Literature / Cloak of Deception

One man's fall from power could lead to the end of the Republic and the irreversible rise of the dark side...

A 2001 Star Wars Legends novel by James Luceno, Cloak of Deception is the second of two prelude novels to The Phantom Menace published in 2001 (the other being Michael Reaves' Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter). Whereas Shadow Hunter is an action thriller, Cloak is much more of a political drama (albeit with its own share of action). It delves deeply into the political-economic backdrop of the Prequel Trilogy's inaugural installment, clarifying backstory questions and details fans had after the film's release in 1999.

Half a year before the events of Episode I, tensions are growing in the Outer Rim Territories thanks to the Trade Federation's monopoly of the Free Trade Zones. Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi become caught up in these tensions due to an investigation into the Nebula Front, a activist organization dedicated to breaking the Trade Federation's monopoly. Their investigation takes on even greater importance after the Front's militant wing goes rogue and tries to assassinate Chancellor Valorum.

Meanwhile, Valorum is struggling with an apathetic, corrupt Senate and his own political legacy as his tenure as Supreme Chancellor enters its final year. Valorum sees the Outer Rim situation as an opportunity to not only cement that legacy, but to finally bring the Trade Federation to heel and break their stranglehold on the galactic economy. With the quiet assistance and advice of Naboo's Senator Palpatine, Valorum proposes an emergency Trade Summit on Eriadu.

Far from resolving the crisis, however, the repercussions of the Summit will change the Trade Federation and Galactic Republic forever...and directly precipitate the fateful Blockade of Naboo...

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Cloak of Deception provides examples of the following tropes:

