Cloak of Deception
	James Luceno
	2001
	33 Years Before The Battle of Yavin
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SPOILER ALERT: This Will Spoil The Plot of the Book!

Dofine, a Neimoidian commander, is taking financial advantage of the Dorvalla mines for money.  They are attacked by the Nebula Front, a terrorist group.

Captain Cohl, Rella, Boiny and a band of infiltrators enter the Neimoidian ship and take the bridge demanding the aurodium ingots that are on board.  They have a thermal detonator set to detonate in one hour. What no one knows is that two Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, have also made their way on board.

Cohl steals the cargo from the ship and departs unaware that the Jedi have placed a tracking device as well as a thermal detonator on his ship.  Cohl is forced to dump the stolen cargo just before the ship is destroyed.  In the process they also helped shake the Jedi from their trail.  The Federation ship explodes minutes later and Cohl and friends are considered destroyed.

Nute Gunray, another Neimoidian, thinks he can turn this defeat into a victory in the long term for the Trade Federation.

Back on Coruscant, Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum is worried about the many problems that are plaguing the Republic.  He is seeking the council of Senator Palpatine from Naboo.  Based on the recent attack, The Trade Federation has asked to be allowed to add more droid defenses.  Palpatine persuades Valorum to agree to their request in attempts to gain Republic control over some of their trade routes through taxation.

Qui-Gon reports to the Jedi Reconciliation Council that he has a contact in the Nebula Front that said a radical wing of the Front has hired terrorists like Cohl.  Qui-Gon reveals he thinks Cohl is still alive.

Gunray meets with other members of the Federation Council where he repeats his thought that a victory will rise from the loss of their ship.  The others are nervous about Gunray’s new partner that he meets only through hologram and known to them as Darth Sidious, The Dark Lord of the Sith.  Sidious reveals that the plan is to win sympathy in the Senate for the Trade Federation by telling the Nebula Front about certain cargo like the ingots.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan learn from Jedi Master Luminara Unduli that Cohl had been betrayed years earlier and he had turned from hero to mercenary.

Cohl and friends have been hiding in the wreckage from the explosion.  Some of them want to claim the ingots and take off.  Cohl says that won't be happening.  They attempt to land on Dorvalla but are intercepted and crash land killing several on board.  They are rescued by Cohl's ship, the Hawk-Bat.

In the Senate, it is decided that a summit will be, where delegates from the Trade Federation can meet openly to offer their solutions.  Valorum says he will attend the summit, to be held on Eriadu.

Havac, the leader of the Nebula Front, accepts the stolen ingots from Cohl and then proposes a way for Cohl and his crew to make a load of money. Rella isn't convinced.

In response to the threat of taxation, Nute Gunray and the Neimoidians make preparations to equip their ships with defenses and form a new droid army that is controlled by a central computer.

As it turns out, Havac knows Palpatine, and the two meet.  Havac expresses his dismay at the summit on Eriadu without the invitation of the Nebula Front.  Palpatine says he should instead look to the Trade Federation as the enemy not Valorum.  Havac agrees and gives the stolen ingots to him to be used to “influence” senators.