"And do what?"
"If we can convince the Colicoids that it is in their best interests to take over the Nar Shaddaa operation, then Nar Shaddaa will come under the laws of the Republic, since the Colicoids are members."
"True," Siri admitted.
"So slavery will be outlawed."
"That's exactly why they wouldn't do it," Siri said. "They need slaves. Or rather, they convince themselves they do out of their own greed.
" "Exactly. So we have to use their greed against them. We have to convince the Colicoids that they can still make enormous profits without slaves. They can do this by eliminating Krayn as the middleman. They won't have to give him a cut of the profits, or rely on his abilities to run the factories, or worry about him cheating them."
"What makes you think the Colicoids would listen to that argument?"
Siri asked. "They're very cautious."
"Their caution and their greed will force them to listen," Anakin said. "But we have to make them think that if they don't do it, they will lose everything. I'll bet they already distrust Krayn."
"Everybody does," Siri said. "That is, if they're smart."
"If we can convince the Colicoids that Krayn has a shaky hold on Nar Shaddaa and is in danger of losing the factories, they'll be more willing to take the chance to overthrow him."
"Why would they think that?" Siri asked.
"Because there will be a slave rebellion while the Colicoids are here, " Anakin responded quickly. "The slaves will blow up part of the factory.
If the Colicoids see this, they might seize that moment of weakness to take over."
Siri stared at him. "But why would the slaves rebel?"
"Because they want to be free," Anakin said.
Siri shook her head. "It's not that simple, Anakin. The guards hold those slaves in the grip of fear. Their brutality over the years has been great. The slaves risk too much."
"If they felt that they had a chance.." Anakin said thoughtfully.
"Yes, some sort of guarantee that made it worth the risk," Siri said slowly. "I have an idea. You're leaving out the third party in all this the leader of Nar Shaddaa. He is in control of the civilian guards. If we can convince him that it's in his best interests to back the Colicoids over Krayn, he can instruct the guards to look the other way when the slaves rebel. Nar Shaddaa will become part of the Republic, and the natives will enjoy the benefits of alliances and trade."
"Of course!" Anakin enthused. "That's the missing key."
"I've been involved in some high-level meetings," Siri told him. "The Colicoid representatives know me. If I can get to them, I can lay the whole thing out. I can make them suspicious of Krayn's abilities. They'll trust me, since I'm his advisor. I know Aga Culpa, the leader of Nar Shaddaa, too."
"And I'll talk to the slaves," Anakin said.
Siri sighed. "There's only one problem. We're in a high-security cell.
And both our lightsabers are in my quarters. We can't break out."
Anakin smiled.
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't tell me you have a plan for that, too."
"Of course," Anakin said.
Siri shook her head. "You remind me of someone I knew well years ago.
He never let up, either. Made me think fast to keep up with him." She grinned. "Just don't ever tell Obi-Wan I said so."
"It's funny," Anakin said. "I thought you hated him."
Siri stretched her muscles. "Of course I don't hate him. He just gets on my nerves." Her vivid blue eyes glinted. "But then again, most beings do."
Chapter 18
He had walked over much of the factory, and the day was waning. He had looked into the faces of hundreds of slaves. He had seen misery and sickness and exhaustion. He had not seen his Padawan.
He found a private place to contact the Temple.
to the basement prison. Siri and Anakin paused after peeking around the corner to glimpse them.
"We don't have time for complicated strategy," Siri said. "Let's just charge them."
They activated their lightsabers again and were on the droids before they could respond to the attack. They both leaped high in the air and then came down, slicing their lightsabers through the droids and splitting them in half. As the third droid kept up blaster fire, it retreated to the console desk, no doubt to raise an alarm. Anakin cut down the droid while Siri whirled and buried her shaft in the console communication panel. It sizzled and smoked.
"We'd better hurry now," Siri said.
She led the way to an exit following a little-used passageway. "This is Krayn's private escape route," she told Anakin. "It leads to his landing platform, and it's only a short distance from there to Aga Culpa. Krayn insisted that Culpa enjoy the comfort of the complex, but actually he just wanted to keep an eye on him."
Anakin followed Siri to Krayn's landing platform and then to another walkway that led to another quadrant of the complex. Siri accessed the door and walked in.
They found Aga Culpa sitting in front of a holographic game.
"Busy as usual, I see," Siri said, striding in and shutting off the game.
Aga Culpa looked up. The expression on his face was such an odd mixture of outrage, embarrassment, and apprehension that Anakin was almost tempted to laugh. Culpa was a thin humanoid male with a slack-muscled body that he clothed in skintight tech fabric. He wore a tiny matching cap on his bald head.