***
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."
Toom tried to keep from celebrating. The offer was twice what Patch Bruit had paid. "You'll have to go to two hundred thousand."
Caba'Zan shook his hairless head. "We can go as high as one fiftyif you can guarantee results."
"Done," Toom said. "When we see that the credits have been transferred, we'll make the necessary arrangements."
Caba'Zan looked dubious. "You're certain about the reentry coordinates for LL's ships, and the time of their decanting at Eriadu?"
"Maybe we should go over that one more time," Toom said.
"You said Rimma 18, at 1300 Eriadu localunless something has changed."
"Only for the better," Toom said reassuringly. "Only for the better."
"And you'll make it look like an accident."
"That's probably the best way of handling it, don't you think?"
"We don't want InterGalactic implicated." "We'll make certain."
Toom deactivated the holoprojector and sat back, clamping his huge hands behind his head.
"Do you think they know about LL's hiring us?" his confederate asked in obvious incredulity.
"It didn't sound that way to me."
"InterGalactic is offering three times as much as Lommite. Are we going to return Bruit's money?"
Toom sat forward with determination. "I don't see any reason for that. We just have to make sure we can execute both contracts." He grinned broadly. "I have to admit that this appeals to my sense of unfair play."
"You mean"
"Exactly. We sabotage everyone's ships."
***
Eriadu was an up-and-coming world in the outlying star systems. Situated close to the intersection of the Rimma Trade Route and the Hydian Way, Eriadu demonstrated a fierce devotion to industry, in the hope of achieving its goal of becoming the most important planet in the sector. To that end Eriadu had even developed a small shipbuilding enterprise, owned and operated by distant cousins of Supreme Chancellor Valorum, who chaired the Galactic Senate on Coruscant.
Eriadu's orbital facilities paled in comparison to similar ones at Corellia and Kuat, but among the smaller shipyards, Eriadu's were second only to those at Sluis Van, rimward and just off the principal trade routes.
Eriadu's lieutenant governor had done much to facilitate the burgeoning partnership between Eriadu and Dorvalla, emphasizing the senselessness of Eriadu's importing lommite from the Inner Rim when Dorvalla was practically a celestial neighbor. The quantities of ore required by Eriadu Manufacturing and Valorum Shipping were such that neither LL nor InterGal could have filled the orders on their own, but Lieutenant Governor Tarkin saw no dilemma in that. He insisted that he hadn't set things up as a contest, but there was no denying that it was anything but. Tarkin was even on record as saying that the company awarded the lucrative contract would probably be able to effect a financial takeover of the loser.
Tarkin had arranged for one of Eriadu's orbital habitats to host a ceremony to endorse the potential partnership, with all the cardinal players present: Jurnel Arrant and his counterpart at InterGalactic, the executive officers of Eriadu Manufacturing and Valorum Shipping, a plethora of business personnel who stood to gain from the new partnership, and, of course, Tarkin himself, representing Eriadu's political interests.
Sporting the finest in robes and tunics, everyone was gathered on the esplanade level of the orbital facility, awaiting the arrival of the ore barges LL and InterGal had dispatched. The separate flotillas were scheduled to arrive within an hour of each other, local time.
"I'm certain that this will be an auspicious day for all of us," the lieutenant governor was telling Arrant and the head of Eriadu Manufacturing. Tarkin was a slight man, with a quick mind and an even quicker temper. He stood as rigidly as a military commander, and his blue eyes held neither humor nor empathy.
"Tell me, Arrant," the manufacturing executive said, "do you foresee a time when Lommite Limited, on its own, could supply enough ore to meet the demands we're projecting for the near future?"