[SD.net EU Database] Cloak of Deception

[Balrog]

Mini-Review: This was actually a good read, though not surprising considering it was written by Luceno. Mostly political intrigue with some action sprinkled in, the characterization was good and the plot well-written. This one is definitely a 'buy' SW book.

Cloak of Deception (Hardcover)
Dorvalla

The outlying planet's principle commodity was lommite ore, a major component in the production of transparisteel viewports and starfighter canopies.

Misc.: As noted, one of the materials used for transparisteel.

The navigator was similarly attired in robes and headpiece, though his floor-length mantle was solid black and of simpler design. He communicated with the devices that encircled the shell-like pilot's chair by means of data readout goggles that cupped his eyes and a disk-shaped comlink that hid his mouth.

Androids and Computers: Assisted means of interfacing with computers. And explains why the Neimoidian pilot in TPM was so funny-looking.

Dofine hated having to suffer aliens aboard his bridge, but he was compelled to do so as an accommodation to the lesser shipping concerns that had allied with the Trade Federation; small companies like Viraxo Shipping, and powerful shipbuilders like TaggeCo and Hoersch-Kessel.

Culture: Existence of non-Neimoidians among Trade Federation ranks, while xenophobia among Neimoidians is overcome only by their need to fulfill alliance obligations.

The majority of the droids that comprised the Revenue's security force were simply appendages of the freighter's central control computer, but a few had been equipped with a small measure of intelligence.

Androids and Computers: Pretty self-evident.

Looking up, he had a glimpse of the armed force that had infiltrated the freighter: a dozen or so bipedal flesh and bloods, sheathed in mimetic suits and black body armor, their faces hidden behind rebreather masks, whose oxygen recyclers resembled fangs.

Ground Combat: 'Mimetic suits' affordable enough for mercenaries.

"Where is our closest reinforcement?"
"One star system distant," the navigator said. "The Acquisitor. More heavily armed than the Revenue."

Propulsion: The events of the boarding of the Revenue take place over a matter of hours before reinforcements arrive. Even if the next star system was only 1ly away, these are speeds well into the range of thousands of times faster than light.
Naval Weapons: Even among Lucrehulk-class freighters there are differences in armaments.

Protected by camouflage suits and matte-black armorply, and sporting gripsole deckboots and combat goggles, they emerged from behind the battering ram that had afforded them an element of surprise, firing state-of-the-art assault rifles and shoulder-slung field disruptors.

Ground Combat: Weapons load-out of the mercenaries.

"Move out. We'll rendezvous at the starboard turbolifts. Set your suits to pulse - that ought to confuse the droids - and use the concussion grenades sparingly. And remember to monitor your oxygen levels."

Ground Combat: What "pulse" mode does is never specified, but is effective against droids. Also noted is use of concussion grenades.

In return for having been awarded what amounted to exclusive rights to trade in the outlying star systems, the Trade Federation had pledged to the Galactic Senate on Coruscant that it would content itself with remaining a mercantile power, and refrain from becoming a naval power through the accumulation of war machines. However, the further the giant ships traveled from the Core, the more often they fell victim to attacks by pirate, privateers, and terrorist groups like the Nebula Front, whose broad membership had grievances not only with the Trade Federation, but also with distant Coruscant itself.

As a result, the senate had granted permission for the freighters to be equipped with weapons of defense, to safeguard them in the unpoliced systems strewn between the major trade routes and hyperlanes. But that had only forced the raiders to upgrade their armaments and, in turn, prepared the way for periodic strengthenings of Trade Federation defenses.

Politics and Government: The arming of ships for major powers like the TF requires Senate permission. Also interesting that even with their vast resources the Feds are still considered only a mercantile power.

Thus the Trade Federation had been forced to invest in bigger and better shield generators, thicker armor plating, and, ultimately, in squadrons of starfighters. But starfighter allotments were subject to senate sanction, and freighters like the Revenue frequently found themselves defenseless against fighter craft piloted by seasoned raiders.

Politics and Government: More restrictions on Fed armament, probably why some vessels are more heavily armed than others.

In the starboard hanger arm, Cohl's team had barely made it through the bulkhead door when every device in zone three conspired to prevent them from getting one meter closer to the acceleration compensator that connected the centersphere to its embracing arms.

Overhead cranes threw grappling claws at them; towering derricks toppled in their path; binary loadlifters dogged them like mechanical nightmares; and oxygen levels plummeted. Even worker droids joined the fray, brandishing fusioncutters and power calibrators like they were flame projectors and vibroblades.

[/quote]
Androids and Computers: Defense measures taken by the central computer against boarders.

Cohl's band of six hurried in behind a rolling cloud of smoke, their mimetic suits allowing them to blend even with the burnished bulkheads of the bridge.

Ground Combat: Mimetic suit capabilities.

