End Game Read Free Page A

instigating a war for a chance at increased profits. To them, wealth was an end unto itself. They had no understanding of real power, and seemingly no contact with the Force. They had more in common with the battle droids that served them than they had with sentient beings. How Trezza would have laughed. Sometimes Maul lamented having had to kill the Falleen. But Trezza had learned too much about Maul’s powers …
    “Who is supervising the search for the Gungan cities?” he said at last.
    “Commander OOM-Nine,” Gunray said.
    “A droid,” Maul said. “The predecessor of your inept B-Ones.”
    “A superior droid, Lord Maul,” Haako was quick to point out. “Viceroy Gunray’s personal guard.”
    Maul ignored him and spoke to Gunray. “Inform OOM-Nine that I am assuming command of the search.”

    Maul demanded the most from the speeder bike as he left the plains and the Gallo Mountains behind and raced down through dense forest and into the swamplands to the south. Before leaving Theed he had communicated with Darth Sidious; he had reason to believe that the mistakes he’d made on Tatooine had been forgiven, and that his mission was back on track. With the Republic Senate in turmoil, Sidious was confident that he would be able to persuade Queen Amidala to return to Naboo, and he suspected that Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi would accompany her. But Maul’s excitement at the prospect of having a second go at them was dimmed by having to deal with the Gungans—business that had been entrusted to the Neimoidians. Surely Sidious knew that Gunray was incapable of doing what had been asked of him, and yet Sidious had kept vital information from the viceroy that would have enabled him to locate the underwater cities of the indigenes. Why, then, had Sidious provided the information to Maul now? Was this yet another in the series of tests his Master had put him through over the past five years to substantiate his loyalty and skill?

    The question rode with him into the forward observation base OOM-9 had established on the shore of an insect-plagued marsh. The forest was tall here, and the slender trees seemed to grow from the fetid water itself. In a clearing, a full company of battle droids waited in precise ranks, augmented by a dozen droidekas. Other droids were scouting the marsh on Single Trooper Aerial Platforms. Close to the shore hovered a clamshell-shaped aquatic destroyer equipped with arrays of short-range lasers and tank-like siege engines.
    Maul was impressed. The scene at least had the appearance of a legitimate military exercise.
    OOM-9 approached as he was dismounting the speeder bike. “Welcome, Commander,” it said in a forthright way.
    Its chest plastron emblazoned with yellow markings, OOM-9 boasted multiple antennae and a backpack that boosted its operational range. Maul knew that the droid had been tasked with spearheading the occupation and was credited with having razed Naboo communications centers at New Centrif and Vis, as well as having secured the cities of Harte Secur, Spinnaker, and Theed.
    From a captured mariner in Harte Secur, OOM-9 had learned of a Gungan bubble city called Rellias, but its forces had thus far been unable to locate the city.
    “Viceroy Gunray said that you have already captured many Gungans,” Maul said. “Exactly how many?”
    The droid’s processor hummed faintly as it communicated with computers aboard the orbiting control ship. “How many did the viceroy say we captured?” it asked in a grating monotone.
    “Forty-seven,” Maul told it.
    “Yes, Commander. We captured forty-seven.”
    Maul frowned in exasperation, but forgave OOM-9 the lie. “Show me to them.” The droid pivoted through a half circle and turned its thin head back toward Maul. “This way, Commander.”
    A short winding trail through the trees led to a place where four Gungans were laid out on the ground, their cartilaginous bodies holed by blaster bolts. With their billed faces, floppy