• Abdicate the Throne: During the Eriadu Summit, Naboo's King Veruna does this off-screen in response to unspecified scandals — an act that of course leads directly to Amidala's ascension to the Throne. It's implied Palpatine had a hand in the abdication, though what exactly he did (and what the specific scandals were) wouldn't be revealed until Darth Plagueis.
• All There in the Manual: Luceno's tie-in eBook novella Darth Maul: Saboteur explains how the Trade Federation got its hooks into Dorvalla (thus setting up the opening of Cloak).
• Asshole Victim: The murder of the Trade Federation Directorate during the Eriadu Summit likely won't be mourned any time soon.
• Batman Gambit:
  • Havac's assassination of the Trade Federation Directorate. With the aid of Darth Sidious and Gunray, a sabotaged droid is introduced into the Directorate's Guard detail. When the 'assassination' of Valorum is underway, the Directorate activates their delegation's personal shield. This is exactly what Havac expected and wanted: the shield activation is the programmed trigger for the sabotaged Guard, which seizes control of its fellow droids. The Directorate is gunned down by their own security forces and ironically, the activated shield prevents the Jedi and Summit guards from rescuing them.
  • The Frame-Up of Valorum is also one. Once the liquidated Aurodium is secretly invested in Valorum Family business concerns, Palpatine has Sate Pestage covertly plant the evidence in Senator Orn Free Taa's systems. Taa then 'discovers' it on his own and confides in Palpatine, who advises him to reach out to Bail Antilles. Not only will Antilles have the senior Senatorial clout to investigate (as the Internal Activities Committee Chairman), but his dislike of Valorum and corruption will ensure he will pursue the matter. Thus, Antilles and Taa unknowingly help frame Valorum for corruption.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Havac posthumously brings down the Trade Federation Directorate and destroys Valorum's reputation. However, his victory isn't even his own and really belongs to Darth Sidious, as Havac was merely a pawn. So Palpatine gets a Trade Federation under his control (vis-à-vis Gunray), a weakened Chancellorship, and Naboo under the rule of a young, inexperienced monarch (per his implied role in Veruna's abdication/death).
• Bittersweet Ending: Emphasis on the Bitter. Havac and the Nebula Front are stopped and the taxation of the Free Trade Zones becomes law. But Valorum's career and reputation are left tarnished by the corruption scandal Palpatine secretly engineered. The power of the Chancellorship and Justice Department are curtailed by Valorum's Senatorial opponents and they're ready to politically finish him off once the opportunity presents itself. Nute Gunray and his bloc also now have full control of the Trade Federation and, on the orders of Darth Sidious, are ready to launch the blockade of Naboo.
• Broad Strokes: As part of Legends, the novel is technically no longer in continuity in the Disney era. However, as with his other Prequel-era novels, Luceno re-canonized the broad strokes of Cloak (ex. the Eriadu Summit, Tarkin's involvement, etc.) in Star Wars: Tarkin.
• …But He Sounds Handsome: In the epilogue, Gunray and the Neimodians are left baffled by Sidious proposing Naboo be the site of their retaliatory blockade against the Valorum Administration. After all, as far as they know, neither Palpatine or Naboo had any role in the Trade Summit and the ensuing taxation of the Free Trade Zones. Sidious explains to them that Senator Palpatine is adept at dissembling his true nature and has done more damage behind the scenes than they can fathom.
• Cassandra Truth: Valorum's insistence that he's been framed for the accusations of his corruption.
• Dramatic Irony: Orn Free Ta and Valorum's Senatorial opponents think of themselves of puppet masters without realizing they've all been played by Palpatine. Taa even observes there's quiet, real power beneath Palpatine' mild-mannered personality and appearance without knowing just how right he is.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • Hath Monchar appears as part of Gunray's Neimodian bloc, thereby setting up his role in Michael Reaves' Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter (which chronologically follows this novel, yet was released prior to Cloak).
  • Vergere likewise makes her first chronological appearance here, setting up her off-screen role in Greg Bear's Rogue Planet (which was published the year before Cloak).
  • Thanks to Production Foreshadowing, many of the future Separatist leaders (ex. Passel Argente, San Hill, Wat Tambor), all make their chronological first appearances here.
• Enemy Civil War: The Nebula Front ends up splintering into one between its militant and activist factions.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Invoked by Rune Haako. He's the only one of Gunray's advisers who correctly recognizes that if Sidious is indeed who he says he is, then allying with a being as dangerous as a Sith Lord is not a good idea. Sadly, his concerns fall on deaf ears.
• Fallen Hero: Arwen Cohl, according to the backstory Luminara Unduli gives to Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. He was a freedom fighter and a celebrated hero among his fellow Mirialans before falling in with the Nebula Front.
• False Friend: Palpatine to Valorum, though the latter won't realize it until long after the events of the novel and his ouster from the Chancellorship.
• Foreshadowing: While Gunray's Neimodian associates are all uneasy about the alliance with Sidious, Hath Monchar is the most openly critical and dissenting. This sets up him going rogue in Michael Reaves' Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter following the events of this novel.
• Frame-Up: The ultimate purpose behind the Nebula Front's Aurodium theft early in the novel: to frame Valorum for illegal enrichment. What makes the frame up so damaging to Valorum's career and reputation is that his Senatorial opponents (who 'discover' the evidence thanks to Palpatine's subterfuge) intentionally wait until after the taxation legislation is passed before going public. In doing so, their timing turns what might have been seen as a basic, if relatively harmless (by Republic standards) instance of corruption into a vast, nefarious 'plot'. The rub is that they genuinely don't know if Valroum truly was framed or not — and frankly they don't care. All they see is a chance to weaken the Chancellor.
• Irony: The personal shield that was supposed to protect the Trade Federation Directorate during the Eriadu Summit ironically prevents the Jedi and Summit security from rescuing them when they're gunned down by their own droid guards.
• Jurisdiction Friction: As Palpatine's co-conspirator, Tarkin exploits this in the aftermath of the Eriadu Summit. Tarkin insists this is a planetary security matter and that the Eriadu government will handle the investigation. His stonewalling of the Judicials buys enough time for key evidence and witnesses to vanish into the ether.