Cohl leaned toward him. "You're carrying two billion in aurodium ingots."
Dofine stiffened under Cohl's gaze. "You - you must be mistaken, Captain. The Revenue is carrying ore."
Cohl raised himself to his considerable height. "I'll say it once more. You're carrying aurodium ingots - bribes proffered by Outer Rim worlds to ensure the continued blessing of the Trade Federation."

Economics: Use of valuable materials as currency in the Outer Rim is unsurprising, considering how Republic credits are of no use in most places.

Without taking his eyes from Dofine, Cohl pointed to his Rodian comrade. "Boiny, there, is affixing a thermal detonator to the Revenue's fuel-drive control system. As I understand it, the device will trigger an explosion large enough to destroy your ship in...Boiny?"

"Sixty minutes, Captain," Boiny shouted, holding aloft a metallic sphere the size of a stinkmelon.

Ground Combat: Thermal detonators powerful enough to affect spaceship systems are still quite portable (and it's on a timer to go off in an hour, not that it'll take an hour for the ship to blow up, in case there's some confusion).

Midlevel in the freighter's centersphere, Cohl, Rella, Boiny and the rest of Cohl's band gazed wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the cache of aurodium ingots, which had been removed from the Revenue's security cabin and piled - lovingly - atop a repulsorsled. Hypnotic in their beauty, the ingots glowed with a constantly shifting inner light that summoned all colors of the rainbow.

Economics: The properties of valuable aurodium.

Obi-Wan glanced at the heads-up display, but found no pulsing bezel.
"Master, I've lost them."

"Focus on where you want to go, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said in a calm voice. "Forget the display screens, and let the Force guide you."

Obi-Wan closed his eyes for a moment, then, following his instincts, adjusted their course. Glancing at the display, he saw Cohl's pod ahead of them, off to starboard.

The Force: Pretty self-evident.

With its sterile surfaces, sunken control stations, and circular plasma screens that shone like aquariums, the bridge of the Acquisitor was identical to that of her sister ship, save that it had a full complement of bridge officers, and all eight were Neimoidians.

Culture: Again, Neimoidian xenophobia is apparent in the staffing of their better-armed Lucrehulks.

The stamp of the Nebula Front was all over the crippled Revenue, in the form of blistered durasteel, erose penetrations in the hull, pieces of twisted superstructure. Recently strengthened and overlapping deflector shields had prevented the terrorists from inflicting similar damage to the Acquisitor. More, the Acquisitor carried twice the usual number of droid-piloted craft.

Shields and Forcefields: The difference in protection between the two versions of Lucrehulks.

"Can you calculate the shape of the freighter's explosion?"

Boiny and Rella swapped troubled glances. "To a certain extent," the Rodian said in a tentative voice.

"Do it. Then give me your best estimate of the blast radius and the extent of the debris cloud."

Boiny swallowed hard. "Even my best estimate is going to be plus or minus a couple of hundred kilometers, Captain."

Power: Somewhat vague, but the sheer size of the freighter's expected explosion, with measurements in the hundreds of kilometers, suggests a stellar power source.

Qui-Gon watched the shuttle angle down toward the center of the circle that was the Revenue. Stretching out with his feelings, he did not like what he found.

"Abort the pursuit, Obi-Wan," he said suddenly. "Quickly!"

Obi-Wan fed full power to the Lancet's drives and pulled the yoke sharply toward him. At full boost, the ship climbed in a long loop away from the freighter.

Suddenly, the Revenu exploded. In the Lancet's cockpit, it was as if someone had draped a bright white curtain over the canopy. The small craft received a punch in the tail that sent it rocking forward, riding the crest of the detonation wave. Great hunks of molten durasteel streaked like comets to all sides. The Lancet shook to the breaking point, systems shorting out with showers of sparks, and displays showing nothing but noise before they darkened.

Glancing over his shoulder, Obi-Wan watched the Revenue burst into section, the massive hanger arms making brief, fist-first contact, then rolling off to opposite sides, as two loosed crescents. The centersphere and bridge tower spun away from the destroyed acceleration compensator stalk and what was left of the ship's trio of gaping exhaust ports.

Power: The final effects of the sabotaged Lucrehulk drive system.

Qui-Gon took a long moment to respond. "What are the sixth and seventh Rules of Engagement, Padawan?"
Obi-Wan tried to recall them. "The sixth is, Understand the dark and light in all things."
"That is the fifth rule."
Obi-Wan thought again. "Exercise caution, even in trivial matters."
"That is the eight."
"Learn to see accurately."
"Yes," Qui-Gon said, "that is the sixth. And the seventh?"
Obi-Wan shook his head. "I'm sorry Master. I cannot recall it."
"Open your eyes to what is not evident."
Obi-Wan considered it. "Then this isn't the end of it."
"Hardly, young Padawan. I sense instead a menacing beginning."

