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"I have a video recording I think you should all look at," Obi-Wan said without preamble, moving towards the table and holding out a data-chip to the queen.
Padme took it, then slid it into the data-reader, and a moment later the video began to play in the holographic screen set into the center of the table. It showed what looked like a common street way, leading into what looked like one of the smaller landing areas, which none of the watchers recognized offhand.
Obi-Wan explained. "This came from Jan-gwa. This particular video is from about seven hours before the liberation of the planet."
"Odd timing," said Piell, frowning thoughtfully. "Isn't that when your insertion occurred?"
Both Obi-Wan and Padme nodded, and the group continued to watch.
The scene shifted to a video from another camera set into the landing area on a kind of tripod from a nearby rooftop. "This is from a security camera which was turned around by police to cover the landing areas to help in a black market sting."
Padme scowled at that, unhappy that her planet had any kind of criminal underground, and "Palpatine" carefully stopped himself from rolling his eyes. The girl is just too naïve for words at times.
The ship on the screen was not one of the large Lucrehulks. It was a somewhat smaller medium-sized freighter, which the Trade Federation used on their shorter and less important routes when they knew they weren't going to run into any violence. Around it stood seven droid soldiers, all standing idly as the video began.
Fast forwarding the video showed the arrival of a Neimoidian on one of their hover chairs, who flew up into the ship, followed by several hundred more droids. These stood in a long line, and soon from the outer edge of the video recording came a mass of humanity. It was hard to make out individual faces through the video recording, of course, but there were a lot of them.
"I counted over 450 faces on this one trip alone. And there were nine other trips just like this," Obi-Wan said grimly. "Worse, I stopped in and looked over the flight data from the few space sensors and the Lucrehulks we captured. That same ship was recorded by a few of the Lucrehulks as coming and going from the Naboo system dozens of times during the occupation."
"Damn those Trade Federation bastards!" Padme shouted suddenly, storming to her feet her hands slamming down on the table as she marched around hurling out invective like a sailor, moving so fast she nearly tripped a few times over her robes in her anger. Boss Nass was also growling, though he was much less emotionally connected to this issue than the Queen was.
The two Jedi simply watched, switching their attention between the Queen and the Chancellor as the Queen wound down. Sitting down once more she glared at all of them and even a few of her maids in the room, demanding their input. "They've sold my people into slavery. How can we get them back?"
"Now I wish I could stay longer," Palpatine said sadly. "Surely my added weight to your investigation would help matters along."
"I doubt it, Chancellor" said Obi-Wan, sighing faintly. "Unless we can get a close-up of that particular Trade Federation captain, we have no leads just yet."
Padme growled, but nodded agreement. "I will, however, hold the Lucrehulks and start questioning our prisoners. You may still take Gunray as has already been discussed, but I will not release either the Lucrehulks or most of our prisoners to the Republic or anyone else until my people are returned."
"A perfectly understandable position given the severity of this incident," Palpatine said gravely, while inwardly amused with the amount of vitriol the young girl had been able to put into her voice as well as her mastery of invective. My word, I don't think she repeated herself even once in that rant.
"Obi-Wan, stay with Padme. Help her is much as you can to get this investigation started. I will walk the Chancellor to his quarters and then start questioning the prisoners," Piell said, standing up.
Boss Nass also stood up, making for the door. The three of them exited the room silently as Padme and Obi-Wan bent to their work, getting in touch with various police forces and starting the ball rolling on widening the search for more video evidence of the abductions, as well as going through the databases they had captured from the Lucrehulks to see if they could figure out who owned that ship.
After bidding Boss Nass farewell, the Jedi Master and chancellor were silent for a time as they walked, and then Palpatine sighed faintly. "A new Queen, yet she has handled more turmoil than anything her predecessor ever faced with a poise and vigor that would surprise me in someone twice her experience."
"I did not ever meet the old king of this planet. Was he a competent ruler?" Piell asked.
"No, not overmuch, though I never got along with him. I do not know how he was when he first began his reign, but when I knew him he was a very corrupt individual, and almost but not quite a despot. Indeed, he would have been a despot if the position of king were powerful enough to allow it. He did, however, do away with one of the main blocks to that assumption of power, making his position for life rather than one where you had to be elected to it every five years. I was quite pleased that the Queen put that law back in place the moment she took office. But was there something specific you wanted to speak to be about, Master Piell?"
"I will continue to try to get Padme to release those ships to the Republic. You are correct in that it sets a bad precedent for a single system polity to have such a powerful mobile military. However, I wanted to ask about Nute Gunray's trial, and that of his fellows."
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