• Kansas City Shuffle: Havac's plan for the Eriadu Summit. All of Havac's efforts are intentionally placed on a "plot" against Valorum. This causes the Jedi and Judicials to focus on the Nebula Front and take attention and protection off the real target: the Trade Federation Directorate.
• Klingon Promotion: A variation with Nute Gunray. On Darth Sidious' orders, he helps smuggle the compromised droid into the Trade Federation Directorate's guard detail at Eriadu. So, he's both indirectly and technically responsible for the ensuing massacre of the Directorate and assuming control of the entire corporation (though Gunray didn't know this was what Sidious had planned).
• Locked Out of the Loop: None of Havac's operatives on Eriadu are aware the Trade Federation Directorate is actually the real target of the assassination plan. Havac intentionally conceals that and makes them believe Valorum was the true target. Justified, as Havac's Kansas City Shuffle was dependent upon all attention and security at the Summit being devoted to protecting Valroum...and helping to leave the Directorate open and vulnerable. This also ensures operational security just in case anyone is captured in advance.
• Make It Look Like an Accident:
  • After his abdication, Naboo's King Veruna suddenly dies in exile. The Naboo authorities actually publicly rule it 'accidental', but privately Amidala and Panaka are suspicious of the circumstances and fear foul play was involved.
  • It's also implied Palpatine had a hand in Veruna's death, though Luceno wouldn't definitively confirm it until a decade later during Darth Plagueis. There, Luceno revealed it was actually his Sith Master Hego Damask aka the titular Darth Plagueis who killed Veruna by shutting down his Midi-Chlorians and making it appear to be 'natural causes'.
• Motive Misidentification: Throughout the entire Eriadu Summit, everyone from Qui-Gon to Cohl believes Valorum is Havac's target. Everyone doesn't realize until it's too late that it was all intentional misdirection and that the real target was always the Trade Federation Directorate.
• Noodle Incident: Sidious and Gunray's first meeting prior to the events of Cloak. All we learn is that Sidious contacted Gunray out of the blue and 'enlisted' him by casually mentioning details of some of Gunray's more illicit (and secret) activities. Exactly what Gunray did that gave Sidious leverage over him wouldn't be revealed until Darth Plagueis a decade later (wherein Luceno dramatized that first meeting in its entirety based on the broad strokes given here).
• Obstructive Bureaucrat:
  • Mas Amedda's specialty, which is why Valorum's opponents specifically get him installed as Vice Chancellor by the end of the novel. Amedda's inflexibility and almost religious devotion to rules and procedures will bring Valorum's legislative agenda to a grinding halt. This will also hamper Valorum's attempts to resolve the Naboo Blockade in Phantom Menace and directly precipitate a frustrated Amidala's calls for his ouster.
  • The Judicial investigation into the Eriadu Summit gets derailed by Wilhuff Tarkin, who cites it as an Eriadu planetary security matter and stonewalls until most of the witnesses and evidence vanish into the ether. Since Tarkin's secretly allied with Palpatine, of course, he's helping his co-conspirator cover his tracks.
• Production Foreshadowing: Luceno wrote the novel during production of Episode II and after being granted access to concept artwork and the shooting script by Lucasfilm. As such, Luceno was able to introduce the Muun InterGalactic Banking Clan, the Techno Union, and various then-future Separatist leaders well ahead of their cinematic debut in Attack of the Clones a year later.
• Propping Up Their Patsy: A retroactive instance for The Phantom Menace when Palpatine defends Valorum, telling Amidala that the corruption accusations against the Chancellor are baseless. Cloak reveals Palpatine knows Valorum is actually innocent...because he's the one who set the Chancellor up by engineering the scandal in the first place.
• The Purge: The Trade Federation Directorate are all killed during the Eriadu Trade Summit — save Nute Gunray so as to further Darth Sidious' plans.
• Put on a Bus: Despite Darth Sidious' role in the novel, Darth Maul doesn't appear. Luceno's Darth Plagueis subsequently answers this, explaining that Sidious benched Maul for this one. He got the ball rolling at Dorvalla (in the prelude novella Darth Maul: Saboteur) and Sidious didn't intend for Maul to have any further role in the Eriadu Summit.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: According to Luceno, George Lucas specifically requested Cloak be a political thriller focused upon Valorum and Palpatine.
• Resolved Noodle Incident: The 'baseless accusations of corruption' against Valorum which Palpatine mentions to Amidala in passing during The Phantom Menace are finally revealed here. Long story short, it was a corruption Frame-Up and unsurprisingly Palpatine was secretly behind it. The purpose of the accusations was to further weaken Valorum in the lead-up to the Naboo Blockade.
• Riddle for the Ages: The Nebula Front's attack on Valorum outside the Senate partway through the novel. As Qui-Gon muses with one of the Judicials after the Trade Summit, they'll never know for certain if it was a genuine assault, or if it was really all theater as part of the groundwork for the Eriadu operation.
• Right-Wing Militia Fanatic: Havac and his wing of the Nebula Front are comprised of militant terrorists and extremists.
• Scandal Gate: The aforementioned 'baseless accusations of corruption' against Valorum by the novel's end.
• The Scapegoat: Played with regarding the Jedi Council and Qui-Gon after the disastrous Eriadu Trade Summit. They make it clear that they don't hold Qui-Gon responsible for the disaster. That being said, they have no compunctions about using the incident to lambaste Qui-Gon for his devotion to the Living Force. They feel the Summit might have gone differently had he not been living in the moment and instead been focused on the Unifying Force (i.e. the greater picture).
• Tragic Hero: Luceno has said he views Valorum as one: well-meaning, but far too trusting and weakened by indecisiveness.
• Unwitting Pawn: It'd be easier to compile a list of who isn't being directly or indirectly manipulated by Palpatine in his civilian and Sith identities.
• Xanatos Gambit: Havac's backup plan just in case the assassination of the Trade Federation Directorate fails. The Aurodium ingots the Nebula Front stole early in the novel are covertly invested in Valorum financial concerns. These investments are then 'discovered' by one of Valorum's key political opponents, who times their exposure for the aftermath of the Summit. Thus, the public impression is that Valorum's taxation of the Free Trade Zones was motivated by his own greed and illegal enrichment. While Valorum rightly insists it's a Frame-Up, his reputation and political support are left crippled (thus setting up his ouster during the Naboo crisis). This is also a rare instance where both parts of the Xanatos Gambit worked as intended instead of only 1 out of 2.