Misc.: Jedi Rules of Engagement.

Coruscant

Aging with distinction, Valorum had a receding cap of shorn silver hair, pouches under piercing blue eyes, and dark, bushy brows. His stern features and deep voice belied a compassionate spirit and questing intellect. But as the latest in the line of a political dynasty that stretched back thousands of years - a dynasty many thought weakened by its uncommon longevity - he had never been fully successful at overcoming an innate patrician aloofness.

Politics and Government: Valorum's family had been in politics since at least the Ruusan Reformation.

A sectorial senator representing the outlying world of Naboo, along with thirty-six other inhabited planets, Palpatine had earned a reputation for integrity and frankness that had set him high in the hearts of many of his senatorial peers.

Politics and Government: Republic Senators can represent many worlds, even if they're primarily known for representing one (i.e. "the Senator from Naboo" also accounts for three dozen other worlds).

Palpatine took a breath. "In exchange for their requests for intervention and additional defenses, the senate would be in a position to demand that all trade in the outlying systems would henceforth be subject to Republic taxation."

Valorum sat back in his chair, clearly disappointed. "We've been through this before, Senator. You and I both know that a majority of the senate has no interest in what happens in the outer systems, much less in the free trade zones. But they do care what happens to the Trade Federation."

"Yes, because the shimmersilk pockets of many a senatorial robe are being lined with graft from the Neimoidians.

Politics and Government: The background the the whole taxation issue barely touched upon in TPM. And, you know, corruption in the Senate and all that.

"The Trade Federation has prospered by taking advantage of the very bureaucracy we've created. Grievances brought against the Federation languish in the courts, while commissions belabor each and every aspect. It's little wonder that Dorvalla and many worlds along the Rimma Trade Route support terrorist groups like the Nebula Front."

"But taxation isn't likely to solve anything. In fact, such a move could prompt the Trade Federation to abandon the outlying systems entirely, in favor of more lucrative markets closer to the Core."

"Thus depriving Coruscant and its neighbors of important outer system resources and luxury goods," Palaptine interjected, seemingly by rote. "Certainly the Neimoidians will see taxation as a betrayal, if for no other reason than the Trade Federation blazed many of the hyperspace routes that link the Core to the outlying systems. Regardless, this could be the opportunity many of us have waited for - the chance to exercise control over those very trade routes."

Valorum mulled it over briefly. "It could be political suicide."

"Oh, I'm well aware of that, Supreme Chancellor. Proponents of taxation would suffer merciless attacks from the Commerce Guild, the Techno Union, and the rest of the shipping conglomerates awarded franchises to operate in the free trade zones. But it is the appropriate measure."

Politics and Government: The question of taxation was no so much a simple matter of wanting more money, but exercising control over an area of space that had until that time been free from Republic influence.
Propulsion: The Trade Federation was responsible for mapping out hyperlanes between the Core and Rims.

Yoda and Qui-Gon had a long-standing relationship, but Yoda was one of those who sometimes took issue with Qui-Gon's focus on the living Force over the unifying Force. As Qui-Gon explained it, he was simply built that way. Even in lightsaber training, he rarely entered into a match with a strategy in mind. Instead he allowed himself to improvise, and to alter his technique according to the demands of the moment - even when the longer view might have helped him.

The Force: Simplified view of the difference between Living and Unifying Force outlooks (living in the moment vs. looking ahead) and Qui-Gon's combat style.

Qui-Gon foled his thick arms across his chest. "The Nebula Front speaks for many worlds in the Mid and Outer Rims, which contest the prohibitive practices and strong-arm tactics of the Trade Federation. Some of those worlds were originally colonized by species who fled the civilized repression of the Core. Fiercely independent, they wanted no part of the Republic. And yet, in order to trade, they are forced to do business with consortiums like the Federation. Worlds that have attempted to ship with other enterprises have found themselves cut off from trade entirely."

Culture: Some Mid and Outer Rimworlders are "rugged individualism" types; sounds like a libertarian dreamworld....

A small, humid world disdained by an aging sun, Neimoidia was a place to be avoided - even by Neimoidians. Instead of profiting from its relative proximity to self-reliant Corellia and industrialized Kuat, Neimoidia had actually suffered for its placement, having been passed over, time and again, by the fraternity of Core worlds. That heritage of being shunned had informed Neimoidian society.

Scorn had been imparted to the species a conviction that progress came to only those who proved themselves not merely capable but predatory. Reaching the top of the food chain required that the bodies of the weak be used as stepping-stones. Once the summit was attained, it was held by seizing whatever resources were available and prevent others from grabbing them.
...
Neimoidia's most able typically left home at an early age, opting for lives of itinerant trading aboard the vessels of the Trade Federation fleet. As a result, Neimoidia was scarcely populated by the weakest of the species, who tended to the planet's vast insect hives, fungus farms, and beetle hatcheries.

