybe during the jump,” Blir’ said from the pilot’s chair.
    “Okay, so we go check it out.” She glanced from Blir’ to Semasalli and shook her head in ignorance. “What aren’t you telling me?”
    Blir’ answered for the two of them. “Remember the Zabrak that Maa was talking to in the cantina?”
    “Which cantina?” Lah said; then added: “No, I remember him. He was looking for a lift.”
    Semasalli nodded. “He’d been booted from his last freighter. He didn’t say why, but Maa thought he smelled trouble, and said we couldn’t take him aboard.”
    Lah followed the clues they were giving her and nodded. “You’re thinking we have a stowaway.”
    “Just a thought,” the Dresselian said.
    “Which is why you wanted to check with me before going aft.”
    “Exactly.”
    Lah’s face grew almost as wrinkled as Semasalli’s. “The ship would have told us if anyone had tampered with the anti-intrusion sys.”
    “Unless he came in with the cargo?” Blir’ said.
    “You mean inside one of the containers?”
    Blir’ nodded.
    “Then he’d be stiff as an icicle by now.” Lah turned to Semasalli. “Does bay four have a vid feed?”
    “On screen,” Semasalli said, swiveling his chair to face the status displays.
    Lah put her palms flat on the console and leaned toward the screen while the Dresselian brought up grainy views of the cargo bay. Finally the remote cam found what they were looking for: an opened shipping container, wreathed by clouds of