The man nodded warily.
"It most likely would not please your superiors if the factory was shut down under your watch."
"You have the authority to do that?"
Dooku shrugged. "Child labor. Dangerous conditions. I see grease pools on the floor, toxic compounds left open to the air… There are a dozen violations I can see without even turning my head."
"What do you want? Money? We pay our bribes, but I have an emergency stash."
"As I said, merely information. Who owns the factory?" Dooku asked.
"I just send in reports. I don't know anything — "
"Who do you send reports to?" Dooku was getting impatient. He fixed his gaze on the manager.
"A company… I send them to a company… The name of it is Caravan."
Caravan. The name of the holographic cruiser Lorian had designed. He had gone to sleep dreaming of the places he would travel in it.
That was all Dooku needed to know. He reflected on how smart and simple the scheme was. Behind the screen of a company, Lorian cut corners on security, then exploited his knowledge of a ship's vulnerability in order to attack it.
He heard a rustle behind him and turned to see Eero threading his way through the machinery toward them.
"Great. Another inspector," the manager muttered.
"I had to come," Eero said. "I followed you here — onto the transport and now to this facility. I can't bear to hear that the firm I hired to protect Senator Annon ended up being the reason he was kidnapped.
I've got to help you catch the pirate and free the Senator. It's the only way."
Eero was sweaty and pale. "You look as though you need to lie down,"
Dooku said. Clearly, his old friend had gone to great lengths to follow them. Dooku admired his tenacity — and was suspicious of it as well.
Eero shook his head. "I've found a factory worker here who is willing to talk," he said. "He says the pirate makes regular visits here. He might know where his hideout is."
The manager had faded back, anxious to disappear. "Let's talk to the worker," Dooku said.
He and Qui-Gon followed Eero through the aisles. No one looked at them as they walked. No doubt the workers had been punished for lagging behind, because they worked doggedly, without raising their heads.
Eero stopped suddenly and looked around. "Where did he go? He was right here." Craning his neck, he took a few steps and disappeared around a large bank of machines.
Dooku felt the rush of the Force as it warned him. He reached for his lightsaber. Qui-Gon was only a fraction of a second behind him.
Colicoid Eradicator droids wheeled around a corner and headed for them, blasters at the ready. Dooku held his lightsaber aloft.
"Master." Qui-Gon's voice was urgent. "We can't fight them. Look around."
Dooku surveyed the area around them. Child workers were everywhere here, no doubt because their smaller fingers were useful for work on sensors. If the Jedi engaged the Eradicators in battle, the blaster fire would spray the workers. They would have nowhere to hide.
Still, Dooku did not drop his lightsaber. He had no doubt that Lorian had arranged this. He knew that Jedi would not fight if it meant endangering innocent lives — especially children's lives. He would force Dooku to surrender. But he would never surrender to Lorian!
"Master." There was steel in Qui-Gon's voice. His lightsaber was already deactivated and at his side.
Dooku deactivated his lightsaber. He felt helpless rage take him over as the droids took them into custody. In his heart, he vowed revenge.
Chapter 12
Gray swirled before his eyes. Shadows that moved, that hurt as they moved, exploding inside his brain like pulses from a hot laser. Dooku tried to reach out and could not. He flexed and felt pressure at his wrists and ankles.
His vision cleared, and the shadows resolved themselves into objects.
A table. A chair. He saw that his wrists and ankles were encircled by stun cuffs.
He breathed slowly, accepting the pain in his head and telling his body that it was time to heal. He called on the Force to help him, and he felt the pain ease its grip.
They had been taken by the droids, and a paralyzing agent had been introduced through a small syringe. With a painful glance down at his utility belt, he saw that his lightsaber was gone.
Qui-Gon was beside him. They were lying on a cold stone floor, the laser cuffs binding them to durasteel hoops embedded in the stone.
Qui-Gon groaned and opened his eyes. His breath came out in a hiss.
"Breathe," Dooku said. "The pain will ease in a moment."
He watched as his Padawan closed his eyes again and took slow, heavy breaths. Color returned to his face. He opened his eyes. "Do you know where we are?"
"No idea." They could have been unconscious for hours and transported off Von-Alai. It didn't matter. Because Dooku had not contacted the Temple, no one had known they were on Von-Alai. There was no way to track them.
Lorian would not beat him. He vowed that it would not happen. Things didn't look good — he was bound and imprisoned at the moment — but Dooku would find his opportunity and he would use it.
"Perhaps Eero will find us," Qui-Gon said. "Or tell the Temple where we are."
"Eero is part of this," Dooku said. "He set us up."
"But he is your friend," Qui-Gon said. "And he was hurt in the invasion."
"So it seemed. Injuries can be faked. Eero was a good actor, nothing more. I was foolish not to think of it before. This should be a lesson to you, Padawan. Have as many friends as you want, but do not trust them. Believe me, I know what I am speaking of. The person who has imprisoned us was once in training with me."
"He is a Jedi?" Qui-Gon asked, shocked.
"He went through training but was dismissed. Never mind why. We were friends once. I am beginning to suspect that he might hold some kind of grudge against me. So there is more going on here than you know."
"You mean you knew he was the space pirate?" Qui-Gon said no more but the words hung in the air. And you did not tell me?
"I recognized him as he left Senator Annon's ship." "And you think Eero is in league with him?"