Culture: The cutthroat backstabbing attitude common among Neimoidians is given an origin.

The problem inherent in returning home was that one couldn't escape recalling - on some level of cellular memory - the seven formative years Neimoidians spent as puny, pale, wriggling grubs, in competition with every other grub for survival and the chance to mature into red-eyed, noseless, fish-lipped, and decidedly distrustful adults.

Alien Biology: Neimoidian childhood lasts for seven years
Culture: More emphasis on competition with Neimoidian society.

In a galaxy boasting millions of species and a thousand times as many worlds, cultural arts were never in short supply.

Size and Scope: Millions of species, billions of worlds, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

A bipedal species with large rounded craniums, lidless black eyes, receding noses, and baggy epidermal folds beneath their jaws, Bith were native to the outlying world of Clak'dor VII, and were known to percieve sounds as humans perceived colors.

Alien Biology: Bith eyes are more sensitive than human senses.

"Activate the balcony's noise cancellation feature, and I might be inclined to tell you," Palpatine said.

"Oh, do it, Taa," Toora enthused. "I so love intrigue."

Taa flipped a switch on the balcony railing, activating a containment field that effectively sealed the box from audio surveillance.

Communications: Anti-listening devices implanted in senatorial box seats at the opera.

"You are misreading me," Palpatine said firmly. "The Trade Federation needs to be brought under control. Valorum is correct to push for taxation, because the Trade Federation already has too much influence in the outlying sectors. Desperate to conduct trade with the Core, hundreds of outer systems have joined the Federation as signatory members, yielding their rights to individual representation in the senate. At the moment, the Neimoidians and their partners lack enough votes to block taxation. But in a year, in two years, they could have adequate backing to overrule the senate at every opportunity."

Size and Scope: The Trade Federation represents hundreds of star systems.

Boiny had even discovered the body of one of the Twi'leks who hadn'tmade it back to the rendezvous point, burned almost beyond recognition by blasterfire.

Ground Combat: Example of the destructiveness of blaster firepower.

Rella stared at him for a moment. "Are you scrambled, Cohl? We've been monitoring Judicial Department ships for the past four days, not to mention Dorvalla Space Corps corvettes."

Politics and Government: Planets like Dorvalla maintain their own defense fleets, in this case employing corvette-class ships.

The shuttle was leveling off its bone-rattling ride down the well when a blunt-nose ship tore past to port, intent on making its presence known.

"Who was that?" Rella asked, reflexively ducking as the sonic boom of the ship's passing overtook the shuttle.

"Dorvalla Space Corps," Boiny reported, his black orbs fixed on the authenticators. "Coming about for another pass."

Cohl swiveled his chair to the viewport to watch the ship's lightning-fast approach. It was a fixed-wing picket ship, single-piloted but packing dual laser cannons.

Propulsion: Spacefighters performing supersonic maneuvering in an atmosphere.

No sooner had the words left Cohl's mouth than an explosion ripped from the forest floor, catching the picket ship unawares. The pilot managed to evade the rolling fireball, but the damage had already been done. Engines slagged, the fighter listed to port and dropped like a stone.

A second picket ship roared overhead, just as the first was exploding. A third followed, angling directly for the base of the tor where Cohl and the others were concealed.

The picket poured fire at the tor, blowing boulder-size chunks of lommite from the cliff face.

Naval Weapons: The effect of fighter laser cannons, and a fighter being knocked out by the self-destruct of a shuttlecraft.

Proceeding briskly along one of the corridors, Senator Palpatine marveled at the fact that the senate had yet to commission and display sculptures of nonhumanoid configuration. Where some delegates were willing to dismiss the lack of nonhumanoid representation as a simple oversight, others viewed it as an outright slight. To still others, the decor was a matter of small concern, either way. But with nonhumanoid species dominate in the Mid and Outer Rims, and their delegations fast overwhelming the senate - to the secret dismay of many a Core World human delegate - changes were certainly in order.

Culture: Xenophobia, while not overt, is widespread and drawn along regional lines, explaining some of the conflict between the Core and Rimworlds.

"The free trade zones were originally created to foster exchange between the Core Worlds and the outlying systems of the Mid and Outer Rimes. At the time, it was thought that free and open trade would provide a benefit to all concerned. But those zones have since become a haven not only for smugglers and pirates, but also for shipping and trading cartels that have availed themselves of the liberties we ensured, by setting themselves up as entities of political and military leverage."

Economics: The origin of why the Mid and Outer Rims were considered "free trade zones."

Closer to the floor, encouragement came from the Wookie Senator Yarua, Tendau Bendon of Ithor, and Horox Ryyder, who represented thousands of world in the Raioballo sector.

Politics and Government: Self-evident, represented sectors can contain thousands of worlds, even if they send only one delegate.

