End Game Read Online Free Page A

could take full control of the planet, while making it seem as if the Trade Federation were responsible.”
    She paused, then added: “Palpatine double-crossed me, even after I allowed his agent, Pestage, to get away with the murder of more than a dozen pro-Gungan Naboo.” She gestured broadly. “Instead of being taken into the fold, I end up here, in humiliated self-exile for failing to save Veruna’s life.”
    Maul knew something about humiliation. But Magneta had gone too far in airing her grievances, however justified. Palpatine could not be suspected of being tied to the Neimoidians or to the invasion of Naboo.
    Maul heard Magneta’s bodyguard move, and Magneta, too—going for a hold-out blaster concealed beneath her apron. Maul was also aware that several field workers were gathered just outside the door, waiting to spring an ambush.
    Snarling, he whirled, moving faster than human eyes could follow, breaking Magneta’s neck with the edge of his hand, then spinning again to send his stiffened right foot into the chest of the bodyguard as he rushed into the room. A hail of blaster bolts came through the front door.
    Dodging them, Maul ran across the room and dived headfirst through a window, somersaulting in midair so that he hit the ground on his feet, now centered among his astonished opponents.
    Growling, he clenched his bare hands and set on them, killing one after another.

    Battle droids stationed at the perimeter of Detention Camp Six, outside Moenia, brandished their blaster rifles as Maul sped into their midst on the speeder bike. He was a split second from cutting them to pieces when their recognition programs kicked in and they assumed postures of salute.
    “Welcome, Commander Maul,” their officer intoned. “What are your orders?” Shoving past them, Maul crossed a footbridge that spanned a foul-smelling trench and entered a compound of hastily erected dormitories and flat-roofed dining halls. The area had been recently deforested, and Naboo’s sun beat down on the muddy ground. The relocated population of nearby Moenia was largely made up of artists, merchants, and Gungan sympathizers. Maul supposed that they were more accustomed to simple living than their counterparts in cosmopolitan Theed, who had never known privation, but they were an unhappy lot just the same. A droid administrator found the name Leika among the list of detainees, and a security droid escorted Maul to a dormitory the Bothan surveyor shared with twenty Naboo actors, a Rodian wilderness guide, and two Bith musicians.
    A broad-nosed and bearded being of medium height, Leika went rigid with fright on seeing Maul enter the room and made straight for the cot he shared with one of the Naboo.
    Maul stood akimbo at the foot of the cot. “Gather your belongings and follow me outside.”
    “I—”
    “Now!”
    Over his hirsute shoulders the Bothan slung two small backpacks and hurried after Maul, who ushered him into an unoccupied storage building and closed the door behind them.

    “I didn’t mean to be a bother to the viceroy,” Leika said in apology. “I was merely requesting permission to leave Naboo—”
    “That doesn’t concern me.”
    The Bothan frowned in confusion. “You are the Neimoidians’ executioner, are you not?”
    “That depends on how much information you can provide regarding the location of the Gungan cities,” Maul said.
    Leika’s eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed with clear purpose. “If you can get me off Naboo, I’ll provide whatever information you require.”
    Maul glanced at the backpacks. “First show me what you have, then I’ll give thought to your predicament.”
    The Bothan dug into the smaller of the packs and fished out a projection crystal, which he inserted into a reader and set atop a storage container. Activated, the reader projected a 3-D map of Naboo’s swamplands and lakes.
    “It took me more than a year to assemble these data,” Leika said. “I should have abandoned