Havac wasn't the human's real name, but rather his combat name. A former holo-documentarian, Havac had been an alien-rights activist during the Stark Hyperspace Conflict and had spent the past several years chronicling the various abuses of the Trade Federation. In fact, he had no stomach for violence, but he was sharp and had a talent for treachery.

He and Cindar weren't characteristic of the thousands of humans and nonhuman members of the Nebula Front. But they were standard issue in the organization's burgeoning militant wing. Now headquartered on the arid planet below, the Front had recruited from worlds up and down the Rimma Trade Route, from Sullust to Sluis Van, but only the Ancient Houses that ruled the Senex sector had granted them a base of operations.

Size and Scope: Nebula Front contains 'thousands' of members and operates all along the Rimma Trade Route.

Among the delegates who represented worlds of the outlying systems, [Palpatine's] reputation was particularly exalted, primarily because tiny Naboo was one of those worlds, all by itself at the edge of the Mid Rim with Malastare - home to Gran and Dugs - its only neighbor of significance.

Politics and Government: Part of the reason Palpatine represents 36 other worlds besides Naboo is because none of them are all that important.

"The Federation has thousands of freighters," Palpatine said.

Size and Scope: The number of Lucrehulk-class freighters the Feds own.

Because it resided in all life, the Force was in some sense concentrated on Coruscant. But one felt the Force differently there than on other worlds in their natural state, where the interconnectedness of life created subtle shifts and rhythms. If on many worlds the Force was a gentle murmur, on Coruscant it was a howl - a white noise of sentience.

The Force: The effect of trillions of people living on one world has its effects on the Force.

Qui-Gon stretched out with his feelings.

Beneath the current of anger and dissent, something else was in the air. Coruscant's usual how was charged with menace. He sensed danger - not the vague sort that might emanate from any gathering of this nature, but specific and targeted. He closed his eyes momentarily and allowed the Force to guide him.

He opened his eyes and found a Bith, standing at the leading edge of one gathering. The Force bade Qui-Gon look to his left, to two Rodians, lurking near the tall base of one of the statues. Closer to the senate's north exit stood two Twi'leks and a Bothan.

Qui-Gon raised his gaze to the ceaseless traffic flow above the plaza's north end. A green air taxi caught his eye. Disk-shaped and open-topped, with a semicircle of stabilizers below, it was no different from most of the other taxis that filled Coruscant's sky. But the fact that it was riding outside the defined corridor of the autonavigation lane told Qui-Gon that the pilot - another Rodian - knew the skylanes well enough to have been granted a free-travel permit.

Not far below the taxi, just at the rim of the plaza, hovered an eight-lobed repulsorlift platform, atop which sat Chancellor Valorum's personal shuttle.

Qui-Gon swung to Adi. "I sense a disturbance in the Force."

She nodded. "I feel it, Qui-Gon."

The Force: Qui-Gon and Adi single out the assassins in an angry crowd of demonstrators.

Qui-Gon prized a liquid-cable launcher from a pouch on his belt and fired as he ran. The hook bit deep into the underside of the taxi, and the monofilament cable began to unspool. Qui-Gon hooked onto the cable, thumbed the winding mechanism, and rode it skyward..."

Misc.: As explained...elsewhere, the liquid turns solid as it reacts to air and becomes a cable strong enough to, in this case, support the weight of a grown adult human.

Valorum looked pale and grim, but he was sitting up in bed, his right arm, from wrist to shoulder, encased in a soft tube filled with bacta. A transparent, gelatinous fluid produced by an insectoid species, bacta had the ability to promote rapid cell rejuvenation and healing, usually without scarring. Palpatine often felt that the wondrous substance was as key to the survival to the Republic as were the Jedi.

Medical Technology: How bacta works, and also small "localized" bacta tanks for specific injuries, rather then submerging in a full tank for stubbing one's toe.

"The senate will have to sanction Jedi involvement. Would you consider introducing the motion?"

Palpatine smiled with his eyes. "I would consider it a great honor, Supreme Chancellor."

Politics and Government: Pretty self-evident.

Her ardent pursuers were a trio of slender-bodied vessels, Coruscant red from stem to stern, with blunt bows, a trio of large, drum-shaped sublight thrusters, and multiple pairs of turbolaser batteries.

In the gunship's cramped bridge, Boiny studied the console's authenticator display. "Corellian space cruisers, Captain! Gaining fast!"

Naval Weapons: Versions of the cruiser seen in TPM can be armed with turbolasers for use by the Judicial Department.

Normally the Jedi were not asked to intervene in trade disputes, but the attempt on Valorum's life had had less to do with trade than with preserving law and order. Because the Jedi answered to the Supreme Chancellor and the Judicial Department, their assistance could now be solicited, and in that sense, the assassination attempt had been a blessing in disguise.

Politics and Government: The Jedi Order is part of the government in a quasi-judicial role.

"The Senex is an autonomous sector, ruled by a line of fiercely self-reliant royal houses. The Republic respects the independence of the Senex worlds, and has no interest in meddling in the affairs of those worlds...
...
Yoda frowned. "Breeders of slaves, they are. No better than those who make up the Nebula Front.

Valorum acknowledged it with a fatigued sigh. "It's true. Slavery is what has prevented the Senex sector from trading openly with the Republic. The possibility of trade is what prompts their willingness to help us.

Windu's eyebrows beetled. "What help are the Senex Houses offering?"

"Logistical support. Owing to a nearby gravitic sink, as well as to space mines sown by the Nebula Front, Asmeru is not easily approachable. House Vandron has offered to guide us in."

Politics and Government: An example of an independent sector in the Outer Rim, and why it's remained that way.
Propulsion: Stellar events are in part responsible for some of the restrictions to hyperspace travel.

The Outlying Systems

Edging into jaded sunlight around the curve of a tiny moon, two diplomatic cruisers closed on a pale-brown Asmeru. In front and to either side of the crimson Corellian ships flew a dark escort of Tikiar fighters, resembling beaked and taloned predatory birds. Lagging behind, still in the shadow of the moon, came a pair of colossal dreadnaughts with fanged bows and elegantly finned sterns, prickly with weapons and bearing the royal crest of House Vandron.

Light-years distant, etched into the star-strewn backdrop, loomed an immense spiral of light, attenuating toward a center of utter blackness.

Politics and Government: The Senex Houses maintain fleets of starfighters and dreadnaughts.
Propulsion: Even light-years away, a black hole remains a navigational hazard to hyperspace travel.

He smiled thinly. "Be that as it may, we trust that you will not judge the Senex sector by what you are likely to encounter on Asmeru. The planet once supported great cities and grand palaces, but all those fell victim to sudden climatic change. The current population is comprised of Ossan slaves created on the Vandron world of Karfeddion, but bannished here owning to defects of one sort or another. Bred for agricultural work, the slaves have managed to make a life for themselves, though we doubt you will find them especially welcoming."

Medical Technology: The planet has been turned into a dumping ground for their defective bioengineered slaves, which given the fact that there are at least hundreds points to a large number of successful breedings.

She and the copilot began to struggle with the controls. Qui-Gon pressed his face to the cool transparisteel viewport. A rectangular opening had appeared in the inclined face of one of the plaza pyramids, revealing the telltale grid of a tractor beam.

"It's a commercial array," Qui-Gon said. "Can we break away?"

"We can try," the pilot said.

"We could also end up blowing out the sublight drives," Obi-Wan thought to point out.

Tractor Beams: Versions capable of bringing down Republic cruisers are commercially available, and fighting against a tractor beam can result in serious damage to a craft's engines.

All but immune to the effects of the tractor beam because of its small size, the pod rocketed ahead of the decelerating cruiser, its self-contained jets flaring, but its course dictated by the Prominence's captain.

Tractor Beams: The first time, at least for myself, where an object can be too small for a tractor beam to lock on.

At the same instant, the ion cannon opened fire.

Energy pulsed from the weapon's reciprocating barrels, finding soft spots int he belly of the ship. Charges leapt about the deflector shield, forking like lightning, then encasing the ship in a scintillating web of blue light.

All shipboard systems failed.

Silence reigned for a split second, then sporadic power returned.

Naval Weapons: Some ion cannons do not completely disable a ship permanently, as seen by some systems turning back on after the ship-wide failure.

The being's thick skin was certainly impervious to wind, snow, or high-altitude solar radiation. Its four hands and bare feet were configured for digging and scooping, and its back was built for carrying loads. Eyes clearly capable of seeing in the dark were prominent in a mere suggestion of a face, lacking ears or nose, with a mouth barely suited to speech.

Held in the grip of the two Jedi, the biped began to babble nervously in an unknown language.

Depa got to her feet. "He speaks the traders tongue of the Senex sector Houses," she said.

Yaddle nodded. "One of their allegedly flawed bioengineered slaves, he is."

Medical Technology: An example of the 'defective' slaves.

Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Ki-Adi-Mundi stood with their backs pressed to one another, deflecting a hail of blaster bolts the terrorists poured into the plaza. The blades of their lightsabers...moved faster than the eye could follow, blazing bright as novas as they sent the bolts caroming from one the ancient stone walls and ricocheting off the sloping faces of the pyramids.

The Force: Given the vagueness of the description, possible use of Force Speed in the use of deflecting blaster bolts.

Everything I feel about the situation tells me that Yaddle and the others are alive."

"Alive, she is," Yoda said. "The others, too. But in grave danger, they are."
...
"Too little thought, we gave this," Yoda said pensively. "Unrevealed forces at work." He glanced at Windu. "Clouded, this is. Muddled by motives difficult to perceive."

The Force: Possible precursor to the shroud of the dark side that comes in later?

A world of rugged landmasses and slender seas, slate-gray Eriadu had long sought to be the Coruscant of the Outer Rim. That goal had been furthered by dint of Eriadu's choice location in the heart of the Seswenna sector, at the intersection of the Rimma Trade Route and the Hydian Way. But where Coruscant had confined most of its factories and foundries to specific areas, industry held sway over all Eriadu, fouling air, land, and sea with unrelenting outpourings of toxic by-products. Worse, while the planet was prosperous compared to its neighbors, Eriadu's legislators remained more interested in unbridled growth than in investing in the atmosphere scrubbers, aquifer purifiers, and waste disposal systems that made Coruscant livable.

Misc.: Technology to clean up the environment is available to those with the wealth and concern to use it, but hey, screw the environment, all hail the mighty dol- um, credit!

Eriadu

From the rear of the energy-shielded, repulsorlift limousine that had swept him past crowds of demonstrators at Eriadu spaceport, Valorum surmised that the city had been a scenic wonder, once upon a time.

Shields and Forcefields: The Supreme Chancellor is afforded 'supreme' protection when out an about.

The din of voices and vehicles was nearly enough to overwhelm the tinted, sound-cancellation windows of his limousine...Citizens were allowed to watch from the narrow sidewalks, but anyone caught peering from an upper-story window or overhead walkway risked being shot by judicial snipers stationed on the rooftops and riding in speeders above the Coruscant delegation hovercade.

Misc.: More on the level of security afforded to Valorum.

"I'm certain that [Valorum] is aware that anyone with privileged information about legislative proposals or construction contracts and the like is constrained by Statue 435, Substatue 1759 of the Amended Proprieties Bill, to refrain from profiting by such knowledge, by investment or other means."

Politics and Government: Legalese for 'insider trading bad!'

"Cohl is here somewhere. I can feel him."

The three of them glanced around, reaching out with the Force.

"There is too much disturbance just now, it's difficult to focus on any one thing," Adi said after a long moment.

The Force: Another precursor to the shroud of the dark side, or possibly a localize effect created by Palpatine.

Gracus gave him a sidelong glance. "King Veruna is undecided, you mean to say."

"His troubles are on the rise, to be sure. Our regent is too enmeshed in scandal to give much thought to what lies ahead for Naboo. He forgets that our world relies on the Trade Federation for much of its industrial imports, in addition to some of its food. Naboo risks much, if not more than any other outlying system in actively opposing the Trade Federation. It was only after much discussion and debate that I convinced King Veruna of the importance of my attending this summit."

Economics: Naboo is an net importer, and thus reliant on the Trade Federation for much of what it needs.

The directorate's other six, shielded by Eriadu security agents, led the Trade Federation cortege as they neared the terminal. At the head of the line walked the Federation's four human directors - two from Kuat, one from Balmorra, and the other from Filve. And behind them came the directorate's Gran and Sullustan members, all wearing costly tunics and caplets, though a far cry from the extravagant ones affected by Gunray and Dod.

Politics and Government: The Trade Federation Directorate has equal representation, despite the overrepresentation of Neimoidians in the rest of the organization.

The Gotal was the only one who hadn't reholstered his weapon. "I can't work with a droid," he said angrily. "Their energy waves overload my senses."

Alien Species: Gotals are highly sensitive to machines, even seemingly benign ones like battle droids.

"If you were close to dying, I might have been able to do that." He tugged Cohl's ragged shirt aside to expose the thick armorply garment beneath. "The vest absorbed most of the charge, but you have internal injuries." He glanced at Cohl's tattered left thigh, then leaned over to examine his forehead. "I did the best I could with your other wounds."

Cohl raised his hand to his head. The bolt from Rella's blaster had burned away all the hair on the right side of his head and left a wound every bit as deep and ragged as the one that trenched Boiny's skull.

Ground Combat. Futher effects of blaster fire, both on protected and unprotected targets.

"An emergency medkit in a cabinet by the door. The bacta patches are a couple of months expired, but the probably have enough potency to sustain us for awhile."

Cohl passed the back of his hand under his nose, then took a stuttering breath. "Your head..."

"Fractured, as well as burned. But I gave myself a healthy measure of the pain blockers I fed you."

Medical Technology: Bacta can also come in patches, though obviously can expire after awhile, and are part of common medkits.

The uniformed human commander of the security detail entered from a dimly lighted corridor. Behind him moved two green-scaled and chintin-sheathed insectoid bipeds, with large black eyes, short ridged snouts, and toothless mouths.

Qui-Gon saw Obi-Wan's jaw go slack.

"Verpine," he explained. "Organs in the chest enable the species to communicate by means of radio waves. But they can also speak and understand Basic, with assistance of translator devices. Their keen senses make them brilliant at detail work."

Alien Species: The abilities of Verpine are noted.

"Could be, sir. Gotals have a tendency to shed when they're taken by surprise or frightened."

Alien Species: Another feature of Gotals, somewhat embarrassing as it is.

Their mimetic suits allowed them to blend with the gray roof tiles, reddish bricks, and acid-rain-stained domes.

Ground Combat. More on the capability of mimetic suits to blend in.

At the same instant the speeder's terrain-following computer began to chirp repeated, indicating that it had matched the image. The computer's screen displayed the stored imaged superimposed on the roofscape directly below.

Androids and Computers: Self-evident.

Sensing something behind him, Qui-Gon whirled, but not quickly enough. A meter-long vibroblade secured to the fist of a nearly indiscernible assailant pierced the right side of his brown coat, just missing his ribs. Qui-Gon spun through a full turn, slashing diagonally with his lightsaber and halving the vibroblade.

The Force: Qui-Gon's abilities nearly fail him, possibly from the interference noted before.

Qui-Gon rushed in, grabbing a handful of the mimetic suit and tearing it from the man's prone body. Its circuitry interrupted, the suit failed and the wearer became visible.

Ground Combat: The limitations of mimetic suits to sustained damage.

Partway along, announcing themselves with a colorful banner, waited a hundred or so veterans of the Stark Hyperspace Conflict. A brief though bloody conflict that had erupted twelve years earlier, it had been fought largely on worlds where bacta was scarce or too expensive. Consequently, many of the veterans, human and alien alike, still showed gruesome scars, patches of horrible puckered or wrinkled flesh, and missing limbs and tails. Paralyzed as a result of disruptor fire or electromagnetic detonations, a few were confined to repulsorlift chairs and sleds.

Ground Combat: The types of injuries sustained in ground combat, and why it's always good to have bacta on hand.

Although on this occasion the image was so distinct, so free of the usual noise and static, that Gunray might have almost believed that Sidious was on Eriadu or some neighboring world, rather than concealed in whatever manner of fathomless den from which he worked his dark magic.

Communications: Distance can have an effect on the clarity of HoloNet transmissions.

Obi-Wan, who had been standing quietly throughout the exchange, noticed a familiar look come into Qui-Gon's eye. It was as if Qui-Gon's gaze was fixed on some invisible presence the living Force had highlighted.

"What is it, Master?" he asked quietly.

"I can feel him, Padawan."

"Havac?"

"Cohl."

The Force: The use of tracking individuals in the Force is possible, despite the earlier noted interference.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan regarded them through the Force, and understood that Cohl wasn't lying. Both he and the Rodian were seriously injured.

The Force: Using the Force to know when something is lying or not.

Qui-Gon unleashed his lightsaber. But the blaster bolts were delivered with such speed and precision that he was hard-pressed to deflect all of them. Two whizzed past his blade, grazing his left arm and right leg."

The Force: A Jedi's ability to deflect fire can be overwhelmed through sheer rate of fire.

The Supreme Court convened in closed session in the Galactic Courts of Justice Building, an enormous edifice of pointed arches, tall decorative spires, and elaborate statuary, located in the so-called Plains of Coruscant, not far from the Jedi Temple.

Valorum and his lawyers were seated at a long table opposite the twelve robed figures who comprised the judiciary council.

Politics and Government: The Supreme Court and its composition.

[JME2]

Mini-Review: This was actually a good read, though not surprising considering it was written by Luceno. Mostly political intrigue with some action sprinkled in, the characterization was good and the plot well-written. This one is definitely a 'buy' SW book.

Yeah, Cloak is definitely on my top 5 favorite EU novels; I've recommended it to anyone who haven't explored but the EU, but are curious or confused about the political hints dropped in TPM.

[Ender]

Good review, but you are still missing a bunch. Not a slight on you, but CoD is on my "must read" list simply because it contains so much information relevant to understanding things. For example you glossed over the fact that it shows Nemouidans are R strategists (considerable implications from that), the discussion of the effects of the destruction of the Revenue, Palpatine's involvement with the Nebula Front and what flows from that, and a great deal of information about the droids and war machines of the TF. I'll have to take my laptop home one of these trips and comb through my digital copy for more info.

[Balrog]

Well, some of the minor political details were left out, since I did not want to ruin the book too much; the ending was quite clever and should be enjoyed with an unspoiled mind. After all, we should be encouraging people to buy the good books and enjoy them.

As for some of the droid info, that as in my mind redundant since most of the information could be readily seen from just watching the movie (new security droids are folded up inside armored carrier, and deploy via special rack? no way! ). But then part of the reasons for these is that, if something from a source is left out you think is important, you can add it in later.